October 2015 Newsletter

Training Up Leaders in Africa

"80 percent of the world’s believers who are practicing their faith live in persecution… we are compelled to rethink our definition of “normal”… According to the Bible, persecution is normal, simply a natural by-product of faith.”

- Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obedience

Exciting Times 

Our family is looking forward to much in the coming months.  As we write, we are sitting in South Africa awaiting the arrival of our new daughter, a little more than two months from our first TEE graduation in Mokhotlong, and less than three months from our first Home Assignment!

The pastors enrolled in Theological Education by Extension in Mokhotlong are set to finish the last of their books in early December and preparations for their graduation ceremony are underway.  It is encouraging to see their excitement as this monumental event approaches and to watch as they take ownership of the planning and arrangements.  We have twelve pastors/laymen who are qualified to graduate and they are looking into everything from graduation robes to a big graduation cake!  Over the past year, we have focused on hermeneutics at our TEE conferences and the pastors say they have learned much about how to preach God’s Word as a result.  We look forward to completing this first class of students and to seeing how God will use TEE to grow their ministries in the future.

Our Family of Four...

…is expected to welcome its fifth member in just two short weeks.  Abby has been seeing an OBGyn in South Africa, in a place called Hillcrest near Durban.  As with Ellee’s delivery in South Africa, we expect Abby to deliver in a hospital just like one would visit in the States, with medical care comparable to what one would receive there as well.  The doctor has been great and really understanding of our far-out living situation; we are thankful to have been connected with him for this pregnancy.  We have rented an apartment above someone’s garage about 15  minutes from the hospital for the duration of October.  Before leaving Lesotho, we went to the South African embassy in Maseru to receive extended visas so we have plenty of time to be in the country.  We drove down Sani Pass about a week ago and are grateful to God to be settled and ready for the delivery.  Excitement is heavy in the air and Kyle and Ellee are beside themselves as they anticipate meeting their new sister!

Plans and preparations...

…for our Home Assignment have been falling into place over the past weeks.  We booked our tickets and are scheduled to arrive home on December 16th!  We are all very much looking forward to spending Christmas with our families!  Our travel schedule is also coming together for the early months of 2016 and we look forward to reconnecting with as many of you as we can.  We will be attending missions conferences at three of our supporting churches in Decatur, AL, Aiken, SC and Morton, IL.  For the holidays we will have a very special guest with us: our neighbor and pastor’s daughter, Joy (14), is booked to fly with us as well and we are excited for all of you to meet her!  She is a bright and sweet girl who loves to play with our kids in her free time.  We often find her pulling the stroller out of the back room and taking Ellee on walks around town.  This will be her first experience outside of southern Africa and she is giddy with excitement!  She will spend Christmas and New Year’s with us before flying back here to start her sophomore year of high school.

We are so grateful...

…that the Lord has provided an apartment for us to live out of while we are in Aiken.   While we will be traveling in and out a good deal, it will be good to have a home base for some sense of stability.  We’ve also been offered a van to use, which we are so thankful for, since we will now be using three carseats!  In the coming months, we will be posting on Facebook about smaller necessities we’ll have during our time home.

During our time on Home Assignment, our support will continue to run as usual through AIM.  If you have any questions regarding our support in this matter, please contact us.  We thank God that over the past three years, our support has remained around 100%!  That is something to give praise over!  Thank you all! 

Our future plans…

…are to continue with the work of TEE.  We hope to return to Lesotho in August and spend our next years starting new TEE groups around the country.  We have sought to run the program in a way that is repeatable and sustainable.  It is all run on local finances and by local leadership.  Our goal now is to spread the work to reach new areas and more pastors who seek training.  Then we can leave behind a healthy and growing program to national church leaders and move on to wherever God will take us next.  Many of you committed to support us through this three-year assignment and we are so grateful for your faithfulness.  We would love to hear in the next months whether or not you desire to continue that into our next assignment, so that we can make up any additional support during our time in America.  God bless you all! 

See you soon!

- Jonathan, Abby, Kyle & Ellee

jastclair@aimint.org

July 2015 Newsletter

“Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs . . . They dwell in their own countries, but only as sojourners . . . Their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven . . . They love all men, and they are persecuted by all.”

- The Epistle to Diognetus,  A.D. 150

Winter Has Arrived  

Greetings from sunny and chilly Mokhotlong! We are hunkered in for winter with our coal stove burning and lots of warm meals on the menu. Our water pipes freeze nearly every night despite being insulated and buried but they typically thaw out by about 10am. There is something cozy about a warm fire and down blankets so we quite enjoy the winter!

TEE and AIM Conferences

Last month Jonathan and his coworker Ntate Bongata held the first TEE conference in a village about an hour and a half from here, where a new group of about 20 students has formed. They had a great turn out and a lot of eager interest. The students wrote exams on their first two books - New Testament, Part One and Following Jesus (Discipleship) - and the lectures were on biblical hermeneutics. Bongata commented to us that this is such an important topic for the pastors, because nobody is teaching it at all! We face a lot of questions about Bible interpretation because the students have never heard anything about it before. Bongata even suggested “taking this on the road” and holding weekend conferences on the topic around the country. Perhaps we may do that in our next term here while we work to start new TEE groups throughout Lesotho. The Mokhotlong TEE group is still going well although the cold air and early sunsets usually deter people from attending weekly meetings. Nevertheless the students continue to study on their own and are studying for another conference where they will write exams this weekend.

I (Abby) have volunteered along with another of our AIM teammates to plan this year’s AIM Lesotho team retreat.  We have recently set dates for late November and booked a location and a  speaker.  Our sessions will cover Matthew 24-25 and how to live in expectation of Christ’s return.  It is our hope to balance deep theological teaching and worship with recreation and time to fellowship as a team.  Because we are all so spread out, we typically only see each other quarterly at our Prayer Days.

On May 24th... 

…we celebrated Ellee’s second birthday!  My parents were able to be here for that as they arrived two days prior.  Ellee got to eat a cupcake for breakfast and wear her new special birthday outfit.  My parents were here together for two weeks before my dad had to fly back to return to work.  Lollee (my mom) stayed an extra four weeks and just left this past weekend!  I spent the whole of March, April and most of May very ill with this pregnancy and my parents decided to leave my mom here to hopefully help nurse me back to health.  Thankfully the intense sickness subsided just as they were arriving (about halfway through the pregnancy) and we were able to enjoy a nice long visit together.  I am nearly six months along now and the baby is growing very well, the doctor says.  Her name will be Sadie Kate and we expect her in October.

Yesterday...

…Jonathan finished his first eight weeks of his online summer semester with Liberty and completed three more of his classes.  He now only has two classes for the next seven weeks before he has a long break during the time the baby will be born (He will have completed 30 credits between January and  August). His semesters are so grueling, especially when he is juggling three classes, so we are thankful that he is down to two and almost done for this year!

It is hard to believe…

…that our Home Assignment is fast approaching.  We are planning to book our tickets soon and expect to be home for Christmas!  Our actual Home Assignment won’t start until January but we want to spend Christmas with our family after two Christmases away.  Our immediate needs for Home Assignment are a vehicle to use for our travels as well as a place to stay in Aiken.  We are hoping to find a place that we can use or rent which is already furnished, if someone has an extra space or apartment on their property.  Please join us in the praying for these things and let us know if anything comes to mind.  To read more about our Home Assignment plans you can visit my blog: http://abbymtstclair.blogspot.com/2015/06/home-assignment.html.  We are looking forward to eight months at home before returning for our second term!  We want to catch up with as many of you as we can and will begin to plan our schedule for that time in the coming months.  

We covet your prayers...

…over the next months as we prepare for the many transitions ahead of us. It is our prayer that Kyle and Ellee will adjust easily to the changes coming.  Certainly being parents has taught us to pray and trust God so much more. 

Jonathan, Abby, Kyle, Ellee & Sadie Kate St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.net

March 2015 Newsletter

Training Up Leaders in Africa
March 2015

"Training for pastoral ministry is a specialized form of the mandate given to all Christians to make disciples.  Three essential parts of that training are godly character, biblical knowledge, and ministry skills . . . In this whole process, it is important to combine the academic portion with experience in ministry..”

- John MacArthur, Pastoral Ministry

 From the Mountain Kingdom… 

…life is moving along. Last August, Lesotho caught the world’s eye with an attempted coup in the capital city. Twelve days ago, the country held early elections in an attempt to settle the divisions and “let diplomacy resume.” Well, the outcome was essentially a tie, the prime ministry changed hands, and things are basically the same as they were before. Things have gone about peacefully, though, and we pray that the Lord will allow any issues to be settled without violence. He is in control!

Kyle’s Birthday 

Nine days ago, we celebrated our son’s 4th birthday! Where does the time go? It’s interesting to note that he has now lived more of his life in Lesotho than he has in the States. So begins our children’s “third culture” identity. When he meets new people he may introduce himself as “Kyle from Mokhotlong” or “from America” or “a Mosotho” - or “Darth Vader”. He might greet them in English or in Sesotho. He is between two worlds, but this is his home.

For his birthday, we traveled to visit some friends in South Africa who often serve on short-term mission trips to Mokhotlong, so Kyle knows them well. It is always refreshing to spend time with fellow believers who share our heart for missions. Kyle often asks about these friends or their children, so he had a great birthday party together with them. Because Star Wars is his favorite movie series right now, he asked Mama to make him an R2-D2 cake. We chuckle at how it looked, but Kyle loved it and, like all of Abby’s desserts, it was delicious! We found a few sales at the toy store on some Star Wars figures and puzzles, so Kyle’s 4th was a galactic success! Ellee’s birthday is next on our family calendar (May 24th) and we’re trying to explain to Kyle why it won’t be a Star Wars party. Today he suggested, “Well, maybe a butterfly party.” “Oh, that sounds better,” we  replied. “With Star Wars balloons,” he hinted. 

We are so grateful to God for our children. It is amazing to see how they enhance and expand our ministry to others. I think a lot of people like us - but they LOVE the kids! They really are “like arrows in the hand of a warrior” (Ps 127:4-5). May God give us a quiver full of them!

Our Ministry…

…is going very well. Our TEE pastors are continuing on in their studies and we’ve recently had about 10 people join the program and form a new TEE group in a village about 1.5 hours away. We have tried to focus only on our Mokhotlong group in this term, so that we can easily turn it over to local leadership when we leave, but we do hope to return for another couple of years to start new groups like this one. They are a small church plant from a Bible church in Mokhotlong and they are hungry for biblical training. Please pray that we will be a blessing to them and that their church will experience much spiritual growth as a result of their TEE studies.

Last week I finished another subterm of my seminary classes and another begins on Monday. I really don’t think I could describe how much I’ve learned through my Liberty studies. The way my academic studies have integrated with our practical experiences in ministry has made this degree incredibly beneficial. I will be busy with classes from now until August and then plan to finish my last five classes during home assignment in 2016. Last month I also received my first coaching license from the US Soccer Federation. I took an online course focused on coaching 5-8 year-old soccer. Twice a week, I take the boys in our neighborhood (ages 5 to 15) over to the football field for a game or some training sessions. Already we can see the doors this is opening for ministry. We now have 20-35 boys who show up to play with us. Their parents greet us as if they’ve known us for years. One boy’s father just signed up for TEE. People who don’t know me from their church probably know me from the field. The local DFA commissioner has called and wants to meet with me. The week I received my license, I was even contacted by the athletic director at the university I graduated from in the States, because they’re looking for a soccer coach. It’s incredible how quickly sports can build bridges for ministry! As more of these coaching courses come available online, I plan to keep advancing my training for football ministry. Please pray that God will bring me local young men who are willing to invest in these boys together!

Our Family…

…is growing again! We learned recently that baby #3 is on his or her way and should be here around late October.  This will leave us about two months to get papers from the US Embassy before flying out for our home assignment. It also means our families (and all of you) will be able to meet the newest St.Clair while still a newborn. God is so good to us and His timing is perfect. Our medical insurance covers all the costs of having a baby outside of the USA. This is perfect timing for us! Please pray for good health for mommy and baby alike. May the Lord bless you!

- Jonathan, Abby, Kyle, Ellee, & Baby St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.org

December 2014 Newsletter

Training Up Leaders in Africa

December 2014

“[Sports] can be a means of bringing honor, pleasure, and glory to God… They shape our character, in good ways and bad.  Out of these collisions come pride, humility, arrogance, courage, perseverance, fear, and a host of other character attributes… A football game is a furnace in which character is formed… godliness requires intentional and diligent pursuit.  Sports provide a context for that to occur.”

- Stephen Altrogge,

Game Day for the Glory of God

Bible, Family, and Football  

These are what occupy most of our time these days.  In this update, we’ll try to cover each of those and the role that they play in our current ministry and life here in Mokhotlong.

TEE Mokhotlong

The Bible, appropriately, is the main emphasis of our work here in Lesotho.  We seek to share it, live it, and teach its truths at every opportunity.  My main opportunity to do this is through the TEE program.  We now have 16 people officially enrolled in the Mokhotlong branch of TEE, about 12 of whom are very consistent in their studies.  They have completed all three books of New Testament Survey and topical books on discipleship, pastoral ministry, and basic theology.  They are now studying Old Testament Survey 1 and prayer.  In addition to our book studies, the pastors have been asking some deep and difficult questions in our weekly meetings.  Halfway through this year, the pastors requested that we start meeting twice a week, instead of once.  So during those meetings we’ve studied issues such as divorce, the “exception clause,” spiritual warfare, “African magic,” the canon of Scripture, biblical family roles, Greek word study on “love,” spiritual gifts/miracles, tithing, giving/finances, and missions.  Our next conference is scheduled for the second week in January.  I am especially excited about our new theme for 2015 conferences - biblical hermeneutics and expository preaching.  If there is one area that I sense to be lacking in most local churches, it is this one!  The pastors are also looking forward to these lectures, because they say to us “no one has ever taught us to preach.  They just gave us a Bible and a building and said, ‘You are the pastor now.’”  Last Sunday, I also had the opportunity to preach at our local church.  Pastor Ntsimane had preached the previous week on “The Present  Tense of Your Salvation,” an excellent message unlike any I’ve heard here in Lesotho.  So I tried to follow that up with a sermon on the book of 1 John called “The Marks of a True Christian.”  It was truly difficult to preach a whole book in one sermon, but I was grateful to be able to share.  We pray and trust that the Holy Spirit will make His Word come alive in the Basotho churches!

Football (Soccer)… 

…is the newest ministry hobby I’ve taken on.  My main reason is for the doors it opens.  Sports provide an instant connection, a quick camaraderie, and an open invitation into a person’s life.  First, I was approached about coaching a U-15 boys football team.  Next, I was invited by the local DiFA commissioner (District Football Association) to create and coach a boys’ league.  Then, I was invited to play on the local police football team.  I’ve also been recruited by four other teams to  play for them - not because I’m so great, but because I’m the international, the “sponsor,” or the fan favorite.  But mostly I stick with the police team, because I think they probably have the fewest Christians and churchgoers on their team.  On my own, I’ve begun studying football coaching and am planning during our 2016 home assignment to go to a coaches’ training camp and get licensed with the US Soccer Federation (conveniently located in Chicago, IL).  I’m also praying about flying to Malawi next year to learn more about sports ministry from Luke Voight and Sports Friends International.  Please pray for these new opportunities and also for protection during our games (I’ve already had to treat one broken leg during a police game).

Last month...

…we wrote about our new outreach team coming to minister among the shepherds.  Those guys have arrived and gotten settled now into their new “homes” in the mountains.  We stopped by to visit them on our trip back from Maseru this weekend.  They are a resilient bunch of “tough guys for Jesus.”  You really wouldn’t believe what their living situation is like without seeing it.  Please keep them in prayer for their physical health and adaptation to the rugged shepherd life.  It is all for the sake of the gospel!

Ellee walks, Kyle talks

Yes, Ellee has finally decided that she likes moving around on her feet instead of her knees.  And Kyle is our chattery little buddy.  Before Abby and I were married, she used to babysit this one little boy and I remember her saying, “I want to have a boy like this one day.  He just talks to me all the time and is my little buddy.”  Well, she got her wish!  Now she just has to get him to hush once in a while so she can talk.  We had a great visit from Lollee last month and always look forward to seeing family again.

This Thanksgiving...

…we are grateful for all of you who make our ministry here possible.  We trust that God is caring for each of your families just as He is caring for ours.  If there is any way that we can serve you, minister to you, or pray for you, please contact us at the email address below.  God’s blessings to all!

- Jonathan, Abby, Kyle & Ellee St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.net

August 2014 Newsletter

Training Up Leaders in Africa

August 2014

“The potential for reaching every tribe, people, language, and nation and giving all the peoples of the world an opportunity to hear, understand, and respond to the gospel in their own culture requires an indigenous mission strategy.   There will never be enough cross-cultural missionaries and mission teams to reach all the people in the world.  The gospel must be shared and planted in a way that it can multiply among those who are receptive."

- Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer,

Spiritual Warfare and Missions

Keeping Warm

While all of our friends and families back home are busy dumping buckets of ice over their heads, we here in Mokhotlong are keeping the anthracite heater fired up and our cold weather jackets nearby.  The weather here is so confusing.  Everyone says winter is ending soon, but after a warm day will come a frozen one.  Just when we think we can unpack the short sleeves we’re back to the hoodies.  What an interesting life!

TEE Mokhotlong

Our Bible training program for pastors is going very well.  We have fifteen pastors enrolled in the program and nine of them are keeping pace, now studying books five and six of the curriculum.  The others have joined the program after we started in January or are studying at a slower rate (one of the advantages of TEE’s flexibility).  I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see and hear how this work is affecting the pastors’ ministries.  Last Sunday, we visited the church of our eldest TEE pastor.  He told his church about his studies and was brought to tears when he spoke of our book on pastoral ministry called “The Shepherd and His Work.”  He said no book has ever opened up the Bible to him like that one.  Another pastor said that TEE is teaching him to preach the Bible’s message, not his own.  Several pastors have commented that before starting TEE, they would only pick a verse or two from the Bible and then shout and make a lot of noise about it in their sermons.  Our students have sort of labeled the program “Sekolo Sa Baruti” or “Pastors’ School.”  We have even overheard church members saying, “We heard that our pastor has joined some type of local Bible school and his preaching  has gotten so much stronger.”  Another of our pastors cheered, “I have never known how to study God’s Word like this before!  Now I will be able to help many of my people.  I can’t wait to preach to my church now!”  We praise God for giving us this assignment; this is some of the most fulfilling work we’ve ever done.

Earlier this month...

…I completed another of my semesters with Liberty.  Again, I tremendously benefitted from my reading and online studies for my courses.  I am over halfway finished with my degree now and, Lord-willing, am on pace to graduate during our home assignment in May of 2016.  For this fall, I am off of my formal studies and will be working on a few projects I’ve volunteered for.  My plan is to take my last three semesters in Spring 2015, Fall 2015, and Spring 2016.  We were also very blessed to learn that one of our supporting churches is planning to send their donation this year to a “Continuing Education” fund that AIM set up for us.  That means that my last semesters of seminary will all be covered!  What an answer to prayer!  Thank you, Lord and Fish Camp Fellowship.

Next month...

…we will be receiving five new members into our AIM Lesotho unit.  These are five single men from the US and South Africa who will be living as a team among the shepherds here in Lesotho.  This team means a lot to me in particular because of a research paper I was able to write on the shepherds for a seminary class last December.  Studying the lives of the shepherds helped me to combine mission theory with a real-life situation and to realize that the label “unreached people group” can  go beyond only race and language.  Instead, it focuses on any subgroup to which the gospel is not spreading because of some significant barriers.  The shepherds fit this category, even though they speak the same language as the Basotho people (who are 89% “Christian”).  The shepherds face religious, educational, geographic, cultural, and social barriers.  Thus AIM has been recruiting a team of single men to come live with the shepherds for two years and to share the gospel by a series of Bible stories designed to lead them to Christ using oral communication methods.  Please pray for this team as they endure the rugged mountain life for the sake of the gospel.  This is pioneer mission work! 

Kyle and Ellee...

…are very excited to be expecting a visit from Lollee in about five weeks.  Abby’s pretty excited to see her mom, too.  Ok, we all are!  It is very hard to be away from our families over here, so we love when some of our family is able to visit.  It will also be a late present for Abby whose birthday is next week.

We do request prayer...

…for the shepherd team as they begin their work and for the continued success of TEE.  We thank God for His faithful provision and love each of you who prays for us and gives to help us serve here.  May the Lord bless you all richly this day!

- Jonathan, Abby, Kyle & Ellee St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.net

June 2014 Newsletter

Training Up Leaders in Africa

June 2014

“AIM’s call has always been to the inlands, to the regions beyond, to the other sheep, to the places where there is no gospel . . . we are called to pioneer the church, not to take over the church.  We need to get in, plant the church, and move on.”

- Dr. Luke Herrin,

AIM International Director

Leadership Forum 2014

Winter in Lesotho

 Hello, friends and family!  It’s that time of year in Lesotho - time for frozen water pipes, fired-up heaters, and lots of hot tea and coffee.  This time brings us both challenges and blessings while we make repairs on the house, care for sick kids, and enjoy snuggling by the fire watching Curious George and World Cup football.  We thank the Lord for His constant care for us and for the beauty of snow, a reminder that He has washed away the scarlet stain of our sins and made us “as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

Two Conferences

Since our last update letter, I have had the opportunity of attending two different conferences which were both a huge encouragement to me.  The first of these was our first TEE Mokhotlong conference for our Basotho pastors.  This one-day conference is the part of our TEE curriculum that allows the pastors an opportunity to fellowship together, write exams to complete the books they have studied, listen to a lecture by a guest speaker, share a couple of meals, and spend time in prayer for each other’s ministries.  I was so blessed to see our pastors’ enthusiasm for their study of God’s Word.  All of our pastors who were able to attend passed both exams.  The most fun part of the conference was when they received their final test scores and started comparing to see who scored the highest.  It was a friendly spirit of competition, especially when a husband and wife would both take the test (Ntate Mpesi scored higher than his wife on the first test and she scored higher than he on the second!).  By taking and passing their exams, I feel like the pastors’ confidence in the program and their own studies has grown significantly.  They are  asking if they can recruit more people to study and want to make TEE T-shirts.  One pastor suggested that we take on a group ministry as TEE, instead of as individual churches.  It is encouraging to see the pastors take real ownership of the program and be motivated to study God’s Word further.  May God allow this spirit of Christian unity to spread!

My second conference…

…was AIM’s biannual leadership conference in Nairobi, Kenya!  I was very honored to be invited to this conference, for most of AIM’s international leadership have been serving in Africa for many years.  One man there had been with AIM for 45 years!  Our main goal during the week was to sharpen our mission’s focus.  AIM exists to plant the church among the unreached people groups of Africa.  At points in our history, we have branched out into many ministry areas and occasionally lost our focus for the unreached.  Our new international director, Luke Herrin, is working hard to restore that focus and help us to align all of our ministries to express that priority for the unreached.  We support this renewed focus wholeheartedly!  This is why we left Mexico and came to Africa.  Those who have never heard the gospel must be given the highest priority in mission efforts and our work, in particular, is to catalyze the local African churches to help reach the unreached on their continent.  I have heard this expressed before as triage.  It is not that those who have rejected the gospel are less important to God, but those who have never heard it should be given “more urgent” care, as in the case of large medical emergencies.

Abby and the kids…

…spent the week in South Africa with some of our team members from England.  This worked out well, because they have two boys about our kids’ ages and two older girls to help care for the kids as they had a “jolly old time” being together throughout the week.

Last month we celebrated...

Ellee’s first birthday!  We invited our Basotho neighbors over for dinner and cake and had a great time doting over our girl.  It is so exciting to watch as she grows and learns new things every day!  She is crawling all over the house now (usually following Mama!), chatting new phrases (“Uh-oh…”), giving kisses, and busily playing with her baby dolls and her big brother.  Thank you, Lord, for our sweet girl.

We are trying to stay warm…

…by making stews, soups and chili!  It really helps that our anthracite heater doubles as a cook-stove.  We will get a lot of use out of Abby’s cast iron pot this winter.

Thank you for your prayers and support…

…of our ministry.  Please pray for our kids’ health right now (cold / upset stomach).  Also pray for me (J) to be diligent in completing my semester (ends August 15).  Please contact us by email how we can pray for you as well.

- Jonathan, Abby, Kyle & Ellee St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.net

AIM’s Global End:

“With priority for the unreached, Christ-centered churches among all African peoples.”

April 2014 Newsletter

April 2014

“What will it look like then, when a local church, no matter the size, embraces the big vision of Jesus? The scorecard changes radically. Greatness is no longer measured by seating capacity.  Greatness is measured by sending capacity.”

- Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer, Spiritual Warfare and Missions

Back Home in Lesotho

Hello, friends and family!  We’re happy to send you this update from our home in Lesotho.  We’ve just come back from a month-long trip to the United States where we had the privilege to see many of you and meet new friends as well.  Our time in the States was extremely busy and extremely fast, but also extremely sweet.  We got to spend a lot of time with family and it was so fun to see Kyle and Ellee playing with their relatives that are usually so far away from us!

Missions Conferences

During our time at home, we were able to attend three different missions conferences in Alabama, South Carolina, and Illinois.  We had many opportunities to share our ministry to pastors in Lesotho with Sunday School classes, seniors’ luncheons, pastoral staff dinners, children’s clubs, and church congregations.  People seemed very interested and asked many questions, I think because few are familiar with training national pastors, fewer have heard of TEE, and still fewer know anything about Lesotho.  We were also able to spend a good amount of time with other missionaries, hearing of their ministries around the world and asking questions about the lessons they’re learning in their own contexts.  

Most of our time was spent traveling.  We saw Abby’s grandparents in North Carolina; my brother’s and sister’s families in South Carolina; my brother and his wife, my sister and her guy, and Abby’s sister in Florida; Abby’s aunt in Alabama; my parents and grandmother in Missouri;  Abby’s grandparents and relatives in Georgia; and our church families in Ilinois and South Carolina.  We were especially grateful for Abby’s family, who took two weeks off of work to travel the country with us.  This more than doubled our time to spend with them and made our travels easier and much more fun!  Most of our stops were determined by which place had a playground for all the kids to run off their energy.

Kyle’s Birthday... 

…was extra special this year, as we got to celebrate together with our families.  Last year was hard for us to be alone, celebrating our happy boy with only the three of us together.  This year Kyle enjoyed a “Monsters” party and received lots of small, flat, packable toys we could bring back to Africa.  It was also very special to see Ellee meet most of her family for the first time.  She took many pictures together with people and spent much of her time playing with her new cousin, Jeremiah, whom we also met for the first time.  

Meanwhile in Lesotho...

…the TEE program has continued on without me.  Before leaving, I asked my Sesotho language teacher if he would continue meeting with the pastors while I’m gone.  He did and has done an excellent job!  In my absence, four more students have joined the program and the group has completed the first two books in the TEE course.  That means we now have 10 local students in our group and 2 distance-learning  students studying in nearby regions.  We are now planning our first Mokhotlong conference for our pastors to write their exams and proceed with the course. 

This summer will be a busy one…

…as I’ve just registered for my next semester with Liberty.  My five classes will be divided into 8-week blocks, but because the summer is a shorter term, I’ll have two weeks that overlap.  Also, in June, I’ve been invited to AIM’s biannual international leadership conference in Kenya with two other men from our Lesotho team.  While I’m very excited about that week, I will still have assignments to do for seminary.  Please pray that the Lord will multiply my time and energy in the midst of this busy schedule!  We also have hopes of receiving some family visitors within the year, but that will certainly bring a relief rather than an extra burden.

God has been providing...

…for our needs in remarkable ways.  During our trip home we received many financial gifts, new supporting families, and a new supporting church.  Our support is around 100%, but if you are looking for any missionaries to support, we do know a few we could recommend!

We pray for you all...

...and would love to know how we may pray specifically.  If you have any special needs in your life that we may lift up before the Lord, please write us at the email address below and we will pray for your needs as a family. God bless you all and thank you for your investment in us.  Please continue to pray for us in our language learning.  Molimo o le hlohonolofatše!

• Jonathan, Abby, Kyle & Ellee St.Clair

jastclair@aimint.net