Leading Worship...Awesome Camp...Teaching in Schools!

Greetings all!

Transformer Camp!

The camp last weekend went really well. It was a one-day evangelistic camp that we put on three days in a row. We had a full worship band, dramas, dances, games, rap, “magic” show, and speakers. Last Friday, April 8, it was for the whole student body at the school. Then Saturday and Sunday it was opened up for youth from outside the school, mainly from Gaborone. There were about 550 youth from outside who came, and then 365 secondary students from the school.

So all told, about 900 youth experienced the camp that was run by the visiting mission team from the Philippines, with help from local Batswana, the school staff and me. About 200 of the youth decided to give their lives to Christ. A group of counselors (which included me) then followed-up those students who prayed to trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior by counseling them and explaining the gospel clearly again, answering their questions, etc. It’s cool that one of the Filipino guys who did the “magic” and ventriloquism used to be a pickpocket and steal cell phones in the Philippines, but he attended one of the same camps in 2007 there and came to faith in Christ. Now the Lord is using him around the world to bring joy and to be a living testimony of Christ’s power to transform lives. One of the students who rapped about Jesus came to faith in Christ through the camp last year.

Girls Club Field Trip to the Camp

In Mochudi, we recently started up a Girls Club at the YFC office on Saturdays. I am not officially part of the planning team for that because often on Saturdays I have volunteer trainings and events in Gaborone (and also the abstinence club at 2:30pm). However, I like to go when I can just to interact with the teen girls and build friendships. I invited the Girls Club to come to the camp in Gaborone last Sunday. The girls were so excited when they heard about it, they screamed and jumped up and down! It’s not often that young teens from Mochudi can go to Gaborone at all, let alone for a free camp! So I drove a handful of them in our YFC SUV so they could attend the camp. Five of them went forward to pray to receive Christ! Praise God! They really loved it.

I also invited Tumelo, the girl I’ve been taking to counseling. At that point she had been living at a friend’s house all week due to a disagreement with her mother. She wanted to come along, so she came to the camp as well! Though she did not pray to trust in Christ, it was a positive sign that she wanted to come to a clearly Christian camp. A few days after the camp, she moved back home with her mother, but she could really use prayer. I won’t go into all the details, but just pray that she makes wise decisions and that her relationship with her mom can be reconciled. And let’s continue to pray that all the seeds that have been planted regarding Christ can take deep root in her and that the flower of faith (tumelo in Setswana) will come forth.

More Opportunities in Schools

We already had it worked out that we would be teaching in two different schools—one in Mochudi, and one in a nearby town called Borwa—last week and this week. Last Monday at noon, the school in Mochudi asked if we would be willing to come and teach 4 separate classes the next morning at 7:55 am on a different Lifeskills topic. So we rose to the challenge of the last-minute opportunity and four of us prepared to teach on goal-setting – helping them to discern their vision/dreams in life and how to set goals to achieve their vision. Then on Wednesday, I taught at the school in Borwa on self-esteem and their value and worth. So last week, I had the opportunity at these schools to teach youth that they are not a mistake, but rather they are of extreme value to the God who created them and has a purpose and a dream for their lives. Those are lessons I love to teach!

Begging for more teaching!

At Borwa, I finished my lesson as the class period ended, but the students were still sitting there as if class wasn’t over listening attentively and waiting for me to continue. I asked what time the class ended and they said, “Oh, don’t worry, keep going!” I looked at my watch and confirmed that class was over. I found out that their next class was there in that same classroom and their teacher would come to teach them. “Do you want me to keep teaching until your next teacher comes?” I asked. “YES!!!” they yelled back enthusiastically! So I kept teaching, sharing the dangers of premarital sex, even with condoms, in this country where the HIV rate is so high, and that if they know their value, they can stand against the peer pressure to engage in risky behaviors like that. Then once the next teacher arrived, I concluded and left, as they waved and yelled “Bye!! Wow…that was an encouragement that my lesson was not too boring, or even just bearable for them, but actually enjoyable. It’s times like those that I remember why I like to teach. I am scheduled to teach that same lesson today, tomorrow, and Wednesday at that school in Borwa to different classes.

Volunteer Training in Gaborone

Last Saturday morning, I led another volunteer training in our centre in Gaborone. It was cool to see this week on facebook, that one of the volunteers had put a quote from the training as her facebook status:

“One of the greatest joys of life is knowing that a teenager or person in whom you have invested has grown up to be a mighty man or woman of God.”

All-Night Praise & Worship Event at YFC!

This Saturday, I didn’t lead a volunteer training because I was up all night Friday night…literally. We held an All-Night Praise & Worship event at the YFC office in Mochudi. Despite the rains, people showed up in large number. We didn’t actually count how many were there, but we had 90 chairs and they were pretty much all filled! At one point, everyone started dancing what seems to be Botswana version of the Electric Slide. It was cool!

I helped lead the worship for that, and also spoke in the beginning to encourage the youth from different churches to join together to pray regularly. I shared how God had really been putting it on my heart, and also Maruping’s, to restart up the prayer movement at our Mochudi office. So we will start it again on Tuesdays at 5:30pm.

Saturday (after sleeping til 1 pm after the All-Night Praise & Worship), we led the Real Life Revolution club at the Senior Secondary School in Mochudi. It went well—I think the students enjoy it and will find it a place where they can be ‘real’ –discuss real life issues that affect them and find positive peer pressure to encourage them to do what’s right. Pictured below are some of the members--

So, all in all, God is at work here! E.J., the YFC director, said recently that right now is the most ministry that YFC Botswana has ever been doing at once in its history. We just gained two three new Batswana staff to help us, which is a huge answer to prayer. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. It is making a difference!

I hope you have a most blessed Easter, recalling the loving sacrifice Christ made for us to enable us to have life to the full…and then life eternal. He has triumphed over the grave, and so shall those who are connected to Him!

Blessings, Em

P.S. Here is an intriguing reflection on the Triumphal Entry celebrated yesterday on Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and all the people were shouting “Hosanna!” and laying down their palms on the ground before him:

From The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer --

“It’s ludicrous for any Christian to believe that he or she is the worthy object of public worship; it would be like the donkey carrying Jesus into Jerusalem believing the crowds were cheering and laying down their garments for him.” –Charles Colson, p167

“Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, ‘Hosanna in the highest.’”

Namibia trip, Worship band!

Greetings all!

Today is a most stellar day!! It’s my 28th birthday…and also the first time I played in a praise and worship band in Botswana! I’m helping to lead worship for a camp this weekend at a Christian school here in Gaborone. It’s the private school where I spoke to the whole student body (K-12) last September about my accident/recovery story.

A visiting team from the Phillippines is putting the camp on this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and the school leadership asked if I’d like to help. I was planning to help last year, but I got sick that weekend. There were over 800 kids from Gaborone that came last year though! So a similar turnout is expected this year, many of whom are unchurched kids. Yesterday I stopped by to meet the Filipinos and see how I could help out. They told me the different departments I could volunteer in, and when they mentioned the praise and worship band, I knew that’s where I would fit! After meeting the Filipinos (who are AWESOME people, by the way…I love working with them!), I watched several of their dramas that will be performed during the camp—powerful. In the afternoons, the Filipinos are teaching the dramas to students from the school who want to learn them…so the dramas will be performed by those Batswana youth. How cool that people from a former/current missionary destination (the Phillippines) are now going on mission trips to other places around the world? That’s how it should be. And it’s cool to partner with them, and to see their love for Jesus and the ways they can reach youth worldwide.

This morning, we had praise and worship band practice. They asked me to bring along songs I have, so I ended up providing all the music. For those who are familiar with the songs, we are singing “Trading my Sorrows,” “Every Move I Make,” “Taste and See,” “We Want to See Jesus Lifted High,” and “Go gona ya Tshwanang le Jesus” (There’s no one like Jesus). It turns out the other two band members that were recruited to help besides me and J.R. (Filipino) are Batswana guys I know from church who are also new YFC volunteers that I’m training! So that was cool to see them walk in and then we jammed together. So I play acoustic guitar and sing, J.R. plays keys or acoustic guitar depending on the song, Moses plays drums, and J.B. plays bass. It was truly an amazing birthday gift to be able to play/sing in a full praise/worship band again – as I said, it’s the first time since being in Botswana (and for that matter, the first time since December 2009 when I left Bethany College of Missions and my church in Minnesota). So yeah, a true blessing! And they have a really nice Yamaha keyboard, so I was able to play that for awhile too…and Moses played along with the drums which added a sweet effect. Students from the school were there with us, singing along and listening. They were making up worshipful lyrics to my original piano compositions while Moses added the beat. It was epic, haha. I’ve really been “itching” to use my music gifts more here in Botswana, and even on Sunday I was thinking how much I miss leading worship in a full band (not just myself playing guitar)…and then this opportunity came! God is so good.

I enjoyed some KFC and an ice cream in Gabs before I headed back to Mochudi for a run in the bush during a gorgeous sunset—one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in my time in Botswana, where the clouds across the sky turned a soft pink/orange contrasted with deep blue around it. And now the stars are amazing. My American housemate Katie baked me a chocolate cake and found Pillsbury chocolate frosting with which to ice it. A blessed birthday indeed.

Namibia!

My weeklong trip to Namibia was amazing! Five of us international YFC staff/volunteers (2 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Dutch) left our house at the lovely time of 5 am to catch the bus in Gaborone, whereupon we rode “cramped-style” for 12 hours to Windhoek, the capital city. We spent one night there in a hostel, then caught a combi (van) for another 4 hours through the Namib desert to the coastal town of Swakopmund. This experience altered my definition of desert. Botswana is largely the Kalahari Desert, but here you find shrubs and thorn bushes and some trees. This was sand. Purely sand. What came to mind as we drove through what seemed very desolate sand – no green anywhere – was, “It’s easier to endure the desert when you know the ocean is on the other side.” Fits with hard times in life too.

We did arrive at the other side of the desert, greeted by the Atlantic Ocean. Swakopmund is an old German colonial town, so there is ample German influence and architecture. It was a very beautiful, quaint town with a nice boardwalk pier out into the Atlantic, a lighthouse, markets, huge sandy beaches, and many nice restaurants. One is on the pier and another just next to it in a converted old ship. We spent most of the time relaxing on the beach, swimming (the first time I’ve swam in what is officially the Atlantic Ocean—the English Channel is, well, the English Channel and not technically the Atlantic), reading, journaling, praying, watching sunsets over the Atlantic, etc.

One morning we went “sandboarding” with a local company. It’s like snowboarding or sledding on sand, reaching speeds of 70 km/hr. I was not stupid enough to do that with my somewhat more delicate neck. But I went along to watch the others and to see the scenery. So they drove us out of town where it is the Atlantic on your right and endless sand dunes to your left. We hiked up into the dunes and the view was just amazing. It was like mountains of sand as far as the eye could see one direction and the ocean the other—a stunning juxtaposition.

I posted more pictures on facebook if you are on there in “Namibia trip” folder. The instructor invited me to go down with him both sitting on a board on a very safe, slower dune. So I enjoyed that one trip down, a free unexpected gift.

The next day I “enjoyed” a one-day flu or food poisoning experience (3 of us felt gross but I was the worst), so I stayed at the hostel that day. Besides the couple times I was really sick and felt gross, it actually was a really relaxing time where I spent a lot of time with God, listened to sermons on my iPod, and journaled. The others went 4-wheeling on the sand dunes that day, but said it probably would’ve been too rough for my neck anyway.

The next day I was feeling fine again—went swimming in the Atlantic again. I swam in part next to a break wall, so I could just float in the ocean. Never done that before because the ocean is usually too wavy—and I love to just float and relax. But I also like to wave crash, so Twila and I went further down the beach to where the waves were crashing and enjoyed jumping over/into the waves for a bit.

That morning, I also got my hair cut for the first time in Africa at a salon we found. Really great quality for a very reasonable price. That’s what I’m talking about! I saw a massage therapist’s office near the salon, and my neck and back told me to inquire within. I signed up for a half-hour neck/back massage (also reasonably priced). Amen. I used to get massage treatment twice a week for my neck/back until I left Minnesota, so this half-hour of course did not iron out all the knots and tightness I’ve accumulated, but it felt great and loosened me up a bit.

The last morning in Swakopmund, I walked/jogged out to the edge of the desert, where the sand dunes start at the edge of town, to see the sunrise and the river. The locals told us that there hasn’t been a river running there for 30 years because it’s been so dry, but this year the river is flowing due to abnormally high levels of rain. People were marveling and taking pictures of it earlier in the week, like the others saw a busload of people stop and get out to take pictures or something. So I figured I’d go take a gander too. Reminds me of all those scriptures about how God makes rivers in the desert, or streams in the desert (i.e. Isaiah 35, 43, etc).

Then it was another lovely 4 hour combi ride to Windhoek. I realize that sometimes I use the word “lovely” in all sincerity and other times I am being facetious. This would be an occasion of the latter. It wasn’t horrible, but “comfortable” isn’t a word I would associate with our drive. We stayed at a different backpackers’ hostel that night in Windhoek and got up wicked early again—a taxi picked us up at 5 am to be taken to the bus stop for the 12-hour journey back to Gaborone. All told, it was worth the long travel excursions for the beauty and respite we enjoyed in Namibia. After some really busy weeks of ministry lately, it was a welcome break for us all. Growing up on Lake Huron, I miss large bodies of water…so it was refreshing to be at the ocean.

Hope you are doing well!

Blessings,

Em

Happenin' times! God's at work!

It’s been a happenin’ week at YFC! I was supposed to lead an assembly with an entire junior secondary school in Mochudi last Monday, but due to crazy hard rains, the outdoor assembly was canceled. Perhaps it will happen after the school break. Schools closed for break on Friday and re-open on April 5.

Perhaps I’ll just share something cool about the rain. It hadn’t rained here in weeks and was crazy hot lately. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time it had rained. Koekoes told us on Sunday to pray for rain. Then Sunday night/early Monday morning, it RAINED!! Here is what E.J., Koekoes’ husband and the YFC National Director, wrote on Monday morning in his prayer update:

Yesterday at our church service we prayed for rain. The past weeks we had not rain. The day temperature was about 38 degrees Celsius every day. Even the weather reports predicted no rain, not even for today. And then it came last night. It rained 100mm during the night and still it is pouring. God is really good!!

For those not fluent in Celsius, 38 degrees is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, Sunday the 20th, it again rained like nobody’s business. It was insane! While I was driving to pick up Potlako, one of our staff from Botswana, to drive her in to the radio station, I felt at times more like I was driving a motorboat than a car. It felt like I was fording rivers flowing onto the main road from side dirt roads that couldn’t absorb anymore water! Good times!

Speaking to Entire Schools!

On Thursday last week, we had to leave the house at 5:50 am in order to pick up the recently revived YFC Dance & Drama team and drive about 45 minutes to a school in the middle of nowhere. I mean really—I think I saw 2 shops and 2 abandoned houses on the entire drive there until we reached the tiny “village”…otherwise, bush: trees and tall grasses. Franzi and I were going to lead a 2 hour assembly for the entire school (668 students), and we plugged the Dance & Drama team in throughout the presentation to keep it engaging and exciting. They did dances, skits, and testimonies that encouraged youth to make good choices and abstain from risky activities (i.e. sex, drugs, and alcohol). Franzi and I, along with Papi from the Dance & Drama team, performed the step dance and a new rap. Then Franzi shared about self-esteem and peer pressure, and I talked about HIV/AIDS and encouraged abstinence. I shared the information about Uganda that I included in my last post, and rallied them by saying I believe that that kind of change can happen here in Botswana. But it will take the youth to stand up and be the change. It was cool to see some of them really agreeing and being motivated.

In fact, afterward they wanted us to fill another 40 minutes, so we did Q & A and then students wanted to come forward to address their whole school, sharing comments agreeing with what we’d said and how it’s good to abstain, thanking us so much for coming. etc. One of the students received cheers when he stood up to make a comment. He explained how what we and the Dance & Drama team had shared really impacted him and he is genuinely thinking of changing his behavior. One of the teachers came up after him and was amazed, saying that if that student can change, there is great hope for their school. Apparently that student is known to be a big trouble-maker—the teacher said the student has tried to punch him twice, as recent as the week before. One of our Dance & Drama team guys then shared how he had tried to punch a teacher and was a really rebellious teen, but God changed him…so He can do the same for that student. Overall, it was just a really positive experience and it seemed like it really did mean something to the students.

The next morning, Friday March 18, I had the opportunity to speak to the entire student body at the Senior Secondary School in Mochudi where we are now leading the Wednesday and Friday morning assemblies. We decided that since it’s the Month of Youth Against AIDS, I would share a brief version of the abstinence talk I’ve been giving at other schools. Maruping has continued sharing the gospel on Wednesday’s to 1/5 of the school, but this was the first time we at YFC have ever really shared a message (besides rapping and dancing) with the whole school. I realized it was indeed timely because the students apparently just had to report to school for the assembly and then they were free to leave to start their school holiday until April 5. Thus, I was able to encourage them to make wise choices while on break. If that keeps one kid this school holiday from engaging in sex and putting him/herself at risk for HIV, then it was worth it.

Remember when we couldn’t get into schools at all? From July until February? Not even to do a club after school that is optional? Now we are able to speak to entire student bodies for sometimes 2.5 hours during school! In the last week or so, YFC staff/volunteers have led an assembly for 0.5 - 2.5 hours for hundreds of students at 5 different schools; and it would've been 6 schools had the one not gotten rained out. Praise God! Praise God! Oh, and yesterday, Twila and Jen visited another church in Mochudi started by Americans and Canadians, though we’d never met them before (they do most of their shopping in another town). It turns out they have been trying to get into that Senior Secondary School in Mochudi for years, but haven’t been able to get in. So that just highlighted to me how much of a blessing it is that we at YFC not only “got in,” but the guidance teacher actually asked me if we would come and lead the assemblies! And now we can help to get these others in to the school as well, so we can work together to make a difference.

Tumelo’s going to church every night!

Perhaps some of the most encouraging news of the week is that when I was taking “Tumelo” to counseling on Thursday afternoon, she told me that she has started going to church every night after school! Her mom meets her there after work, and they go to various prayer and worship meetings until typically 11 pm!! She told me she is reading the bible every morning too! When I inquired where she’s at with God these days, she said that she’d be lying if she said she’s accepted Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, but she is going to church to receive prayer and comfort. This is HUGE coming from her, especially that she would go to that particular church of her own volition (because of some issues in the past there). I asked if she is planning on going to the church camp in April with Slim and she said, “Yes! And the camp in December!” [So it’s Slim’s church too, though it’s in Gaborone. That’s how they met each other].

On Thursday after counseling, I dropped Tumelo off at the church at 5 pm…where she’d be until 11pm. That is not something I would have imagined doing anytime soon! Wow. God is at work. She really needs prayer now though as she’s getting closer to accepting Christ. I asked her what’s holding her back and she said, “No good reason.” It seems that she doesn’t want to give up control of her life, but to still do whatever she wants. I explained that she might feel like she’s giving up her freedom to come under the Lordship of Christ, but really she is already a slave to herself and her sin, and letting God lead your life actually brings a true freedom and unrivaled joy. I told her it’s hard to understand unless you’ve experienced it. I didn’t want to push it any more than that…but let’s keep praying for her! Thanks for any and all prayers offered for her thusfar!

Bible Quiz in Gabs

Saturday, all of the YFC Botswana staff & volunteers reported bright and early at 7:00 am to pack up and drive to Gaborone to lead a Bible Quiz Competition at a rented community hall. It was a competition for secondary school students. Teams of 4—2 guys, 2 girls. One of the University of Botswana students I met and recruited to be a YFC volunteer heard about the Quiz at volunteer training and formed a team of students who actually ended up being the team that won! Also one of the students from the P.A.C.T. club I co-led last year was the overall female high-scorer. She was excited to hear that we can restart the P.A.C.T. club in April. The advisor/leader of the second place team is someone who I met last year at Face the Nation and she told me then she wants to volunteer with YFC. I’ve tried calling her but hadn’t got in touch, so it was nice to run into her there and tell her about the volunteer training. She is very interested and will be joining YFC as a volunteer at long last!

Confronting the Stigma of HIV/AIDS -- Yarona FM

Sunday morning was another early one—leaving at 6:30ish am to drive in that torrential downpour to pick up Potlako and drive in to the radio station in Gaborone. I was basically the vehicle, literally, for her addressing the nation through radio (because I didn’t talk much on the air this week besides reading the text messages people were sending in; my main role was just driving her there). Potlako was taking a big step and going very public with her HIV+ status to encourage others to speak out about AIDS and to lessen the stigma and ignorant fears surrounding it. E.J. interviewed her live on the air, asking her what it’s like to have HIV, how the people reacted whom she’s told, how people have treated her, how she’d like to be treated, etc. She told me a lot of the stories in the car on the drive there. I was amazed that she lost so many friends when she told them her status, and how hardly anyone except YFC staff went to visit her when she was really sick in 2009. I thought we were past this level of stigma and fear in Botswana, but apparently it is still prevalent. All the more reason that Potlako speaking out was a powerful and meaningful thing—hopefully a catalyst for change in the way people treat those with HIV/AIDS and for those with HIV/AIDS to have the courage to be open about their status. There is still a lot of secrecy here. Even though recent stats have said as many as a quarter of the population is HIV+ and people talk about AIDS a lot, people are still very hesitant to admit they are HIV+ or that someone died from AIDS. Hopefully our discussion on the popular national secular station will have made an impact to lessen the secrecy and stigma…which will encourage more people to get tested and be willing to share their status if HIV+, while taking precautions to quit spreading HIV.

This week’s topic is on what the Church’s response to HIV/AIDS should be. Though I won’t be able to be on the radio this Sunday (because I’ll be in Namibia), I started recording people again to get their feedback to these questions: “If you go to a church, what, if anything, is your church doing to address HIV/AIDS?” “What can/should churches do? How should Christians treat those with HIV/AIDS?” I just got back from interviewing random people in Mochudi, and it was awesome because it unexpectedly served as a springboard for deeper discussion. One guy was sharing how he uses condoms every time, because abstinence is really hard and they grew up learning that condoms were safe. So I was able to share some of the stats with them of how condoms fail 15% of the time in preventing pregnancy and preventing HIV transmission.

“Always be ready to give an account of the hope that is in you…” -1 Peter 3:15

The best, though, was after interviewing a guy my age and engaging in a little small-talk where I think I mentioned I am a missionary with Youth for Christ. As I was getting ready to move on, he said in a completely genuine, inviting way, “So…are you going to tell me about God?” He continued, “Yeah, you can share with me about God, right? Please do.” Hello open door!! So I started sharing the basic gospel message, and then realized I had in my bag a little booklet YFC prints called “Knowing God” that explains it clearly with scriptures and pictures. So I whipped that out and we used that as the basis for our discussion for the next half hour or 45 minutes.

I’m not sure where exactly he is in terms of his faith and trust in Christ, but he certainly knew a lot. He believes in God and prays, though he doesn’t go to church. He knows that Jesus died for our sins, to forgive our sins. He asked me if I believe in heaven and hell, and who goes where? So that fit with explaining the gospel more. I explained that it’s not enough to just know that Jesus died for us and provided the way to God and heaven (even Satan believes that), but it’s about whether you really trust in Christ, accept his forgiveness, and want to live for Him. I said it’s not about whether you go to church—yes that’s helpful and normative for a Christian, but you can be a Christian without going to church and you can go to church your whole life without being a Christian. He understood how if you give your life to God, you change and have a different mindset about things, i.e. you would have the conviction and ability to abstain and wait until marriage for the one person God has for you. He talked about believing deep in your heart.

He talked about hard times and how it can drive us to God or make us question God’s care. I was able to share about the accident and my dad’s death and how God was near to me through those hard times. He’s had his share of hard times—his mother died; perhaps his father too (I wasn’t clear on that). His father was a pastor. He is planning to go to church during Holy Week/Easter and might stop by YFC this week during the Yarona FC time. It was getting dark so we were wrapping it up, and some of his technician friends showed up so I didn’t want to push the issue of whether he’s really trusted in Christ as his Savior and Lord, but I left him that little “Knowing God” booklet and he invited me to stop by more in the future to continue the discussion. So…that was sweet!! I wish I had the radio recorder all week because it is such a good means for conversations to arise about deeper issues. Tomorrow is the last day I’ll have it though, in order to give Trevor enough time to edit and get it ready for Sunday. I’m looking forward to interviewing people in Gabs tomorrow!

Holidays!

Today we started our holiday programs for the kids who are on school break—Kids Club in the morning; Girls Club from 2:00-4:00pm; and YaRona FC drop-in centre for boys and girls from 7:00-10:00pm each night. The daycare staff are on a 3-day camp with the orphans/vulnerable children about 2 hours away. The rest of us don’t all run all the clubs—we spread it out amongst us, don’t worry! I’m helping mainly with the Yarona FC, and Girls Club when I can. Tonight I have the night off for Yarona FC (hence my ability to email this now), then I’m on for the next three nights, speaking on Wednesday. Our theme is the theme for the Month of Youth Against AIDS this year: My youth, My health, My responsibility. I’m speaking about the “my responsibility” part and again giving the little abstinence talk (since this is mainly a different crowd than those who have already heard it). Tomorrow morning I will give that little abstinence talk to the weekly club at the private school in Gabs.

Then Friday morning, 4 other YFC staff/volunteers and I are boarding a bus in Gabs that leaves at 7:00 am for Windhoek, Namibia! After the 12 hour journey, we will spend a night there and then ride public transport out to the coastal city Swakopmund. It is very German, since the Germans settled there. The Atlantic Ocean sounds so lovely after being landlocked in a desert! I heard there is a paved trail along the shoreline in the midst of the sand so you can run along the beach. Amen! We will return the following Friday, April 1. Prayers for our safety and for a refreshing time are appreciated.

That’s all for now. I will try to post another entry before I leave, but if not, I’ll catch you on the flip side of my Namibia trip!

Thanks for your interest and prayers!

Blessings,

Em

Radio, Rapping, Real Life Revolution, and Rally!

Dumelang!

Well, it’s been a busy couple weeks, but in a good way. There have been a lot of exciting things happening. I’ll start from where I left off. Monday February 28 we were able to restart the Scripture Union club at one of the Junior Secondary Schools (the one where I used to co-lead it). They invited us to come during the last hour of the school day. The students there love to sing along to worship songs that I lead on guitar, so it was great to be back doing that for the first time since July. It was actually the largest turn-out I’d ever seen at that school—upwards of 65 in one classroom! Jen (the newest YFC volunteer from the Netherlands) and I performed a skit that illustrates the gospel. It seemed to really impact them. We asked them to write down their ideas for topics we could discuss at the club. It was cool to read how many of them just want to know more about Jesus (how He died, why He died, how to have a closer relationship with Him, etc). They seem hungry to learn more.

While that was an amazing club meeting, afterward we learned from the guidance teacher that she had been told by the school-head that the club could not take place during school hours, though she had given us permission. It was a mistake on her end. She apologized for the confusion and thought we could start it after school at 4:30pm. But that plan is also falling through because students have said they are unable or unwilling to stay after school—it is getting darker earlier (we are heading toward fall/winter) and they will have been in school since 7:30 am. So now we are entertaining the possibility of having a short half-hour club at lunch time. This hasn’t been finalized yet. At least we were able to have that one club to expose many new students to the club and also to the gospel.

On Wednesday, March 2, Youth for Christ led our first morning assembly in the Senior Secondary School in Mochudi. One of our staff, Maruping, spoke and shared the gospel message—to help students understand what it means to be a Christian because there are some misconceptions here. On Wednesdays, they break the student body up into 5 groups of 10 classes. So Maruping will speak to one group a week, thus teaching the same message for 5 weeks rotating between the groups. I went along the first time to introduce him to the guidance teacher who directed us where to go.

Later that day, Maruping, Twila, Jen, and I drove in to Gaborone to teach 2 large classes at the YWCA school on self-concept and withstanding peer pressure for an hour and 40 minutes. This is the school where we had the PACT (peer-counseling) club last year, and where we can restart the club next term starting in April. The next morning, bright and early at 7:00am on Thursday we led the morning assembly at the same Junior Secondary School where we had Scripture Union on Monday. This is a weekly opening we have been granted to address the entire student body for about 20 minutes. Twila, Jen, and I performed a skit that discourages gossiping, played a game with them, and sang a song—even getting the guidance teacher to dance with us, causing the students to cheer and laugh!

Friday morning bright and early, it was time for YFC to lead the first morning assembly with the whole student body at the Senior Secondary School in Mochudi (Maruping had addressed 1/5 of the student body on Wednesday). We decided it would only be right to introduce YFC and ourselves with a dance and rap! We each wrote a short rap introducing ourselves.

Here’s a little known fact about me—I was a state champion rapper 3 years running. That’s right. What what. In 6th-8th grade I wrote most of the raps we performed (with choreography and costumes) for the Michigan Social Studies Olympiad. So, yes, one could call it “nerd-rap” but hey, we had to have some skills to win the gold each year! Anyway, it was nice to unleash the “inner gangsta” again, haha. The students seemed to really enjoy it and were getting into it with us, clapping and cheering.

The next day, we were finally able to start the abstinence club Real Life Revolution at that school. We initially had planned to start it in September but couldn’t due to the school schedule changes. Twenty-five students came to the first meeting on Saturday afternoon! That’s an impressive, encouraging turn-out! So it’s exciting that it’s off to a good start.



Directly after that club, I drove to Gaborone to our new center there to lead the first volunteer training. E.J. the National Director shared his portion of the training to the 13 college-student volunteers who could make it last week. It was encouraging to talk more with them and see their excitement in being involved in the YFC ministry in Gaborone.




Speaking to the Nation via Radio

The next morning, dark and early (the sun was just rising as we left home), Twila, Dan, and I drove in to Gaborone to be on live radio. Yarona FM is one of the most popular national radio stations in Botswana. It isn’t a Christian station, but on Sunday mornings, Trevor from the YFC Board and our friend Sam [Samantha] from church lead a Christian program called “Inspirational Grooves.” March is the Month of Youth Against AIDS in Botswana so we’ve been invited to help lead the program each Sunday in March. Last week’s topic was “Protection: How Can I Live my Life so I Don’t Get HIV?” We had gone out to the Main Mall in both Gaborone and in Mochudi earlier that week and asked people that question and recorded their anonymous responses. So Sunday on the air we played those pre-recorded clips from people on the street (answers included: Abstain, Use condoms, stick to one partner, etc). We shared some stats about condom failure and mentioned that it isn’t “Safe Sex” but “Safer Sex.” We mentioned that abstinence is the safest choice to prevent the spread of HIV. We then shared the pre-recorded clips of people’s responses to another question we’d asked them on the street –“Why is it so difficult to abstain?” (Answers included: peer pressure, “I have to have sex,” “addicted to sex,” media influence, temptation, alcohol/drug use, can’t control feelings, etc. It had been a bit disheartening at times to hear some of the really young teens saying how they just want to have sex (some were primary school aged—13 or younger). It was encouraging though that some who were Christian shared that God gives them strength to control themselves and abstain. All of us in the studio also acknowledged that as well. We also opened up the text-messaging line and read texts from listeners.



We encouraged those who may have already been sexually active that they can have a fresh start and abstain from now on until marriage. I also shared some research on Uganda’s success story in drastically lessening their HIV rate in the 1990s, due in large part to the culture embracing abstinence and faithfulness.

[taken from Family Research Council--http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS06B01&f=WA06B33]--

Uganda had the highest AIDS rate in the world in the 1990s, but it dropped from 21% to 6% in from 1991-2000. Condoms were definitely not the main element of the AIDS prevention message. President Museveni said, "We are being told that only a thin piece of rubber stands between us and the death of our Continent ... they (condoms) cannot become the main means of stemming the tide of AIDS."[9] He emphasized that condoms should be used, "if you cannot manage A and B [Abstain and Be Faithful in marriage] ... as a fallback position, as a means of last resort."[10]

Several reports show that the decline in AIDS prevalence in Uganda was due to monogamy and abstinence and not to condoms. According to Dr. Edward Green, an anthropologist at Harvard University and an expert on Uganda's AIDS programs, fidelity to one's partner was the most important factor in Uganda's success, followed by abstinence.[11] A 2004 Science study concluded that abstinence among young people and monogamy, rather than condom use, contributed to the decline of AIDS in Uganda.[12]

From The AIDS Crisis: What We Can Do by Deborah Dortzbach and W. Meredith Long --

Uganda was canvassed with stark messages: “You can change your behavior or you can die from AIDS.” “You can remain abstinent and live. And when you marry, have sex with your spouse only.” “You don’t have to get AIDS. Keep to your own pasture if you are married. Zero graze. Don’t roam.”

From 1989 – 1995 males having premarital sex dropped from 60% to 21%. Females dropped from 53% to 16%.



So on the radio, we encouraged the people of Botswana to see that if such a change happened in Uganda, it can happen here. We challenged the nation, “Let’s see a change here like in Uganda.” Change is possible!

Overall, it went quite well. Yarona FM has a link where people worldwide can listen live via the internet, so my mom and others were able to hear it live. Yesterday morning, the topic was “Hope: How Can I Live My Life If I Have HIV/AIDS?” This time we brought one of the YFC volunteers from Mochudi, Thapelo, along as well. He wanted to come last week but was out of town. So Twila, Thapelo, Trevor, Sam, and I were in the studio yesterday. We also played a pre-recorded testimony from one of our YFC staff who is HIV positive. She will likely be live in the studio next week. We shared from a curriculum called God’s Answer to AIDS by Bruce Wilkinson some suggestions on how people with HIV can find hope—Dealing with the Present (accepting the reality that they have HIV); Dealing with the Past (forgiving whoever infected you; apologizing to those you may have infected, etc); Dealing with Your Eternity (keeping an eternal perspective—that life on earth is VERY short compared to eternity, which can be amazing if you spend it with God); and Dealing with Your Future (how to spend the rest of your days with purpose and meaning).

I also shared in the eternity section, that though I can’t identify with having HIV, I have gone through some difficult trials in my life (my accident and my father’s unexpected death) and that keeping an eternal perspective has helped me to have hope and encouragement. And also that God is faithful through those hard times. Twila shared an image that sometimes we come up against huge mountains in our lives that we cannot move. God can remove them and we can definitely pray for that, but also realize that His answer may not always be to immediately remove the mountain but to reach out His hand and help us to climb over it with Him. So yes, people with HIV can keep praying for God to heal them, for nothing is impossible with God, but they should also be sure to do all they can to live healthy and take their medications as they climb that mountain together with Him.

I’ll be on Yarona FM again this coming Sunday (or Saturday night depending where you live). It is quite late/early though for North Americans, so no pressure: Eastern time it’s 2:00-3:00 am Sundays, Central time 1:00-2:00 am Sundays, Mountain 12:00 am, West Coast 11:00 pm Saturdays. Here (GMT+2hrs) it is 8:00 am-9:00 am Sundays. Those are different than what I sent out in an email earlier this week to some people because I didn’t realize the Daylight Savings Time change…but those should be accurate now for this week. I won’t be on the last Sunday in March because I will be on a short vacation to Namibia with 4 other YFC staff. But of course, you are welcome to still tune in to hear our other staff/volunteers.

Other odds and ends

Backing up a bit to this past Friday, I spent most of the day with the YFC Dance & Drama team at a Month of Youth Against AIDS program for the student body at a Junior Secondary School in a nearby village. Our team performed their drama about abstinence and HIV, and Maruping spoke on managing stress. The Botswana National Youth Council had representatives there who spoke, as well as a couple other youth organizations.

Saturday I led another volunteer training in Gaborone from 9:30-1:30. Seventeen college students came this week, including 3 who had never signed up but either had heard me speak and decided later to come, or were invited by others. Another one who couldn’t come Saturday called and told me that several more Univ. of Botswana (UB) students in her cell group want to volunteer now as well. E.J. repeated his session for those who weren’t there last week, and then I presented a couple more sessions.

Abstinence Rally

After that I drove back to Mochudi to the Senior Secondary School for the Abstinence Rally that YFC put on in conjunction with the women’s prayer movement in Mochudi. Most of the YFC staff and volunteers performed a step-dance (stomping and clapping—if you’ve seen “Stomp the Yard” or Stomp the musical that’s an idea of what we did) and then each gave a rap about their respective ministries to a sweet beat in the background. The audience loved it! Here’s my rap:

Emily’s my name; call me Em for short
Gaborone’s my aim, let me report
that we just got a new center down by UB
Where we’re training up mentors to shape history.
We got clubs in 3 schools and one at our place
Teachin’ Lifeskills, SU, and all about grace!

There were about 250 young people who attended, which is many more than last year. Slim and our friend “Tumelo” whom I take to counseling both came. It was very God-centered in that pastors spoke, a church led worship, etc and I remember thinking during the worship that just a few months ago, I wouldn’t have pictured either Slim or Tumelo willingly coming to something like that. But God likes to exceed our expectations!

Blessings,

Em

God's greatness and tenderness

[post written on Feb 27]
Dumelang!

I hope this finds you well. Lots of exciting ministry is coming up! This week we restart up the Scripture Union club at one of the Jr Secondary Schools in Mochudi, we start leading the morning assemblies at that school and the Sr. Secondary School, and I will hopefully speak this Friday to the Christians at the Sr. Secondary School (it had to be postponed again because the teacher who would’ve unlocked/locked the hall for me had to attend a funeral).

On Wednesday this week, the recently revived YFC dance & drama team was invited to perform dances to two songs before a speaker at a school-wide assembly. I went along to watch and was amazed that the speaker ended up being from a local church and essentially just preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole student body and encouraged their turning from the things of the world (i.e. drugs, drinking, fornication, vandalism, theft) to find true life in Christ. Many students stood up in response to his asking who wants Jesus to save them and wants to put their faith in Christ and follow Him. They went up to the front where they prayed. I am not the best at estimating numbers, but it probably around 100 students who stood! I will invite those students, as well as those who committed to Christ last year through the Face the Nation program, to come to the talk I’ll give hopefully this Friday on how to grow in one’s faith.

The abstinence club (Real Life Revolution) was slated to start yesterday, and I was able to make an announcement to the whole school on Friday morning about it. However, yesterday the guards at the gate wouldn’t allow me in; they had been given strict orders to not allow anyone in. Even when I called the guidance/counseling teacher who had gotten permission for the club and had her talk to the guards, they did not let me in. The guidance teacher said it was the first she had heard of some type of policy the guards were mentioning, so she said she would talk with the guards and the administration about it on Monday. So…please pray with us that we are able to start this club. It is the first club YFC will have ever started at the school. So hopefully it will start next Saturday at 2:30pm.

Last week I stopped by and talked with the guidance teacher at a Sr. secondary school in Gaborone where I co-led the PACT (peer-counseling club) last year. They haven’t had clubs last term or this current term, but they said we can revive the PACT club next term (starting April 5). Also, they invited us to teach 2 classes for 90 minutes on Life Skills (i.e. self-esteem, withstanding peer pressure, encouraging abstinence, etc) this Wednesday! So 4 of us from YFC are going to do that; 2 to teach each class. They are also interested in having the visiting YFC South African Dance & Drama team present to the whole school in March.

March is the “Month of Youth Against AIDS” in Botswana and we have been given the opportunity to lead the Sunday morning Christian program on a national, secular radio station every Sunday in March (starting this coming Sunday!). We still have a lot to do to prepare for that, so please if you think of it, we would love prayers for wisdom and guidance. Somehow it seems to be that I am in the lead of this, so yeah, prayers appreciated! We know our basic topics and the basic plan – to interview random people on the street this week and have them respond to questions, recording them with a portable recording device. Then play those sound bytes on the air on Sunday and open up the lines to live responses and discussion. This week will be about abstinence and how to live so I don’t get HIV/AIDS.

Saturday I will lead the first volunteer training in Gaborone for all the college-age volunteers I’ve had the opportunity to recruit to be mentors and/or YFC volunteers in general. There are 36 students from 4 different colleges/institutes signed up to volunteer! The YFC Botswana national director, E.J., will also share during that training. It is good to make sure volunteers understand and agree with what YFC stands for and what is expected of them as volunteers.

Memories of My Dad

Well, this past Wednesday, February 23 was my dad’s birthday. He would have been 62 years old. I had been working for months of a memory tribute about him and wanted to have it done by his birthday. I indeed completed it and wanted to share some excerpts from it. It is quite long, so I didn’t want to post it all on here, but if you would like me to email you the whole thing, please just email me at em_jc_liddy@yahoo.com (with underscores between em, jc, and liddy) and I will send a copy your way. Here are some excerpts to give you a flavor for what it’s like (I included mainly humorous parts but there are more meaningful parts too):

[When we lived in Dexter Michigan until I was 9 years old]: So dad would faithfully walk Pippin and our new puppy Ruffles each day with us to school and for other walks around town. Dad would also walk with Ryan and me down Second Street to the Dexter Mill where we would each pick out a stick candy treat. Sometimes he would walk us to Wylie Wonderworld (a large playground that we loved!) or to the ballfields at the school so we could play baseball. We always liked when we walked past Mugg n’ Bopps gas station because they scooped up the most massive ice cream cones I’d seen in my young life…and dad would often treat us. This reminds me of how one day I went to Hell and back…dad took me to Hell, Michigan, and I got an ice cream cone there. It melted quickly…

Up through middle school, dad would make and pack lunches for Ryan and me. But he wouldn’t just pack it with food. He also packed it with literary entertainment. He would write a story for each of us on our lunch bags, filling up both the front and back, to read with our friends at lunch every day. It was like a soap opera, in that the story continued day after day. He had a different story line going for each of us, and each morning he would take that considerable time to continue both stories. I can still remember the last day of 8th grade, when we all gathered around in the cafeteria to hear the end of the saga.

[Then I talk about how dad loved being a school bus driver and was affectionately known as “Mr. Bus Driver Sir” throughout the district]

In fact, dad’s love for driving bus spilled over into his “off-work” time. When we would ride with dad, perhaps just to embarrass and humor us, he sometimes would put his 4-way flashers on our family Dodge Caravan (mini-van) when approaching a railroad crossing, come to a complete stop, turn off the radio, and open his door or roll down the window to listen for trains before proceeding across the tracks! Later when it came time to buy a full-size Ford utility van, he discovered with utmost glee that it was the first year that school bus yellow would be offered as an option! He pleaded with his good lady wife to be able to get it in yellow, and though she was not particularly keen on the idea, Mom eventually gave in. Thus, he drove for several years what came to be known as “The Bus.” It came with grey bumpers, but to make it resemble a school bus even more, he painted the bumpers black…and his bus driver friends put number decals of his school bus number on the back window! One time I was driving home and saw a school bus about a half mile ahead of me driving north, and I wondered what sports game our school had up north that day…then I saw it turn into my driveway! It was “The Bus,” not a school bus!

Back when we were still in high school, dad would utilize ingenious methods to get Ryan and me to wake up and get out of bed on the weekends or in the summer. Our ranch-style house in the woods came with a sound system throughout the house with speakers in each room connected to the main stereo in the living room. Each room had volume control knobs so you could choose to listen to the music or not. Dad would sneakily reach into our rooms and turn our volume knobs all the way up. Then he would turn on the first song of the Lion King soundtrack, “Circle of Life,” on full blast. It begins with a sudden loud, “NAAAAAAtsabenYAAAAAA!!!!!…..” by an African man, and if you know the song, you can imagine how hearing that out of nowhere definitely would cause wakefulness, if not accompanying temporary incontinence! Speaking of incontinence, another method my dear father employed to rouse me from my slumber was to enter my room with two glasses, one filled with water. He would pour the water back and forth between the glasses until I had to get up and run to the bathroom to avoid suffering temporary incontinence! He took great delight in these tactics and their success.

Here is an entertaining start to an email from 2002:

Sweetie
or if you've just come in from a run,
Sweatie…

In the summer of 2005, I worked as a camp counselor at a Christian camp in Virginia. Dad sent me perhaps the cheesiest postcard on the face of the earth, with a picture of a bunny on the front and the words, “Some bunny in Michigan loves [or misses] you.” Only he didn’t just send it once. Nor twice. Nor thrice. Rather, he sent perhaps 15-20 of these bunny postcards! The reason being that on the backs of the postcards, he wrote a soap-opera-like story just like he used to do years before on my lunch bags! At some point during the summer, he must have bought out the whole stock of bunny postcards, or perhaps he desired to be even more random and literally cheesy—for it struck his fancy to cut up Cheez-It cracker boxes and make at least another 10-15 postcards from those to finish the epic tale!

A random email a month before dad died:

Subject: Tuesday tidings

Em......
I love you.

dad:-)

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Just a couple hours after finishing the memory tribute on dad’s birthday, February 23, I was back at home and found the emotion finally welling up into tears. I stole away into the darkness outside under the stars to cry and express the cry of my heart to God—“I miss my dad. I just miss my dad.” I came back inside but was still on the verge of tears, missing my dad. My eyes glanced at my bookshelf, and as I looked at a particular book, a page number popped in my mind. So I got up and opened to that page. It was a fiction book I haven’t yet read, but on that page the main character was experiencing heaven—no pain, the best he had ever felt, joy welling up inside him. However, he hadn’t died yet—God was allowing him to see a glimpse of heaven while he was still alive on earth. He saw an army of God’s children from every tribe and tongue, and even though the main character didn’t know what was going on, they did and the anticipation was almost too much for them. I kept reading to see what they were anticipating...

Next, he saw adults, and one in particular in the distance was having difficulty keeping in what he was feeling…he could not contain himself. He asked the Holy Spirit why that one was having so much difficulty, and the Holy Spirit answered, “The one having so much trouble containing himself—that one—is your father.”

Then main character found himself running toward his father, like a little boy wanting his daddy. He was running, not caring for anything but the object of his heart, and he found him. His father was on his knees in tears. “Daddy!...Daddy, I love you!” They embraced, unable to speak through the tears.

Then after that glimpse into heaven was over, the Holy Spirit embraced him and held him as he continued to cry.

I wrote this in my journal right afterward on February 23:

Lord, could this have been any more perfectly fitting?! Just the other day I wrote above that “It was almost as if he [dad] couldn’t contain his love for us” and a few hours ago I typed up how I pictured dad in heaven just overwhelmed by God’s glory and love, on his knees just absolutely overcome and weeping in joyful awe. And now tonight as I was deeply missing my dad on his birthday, Your Sweet Spirit, the Comforter, led me to the passage that could not possibly have fit more perfectly—a person on earth getting a glimpse of heaven and reuniting at long last with his daddy—who was on his knees weeping in overcome awe before they embraced and kissed. “Unable to speak through the tears”—that describes me as I read the passage—my eyes blurring from tears as I pictured dad in heaven and the day I will run into his arms again. It was as if, like the main character, I got a glimpse of heaven and what is to come. I’ve known in my head that I’ll see dad again in heaven, but this was like my heart experiencing that truth after I’d just been crying out to God under the stars that I miss my dad. I will see him again. I will hug him again. And yes, he will be happy to know I will kiss him again :). And I felt the Lord whisper to my heart that the day of this glorious reunion is not too far off in light of eternity. “It’ll come soon enough”—He will sustain and carry me until that day.

And as the main character felt embraced by the Spirit as he continued to cry after experiencing that reunion, so I just melted in tears, overwhelmed by the “God of all comfort” who is so perfectly, tenderly sufficient to carry me through the darkest, deepest valleys. I was crying tears of amazed joyful awe of a God who cares for me so intimately and praising him for how good He is, how beautifully good He is.

As dad said in his final moments on earth, our time on earth is SO SHORT compared to eternity. Soon enough we will be together again in the Lord’s presence. Amen.

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Thanks for your continued interest, prayers, and encouragement. God is showing Himself amazing in terms of the ministry, but also in terms of His tender care.

Blessings,

Em

P.S. So, just a reminder to email me (address above) if you want me to email you the full memory tribute about my dad.

Doors Flying Open..."Complete Turnaround"!

Dumelang! [again this is posted later than it was written..for some reason it wouldn't allow me to post it earlier...Written last Sunday]

Wow…this is gonna be a whirlwind of awesomeness!! So here we go…

Where to begin? Well, I’ll start with how we taught at one of the Junior Secondary Schools in Mochudi this past week. I taught two classes on Monday, and to summarize quickly since I have more exciting stuff to share, it went quite well. We were helping them know the truth about their value in God's eyes and replacing the lies they believe about themselves with truth from His perspective. Thanks for any prayers. While there on Monday, some of the Scripture Union (S.U.) club members recognized me and were asking why we haven’t had the club in so long. The teacher escorting us heard some of them calling to me about S.U. and said that she thinks we can re-start the club next week! The school schedule is still the same, but she thinks the school will allow the S.U. to meet during the last hour of the school day! We haven’t been able to have the club since July, so this was a great thing to hear. Thursday we also started leading the morning assembly for that whole school. They’ve invited us to share every Thursday morning.

More Open Doors!

At the only senior secondary school in Mochudi (the whole district/county for that matter), we are also exciting about the open doors! Due to exams Friday, it looks like I will speak to the Christians during the last hour of the school day this Friday. The abstinence club will likely start the next day or perhaps the following Saturday. Friday I called the guidance/counseling teacher to ask about scheduling for that, and she said she’s been meaning to ask if we at YFC could lead the morning assemblies with the whole student body on a regular basis?! She has invited us to share twice a week! I assumed that we would have to focus only on Life-Skills (i.e. honesty, integrity, responsibility, making healthy choices, withstanding peer pressure, abstinence, etc) and not be openly talking about Christ. But she said, and I quote, “Encourage them to give their lives to Christ, to live for Him.” Wow…can you say “OPEN DOOR?!!” The abstinence club will be the first club YFC has ever had at this school and I believe this might be the first time we’ve had the opportunity to speak at the assembly to the whole school (1700+ students)!

Healing – Physical and Spiritual

Last post I mentioned and requested prayer for Slim’s friend and her brother. Sunday night when the friend called Slim she was in tears as her little 11-year old brother was in the hospital, unconscious and not moving (from a stroke). Things didn’t look too good. Slim’s friend also has been suffering from epileptic seizures, typically 6 a day (3 sets of 2). We hadn’t heard a conclusive update until Slim was able to travel down an hour south to where they live on Wednesday. She called me that night to share the amazing news – her friend hadn’t had a single seizure in a few days and her little brother was fine. Really. He was out of the hospital and back in school on Wednesday!!! It was like it had never happened! Praise God! Thanks so much for any prayers you offered! Slim also found out on Wednesday that her friend has started going to church and seems to really believe!!

This seems to be a trend. After Slim’s radical transformation, it seems that others around her are changing too. One of her main friends from the school in Mochudi has stopped drugs/alcohol too and has started going to church! This was a guy who she said had been a really bad influence on her. Then Slim’s uncle, not knowing that Slim has been transformed, called and invited her to go to hear a famous Christian preacher. Slim thought he was joking because he was definitely NOT a church-goer or a Christian. But he wasn’t joking—he has been transformed by Christ as well! When she told him she is now following Jesus too, he thought she was joking. They both couldn’t believe that the other one is now following Jesus!

Slim wanted to start the follow-up bible study course that YFC offers, and she already finished the first study in one night and wanted the next one. She still has a bible study/fellowship/prayer over the phone in the middle of the night since it’s free then…except now instead of just two of them, there are four young people having conference call fellowship over the phone every night at like 2 am!!

An Unbelievable Turnaround!

Three weeks ago on the 3-year anniversary of my accident, I took the Mochudi student to counseling again for the first time since the first week of December. Just for ease of telling the story, I will call her Tumelo, which is not her real name. [It was through Tumelo that I met Slim, her friend who went to the same school in Mochudi]. On the way back to Mochudi after counseling on February 3, Tumelo picked a song called “The Lost Get Found” by Britt Nicole. She absolutely loved it, played it on repeat the whole rest of the ride, singing it at the top of her lungs by the end! Here are the lyrics:

Hello my friend
I remember when you were
So alive with your wide eyes
Then the light that you had in your heart was stolen
Now you say that it ain't worth stayin'
You wanna run but you're hesitatin'
I'm talkin' to me

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it
There's a girl on the streets, she's cryin'
There's a man whose faith is dyin'
Love is calling you

Why do we go with the flow
Why take an easier road?
Why are we playin' it safe?
Love came to show us the way
Love is a chance we should take
I'm movin' out of the gray

Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
(Stand out)
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found

So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it

Tumelo’s counselor called me in between that session and the next one because she wanted to hear my perspective on how she seems now. She said that it seems like Tumelo has had “a complete turnaround,” and according to her psychology training and the normal stages of progress, Tumelo was far from this point when she last met with her in early December. The counselor found it hard to believe that it was for real, and asked me what I thought. She thought perhaps Tumelo was faking having forgiven the person that hurt her (in order to perhaps dodge the issue) because it seemed very unlikely that she could have changed that much since December and truly forgiven the person. When the counselor last met with Tumelo in early December, Tumelo seemed far from that point of forgiveness, but now she seems to be great friends with the person she had been hating. I said I wasn’t too sure, but it didn’t seem like Tumelo was faking anything. I told the counselor about how Tumelo played that song on the way home over and over again.

Last week seemed the same way—Tumelo kept playing that “The Lost Get Found” song and other Christian ones, like “Oh Happy Day.” Then this past Thursday, was her 18th birthday…an awesome day. I picked her up from school, and on the drive in, she discovered another favorite song, “Sweet Sweet Sound” by Sarah Reeves:

I am an instrument of the living God
My life a melody to His name
More than the songs I sing
Worship is everything
I live to glorify my King

Hear the song of my life
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
I raise this anthem high
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound

Through all the mire and clay
You're washing me with grace
You carry me, oh Lord, through it all
So I will testify even in the fire
I live to praise my Savior

She also played several other clearly Christian songs, including one called “I Believe” about believing in God. After I dropped her off, I drove to a nearby mall, where Slim met me (as we had planned covertly). We ordered pizza and took it back to the YFC centre in Gabs (in the same property complex where Tumelo gets counseling) to surprise Tumelo. I dropped Slim off with the pizzas so she would enter separately and Tumelo wouldn’t see her or me carrying pizzas. Then my housemate Katie had baked some brownies for her the night beforewhich I cut into a heart…so like a brownie cake. Once Tumelo finished counseling, she came across the courtyard, and I let her into the YFC office. Slim was hiding and came out with the brownie cake to surprise her. They hadn’t seen each other since late November (Slim already graduated) so Tumelo screamed from surprised delight and they hugged. A beautiful success! Then as we enjoyed the pizza, Slim invited Tumelo to an upcoming church camp – the same place where God really transformed her life. Tumelo didn’t seem opposed…I think she might have even said she would go. Let’s pray that she will!


Then on the drive back to Mochudi, while “The Lost Get Found” was playing, Tumelo turned down the radio to tell me, “This song got through to me. I hear about God, but this song really got through to me, and it encourages me so much. That and the one I found today [Sweet Sweet Sound]. That’s why I keep playing them over and over. They do something in my heart.” Since the door was open, I asked her how she feels about God these days. She said she doesn’t hate Him anymore and that all the blame she had put on Him has fallen away. She said she hasn’t fully accepted Him yet, but she is on the journey toward that! She said she would like to learn more about the Bible and someone to coach her in that. I told her about the bible study course that Slim just started and she seems interested. This fits with what the counselor had told me that Tumelo had said the first time back on February 3—that she wants to give God a chance and try out the Christian thing. Given that Tumelo seemed to not only be reconciled and “not hating” the person she had so intensely hated, but now she was willing to give God a chance, whom she had also hated when I first met her, it’s not unfounded that the counselor found it almost unbelievable. I mentioned that her friend Slim has had a huge transformation, and Slim’s been praying for her hard-core!


The counselor met with me Friday to tell me about Thursday with Tumelo. She told me that now she realizes Tumelo hasn’t been faking it—she really has forgiven and been reconciled with the person she hated…(much faster than the normal process according to her psychology studies), and she seems serious about giving God a chance in her life! I told the counselor about our conversation about God on the ride home, and how we saw a rainbow as we drove into Mochudi. It seemed like a smile from God…I know I was smiling listening to Tumelo say those words and sing along to those songs. Even before hearing the counselor’s confirming words Friday, I could just sense that she is “for real” and not faking it. I spent about an hour under the stars Thursday night barefoot in the sand with my guitar singing praise to the King, the Redeemer, the One who can soften even the hardest of hearts and transform lives. I think back to when I first met this girl…a suicidal, emotional wreck filled with hatred who wanted nothing to do with God. How cool that her change has been so drastic that the counselor could hardly believe it—“a complete turnaround.” What a privilege it has been to see her transformation. “Tumelo” means faith in Setswana, and it is my hope that she will come to an unshakable faith in Christ. Let’s continue to pray for her as she is nearing that faith…that nothing would hinder her from fully embracing Christ.


Open Doors with College Students!

I’ve briefly mentioned before how I’ve felt God guiding me to start a mentoring program in Gaborone. I hope to share the interesting details of that guidance sometime, but for now, I’ll just share how it’s going getting it started. I thought it would be good to have college-age Christians each paired-up with someone younger, such as a secondary school student in Gaborone to mentor them like a big brother/sister. So I realized that the college students involved in my church’s AIDS prevention program Face the Nation would be great mentors. I talked to the Face the Nation leadership and they thought it sounds like a good idea to let them know about the option. They gave me the contact info for the leaders of the Face the Nation club at the University of Botswana. Right now they are meeting in weekly cell groups, so I’ve contacted the cell group leaders and have been speaking at the cell groups introducing the mentoring program and recruiting them for that and/or volunteering with YFC in other ways. Last week, I spoke at one cell group, Friday at another. Monday and Tuesday are set up for me to share in those cell groups too. The response has been very positive, as most everyone has either wanted to be a mentor or volunteer, or both.


Friday, after I finished sharing with the cell group, I was walking back through the student union and a poster on one of the many bulletin boards caught my eye. It was advertising a prayer meeting on campus. As I took down the number on the poster, a guy standing nearby asked, “So, you are a Christian?” I agreed, and returned the query. He is, and it turns out he was a Face the Nation volunteer last year. He asked if I had been at the Face the Nation School of Discipleship last year. Indeed, I had been there several mornings to sit in on lectures and to visit those for whom I was a prayer partner. When I told him I was just at a Face the Nation cell group sharing about a mentoring program, he said, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about this—where they’ll pair a college student with a secondary student from Gabs?” So he must’ve heard it from someone in the first cell group last week. He said he’s been helping to mentor students he met last year in the schools during their Face the Nation outreaches. He really wants to be a part of this new mentoring program, so I pulled out the sign-up sheet in my bag for him to sign (his name is Lucky, by the way).


I mentioned how we will have volunteer training on an upcoming Saturday, and he mentioned that he has worship band practice on Saturdays. So then I also brought up how I want to start up a worship band at YFC for prayer/worship nights. He seemed interested in that too. Then he mentioned that he couldn’t meet this Saturday (yesterday) for training because he will be at a gathering for Christian tertiary (university/college) students from the Gaborone area. I asked if the Christians from the various colleges and institutions often gather together for fellowship. He said that this was the first time and that I should come—the mentoring program might be something I could share about there (at the Botswana College of Agriculture).


Afterward, I wondered how I would share with everyone there…especially if I arrived and couldn’t find Lucky. I wasn’t about to stand up and make an announcement out of the blue without being invited. And even if I could find Lucky, would he be able to help me make that announcement? But I just went yesterday morning because I figured it could work out somehow. I prayed that God would work it out so I could share about the mentoring program. It turns out that Lucky was the lead singer on the worship team up front with an amazing voice! Then when the worship team sat down, it turns out I had chosen the seat right next to his! Later, when he was up front again, I saw him whispering to the emcee. Then he came down and asked if I would like to share for 5 minutes with everyone? Yes! So they invited “Sister Emily” up to the front podium and handed me a mic to share with everyone about the mentoring program and volunteering!


Then I had the sign-up sheets at the back, and 15 people signed up to be involved! Several of them go to Gaborone Institute for Health Sciences, which I didn’t even know existed, but it is within 1km of the YFC centre in Gabs! I don’t think I could have orchestrated a better scenario if I’d tried. I wouldn’t have even known about all these colleges or how to find Christian volunteers in them had I not happened to meet Lucky Friday. One could say it was indeed lucky that we happened to meet and start talking next to a bulletin board the day before this first inter-college fellowship gathering…that he happened to mention it and invite me…that he happened to be the lead singer up front who could speak to the emcee to invite me to share with everyone. But I can’t say it was lucky. That would seem to deny the divine orchestration. I can’t help but see this “random” meeting with Lucky as a divine appointment, part of God’s design to further His purposes.


This week has been an amazing, wild ride with God! I love it. One of the Face the Nation cell group leaders told me a couple weeks ago, “You are in the right place at the right time!” As time goes on, that seems to be confirmed more and more. Just after meeting Lucky on Friday as I walked to my car on the University campus, I couldn’t contain the smile just thanking God for His obvious hand. Now I have all the more reason to be thankful and in awe of His goodness and orchestration. It’s times like these that I understand more poignantly the scriptures that speak of how He goes before us and that the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. It was right after meeting Lucky that I stopped by and talked to Tumelo’s counselor to hear that good news. You could safely assume that I played a lot of praise music on the drive home!

There’s even more to share, but this has been long enough. Thanks for your continued interest and prayers. God is at work here…and it’s a privilege to partner with Him and be along for the ride!


Many blessings,
Em

Doors opening to work in the schools!

[I forgot to post this to this blog...so here it is from Sunday night, with some updates intersperced]:

Greetings all,

Tomorrow (Monday) I am teaching 2 classes, 40-minutes each, at a junior secondary school here in Mochudi on self-concept and how to withstand peer pressure, especially as it relates to involvement in sex, drugs, and alcohol. It’s the school where I most regularly helped lead the Scripture Union club back before the school schedules changed, making the extra-curricular clubs after school no longer a possibility. Thankfully the school has allowed us in to teach during the school day for this whole week. We have split up the teaching amongst us full-time YFC staff/volunteers and some local Batswana volunteers so that we each teach one or two classes. I will teach at 7:30 am tomorrow and then again at 2:00 pm. Prayers are welcome! [It went well..more details next post]

The same school has also invited us to regularly share with the whole school for 20 minutes each Thursday morning at the assembly! So that’s a huge blessing too…just requires an early morning—assembly starts at 7:00 am. [Starts tomorrow morning!]

At the senior secondary school in Mochudi, the opportunity I had a couple Fridays ago to speak to the students who pledged to abstinence went really well. Again, it was during school hours that I was given this opportunity to speak and 63 students showed up, which took a certain boldness to leave their classes (in essence identifying themselves as those who’ve pledged to abstinence). I was warned that the students in Mochudi can be very disruptive and loud on Friday afternoons, but when I shared with them for the last 45 minutes on that Friday (seemingly the worst possible time-slot), they were extremely attentive and quiet! It was such a blessing. I had them fill out an anonymous questionnaire that, among other things, asked if they had broken their pledge to abstinence since making it back in July (e.g. if they’d had sex since they pledged). I was pleasantly surprised to find that only 2 of them had broken the pledge; 61 had not. One of the questions asked if what they learned during the Face the Nation abstinence curriculum ever influenced them to not have sex when they were in a situation where they otherwise might have…and many of them indicated “yes.” So it is encouraging to see that the efforts to promote abstinence are making a difference.

This school was where I had planned on starting the abstinence club, but again, due to the school schedule changing, the club has been unable to ever start. I asked the 63 students who came to the abstinence talk if they would be interested in coming to the club if we did it on Saturday at the YFC office. I told them to write “Yes” on the back of their anonymous questionnaire if they were interested in going to a club on Saturday. Again, I was amazed that 30 said yes…some in huge letters with exclamation points. So I called up the guidance/counseling teacher (who came to the abstinence talk, and with whom I’ve been in close contact regarding the girl I take to counseling in Gaborone), and told her how many students were interested. She suggested we could meet at the school in a classroom…so that club will start up in the next couple weeks on Saturdays at the school!

Next Friday or the following, I will be speaking to the Christian students at the school during the same timeslot at the end of the school-day. The guidance/counseling teacher has invited me to share whatever I would like to encourage the students. I am still praying about what exactly I will share, but she said I could share my testimony or “something from the Word of God.” What an amazing open door! So prayers are definitely appreciated for that. I will be sharing with them about the ways they can grow in their faith, the programs and resources YFC offers them for free to help them grow, and then whatever else God lays on my heart to share with them.

I have much more to share, including the opportunity last week to speak to some Christians at the University of Botswana and recruit volunteers for the ministry in Gaborone…but I'll wait til next time.

Blessings!

~Em

P.S. I would also like to ask for prayer for the friend of Slim, the girl who I shared about last time. Her friend is suffering from grand mal seizures and just tonight that friend's 11-year old brother had a stroke (or something similar) and is currently unconscious and not moving. Any and all prayers are appreciated. Thanks. [still don't have a conclusive update...Slim is hoping to ride the bus down to visit her friend today to find out more...please keep praying]