Growing ministry!

Ministry Growing in Gaborone and Mochudi!


Dumelang!

I’ll pick up with where I left off…last Thursday (March 11), I rode the bus into the capital Gaborone (Gabs) to observe George (from Namibia) lead the second meeting of a peer-counseling club called P.A.C.T. at a school there. We’ve decided that I will help George co-lead that club…I’ll share more about that further down. My last post mentioned my quest for chicken in Gabs (since I hadn’t had it yet in Botswana), and… I did indeed partake of the blessed fowl...Kentucky Fried Chicken to be exact! I wanted to try Chicken Licken but they wouldn't take VISA and I needed my cash for the bus fare. So KFC it was. Beautiful. It's the only American restaurant in Botswana. No Mickey D's, no Burger King, no Taco Bell, no Wendy's or Arby's, no Pizza Hut or Dominoes...just KFC. They know what's important here...chicken. haha. I am extremely thankful for that. A little of the Colonel's secret recipe here and again is a true treat.

Let’s see… the day after that I led the hour-long weekly staff prayer meeting…and then the next interesting thing was going to the Mochudi School of the Blind on Monday, March 16 with Koekoes (South African) and Potlako (Motswana—from Botswana). They led games, singing, bible study/verse memorization with them. The kids ranged from really little (4 or 5 years) to maybe 16. YFC leads a program there every Monday afternoon with the kids, and it's evident they really enjoy it. Many of the kids have some vision so they can walk around and play. It was beautiful to hear them sing a song for us. I saw two Americans volunteering for a few weeks at that school. I realized I had not seen (to my knowledge) another American for exactly one month, since I got off the plane in Johannesburg! That is the longest stretch in my life...even on mission trips or the trip to Bangladesh, I was on the trip with other Americans.

The following day (Tuesday, March 16), I went to the Scripture Union club that Sara (German) and Clive (English) run at a junior secondary school here in Mochudi. They are going through the follow-up bible study curriculum that YFC created as a means of discipleship (so each club meeting they cover one of the bible studies that the kids are doing on their own as well). Tuesday’s topic was the purity lesson, sharing God’s plan for sex in marriage and encouraging abstinence before marriage as a means of AIDS prevention. In our daily staff prayer meeting that morning, we prayed for more students than usual to come to hear the important message that is key in the fight against AIDS here. When we arrived, there were already more students than normal waiting for us, and then the number swelled to almost twice what is normal – the biggest amount ever! I sat in the back just smiling, thinking, “Wow...God is answering our prayer before our eyes—He’s bringing the kids here!” Sara said she really felt the Lord guiding her words as she presented, and we all left in awe of God’s work among and through us. I now regularly help Sara and Clive lead the Scripture Union club on Mondays here in Mochudi.

A couple days later (Thurs March 18), I rode the bus again to Gabs early in the morning to plan the P.A.C.T. club lesson with George. P.A.C.T. stands for Peer Approach to the Counseling of Teens. So it is a club that meets weekly on Thursdays at a school in Gaborone. Basically, we train and pour into teens who want to counsel their peers through life issues and encourage them peers to make good choices. We are currently developing the curriculum, incorporating the topics/issues the members suggested (i.e. teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, abstinence, peer-pressure, decision-making, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, etc). I am thankful for this opportunity to develop long-term relationships with these youth and, from a biblical perspective, to help them through their own issues so they can then help their peers. Studies have shown the effectiveness of peer counseling in causing positive behavior change and reducing the spread of HIV, so I am stoked to be a part of this. I co-led the lesson with George that day on their worth/value in God’s eyes—and the love and affirmation that they have from God. That is foundational for so much of what we will be covering because if they can truly grasp and internalize who God says they are (their true identity in Christ), then they can better withstand peer pressure to engage in risky behavior (i.e. sex, drugs, alcohol, etc)— they won’t need to be affirmed by their peers as much if they grasp the love and affirmation of God.

The plan is that I will work Tuesdays and Thursdays in Gaborone. We are also currently trying to get permission to go into schools there during the break time in the mornings to build relationships with teens. At a private, non-religious school, there is a thrilling prospect—a teacher has expressed interest in YFC coming to minister there, and has offered to be the advisor. A few of the teens who attend that school also play in the worship band at the church in Gaborone that many of the YFC staff attend. It sounds like it may work out for me to form a band with them so we’d lead praise and worship during the break time! That would be amazing! Another stellar opportunity is that I’ve been invited to help lead three one-day camps for teens that will be put on at an international school in Gaborone by Christians visiting from an Asia. Finally, there is a Motswana (from Botswana) man who is interested in helping YFC in Gaborone if he can raise enough funds, and just yesterday we got an email from a Motswana 22-year old woman who would also like to help YFC in Gaborone! Right now is the most international volunteers that YFC Botswana has ever had as well.  God is raising up His servants to impact the youth of Botswana!