Hello everyone!!
After the cool “divine appointment” with the attorney on Tuesday, I wrote in my journal the next day how letting God lead your life is such a blessed adventure – “Lord, I love the adventure of life with You at the helm…such a blessed adventure with You. I love it. I love you.” Then the next day, I was amazed yet again by another day of cool opportunities…
I spent all day Thursday with one other YFC staff member, Sara, at a Government consultative workshop to help revise the Botswana National Youth Policy, which hasn’t been revised since 1996. We suggested policy changes and strategies in the areas of youth employment, poverty and hunger, the environment, science and IT, leadership development, vulnerable youth/orphans, recreation/sport/creative arts, education/training, health – HIV/AIDS prevention and care, moral and spiritual development, gender issues –i.e. working for equality and empowerment of females, and positive cultural values.
Some quick facts listed in the policy are that according to a 2001 Census the youth account for 38.4 % of the national population in Botswana. The estimated 2009 HIV prevalence was 12.3% for those 20-24 years and 25.9% for those 25-29 years old. So in my age bracket, 1 in 4 people has HIV/AIDS.
There were people there from the government, private sector, NGOs, and youth organizations like YFC. Sara and I were the only two makgua (white people), the only two non-Batswana in the meeting of about 25 youth representatives. Basically the government wants to create a new National Youth Policy and Action Plan to implement the policy because the 1996 is definitely outdated in terms of current concerns. The hope is to present it in July to the Parliament to be approved and implemented. They want to publicize it so that it is well-known through newspapers, a press conference, radio, TV, and on their website. Our comments would help revise and enhance the policy.
So they split us up into groups, each group focusing on three of the strategic areas mentioned above. I was in the group that worked on the last three – moral and spiritual development, gender issues, and culture values. There were 5 people in my group, and I knew nothing about them. So when we began talking about strategies to foster moral and spiritual development, I did not know where they stood in terms of beliefs…
The conversation initially focused on whether we should have a law passed where youth have IDs and are carded at pubs, and underage youth are not able to purchase alcohol. They were discussing that for quite some time (mainly in Setswana), but after awhile I shared that while it’s not bad to have such a law, I think we need to focus on the deeper issues of the youth’s moral and spiritual development. Instead of focusing on how to catch youth in pubs and forcefully changing their behavior, why don’t we try to change their hearts and morals so that they won’t want to go to the pub in the first place? I shared how the youth are thirsting after something to fulfill them, to satisfy them. They are searching for love and acceptance, and they think it can come from their peers, which then increases the peer pressure to engage in risky behaviors, like drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. I shared that as a Christian, my relationship with Christ fulfills me…and likewise when I was a teenager, I didn’t feel the need to engage in those risky behaviors to fulfill me. So I shared that if we could help youth grow spiritually, then we would see the morality falling in line as a result.
Then I mentioned how Youth for Christ goes into schools and helps promote a lifestyle of morals and abstinence from alcohol, drugs, and sex until marriage ….all flowing from a personal relationship with Christ. The secretary for our group wrote down as one of our strategies: “Young people need spiritual guidance to build their morals, teach them about responsibilities—that teaching can be done at schools by youth organizations like Youth for Christ and BOFWA.” I wasn’t expecting that she would write YFC into the suggested strategy, but hey, that’s cool with me!
For gender issues, one of my suggestions was written down for our group and shared with the whole group: “Teaching girls job skills and how to start their own businesses (possibly with micro-credit/micro-loan programs) so they can be financially independent.”
For the culture section, I suggested that the government enforce policies that protect people’s religious freedom and ensure that the teaching of culture does not violate religious freedom, e.g. it does not force youth to embrace or take part in traditional religious practices which they do not believe. This is currently a big issue in Mochudi (for more details, email me and I’ll email you more). I was one of our group presenters and thus was able to share those things with the whole assembly and the government youth representatives present. I was also able to suggest that perhaps the government could help groups like YFC to get in to more schools to share about moral and spiritual development, because now it is hard to get into schools. How cool to think that the government could actually help to get Christian groups into schools to present to students! [It was interesting that to start this government-led workshop, one of the government youth department workers asked for someone to pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance in our meeting].
We won’t know how much bearing our comments will have, but it was a very encouraging day to be able to share our thoughts, concerns, and strategies in all these areas and see that our comments and thoughts were valued and recorded. It felt like such a privilege to be there and have the opportunity to make some small impact. They are doing several of these consultative workshops throughout the country to gain feedback and insight from the youth and young people. It was also very refreshing to see the people of Botswana acknowledging and addressing the issues facing youth and working to create strategies and action plans to implement them. The proposed National Youth Policy which we were revising is 55 pages long (and we can still read through it more thoroughly and send in our revisions and ideas to the Department of Youth office. The Action Plan to implement the strategies is 48 pages long, and most of the policy and action plan I totally agree with already and hope that it can be implemented effectively.
Ok, back to more of the cool stories of the day. After I had shared with my group about how Christ fulfills me and if we can help youth experience that, they won’t feel the need or desire to engage in risky behaviors…soon after that, it was tea time and one of the other group members told me that she is a Christian. After tea time we finished our strategies and then the conversation unexpectedly turned to focus totally on Christ. The group members were often speaking in Setswana, but all of sudden, the one who identified herself as a Christian said in English to the young woman next to me… “We died with Christ, and were raised with Christ...we have been justified, and now we are being sanctified…and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So that was like, “Whoa…ok, apparently we’re talking about Christ now!” So I whipped out my bible, which I had decided to bring along for some reason. I was able to find the verse she was trying to cite (Romans 8:1) and show it to the girl next to me. Then the guy to my left asked her to share about why she is born again…and then I asked him the same question.
He then shared that he realized he was such a sinner and that he needed to instead be on the straight and narrow way. He shared how he had been living with his girlfriend in 2005 and one day when he went to Gabs (the capital), she was murdered. He was the prime suspect because he was the boyfriend, and he was thrown in jail. He was imprisoned for 8 months until the lawyers fighting for him could prove that it could not have been him. During that time in jail, people from Prison Fellowship, a Christian ministry, shared the gospel with him and he gave his life to Christ and has been living for Him ever since! He invited me to his church, so I might check it out some Sunday. The other young woman told me how to get to her church too. She was sharing with me that it’s great that God could use his imprisonment to help bring him to cry out to the Lord. She said it often happens that we cry out to God and spend more time with Him when things are bad…and we talked about how we should spend time with God even in the good times because He is worthy and we should praise Him at all times. While we were having this conversation, the next seeming divine appointment arrived…
Right then, a 19-year old guy came up to me and showed me a riddle he’d been trying unsuccessfully to figure out. He said he got it from his pastor. He had it written down in a notebook and held it out for me to read. It was something like this:
A word gives birth to a word, and this word becomes extinct so that many words could have eternal meaning.
Well, I said it sounds like a very unique, interesting (not totally accurate!) way of explaining the basic gospel message…that a Word (God) gives birth to a Word (Jesus, the Word made flesh), and this word becomes extinct (dies on the cross) so that many words (people) could have eternal meaning (eternal life). I showed him John 1 where it talks about the Word being made flesh…and then John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” I said it’s important to note that it’s not just everyone who has eternal life, but only those who believe and trust in Christ. Then I just felt led to ask him, “Have you done that? Have you believed and trusted in Christ?” And he honestly said, “No…I just go to church, but I haven’t made that commitment yet.” I asked, “What’s holding you back?”
After he shrugged, I felt led to share the Victoria Falls analogy about how it’s not enough to just go to church, do good things, or even know that Jesus died and rose again (even demons believe that). So I drew out a picture of it and was explaining the gospel with my bible there…we were almost finished when we had to break for lunch. We intended to continue the conversation later, but the conference went an hour past schedule (so it was 8 am- 5 pm). Meanwhile, Sara had invited him to come to the Coffee Bar outreach where we could talk more with him. In my bag I had a little booklet that briefly explains the basic gospel message, so I was able to give that to him so he can read it over before we talk again at Coffee Bar. It was just really cool to see how God orchestrated that…using a riddle that refers to the gospel. And how these opportunities opened up at a government meeting, so that we were talking about Jesus for much of the day! If you feel led, please pray for this 19-year old guy and for our conversations in the future. We don’t have Coffee Bar this weekend, but next.
I will be on the missionary conference Monday through Wednesday, so I'll update you after that!
Blessings,
Em
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Retreats, 4K, divine appt with Attorney!
Greetings everyone!!! Lots of cool things to report!
Refresh Retreat – Learned of a Breakthrough!
YFC and a church in Gaborone partnered to put on the first ever youth retreat weekend in this area as a follow-up to the Youth Week camp in South Africa that YFC runs for nearly 1,000 teens from across southern Africa. About 60 youth attended, and six of us YFC Botswana staff helped out. I met the youth pastor of the church, and he was amazed to hear the fresh news that we as YFC have permission to go into the non-religious private school in Gaborone, talk with students and hopefully start a praise and worship band during their break times. Apparently, it has been near impossible to get into that school with a Christian organization. Our ability to minister there seems to be a true breakthrough, which was further confirmed when I spoke that night to the whole retreat—after I mentioned that we have an open door to start working at that school, I was surprised to be interrupted by cheers and clapping from the youth interns and several youth who had amazed looks on their faces! So praise the Lord for this breakthrough, and please pray that God would guide us in how to pioneer the ministry there and to find students to join me in a worship band. At the retreat, I befriended a student from that school named Linet who signed up to get involved in YFC, as did several other students.
Refreshing Fellowship and Recreation
The retreat was called “Refresh,” and its title was an apt description. It was quite refreshing to be able to meet and befriend so many youth and leaders from Gaborone, where I will be focusing my ministry initially. In informal fellowship times, I had the opportunity to share my Botswana calling story with a couple people and share my accident/recovery testimony with one of the worship leaders, who was fighting back tears at the part about extending mercy to the man who hit us. I was also able to lead a devotion time in the morning and had the privilege of counseling and praying with a teen girl who wants to live fully for Christ now every day. Though she lives hours away, she was thankful to learn that we can help disciple her with the YFC correspondence follow-up bible studies.
It was also refreshing to have extended times of praise and worship led by an extremely talented youth band and to realize that they play/sing many of the same songs here that I’ve led in worship in the U.S. I find it a beautiful thing that people from Botswana, America, and my housemates from Europe all know and are singing the same worship songs to our Lord. I hadn’t been sure how my worship-leading style would “go over” here, and was willing to adapt to the Botswana style of worship; but now I am excited to realize that it is primarily very similar with the same instruments (guitars, bass, drum-set, etc) and style of worship, even for the songs in Setswana.
The outdoor pool and the beautiful setting next to a river with wild monkeys swinging in the trees were other refreshing aspects. It was also the first time I’ve really felt the sensation of being cold while in Botswana, and it gloriously coincided with the ability to have my first warm shower here! Refreshing indeed!
4K race!
The last day of the retreat (April 18), five of us housemates ran in a 4K as part of the first annual Gaborone Marathon. My left knee had been giving me grief since my 27th birthday on April 6 (my body knew I got older, haha!) So because of that and getting sick, I hadn’t run since April 6. Thankfully, the 4K went well, and my knee has been fine. It was great to see the improvement from my last 4K race in October (my fastest time in training on April 6 was over 6 minutes faster than my time in October!). Praise God I’m feeling more and more back to “normal” in terms of physical recovery.
Divine Appointment?? Methinks…
So yesterday I found out I needed to get a document notarized. Unlike in the States where you can roll up to a bank and find a notary as easy as finding a cop in a donut shop, here you actually have to go to an attorney and they charge anywhere from $15-$45 just to notarize/certify a document! But I needed to get it done, so I drove my first solo trip in my car to Gabs (Gaborone) to find the attorney. The first one I tried to locate I could not find anywhere on the short street it is supposedly on. Thus, I called one that was nearby to ask how much they charge…the same ($15 per sheet). So I drove to their law office, finding it successfully. However, once back in the attorney’s office and ready to have it notorized, he realized that he had run out of his stamps/official seals. He apologized and sent me with a “messenger” (one of the secretaries) who rode in my car and directed me to a nearby attorney’s office where they could notorize my document. Notorization was successful. I asked the “messenger” where I was supposed to pay, and she said at her law office. Thus, we got back in my sweet ride and I drove her back to the original office. By the time I had locked my car and set the alarm (it was a bad area of town with lots of thieves, she said), she was already back in her office out of sight and the receptionist was yacking with another man. Thus, I just sat down, waiting…wondering…Who do I pay? Where do I pay?
Then the attorney (who’d run out of stamps) came out and saw me sitting there. He asked if it all worked out at the other law office (affirmative). Then I asked who I should pay, and he said, “Oh no, I ran out of stamps…you do not have to pay anything.” Sweetness! Then it gets better…so I’m walking out to leave and he asks where I work, or what I’m doing here in Botswana, and I replied that I work for Youth for Christ. “Oh! You should preach to me!...I’m wanting to learn more about God…we should have a conversation sometime because I am figuring out what I believe.” He had already given me his business card earlier, so he asked me to call and possibly we could talk more about God. I said, “So you are spiritually seeking?” and he replied, “Yes…and you’re a missionary…we should talk.” He said he’s gone a few times to a church in Gaborone (and it happens to be the same one I go to most weeks, the one we just partnered with to run the Refresh Retreat!). So we will probably see each other there sometime. I called him last night and shared that another YFC staff, George, and I could meet with him sometime after church or after work on a weekday in Gabs to talk more with him. He liked that idea, and we’ll be in touch to find a time that works!
How crazy-cool is that?! I rode home from the attorney’s office praising God for His obvious hand in leading me to that particular attorney. I had praise and worship music playing through the sound system wire I got for 15 cents last time I was in Gabs, just smiling in awe of how I just got a $15-$45 service for free and an open door to share more with a man who is spiritually seeking!! God is amazing! So some days it’s a taxi driver, other days an attorney…it’s cool to see who God has us cross paths with if we are willing to be His witness.
Upcoming Conferences and Trips
Tomorrow, I am attending the Botswana Department of Youth, Mochudi Youth Office consultative workshop as one of the two YFC representatives for an all day conference on the Draft Revised National Youth Policy. I honestly don’t know exactly what that means, but I’ll let you know on the flip side!
Then Friday, I hope to drive to a village about 1.5 hours away to meet up with the YFC Botswana dance/drama team. They are doing a weeklong outreach there, and I thought it’d be cool to go for a day or two to experience it (since it is similar to what I hope to do with a full-time team in the future here). So I will probably leave Friday, spend the night there, and come back Saturday.
Then Monday through Wednesday, I will be attending (and possibly helping to facilitate) a Botswana Missionary Conference called Joining Hands, where all the missionaries who work in Botswana get together and network to reach Botswana for Christ. It is the 13th annual conference, and it happens to be held at the same beautiful camp where the Refresh Retreat was! So, this means…beauty, monkeys, pool, warm showers, glory! And moreso, I am excited to learn more about what everyone is doing in Botswana and how we can work together to further God’s kingdom here. The missionaries in northern Botswana who I worked with in 2004 will attend. One of them is on the board of directors organizing the conference, as is Koekoes from YFC.
Alright, well, this has been long, but I doubt I will have internet access due to all these conferences and retreats until next Thursday. So, I figured a long one can tide you over til then (and explain what I’m doing so if you feel led to pray you can!).
God is good!
~Em
P.S. I needed to get another thing notorized just now, and I decided to try the police station here in Mochudi where I heard there is a Commissioner of Oaths (like a notary in the U.S.). A bank worker told me to try there (they didn't have a notary there). I figured I'd just ask if it was possible at the police station and how much it might cost (my housemates said they usually have to go to their embassy though one time the police did it, but in Gabs not Mochudi). But I figured it was worth a shot instead of driving back to Gabs and paying $15 for it at the attorney. So I just went there, and they had me come in to the police office and sit with the Commissioner of Oaths police officer. He asked why I didn't go to my embassy, and I said they haven't returned my call, and I was just checking to see if it were possible here and how much it would cost... He proceeded to just do it with no problem and didn't charge me anything! Sweetness.
Refresh Retreat – Learned of a Breakthrough!
YFC and a church in Gaborone partnered to put on the first ever youth retreat weekend in this area as a follow-up to the Youth Week camp in South Africa that YFC runs for nearly 1,000 teens from across southern Africa. About 60 youth attended, and six of us YFC Botswana staff helped out. I met the youth pastor of the church, and he was amazed to hear the fresh news that we as YFC have permission to go into the non-religious private school in Gaborone, talk with students and hopefully start a praise and worship band during their break times. Apparently, it has been near impossible to get into that school with a Christian organization. Our ability to minister there seems to be a true breakthrough, which was further confirmed when I spoke that night to the whole retreat—after I mentioned that we have an open door to start working at that school, I was surprised to be interrupted by cheers and clapping from the youth interns and several youth who had amazed looks on their faces! So praise the Lord for this breakthrough, and please pray that God would guide us in how to pioneer the ministry there and to find students to join me in a worship band. At the retreat, I befriended a student from that school named Linet who signed up to get involved in YFC, as did several other students.
Refreshing Fellowship and Recreation
The retreat was called “Refresh,” and its title was an apt description. It was quite refreshing to be able to meet and befriend so many youth and leaders from Gaborone, where I will be focusing my ministry initially. In informal fellowship times, I had the opportunity to share my Botswana calling story with a couple people and share my accident/recovery testimony with one of the worship leaders, who was fighting back tears at the part about extending mercy to the man who hit us. I was also able to lead a devotion time in the morning and had the privilege of counseling and praying with a teen girl who wants to live fully for Christ now every day. Though she lives hours away, she was thankful to learn that we can help disciple her with the YFC correspondence follow-up bible studies.
It was also refreshing to have extended times of praise and worship led by an extremely talented youth band and to realize that they play/sing many of the same songs here that I’ve led in worship in the U.S. I find it a beautiful thing that people from Botswana, America, and my housemates from Europe all know and are singing the same worship songs to our Lord. I hadn’t been sure how my worship-leading style would “go over” here, and was willing to adapt to the Botswana style of worship; but now I am excited to realize that it is primarily very similar with the same instruments (guitars, bass, drum-set, etc) and style of worship, even for the songs in Setswana.
The outdoor pool and the beautiful setting next to a river with wild monkeys swinging in the trees were other refreshing aspects. It was also the first time I’ve really felt the sensation of being cold while in Botswana, and it gloriously coincided with the ability to have my first warm shower here! Refreshing indeed!
4K race!
The last day of the retreat (April 18), five of us housemates ran in a 4K as part of the first annual Gaborone Marathon. My left knee had been giving me grief since my 27th birthday on April 6 (my body knew I got older, haha!) So because of that and getting sick, I hadn’t run since April 6. Thankfully, the 4K went well, and my knee has been fine. It was great to see the improvement from my last 4K race in October (my fastest time in training on April 6 was over 6 minutes faster than my time in October!). Praise God I’m feeling more and more back to “normal” in terms of physical recovery.
Divine Appointment?? Methinks…
So yesterday I found out I needed to get a document notarized. Unlike in the States where you can roll up to a bank and find a notary as easy as finding a cop in a donut shop, here you actually have to go to an attorney and they charge anywhere from $15-$45 just to notarize/certify a document! But I needed to get it done, so I drove my first solo trip in my car to Gabs (Gaborone) to find the attorney. The first one I tried to locate I could not find anywhere on the short street it is supposedly on. Thus, I called one that was nearby to ask how much they charge…the same ($15 per sheet). So I drove to their law office, finding it successfully. However, once back in the attorney’s office and ready to have it notorized, he realized that he had run out of his stamps/official seals. He apologized and sent me with a “messenger” (one of the secretaries) who rode in my car and directed me to a nearby attorney’s office where they could notorize my document. Notorization was successful. I asked the “messenger” where I was supposed to pay, and she said at her law office. Thus, we got back in my sweet ride and I drove her back to the original office. By the time I had locked my car and set the alarm (it was a bad area of town with lots of thieves, she said), she was already back in her office out of sight and the receptionist was yacking with another man. Thus, I just sat down, waiting…wondering…Who do I pay? Where do I pay?
Then the attorney (who’d run out of stamps) came out and saw me sitting there. He asked if it all worked out at the other law office (affirmative). Then I asked who I should pay, and he said, “Oh no, I ran out of stamps…you do not have to pay anything.” Sweetness! Then it gets better…so I’m walking out to leave and he asks where I work, or what I’m doing here in Botswana, and I replied that I work for Youth for Christ. “Oh! You should preach to me!...I’m wanting to learn more about God…we should have a conversation sometime because I am figuring out what I believe.” He had already given me his business card earlier, so he asked me to call and possibly we could talk more about God. I said, “So you are spiritually seeking?” and he replied, “Yes…and you’re a missionary…we should talk.” He said he’s gone a few times to a church in Gaborone (and it happens to be the same one I go to most weeks, the one we just partnered with to run the Refresh Retreat!). So we will probably see each other there sometime. I called him last night and shared that another YFC staff, George, and I could meet with him sometime after church or after work on a weekday in Gabs to talk more with him. He liked that idea, and we’ll be in touch to find a time that works!
How crazy-cool is that?! I rode home from the attorney’s office praising God for His obvious hand in leading me to that particular attorney. I had praise and worship music playing through the sound system wire I got for 15 cents last time I was in Gabs, just smiling in awe of how I just got a $15-$45 service for free and an open door to share more with a man who is spiritually seeking!! God is amazing! So some days it’s a taxi driver, other days an attorney…it’s cool to see who God has us cross paths with if we are willing to be His witness.
Upcoming Conferences and Trips
Tomorrow, I am attending the Botswana Department of Youth, Mochudi Youth Office consultative workshop as one of the two YFC representatives for an all day conference on the Draft Revised National Youth Policy. I honestly don’t know exactly what that means, but I’ll let you know on the flip side!
Then Friday, I hope to drive to a village about 1.5 hours away to meet up with the YFC Botswana dance/drama team. They are doing a weeklong outreach there, and I thought it’d be cool to go for a day or two to experience it (since it is similar to what I hope to do with a full-time team in the future here). So I will probably leave Friday, spend the night there, and come back Saturday.
Then Monday through Wednesday, I will be attending (and possibly helping to facilitate) a Botswana Missionary Conference called Joining Hands, where all the missionaries who work in Botswana get together and network to reach Botswana for Christ. It is the 13th annual conference, and it happens to be held at the same beautiful camp where the Refresh Retreat was! So, this means…beauty, monkeys, pool, warm showers, glory! And moreso, I am excited to learn more about what everyone is doing in Botswana and how we can work together to further God’s kingdom here. The missionaries in northern Botswana who I worked with in 2004 will attend. One of them is on the board of directors organizing the conference, as is Koekoes from YFC.
Alright, well, this has been long, but I doubt I will have internet access due to all these conferences and retreats until next Thursday. So, I figured a long one can tide you over til then (and explain what I’m doing so if you feel led to pray you can!).
God is good!
~Em
P.S. I needed to get another thing notorized just now, and I decided to try the police station here in Mochudi where I heard there is a Commissioner of Oaths (like a notary in the U.S.). A bank worker told me to try there (they didn't have a notary there). I figured I'd just ask if it was possible at the police station and how much it might cost (my housemates said they usually have to go to their embassy though one time the police did it, but in Gabs not Mochudi). But I figured it was worth a shot instead of driving back to Gabs and paying $15 for it at the attorney. So I just went there, and they had me come in to the police office and sit with the Commissioner of Oaths police officer. He asked why I didn't go to my embassy, and I said they haven't returned my call, and I was just checking to see if it were possible here and how much it would cost... He proceeded to just do it with no problem and didn't charge me anything! Sweetness.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Zebras, birthday, sickness/recovery
Dumelang!
The day before Easter, a board member of YFC and his wife took all of us housemates out for dinner again at Spur in honor of my birthday on April 6. Then he, Ant (short for Anthony) took us on a game drive through the Gaborone game reserve. We just rode in his vehicle and it was quite cheap (like a dollar per person). We actually saw lots of wildlife – impala, ostriches, warthogs (some baby warthogs too!), and lots of zebras! We got out of the car and took pictures of the zebras only about 35 or 40 feet away. Then we went back to Ant and Nellie’s house for some dessert.
The next day was Easter and we celebrated at church in Gaborone; and the next day (Monday April 5) we each paid about 20 dollars to go on a safari with a guide at a park called Mokolodi. Interestingly, because of the recent rains, there were not many animals out and about at all (since they don’t need to go to the watering holes as much). So in our 2 hour safari, we saw less animals than in our really cheap game drive in Gaborone. Go figure! But the hilly scenery was quite beautiful with hills/mountains in the distance and good views from the high points. We did see a couple cheetahs and a hyena that they adopted from a young age, so they live in an enclosed part of the reserve and are fed because they lack the natural instincts to survive in the wild.
The following day (April 6) was my 27th birthday. I started it out with a brisk 4K run…and later in the day my body must’ve known I got older because my left knee started hurting and swelling for the first time I can remember. After a few days resting from running, it feels better now. Right as the knee was starting to improve, I got sick with a fever/stomach bug. I had to register my car under my name instead of the previous owner, and I had to do it that day, so I waited in a long, hot line outside. Then to get out of the penetrating sun, people at the front of the line were crammed into the small indoor office. So many people that it was stuffy and quite hot. Since I wasn’t feeling the best already, I started sweating like crazy and felt nauseous, so I left to get some fresh air outside in the shade. Again I went back in and was ok until right before my turn, another wave of nausea came over me, but by God’s grace I made it through to get the registration. The same day (Thursday, April 8) I also got insurance for my car and made my first trip to Gaborone in my car to fetch a YFC missionary care coach named Lynn from the airport. I met her last May when she led a YFC retreat in Colorado, and she keeps up with me through email and phone. It was great to have her here for four days.
Once we picked her up from the airport, I decided to be adventurous and try to find a shopping mall that has the store that E.J. (YFC Botswana director) said sells wires needed to work an mp3 player in my car. So after a slight detour thanks to some erroneous directions, we arrived there. And I’m thankful we did. I walked into the store, asked a clerk if they had these wires for a car sound system. Then this guy opens up a cabinet inaccessible to customers and says, “Well, we just sold out of them, but there is this one left. It is already opened because I was using it to test something, but you can have it for one buck…You can try it out with your mp3 player to make sure it works.” So I got mine, tested it, and sure enough it worked swimmingly. Not only was there that cable but also a charger to charge my mp3 player in the car! All for 0.95 thebe – less than one pula! Translated into American dollars, we’re looking at about 15 cents!!!!! Craziness!!! So I went to pay for it, and sure enough it was less than one pula. The cashier just smiled giving it to me and the smile was huge on my face too – all of us knew I was getting a ridiculously amazing price…literally almost a steal!! Thank you Lord for crazy cheap things!! This is NOT normal here…things are quite comparably priced to the U.S., so it was a true blessing, and now I can ride in style with my tunes. Sweetness!
I’ve been taking it easy since then with the sickness bug I had…the doctor gave me medicine and wanted me to stay home and rest. So today is actually my first day back at the office, and this afternoon a few of us are going to help out at a camp for high school kids this weekend. I’m super excited to go—being stuck at home was slightly like being a prisoner…I only ate bread and water for the most part, I couldn’t really leave because I was supposed to rest, and there are bars on the windows! (all the houses/buildings here have bars on the windows for security). So today is a taste of freedom and thankfully more tasteful food! The camp even has a pool I hear! If I’m feeling up to it and my knee is all good, I am registered to race in a 4K on Sunday…I know with the knee and sickness lately it won’t be the best time I could do right now, but I hope I can at least enjoy a ‘fun run’ as they call it.
Alright, well, I’ll let you know next week how it all turned out. Prayers would be appreciated for the camp to spiritually impact the teens and for everyone’s health (as this bug has been going around). Take care.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
~Em
The day before Easter, a board member of YFC and his wife took all of us housemates out for dinner again at Spur in honor of my birthday on April 6. Then he, Ant (short for Anthony) took us on a game drive through the Gaborone game reserve. We just rode in his vehicle and it was quite cheap (like a dollar per person). We actually saw lots of wildlife – impala, ostriches, warthogs (some baby warthogs too!), and lots of zebras! We got out of the car and took pictures of the zebras only about 35 or 40 feet away. Then we went back to Ant and Nellie’s house for some dessert.
The next day was Easter and we celebrated at church in Gaborone; and the next day (Monday April 5) we each paid about 20 dollars to go on a safari with a guide at a park called Mokolodi. Interestingly, because of the recent rains, there were not many animals out and about at all (since they don’t need to go to the watering holes as much). So in our 2 hour safari, we saw less animals than in our really cheap game drive in Gaborone. Go figure! But the hilly scenery was quite beautiful with hills/mountains in the distance and good views from the high points. We did see a couple cheetahs and a hyena that they adopted from a young age, so they live in an enclosed part of the reserve and are fed because they lack the natural instincts to survive in the wild.
The following day (April 6) was my 27th birthday. I started it out with a brisk 4K run…and later in the day my body must’ve known I got older because my left knee started hurting and swelling for the first time I can remember. After a few days resting from running, it feels better now. Right as the knee was starting to improve, I got sick with a fever/stomach bug. I had to register my car under my name instead of the previous owner, and I had to do it that day, so I waited in a long, hot line outside. Then to get out of the penetrating sun, people at the front of the line were crammed into the small indoor office. So many people that it was stuffy and quite hot. Since I wasn’t feeling the best already, I started sweating like crazy and felt nauseous, so I left to get some fresh air outside in the shade. Again I went back in and was ok until right before my turn, another wave of nausea came over me, but by God’s grace I made it through to get the registration. The same day (Thursday, April 8) I also got insurance for my car and made my first trip to Gaborone in my car to fetch a YFC missionary care coach named Lynn from the airport. I met her last May when she led a YFC retreat in Colorado, and she keeps up with me through email and phone. It was great to have her here for four days.
Once we picked her up from the airport, I decided to be adventurous and try to find a shopping mall that has the store that E.J. (YFC Botswana director) said sells wires needed to work an mp3 player in my car. So after a slight detour thanks to some erroneous directions, we arrived there. And I’m thankful we did. I walked into the store, asked a clerk if they had these wires for a car sound system. Then this guy opens up a cabinet inaccessible to customers and says, “Well, we just sold out of them, but there is this one left. It is already opened because I was using it to test something, but you can have it for one buck…You can try it out with your mp3 player to make sure it works.” So I got mine, tested it, and sure enough it worked swimmingly. Not only was there that cable but also a charger to charge my mp3 player in the car! All for 0.95 thebe – less than one pula! Translated into American dollars, we’re looking at about 15 cents!!!!! Craziness!!! So I went to pay for it, and sure enough it was less than one pula. The cashier just smiled giving it to me and the smile was huge on my face too – all of us knew I was getting a ridiculously amazing price…literally almost a steal!! Thank you Lord for crazy cheap things!! This is NOT normal here…things are quite comparably priced to the U.S., so it was a true blessing, and now I can ride in style with my tunes. Sweetness!
I’ve been taking it easy since then with the sickness bug I had…the doctor gave me medicine and wanted me to stay home and rest. So today is actually my first day back at the office, and this afternoon a few of us are going to help out at a camp for high school kids this weekend. I’m super excited to go—being stuck at home was slightly like being a prisoner…I only ate bread and water for the most part, I couldn’t really leave because I was supposed to rest, and there are bars on the windows! (all the houses/buildings here have bars on the windows for security). So today is a taste of freedom and thankfully more tasteful food! The camp even has a pool I hear! If I’m feeling up to it and my knee is all good, I am registered to race in a 4K on Sunday…I know with the knee and sickness lately it won’t be the best time I could do right now, but I hope I can at least enjoy a ‘fun run’ as they call it.
Alright, well, I’ll let you know next week how it all turned out. Prayers would be appreciated for the camp to spiritually impact the teens and for everyone’s health (as this bug has been going around). Take care.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
~Em
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