Radical Transformation...Open Doors!!!

Hey all!

LOTS of awesome news!! Ok, first, I’ll share about the event on Saturday at the new YFC center in Gaborone (Gabs), the capital. I feel like the event itself went well, though the turnout was less than expected. It was pouring down rain just before it started and I think that discouraged people from coming, especially if they have to walk or wait outside for a taxi ride. The people who did come seemed to enjoy it though and I shared my vision for what I’ve felt God leading me to start there—a mentoring/discipling program. Six young adults signed up to possibly volunteer with YFC in Gabs so that’s a good start. Others are interested in being mentored. One woman was just walking down the street and came inside to see what we were doing—now she wants to volunteer with YFC! I am trying to gather up other volunteers and then hold volunteer training with them.

Radical Transformation!!

On Monday, I had an awesome surprise. A few weeks ago, just after I arrived back in Botswana, I received a call from a girl nicknamed Slim who is friends with the girl I’ve been taking to counseling. Here’s the background scoop on Slim: I befriended her in September when she was in her last term of Secondary School in Mochudi, and we’ve hung out a few times (talking, playing basketball, grabbing a bite to eat, etc). She wore a long cross necklace, but seemingly for “bling” decoration, not because she really loved Christ. Slim got her nickname because of her love for rapper Eminem, aka Slim Shady. From what I could gather, she wasn’t really close to God, though her step-dad is a pastor. When we hung out just before Christmas break, she was dreading going to a church camp that her parents wanted her to attend. So I was quite surprised in mid-January when Slim called me and asked if I could give her more information about Face the Nation [the AIDS prevention program started by my church] because she thinks she wants to be a volunteer!?! Doesn’t she know how really Christian it is? How all the volunteers are committed followers of Christ, sharing the gospel and encouraging abstinence in schools? We set up a time to meet to talk more about it. We finally worked it out to meet a few days ago on Monday. I anticipated that our talk would give me the open door to share more with her about what it means to be a Christian (i.e. that it’s not just about going to church but about your heart’s relationship with Christ).

Instead, the person I encountered in our meeting Monday was not the same person I hung out with in late November. The person dreading to go to a church camp was replaced by someone who was all but bursting with joy and praise of her Savior! That cross is no longer “bling” to her, but symbolic of her “tight connection” with God. Slim Shady encountered the Light of the World at that church camp and is Slim “Shady-no-more”! She has confessed and repented, and turned to follow the Lord. His grace has empowered her to STOP bad habits that she could never shake before, like drugs. She has been set free of bitterness, addictions, etc. and set ablaze with a passion for her King and a passion to tell the world how good He is – to tell her generation they don’t have to live as friends of the world and enemies of God, but they can change (God can change them) and enjoy true life with Him. She wrote to me, “Life is awesome living by the word of God.” Almost 2 months after the camp, Slim’s fervor has not faded—she prays for hours each day and has a bible study every night with a friend from that camp. She told me she prays at 12 and then the bible study is like 2-4. I assumed she was talking about “pm,” like afternoon hours. But I found out yesterday she meant midnight and 2-4 AM! She told me that the cell phone subscription offers free calling in the middle of the night so that’s when they have their daily bible study fellowship over the phone! I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone talk about a bible study with such joy—like it’s such a privilege and one of the best things she could imagine doing. Her step-dad said she’s “on-fire for Jesus.”

“Slim?! On fire for Jesus?! No way!” Friends and peers can hardly believe it! Slim can hardly believe it! I can hardly believe it! But I could not deny the miracle standing before me—a transformed heart, a revolutionized life blazing before me with contagious zeal. She wants me to help mentor/disciple her too, which totally excites me. I dropped her at the bus stop, and she said she feels this desire welling up inside her to just stand up on the bus and yell, “GOD LOVES YOU!!” She wants to volunteer with Face the Nation and YFC in order to share her story and tell youth how they too can be changed by Christ and live differently. She wanted me to share her story with all of you – “Tell them how I was so lost...but now am found!” Gloriously found. This is just such an encouragement. If God could so radically transform Slim, how many other Batswana youth can be transformed as well? How many will be impacted by her testimony? What impact will it have on our mutual friend, whom I take to counseling? God is so good!!

Yesterday was my first day in my new office in Gaborone. Slim stopped by and we sat and talked. I learned more of the extent of what her life was like up until that church camp and what God has brought her out of. I won’t share details here, but trust me…it makes her redemption through Christ that much more amazing!!

Scripture Union Growing in Gabs!

The night before, I’d gotten a call from one of the students who leads the Scripture Union club at a Junior Secondary School in Gaborone with whom I’ve been working. She was at the Scripture Union camp that I went on in late November and she’d invited me to come to the club meeting the next day. She was excited to share that the club is growing and meeting every day after school. Since Slim was with me at the office, I invited her to come along to the Scripture Union (SU) club at that school. So she came along and at one point during the meeting, Slim felt led to give a word of encouragement. She told the students to keep focused on Christ and not to get sidetracked by the temptations the world has to offer. “I’ve been there…and it’s not worth it.” She encouraged them to live God’s way and keep following Christ. It was just a beautiful thing to see.

At that meeting, the SU student leader who had called me the night before thanked me for coming and shared that I am like a mother to them, a sister to them. Later she felt prompted to ask if any of those present wanted to pray to give their lives to Christ. If so, they could step into the center of our circle outside where we’d been singing worship songs. In all the SU meetings I’ve attended, I’ve never seen that type of thing happen, but 9 students stepped into the center, showing that they desired to give their lives to Christ! We prayed together with them, and now we can help them grow in their faith through the meetings and the follow-up bible studies from YFC.

Partnering with The Navigators to Disciple Youth

Yesterday, I also met with David, one of the staff of The Navigators, a Christian campus ministry started in the U.S. Their office is just adjacent to ours on the same property in Gaborone. David and I met together and realized that God has given us a very similar vision for how to reach the young people of Botswana—through mentoring/discipling (going really deep with a handful of students who then will go on to reach and disciple others). It was very encouraging for both of us to hear how our visions align so perfectly. We are partnering together to create a discipleship core group for students who just graduated in December from a school in Gabs during these 8 months until they start university study in August. The weekly fellowship meetings will be held in the new YFC center, and the school is offering to pay for the refreshments. So that is exciting!

Reaching the Nation through Radio

Soon after that, I drove to visit one of the YFC board members who has connections with one of the national secular radio stations. We’ve been invited to share on the Sunday morning Christian show, especially during March, the Month of Youth Against AIDS. We can create 3-minute pre-recorded nuggets (i.e. short testimonies, dramas, etc) and/or help lead discussion on topics relating to AIDS and abstinence where listeners can call or text in feedback. So we will be meeting soon at YFC to discuss this and make a plan that can be submitted to the radio station. Prayers for wisdom and ideas are welcome, as this will have a far-reaching impact (as I said, it’s a national station). This is also the station where one of my friends is a DJ on the Sunday morning show…and so our YFC events can now be publicized on the radio through these connections.

Open Doors to Speak in Mochudi Schools!

Finally, the last cool news from yesterday was that I heard back from the guidance/counseling teacher at the Senior Secondary School in Mochudi after I inquired about possibly being able to meet with all the students who committed their lives to Christ or committed to abstinence through the Face the Nation program last year. We haven’t been able to start the abstinence club since the school schedule changed, but I just asked if I might be able to just meet with the students briefly to encourage them. She said I could have up to an hour to speak to them during the school day tomorrow (Friday)! After talking again today with the guidance/counseling teacher, we decided I will come back next week too, so that this week I will meet with those who committed to abstinence and then next week or the following week, I’ll meet with those who became believers in Christ. Wow…so, it’s a great open door to share in the school! I would really appreciate your prayers because I just found out today I’m speaking on abstinence instead of giving encouragement to the Christians. I have no idea what to expect for numbers – over 300 students committed to abstinence back in July. Pray that students overcome the possible ridicule and decide to come to the meeting. It will be announced tomorrow morning at the general assembly to all students.

Then I might also be speaking to youth at another Mochudi school in the morning on leadership. We still haven’t heard back from the school if they could switch the time of the Leadership Training for about 50 students til the mid-morning tomorrow. Otherwise, it will be at the same time as my talk on abstinence so just Maruping and Twila will have to present the leadership training. But if it gets switched, then I will do part of the presenting for that in the morning. Both of these opportunities just came up yesterday. We haven’t been able to get into schools for months, and then BAM—two in one day! Exciting stuff!

Ok, so I should get back to planning for the abstinence meeting and then the possible leadership presentation. I won’t know until tomorrow it seems whether I’m actually able to help with the leadership training. Here, we have to learn to roll with it. You never know what a day may bring. Some days, like yesterday and possibly tomorrow, are jam-packed with one exciting thing after another. Other days like today are more relaxed.

But with everything going on, especially with Slim, I am truly loving life right now! I went for a run last night in the bush and was just so joyful. I was on this little hill overlooking Mochudi watching the sun set listening (sometimes dancing!) to worship music of the God who can transform lives.

He is good!

~Em

Prayer request...and Monkey Bidness!

Hi all,

Just a quick note today in the chance that some of you might read this in time to pray. Today I am leading the first event at our new YFC center in the capital, Gaborone. We just got access to the property a week and a couple days ago, and today I’m leading a reunion event for the 60-70 Batswana youth who attended the Youth Week camp put on by YFC in South Africa. It’s from 3-5 pm, which is 8-10 am EST, 7-9 am Central, etc.

We handed out flyer invitations to the teens when they disembarked the bus from the trip, and we have sweet connections so it was advertised for free on one of the main secular radio stations (one of our board members has connections with the radio, and one of my other friends from church is actually one of the DJs for the Sunday morning Christian program on that radio station so she helped make the announcement). Now we can advertise any of our events on the radio for free!

Anyway, I just covet your prayers for today to go well. I’m excited for this opportunity to really kick-start the ministry in the capital. I’ll be sharing today with everyone about a mentoring/discipling program I feel led to start. I’ll share more about that with you all later.

In other news, on last Saturday I ran out to the very muddy bush (involving long-jumping over a muddy creek) to reach the hidden spot tucked away by the river where I sit on a low branch and pray. I was there leaning back on the branch when I spotted a monkey climbing a nearby tree, then another, then another. Soon I realized they were behind me in the tree and above me…about 15 in all! It was pretty amazing.

One of them, perhaps the ambassador/messenger monkey, was sent to my tree and subsequently his fecal matter was issued in my general direction. I am not sure whether the monkey’s behavior was malicious in nature, but if so, I am thankful that his aim did not match his mischievous intentions! I decided to move on to the other place I like to sit on a tree branch by the river…and I saw my 4-foot lizard friend, who I have hereby named Morgan the Monitor Lizard.

Thanks for any & all prayers! I’ll try to update you soon!

Blessings,
Em

Trip to the States -- Good Medical reports

Dumelang!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year’s! A lot has happened since I last wrote. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak a couple more times in Michigan at my church for about an hour each time. It was also so nice to see some friends in Michigan (though sadly it is not realistic for me to see everyone I would have liked to!). Ryan flew home so Mom, he, and I spent Christmas together (with Chester the beagle too – 14 years old now). We decided to drive up to our old church in Lexington for the Christmas Eve service, which was a delightful surprise for our friends from there. After the service, Ryan and I just went on a quick tour of the church to remember our “old stomping ground” where we’d grown up in the youth group. When we entered the choir room, to the left on a little table as you walk in, there was a small (probably a few feet wide) chalkboard with “Howdy Choir Members!!!” written faintly on it in chalk. It looked like something I would write, even looked like my handwriting. I looked closer and saw my name signed in the bottom corner! I haven’t attended that church since 2004, so I was definitely not expecting to see that! It doesn’t erase anymore, and I don’t know if they usually have it out like that, but it was a cool, random surprise!

On Christmas Day, we drove back up to the Lexington Cemetary to put a wreath on Dad’s grave and Mom read a meaningful poem. We then drove up to the Lexington Park along the lake where Ryan and I ventured down onto the snowy, windy Lake Huron beach. As we passed the swing set on the way back, we decided we should swing in the snow! And yes, I even jumped out of the swing into the snow at the end. So that was some random, child-like fun. Then Mom did an amazing job of cooking Christmas dinner, which was normally Dad’s forte since he was a trained chef. It was definitely different not having Dad around, but it wasn’t as emotional as I’d expected. I never really noticed how “O Come All Ye Faithful” is more fitting or meaningful now – “Sing, choirs of angels; Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above” (i.e. Dad). The day after Christmas, we went to our family friends’ place for our annual Christmas gathering.

Minnesota!

Then the next morning, Monday the 27th, Ryan and I flew out to Minneapolis on the same flight. It was kind of humorous that I’d been upgraded to first class again because of my frequent flyer miles, but Ryan not so much... So I got to go to the front of the lines and sit in first class, while he was back in coach! I got to board earlier, so I gave him a little wave and smile as he passed me on the way back to coach, haha. I thought about asking the person next to him if he/she wanted to switch and sit in first class, but after getting situated in my comfortable chair and enjoying my pre-flight glass of orange juice…Naah! We would both probably sleep anyway and not really talk. At least, this is what I told myself as I enjoyed my spacious seat. Once there, I stayed at Ryan’s new place in Hopkins, MN. He’s renting a house, and has acquired two housemates who have both been friends with him for years.

Beautiful Redemption…Crisis Averted!

Within a few minutes of arriving at Ryan’s house, my jaw appliance broke! It had been getting weaker and at one part the clear material had been worn down to expose a couple centimeters of the internal wire. At first I was kinda freaking out because it cost like $1500 and we’d gotten a letter the previous week about how my insurance does not want to cover any more jaw costs. But then I realized that I already had an appointment scheduled with the jaw specialist that very day, just 3 hours later. The jaw appliance is custom-made and the only place that can fix it in the world is that very place where I had the appointment. So they took it overnight to send it to the lab to be fixed. Then I came back the next day, they refitted the repaired appliance to me at the only timeslot still available for an appointment (at 3 pm, precisely when the jaw appliance would return from the lab!), and made the necessary adjustments to hopefully fix/help my jaw (the original purpose of the appointment the day before).

Just that one day of naked teeth (not wearing the jaw appliance) was cause for noticeable discomfort, soreness, and pain. It made me realize how truly blessed I am that it broke when it did. Had it broken a few weeks, or even a few days, earlier in Michigan, it would have been a painful wait until I could make it to St. Paul to see the jaw specialist. Or had it broken in the following week, I would’ve been back here in Botswana at a loss for what to do. The other thing that I thought it might have been affected was that I was planning on riding down with one of Ryan’s housemates to a young adult Christian conference down in Kansas City on Tuesday morning. I knew the jaw appliance was more important, so I was willing to miss the conference if need be. But when he learned that I would need to wait until the jaw appliance was back from the lab to have my appointment at 3pm on Tuesday, he was more than willing to wait and still drive me down to the conference! So besides that small delay (and the costs of repair), it was essentially harmless because of the timing. Had it broken any other day, it would’ve been much more of a crisis. It reminded me of how God loves to bring redemption to the bad situations in our lives.

Kansas City! Reuniting with friends and making new ones!

I had already worked out to stay with friends at a church near the conference. Interestingly, the guy I had emailed to ask about accommodation, Ben, had been the student leader of the high school bible study/prayer meeting in Lakeville a couple years ago with whom I was working. Two years ago, I had invited Ben and several of his high school friends to come to the same conference and had worked it out so they could stay at a church with the Bethany College of Missions group. And now, Ben has since graduated and is now a sophomore at the University of Minnesota co-leading the Univ. of Minnesota House of Prayer (which he started last year!). So this year when I realized I could come, I emailed Ben and he hooked me up to stay with them at a different church. He was the one organizing 30-some people from Minnesota (including me) to attend the conference. Pretty cool how it was coming back full circle!

So it was an adventure staying at the church with 2 or 3 different groups from Minnesota, mainly college-age students. Maybe 50 people staying there…and only one shower!! It was great to meet a few St. Kate’s students who have been leading a bible study on campus. St. Kate’s is where I did my undergrad and where I’d co-led the Campus Crusade bible study for over 4.5 years. A couple years after I graduated, it had kind of fizzled out, and I’d tried to “find the remnant” in 2008 to get it re-started up, but as of 2009, I only knew of 2 students (one of whom was planning on transferring) going to the bible study with the 2 Campus Crusade staff. After I moved to Botswana, I no longer had any idea what was going on at St. Kate’s in that regard. So it was just an encouragement to meet these St. Kate’s girls who were passionate about Christ and have been leading a bible study and are in the process of getting it chartered! The last night (New Year’s Eve), we ended up staying up until 4 am talking and sharing testimonies.

Besides the encouragement and inspiration the worship and speakers at the conference provided, it was such a blessing to see so many of my friends there. I was so thankful to have coffee and catch up with one of my former youth group students, Bethany, whose family moved to Florida (so I didn’t know when I’d get to see her again). She had also come along two years ago with Ben to stay at the church with Bethany College students. I also had lunch one day and hung out another night with one of my friends who lives in Kansas City (with whom I’ve stayed several times) and our mutual friend from Bethany College. I also saw a handful of other classmates and friends from Bethany College. A bunch of us went out for dinner one of the nights.

Minnesota Again -- Good Medical News!

I rode back up on New Year’s Day and the next day, I attended the Lessons and Carols service at my Minnesota church and gave a presentation afterwards about my mission work in Botswana. Saturday night, Sunday, and Monday I also met up with various friends and college roommates. Though I couldn’t see everyone I would have liked (or even have time to stop by Bethany College), it was so nice to see the many people I could.

All told, I had 3 jaw doctor, 2 massage therapy, and 2 chiropractic appointments while in Minnesota. I am supposed to wear the jaw appliance another 2 months at least before I can hopefully start tapering off of it. The massage therapist told me that he doesn’t think I’ve lost any range of motion in my neck; it was just pretty tight. He told me something he’d never shared with me before: When I first started coming to him in September 2008 (7 months after the accident), given the extent of my injuries, he didn’t think he would be able to help my neck gain any range of motion. He thought his role would be to prevent any regression, but he honestly didn’t think I would gain any more rotation since I broke the top two vertebrae. So when I continued to gain rotation for a year and 4 months until I left last December, he said he was completely surprised and thoroughly pleased. He was one who has called me a walking miracle.

Right after that on Monday the 3rd, I decided to drop in to visit my physical therapist, who is a neck specialist. I didn’t have an appointment, but I just thought it’d be nice to drop in and say hi as I passed through. He wasn’t expecting me at all, so he was surprised to see me and we hugged. He wanted to see my neck rotation, so I turned right/left and up/down and he said it’s better than when he last saw me (December 2009)! So that’s an encouragement to know that I’m not regressing while in Botswana. This physical therapist has emailed me a few times in Botswana, and in one of them, he again acknowledged that my main physician has been God. He wrote in May: “I'm happy (but not surprised) to hear that your neck is doing well. You had 3 important things going for you: great motivation to get better, a body that's good at healing (good genetics) and a good medical team with a high level supervisor (God).”

Michigan Again … Atlanta … Johannesburg

I flew back to Michigan later that day and again was upgraded to first class. Oh my goodness! It was a new plane with ginormous seats! There was so much legroom I couldn’t even touch the seat in front of me with my feet! My chair could recline all the way to a flat bed, or while seated, I could adjust it in so many ways, including lumbar support. All this for no extra charge (thank you frequent flyer miles). Ludicrously beautiful.

I was back in Michigan with enough time to basically wash my clothes, do last minute errands, and repack for Botswana. I came down with a cold that Tuesday, including a painfully stuffed right ear. Thanks to some medical advice from friends, I got some medicine and it was feeling better after a couple hours, though still stuffed. With some special airplane earplugs to equalize pressure, I didn’t suffer too much on the plane rides.

During my 6 hour layover, I was able to have lunch out in Atlanta with Kjel, the step-dad of Jessica from my accident. His wife (Jessica’s mom) Cindy was sadly not able to get off work since it was the first day of school. It was nice to catch up with Kjel though. Then, I happened to sit next to a woman on the flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg whose daughter had broken her neck in a car accident 4 years ago and was in a coma for 10 days before passing away. So we kind of understood each other. Then after the long flight, I was picked up by the parents of Karin, the other woman who was killed in my accident. During my 23-hour layover, I stayed at their house again (in Karin’s old room), as I had in July. It was such a blessing to see them again and to share more with them. They told me I am always welcome there; that their home is my home.

Botswana!!!

Then it was off to Botswana, where I arrived safely on Friday. The two housemates already back picked me up from the airport and we went to our friends’ house in Gaborone, where we’d been invited for dinner. Yesterday, we handed out flyers to all the youth as they stepped off the coach bus from Youth Week (a YFC camp in South Africa), letting them know about the Youth Week Reunion event we have planned for January 22 at the new YFC building in Gaborone!! Our other three housemates had been at Youth Week so we picked them up too. So now it’s feeling back to ‘normal’—today is the first day back at the office and we are gonna sweat it out at aerobics class tonight!

Blessings from Botswana,

Em