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]