Hi again,
Slowly but surely, I'm getting caught up on the highlights and pictures! Here's the second part from 2018:
Prayer Initiative Leading up to President Masisi’s Inauguration
The inauguration of the next president of Botswana took place on 1 April, 2018. We felt led to mobilise prayer every night at 9pm for the nation for the 21 days leading up to the inauguration. I posted prayer points for the nation every night. The reason we prayed at 9pm in due in large part to the historical example of the 9pm prayers during the Battle of Britain when the Royal Air Force was defending Britain from the Nazis. You can read more about that story and how God has connected it to us in Botswana in amazing ways here: https://hope4botswana.blogspot.com/p/raf.html
Sunday, April 14, 2019
2018 Highlights -- Part Two!
That was part of the messages we shared each night, encouraging us that we were like the RAF in the spiritual realm. It was quite amazing that a few days before 1 April 2018, I looked at magazines in a store called CNA for the first time ever, and saw one about airplanes. Then I saw that it was saying that the RAF was going to be celebrating its centenary (100-year anniversary) in 2018. I wondered what the exact date on the centenary was…and then I flipped to a page where I saw it would be 1 April 2018!!! The same day as the Botswana inauguration that we had been praying each night at 9pm leading up until!!
So that was just a cool encouragement for our prayers! Also, I learned that the RAF centenary celebrations would culminate with a flyover and parade in London on July 10, 2018, which was another cool encouragement because July 10 is the date that has been connected to Botswana in many amazing ways…you can see this blog post for more details on that: https://hope4botswana.blogspot.com/p/the-lord-confirmed-my-calling-to.html. July 10 was also the first day of the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Trip to South Africa to meet YFC USA Missionary Care Leaders
In YFC USA, we are blessed to have missionary care pastors who pray for us and sometimes come to visit us on the mission field to check how we are doing, encourage us, and pray with us. Bill and Mary Springston were visiting the YFC USA missionaries in southern Africa, and all of the other missionaries were located in southern South Africa, so they suggested that I could fly down there instead of them both flying up to Botswana. Since I had already planned to have a vacation at that exact time, I took them up on that offer and came down a few days early for some vacation time.
I found a reasonably priced Christian retreat center called Carmel Guest Farm so I stayed there for my vacation days. I later learned that this was where the very first YFC Youth Week camp was held! It was beautiful to overlook the sea!
At breakfast one morning, a huge group of about 50 Americans piled into the dining room. They were a mission team from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California so I just ended up sitting in on their morning devotion and was able to attend a couple of the worship nights they led that week in George, South Africa! It was also such a blessing to reconnect with one of the other YFC USA missionaries, Laurie, and have dinner with her a few times, attend church with her family, and attend those Bethel worship nights with her!
When Bill and Mary arrived, we rented an apartment in Wilderness, South Africa and had a wonderful time together for a few days. We found a lovely restaurant just down the road:
One of the days, we went on a kayaking/hiking/paddleboarding excursion there in Wilderness.
Another day we walked along the beach and saw dozens of dolphins swimming by!
It was a really refreshing trip, but I cut the trip a day short so that I could be back in time to lead the kids who go to the tutoring program in the choir song I’d been teaching them since February (mentioned in the previous post). They sang it in church at the end of their weekend camp/retreat.
Preaching at His People - Gabs East
The following Sunday I preached at my church, His People- Gaborone East. This was the second time I had preached at the church which was planted in August 2016. I’ve been on the worship team since the first Sunday (we actually started preparing while at the “mother church,” His People- Gaborone). I also teach sometimes in our Purple Book discipleship classes, and on one occasion have served as the service leader (sort of like the MC who also prays at times). We are part of an international movement called Every Nation. I truly love my church and feel blessed to be a part of such a solid church family.
My sermon was during a relationship series, so I spoke on singleness. We were dispelling different lies with each sermon, so my sermon was dispelling the lie that if you are single, you are necessarily isolated. I shared about how we do need relationships, but we can be fulfilled with our relationships with God and friends. Having a “significant other” is not necessary to avoid isolation and experience intimacy and deep friendship.
Trip to David Livingstone Memorial at Kolobeng
Two days later, Nitah from my church asked if I could lead a little field trip to the David Livingstone memorial for the 4-member mission team in the Explore Program from our international church family, Every Nation. Two members of the team, Peace and Botlhe, are actually from our church, HP Gabs-East, too. I agreed and invited some of the YFC volunteers to join us for that and the weekly Inferno prayer meeting beforehand.
We had an awesome time of worship and prayer together at Inferno and really enjoyed the field trip to the David Livingstone memorial, with ruins of his house and the first church in Botswana that he built.
On the way back to Gaborone, we stopped in at the InTouch Café and Christian bookshop in Kumakwane to visit fellow missionary Jeff Sukup and enjoy some delicious treats. If you're ever in Kumakwane, do stop in to InTouch for a lovely, peaceful environment and great food and drinks! Also if you love reading, they have very affordable books. Pictured below at InTouch are some beloved YFC volunteers who have a heart for missions so they came along for the day as well [Bobo, Martin, Keffy, and Khumo]. All of us have been on short-term missions in Botswana and some of us have gone on mission trips to other countries (i.e. Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, etc.). It’s beautiful to see Batswana now feeling called to missions. David Livingstone brought the gospel here, and now it’s time for Batswana to not just receive missionaries, but send them out to the nations!
Road Trip to South Africa for YFC Catalyst Leadership Conference
In early May 2018, I drove 4 YFC volunteers from Botswana (Gugu, Bobo Jr., Neo, and Kaelo) down to Johannesburg for the Catalyst Youth Leadership Conference run by YFC South Africa. We spent the night before and the night afterward at the YFC Training Centre in Magaliesburg, where we enjoy the Youth Week camp every January. It was a really awesome, refreshing, challenging time where we bonded as YFC family and also were sharpened personally and in our leadership. We also were pretty excited to go to McDonald’s in Rustenberg because there are no McDonald’s in Botswana.
Ran my first 10K Race!
My ankle was healed enough to run the Diacore Marathon 10K in May 2018. I had another injury about two weeks prior to the race which set me back and slowed my training, but it’s not bad to have run it in about 58 minutes. That’s the longest race I’ve run since I broke my neck…and actually the longest race I’ve ever run (previously 6K was longest). My friend Vivien also finished it again (the year before, I cheered for her when I couldn't run due to my ankle).
Roadtrip to Francistown!
Later in May, Vivien and I took a road trip to Francistown (about 5 hours drive northeast of Gaborone) because she was a guest speaker at a Women's High Tea event at Tati River Lodge. I may be biased, haha, but I liked her message the best of the few speakers. She gave a powerful message on restoration and the Lord used her in a beautiful way to bring healing to hearts.
It was a nice weekend staying at Tati River Lodge, and on the way back, Viv dropped me in Mahalapye to meet a YFC team driving up from Gaborone there for a weeklong outreach...
YFC Outreach in Mahalapye: Reaching Thousands of Students and Prisoners
The outreach in Mahalapye was with singer/storyteller, Sam Rowland, from YFC Canada. He has been on many mission trips to Botswana, so this time we took him to Mahalapye, about 2.5 hours northeast of Gaborone. We were a four-person team of Sam, George, Kaelo, and me. We stayed at Mizpah Farm, where we have our annual prayer camp. We enjoyed a walk together at sunset one evening, and enjoyed the campfire at night.
We led hour-long assemblies in 5 secondary schools there, reaching approx. 3,600 students with the Gospel and giving them each a copy of Sam’s book!! We also ministered in prisons there and in Gaborone, as well as two schools in Gaborone.
The students really loved getting pictures with us afterward, especially asking for selfies with us :)
Positioned to Help a Hurting Girl Find Hope in Christ
While in Mahalapye, a Christian police officer we know named Tacheba (who was also helping with the YFC outreach when his schedule allowed) met a 16-year-old girl who had reported while we were in Mahalapye that she had been sexually assaulted by 5 teen boys. Tacheba called me to see if I could meet up with her to offer her some counsel, and he drove me to her home that evening. We met her family, and I was able to meet with the girl one-on-one, listening to her story and sharing encouragement from the Bible and my testimony. Though she gave her life to Christ about half a year earlier, she did not have her own Bible. I bought her a Setswana Bible and gave it to her two nights later when I met with her again. The next time I was in Mahalapye, I visited her again. She was smiling and said she’s doing much better. She had gotten active in a local church, attending Sunday service, mid-week service, and youth group. Please pray for her as she continues to heal from the trauma and grow in her faith.
Joining Hands Strategic Planning Retreat in Maun – June 7-10th 2018
I am part of the committee for Joining Hands, a fellowship of those labourers joining hands to reach Botswana and beyond for Jesus. It has been around over 20 years, gathering missionaries together to encourage each other and work together. We decided to have a strategic planning retreat up in Maun in June 2018. Five of us drove up together from Gaborone (Bobo, Daniel, Mpho, Lukas, and me). Here is a picture at our breakfast stop in Mahalapye, followed by some elephants crossing the road in front of us, the sunset in Maun after we arrived safely, and the campfire around which we had many meals and fellowship:
For the actual strategic planning meetings, we convened at the Life Centre of Love Botswana Outreach Mission. Jerry Lackey, who is an American missionary who established Love Botswana (where I served on my first mission trip to Botswana in 2004), served as the facilitator of our strategic planning process. I am the secretary so I needed to plug in my laptop to take minutes and be able to use the projector (hence why I'm sitting front and center, haha). We had a great time with missionaries from Francistown, Maun, and Ghanzi who joined those of us who drove up from Gaborone.
In the evenings, we also enjoyed the scenery in Maun along the river. Lukas, Bobo, and I went running along the river. Pictured are Lukas and I. Lukas is a missionary from Switzerland, serving in Botswana with Flying Mission.
Jerry Lackey also runs a lodge/game reserve in Maun called Royal Tree Lodge to help fund the Love Botswana Outreach Mission. So he invited us there to go on a short game drive to see some of God's beautiful creation. It's also a beautiful place to stay if you are visiting Maun!
Planning for the Prayer Camp
Back in Gaborone, we started planning for our annual prayer camp at Mizpah Farm. I'm pictured during a planning meeting with Keffy, Gugu, Godchaser, and Martin. They have long been part of the YFC volunteer family and have been coming to the prayer camps since the first one in 2014 in Molepolole.
Speaking at Apostolic Faith Mission Youth Camp
I was invited by Dikatso, another YFC volunteer who serves on the Youth Week committee, to speak at her church's youth camp on 1 July 2018. They wanted me to lead a session on "God and Nature" and how we can connect with God by spending time alone with Him in nature. He can speak to us through nature (ie. give us analogies using nature) and in general can speak to us about anything while we are in nature (because we can quiet ourselves and become attentive to His voice).
The setting was next to the Notwane River at Woodpecker Retreat Centre, so after I gave my talk, we all split up and spent time alone with the Lord in the beautiful nature. Even in those 10 minutes, several youth returned very excited about how the Lord had spoken to them!
Prayer Camp at Mizpah Farm in Mahalapye
The following week, we went up to Mizpah Farm in Mahalapye for the annual prayer camp. As in previous years, we split ourselves into prayer partners who were in a rotation to cover all the watches through the 24 hours (i.e. 12noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am, etc). There was a room set apart as the prayer room for that. We also had corporate worship and prayer in the dry riverbed every morning at 9am, and corporate worship/prayer every evening around the campfire at 9pm.
We were also in different cooking teams and took turns cooking dinner (we fasted each day until dinner).
On the Sunday mornings, as usual we led the church service there. I led praise and worship with Tacheba, and the first Sunday, I preached the sermon, with Gugu as my translator.
During the sermon time, some of our team (i.e. Keffy, Khumo, Thabang, Kaelo) led the Sunday school for the wee ones. The second Sunday, Tshepo translated the sermon given by Rich Monks, who owns Mizpah Farm with his wife Liz.
For a few of the evenings, I shared the updated version of the RAF (Royal Air Force)/beacon testimony, which coincided nicely with the RAF 100 celebrations that week on July 10 (as mentioned above, and more details here: https://hope4botswana.blogspot.com/p/raf.html). The analogy again being that we are like the spiritual Air Force for Botswana, and that just as the RAF defended and intercepted the enemy, so we, through our prayers for the nation, intercept and thwart the plans of the enemy against Botswana. Though the RAF were few in number compared to the Nazis, they prevailed, and Winston Churchill said of the RAF: "Never...has so much been owed by so many to so few." So we believe that the same sentiment can be said about those who intercede for their country...though they may be few in number, their prayers can shape history. I also gave the team RAF bracelets that I bought them in England.
Altogether, it was an amazing camp where the Lord really spoke to us personally and corporately. On July 10th around the campfire, we reignited a prayer model that mixes prayer and worship where we sing new songs to the Lord. It was really amazing, sometimes having 3 different melodies layering over each other. Scriptures say that our prayer/worship is like a sweet smelling incense rising to the Lord (Psalm 141:2, Rev. 5:8, Rev 8:3-5), and I believe our worship/prayers were indeed such a sweet smelling incense rising up to Him!
The Lord really spoke to us at the first prayer camp in 2014 about our prayers being like incense (I'll explain that amazing testimony more another time). Our incense rising up is part of the fulfillment of Malachi 1:11 that incense shall arise in every place, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Our desire is to see the incense of prayer and worship rising up all across Botswana and beyond, so we can think of ourselves as RAF Squadron 111 (for Malachi 1:11)!
Thanks for taking the time to look over this blog post. I still have several great highlights to share for the rest of 2018, as soon as I find the time to post them :). Until then, take care!
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