Hello again!
So in the middle of the night, I was attacked by my mosquito net that dive-bombed me when gravity won the battle with the screw that affixed it to the ceiling above my bed. It was slightly disorienting and disturbing. I felt kinda like a hunted animal caught unsuspecting in a net. Just another day in Africa…
Tuesday this week was uneventful…literally. We got an invitation at YFC on Monday to send representatives to a government Vision 2016 council meeting the next day at the main kgotla (traditional tribal court) focusing on youth and eliminating AIDS. Vision 2016 is the national vision of Botswana drafted in 1996 of what they want the country to look like in various sectors by 2016. I just read through it last night. Regarding AIDS it states, “By the year 2016, the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS will have stopped, so that there will be no new infections by the virus in that year.” So I donned a long skirt, as is the custom to go to the kgotla, and drove there alone (none of the other YFC staff could come).
When I arrived, there was a big top tent set up but nothing had started. So I sat down and pulled out a book. Then they set up another big top, strung banners, set up chairs, tables, even drinking water. I kept reading and chatting with the woman next to me who had driven over an hour to come (apparently this was the only meeting like this in the country, not just a regional one). Eventually we sat inside the tent and were each given an orange to munch on. After ingesting the orange and sitting there waiting a bit longer (now it was 1.5 hours after the scheduled starting time), they told us that the meeting was postponed to June! Apparently some of the important people in the council had not shown up, and they realized they had not spread the word effectively. I think this may have been the meeting referred to in the Vision 2016 booklet they gave me: “There will be a national conference to review the Vision every two years to allow stakeholder participation, and to review the progress.” They called us ‘stakeholders’ so perhaps that was what it was? If I can go in a month, I’ll let you know ;). So that’s why Tuesday was uneventful, literally.
Yesterday (Thursday) we learned of another stakeholder meeting to discuss issues relating youth in Mochudi. It was at 11:00 am the same day. With the late notice, none of us could attend. However, I read the minutes from the last quarterly meeting, and it discussed many of the problems and issues relating to youth and families here in Mochudi. They were issues that YFC doesn’t directly address as yet but are definite problems. I won’t go into details here, but as I drove to Gaborone I was feeling kind of overwhelmed thinking of those issues in addition to the need for AIDS prevention and other behavior changes. Feeling my own sense of inadequacy in the face of these challenges and needs, Psalm 121:1 came to mind – “I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Then minutes later when I was waiting for some photos to be printed, I wandered into the lone book store in the mall. I read a devotional and this was the scripture at the top—“Psalm 121:1 – I lift my eyes to the mountains…” and then in another book, I opened randomly to read this:
“I was not born or created to do everything--
It is very easy to become concerned about the many problems we face in this world. Compassion is not only an admirable quality but it is also an essential element of vision. However, you cannot try to meet every need around you and still be effective in helping people. The more needs you attempt to meet the less attention you’ll be able to devote to each individual need.
All the needs that you see in your nation cannot be met by you. All the trouble that you see in your community cannot be solved by you. All the problems that you see on your street cannot be addressed by you. This reality is why you must discover your personal vision from God and then stay on track with it. You were meant to meet certain needs, not every need. God created you for a purpose and that purpose is supposed to be your focus. It is what must motivate you and keep you centered on what is most important for you to be involved in. While you should be open to the various ways in which God may direct you to help others, you must not become sidetracked by a myriad of needs because there will always be more needs than you can personally handle.” –from The Principles and Power of Vision by Myles Munroe
That seemed like a reassurance from the Lord to not be overburdened by ALL the different needs, but to focus on those that He has called me to address, namely the spiritual needs of youth and fighting HIV/AIDS (which is enough to be overwhelmed by!). And right after that, I had lunch with the Face the Nation volunteers who I am praying for who will start teaching in 2 weeks about abstinence, HIV/AIDS, and Christ at the Molefi Senoir Secondary School just minutes from the YFC office. I meet with them at least every Thursday for lunch to encourage and pray with them, and then we text message (they call it SMS here) throughout the week. Last week, I heard more of their personal stories, and learned that 2 of the 3 lost their mothers as pre-teens. I left that day feeling like they just inspired me – continuing on despite many challenges to now be in university studying law and media studies and rising up to be leaders speaking to their younger countrymen about HIV/AIDS and the hope in Christ. They shared that they’ve learned to give thanks in all circumstances, and that one of the good things that God has brought out of their own loss is that they can relate to and counsel others. Last year one of them ended up counseling many other volunteers who had a similar background. As I listened to them, I was reminded of the quote I read just before I left the States:
“The next generation of African leaders is going to rise up from these millions of orphans as Dreamers who will slay the great Giants of the continent. But time is running out. In Botswana, just three hours north of where we live, four out of every ten adults are dying of AIDS. Churches, agencies, and willing families in the region cannot keep up with the need. Still, I believe we are going to see one of the greatest miracles in modern history. Why? Just look at the size of our Giants! And dedicated Warriors are rising up and attacking them.” --Bruce Wilkinson, The Dream Giver
And I read this in late April, regarding African AIDS orphans: “Some of society’s most incredible mighty men (and women) of the future are currently devastated orphans.”—Johnny Enlow.
Directly after lunch, I headed to the school where I help lead the PACT (peer-counseling) club because the same organization, Face the Nation (which is a program of the church I attend in Gaborone), was testing out with the PACT club a new computer curriculum developed by partners in the U.S. which could potentially standardize the HIV/AIDS and abstinence curriculum being taught in the schools in Botswana. I got to meet the developers of it from Georgia, and one of them has connections with top leaders, including the former Botswana president Festus Mogae. Mogae is supportive of the program, and the government seems to be supporting it so far. Yesterday was the pilot test run to see how effective the program is (the club members did a pre-test, watched the interactive lesson, then took a post-test).
It was encouraging to see how they are thinking so strategically in creating a way to reach all the schools in Botswana even though we don’t have enough missionaries or Face the Nation volunteers to be physically present in all those schools. The government wants to air some of the commercials they’ve made encouraging abstinence. And I shared how YFC has been given an opportunity to do an 8-week radio spot for 5 minutes each Sunday night. We can do whatever we want to encourage abstinence. I shared this with them, and they got me in touch with someone at our church who majored in media studies who could help us.
So…after feeling overwhelmed in the morning by all the needs and challenges, I felt like the Lord really encouraged me through those books, meeting with the Face the Nation volunteers, and then seeing the pilot run of what could become a curriculum that reaches every student in the government schools of Botswana with the message of abstinence and the gospel of Christ!
One of the Face the Nation leaders also encouraged me yesterday to think about the “one.” Reaching out and making a difference for this one, and this one… She also shared something she had just learned earlier that day – that on a public bus the other day, one of the students from Molefi School (in Mochudi) a couple years ago recognized one of the Face the Nation volunteers who had taught there and told her that because of her influence and encouragement to her and other pregnant girls to stay in school and finish their education, she did and so did all the other pregnant girls. So they all completed their education even though one even went into labor during her exams! It’s great to hear of the difference in these individual lives, and it was definitely exciting and encouraging to see the big strategies and visions that could reach tens of thousands.
Tomorrow I will focus on the “one” as I volunteer for the first time at the Baylor Teen Club for HIV positive kids in Gaborone. I am excited for the chance to just love on some kids, many of whom are likely orphans.
Blessings,
Em
Friday, May 28, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Opening up doors!!
Dumelang!
An exciting praise is that we now have the full go-ahead from the headmaster at the prestigious private school in Gaborone to start working there with YFC. This is the school that leaders keep describing as a major breakthrough—the school where the music teacher who invited YFC is the one I happened to email with even before I left the U.S.! I found out on Thursday that we have access once a week for a 15-minute break time. After my initial excitement and thanksgiving, my thought was, “That’s it?” but a verse came to my mind about not despising the day of small beginnings. Then later I saw that Zechariah 4 was part of my daily bible reading plan for that day. That verse about the day of small beginnings is Zechariah 4:10!
Yesterday I happened to be looking online to learn about a choral society in Gaborone I’ve heard of (in fact it came up 3 times one day in 3 different places so I figured I’d look into it!), and I learned that they meet at the auditorium of the same private school, and their website had a picture of the auditorium. I thought, Someday it would be cool if we could be in there, leading worship and talking about Christ. A couple hours later, I learned at our staff prayer meeting that the headmaster has said we will meet in the auditorium so more kids can come and check it out! And that if things go well, we could possibly meet for the whole lunch hour! I found out last week that this school is described as not only one of the best schools in Botswana, but in all of Africa! Over half the students are from Botswana, and the rest are from 40 respective nations. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We start June 8th – please pray for our preparations!
Another cool opportunity opened up this week. To understand it, I’ll go back and share the story. Recently at the Scripture Union club at a school in Mochudi, we shared the gospel in a memorable way—having Clive do 10 push-ups for every person in the room so they could have a chocolate egg. When Clive was getting tired, Sara asked if she could do her own push-ups to merit the egg– No, only Clive could. Some students did not want the gift, but Clive still did push-ups for them. By the end, his whole body was shaking, and his face was pained. When he had completed enough for everyone, he collapsed in exhaustion. Then we read how Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and collapsed and died on the cross. We were portraying an analogy of how Jesus suffered so that we could have new life, and that we cannot do anything to earn this gift. And also that Jesus died for everyone but that they have to personally receive the gift or it does not benefit them.
Then I summarized a story I had just read a few days earlier in a book in the YFC library that came to my mind as we quickly planning. Here’s the excerpt from Revolution Within by Dwight Edwards:
“In 1829 a man named George Wilson was arrested for robbery and murder in a heist of the U.S. mail. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. Some friends intervened on his behalf and were finally able to obtain his pardon from President Andrew Jackson. But when Wilson was informed of his pardon, he refused it, saying he wanted to die.
This left the sheriff with quite a dilemma. How could he execute a man who was officially pardoned? An appeal was made to President Jackson as to what to do. The perplexed president turned the matter over to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall gave this ruling: A pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends on its acceptance by the person implicated. Anyone under the sentence of death would hardly be expected to refuse a pardon, but if it is refused, it’s no pardon.
Thus, George Wilson was executed on the gallows while his signed pardon lay a few hundred feet away on the sheriff’s desk!” (55-56)
I shared that the pardon story is similar to what God has done for us in Christ – provided a pardon through his death on the cross – but that it needs to be received to be effective. I shared that it did not cost Andrew Jackson anything to write the pardon, but imagine if he could’ve only written the pardon for George Wilson if his only son were hung instead of George. How much more puzzling it would have been if George did not accept the pardon…and how much more painful for Andrew Jackson to give his only son only to see that incomparable gift was spurned and thereby in vain because George still bore the punishment that his son bore for him.
And is that not similar to what God has done for us in sending His only Son to die so that we could be pardoned for our sins and live? He loved each of us and didn’t want us to bear the penalty for our sinfulness, so He sent His only Son to die for us—“But God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The pardon offered to each of us comes only because Christ bore the punishment for us—“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that brought us peace, and by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). And yet that pardon must be received, and it grieves God’s heart when the people Jesus died to pardon spurn that incomparable gift and still bear the punishment themselves that he bore for them on the cross.
It must deeply sadden the Lord’s heart, for, “He is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9); “He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). He yearns for a close relationship with every person on this planet, and the pardon has been purchased with Christ’s blood. The question is whether we will receive it. His heart cries out, as it did to Israel—“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die?” (Ezekiel 33:11). Why will you die, why will you bear the punishment Christ has already borne for you out of love? Will you be like George Wilson and bear the punishment though the pardon was provided? Or will you receive the pardon? And if so, what does that practically mean?
In short, it means receiving by faith what Christ did for you in saving you through His death, and, like the Ezekiel passage mentions, it involves turning back to God from your sinful ways (confession and repentance) to follow Jesus as the Lord of your life.
And for those who have already received the pardon and eternal life through Christ, Sara felt led to exhort them to reach out and tell others about the pardon available for them. I shared that if Clive did push-ups so that everyone in the whole school could have a chocolate, but only the Scripture Union kids knew about it, Clive would be saddened that his work and suffering did not actually benefit the people for whom he did it. How much more then that some people do not know that Jesus suffered and died for them so they could receive the free gift of eternal life and get to know their Redeemer?
At that moment, I recalled and shared a saying of the Moravian missionaries: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the full reward of His suffering!” Two young Moravians in the 1700s heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist slave owner would not allow any preachers or missionaries to enter his island with 3,000 African slaves. Moved with compassion for these thousands of slaves with no opportunity to hear the gospel, and the recognition of Christ’s sadness that they could not receive the gift of His suffering, these young mean decided to sell themselves into slavery for life to be able to live among the slaves and share Christ. As they boarded the ship and set sail from their loved ones, knowing they would never return, they linked arms and yelled across the waves, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the full reward of His suffering!”
The whole thing was quite powerful, and I could tell by the students’ reactions that it had made sense to them. It was beautiful how it came together – on a day we had hardly any time to plan because our whole morning had been unexpectedly taken up with painting and cleaning the daycare. We really needed God to guide us, and we had prayed to that end. And then I’d recalled that we never did the push-up demonstration before Easter as we’d planned. Then that story about George Wilson’s pardon had come to mind…and then as we shared with the students, those other things came to our mind on the spot. Sara can’t even recall what she said…just that she felt led to start sharing (it was basically a passionate reflection on just how much it cost Jesus to provide us with the gift of eternal life and the exhortation that we should share this message with those who don’t know yet). We left just in awe of how God had showed Himself powerful yet again in our weakness.
And it gets better! I learned yesterday that the teacher who was observing us that day at the Scripture Union club was so impacted that she replicated the push-up demonstration to the whole student body at an assembly! Other teachers were quite impressed, and they have invited us to share about Christ with the whole school at the general assemblies in the mornings!!!
Last week I shared the George Wilson pardon story analogy at the Coffee Bar as well. Tonight we have a visiting Canadian singer/speaker Sam Rowland presenting at Coffee Bar. He has been here about 2 weeks on an outreach, presenting in schools, prisons, churches, etc. Many youth have been impacted and started our follow-up discipleship program.
It’s an exciting time watching God open up doors! Now may we be faithful stewards of these opportunities. Thanks for any and all prayers offered for the work and the youth here.
Modimo a go segofatse! (God bless you)
~Em
An exciting praise is that we now have the full go-ahead from the headmaster at the prestigious private school in Gaborone to start working there with YFC. This is the school that leaders keep describing as a major breakthrough—the school where the music teacher who invited YFC is the one I happened to email with even before I left the U.S.! I found out on Thursday that we have access once a week for a 15-minute break time. After my initial excitement and thanksgiving, my thought was, “That’s it?” but a verse came to my mind about not despising the day of small beginnings. Then later I saw that Zechariah 4 was part of my daily bible reading plan for that day. That verse about the day of small beginnings is Zechariah 4:10!
Yesterday I happened to be looking online to learn about a choral society in Gaborone I’ve heard of (in fact it came up 3 times one day in 3 different places so I figured I’d look into it!), and I learned that they meet at the auditorium of the same private school, and their website had a picture of the auditorium. I thought, Someday it would be cool if we could be in there, leading worship and talking about Christ. A couple hours later, I learned at our staff prayer meeting that the headmaster has said we will meet in the auditorium so more kids can come and check it out! And that if things go well, we could possibly meet for the whole lunch hour! I found out last week that this school is described as not only one of the best schools in Botswana, but in all of Africa! Over half the students are from Botswana, and the rest are from 40 respective nations. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We start June 8th – please pray for our preparations!
Another cool opportunity opened up this week. To understand it, I’ll go back and share the story. Recently at the Scripture Union club at a school in Mochudi, we shared the gospel in a memorable way—having Clive do 10 push-ups for every person in the room so they could have a chocolate egg. When Clive was getting tired, Sara asked if she could do her own push-ups to merit the egg– No, only Clive could. Some students did not want the gift, but Clive still did push-ups for them. By the end, his whole body was shaking, and his face was pained. When he had completed enough for everyone, he collapsed in exhaustion. Then we read how Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and collapsed and died on the cross. We were portraying an analogy of how Jesus suffered so that we could have new life, and that we cannot do anything to earn this gift. And also that Jesus died for everyone but that they have to personally receive the gift or it does not benefit them.
Then I summarized a story I had just read a few days earlier in a book in the YFC library that came to my mind as we quickly planning. Here’s the excerpt from Revolution Within by Dwight Edwards:
“In 1829 a man named George Wilson was arrested for robbery and murder in a heist of the U.S. mail. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. Some friends intervened on his behalf and were finally able to obtain his pardon from President Andrew Jackson. But when Wilson was informed of his pardon, he refused it, saying he wanted to die.
This left the sheriff with quite a dilemma. How could he execute a man who was officially pardoned? An appeal was made to President Jackson as to what to do. The perplexed president turned the matter over to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall gave this ruling: A pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends on its acceptance by the person implicated. Anyone under the sentence of death would hardly be expected to refuse a pardon, but if it is refused, it’s no pardon.
Thus, George Wilson was executed on the gallows while his signed pardon lay a few hundred feet away on the sheriff’s desk!” (55-56)
I shared that the pardon story is similar to what God has done for us in Christ – provided a pardon through his death on the cross – but that it needs to be received to be effective. I shared that it did not cost Andrew Jackson anything to write the pardon, but imagine if he could’ve only written the pardon for George Wilson if his only son were hung instead of George. How much more puzzling it would have been if George did not accept the pardon…and how much more painful for Andrew Jackson to give his only son only to see that incomparable gift was spurned and thereby in vain because George still bore the punishment that his son bore for him.
And is that not similar to what God has done for us in sending His only Son to die so that we could be pardoned for our sins and live? He loved each of us and didn’t want us to bear the penalty for our sinfulness, so He sent His only Son to die for us—“But God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The pardon offered to each of us comes only because Christ bore the punishment for us—“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that brought us peace, and by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). And yet that pardon must be received, and it grieves God’s heart when the people Jesus died to pardon spurn that incomparable gift and still bear the punishment themselves that he bore for them on the cross.
It must deeply sadden the Lord’s heart, for, “He is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9); “He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). He yearns for a close relationship with every person on this planet, and the pardon has been purchased with Christ’s blood. The question is whether we will receive it. His heart cries out, as it did to Israel—“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die?” (Ezekiel 33:11). Why will you die, why will you bear the punishment Christ has already borne for you out of love? Will you be like George Wilson and bear the punishment though the pardon was provided? Or will you receive the pardon? And if so, what does that practically mean?
In short, it means receiving by faith what Christ did for you in saving you through His death, and, like the Ezekiel passage mentions, it involves turning back to God from your sinful ways (confession and repentance) to follow Jesus as the Lord of your life.
And for those who have already received the pardon and eternal life through Christ, Sara felt led to exhort them to reach out and tell others about the pardon available for them. I shared that if Clive did push-ups so that everyone in the whole school could have a chocolate, but only the Scripture Union kids knew about it, Clive would be saddened that his work and suffering did not actually benefit the people for whom he did it. How much more then that some people do not know that Jesus suffered and died for them so they could receive the free gift of eternal life and get to know their Redeemer?
At that moment, I recalled and shared a saying of the Moravian missionaries: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the full reward of His suffering!” Two young Moravians in the 1700s heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist slave owner would not allow any preachers or missionaries to enter his island with 3,000 African slaves. Moved with compassion for these thousands of slaves with no opportunity to hear the gospel, and the recognition of Christ’s sadness that they could not receive the gift of His suffering, these young mean decided to sell themselves into slavery for life to be able to live among the slaves and share Christ. As they boarded the ship and set sail from their loved ones, knowing they would never return, they linked arms and yelled across the waves, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the full reward of His suffering!”
The whole thing was quite powerful, and I could tell by the students’ reactions that it had made sense to them. It was beautiful how it came together – on a day we had hardly any time to plan because our whole morning had been unexpectedly taken up with painting and cleaning the daycare. We really needed God to guide us, and we had prayed to that end. And then I’d recalled that we never did the push-up demonstration before Easter as we’d planned. Then that story about George Wilson’s pardon had come to mind…and then as we shared with the students, those other things came to our mind on the spot. Sara can’t even recall what she said…just that she felt led to start sharing (it was basically a passionate reflection on just how much it cost Jesus to provide us with the gift of eternal life and the exhortation that we should share this message with those who don’t know yet). We left just in awe of how God had showed Himself powerful yet again in our weakness.
And it gets better! I learned yesterday that the teacher who was observing us that day at the Scripture Union club was so impacted that she replicated the push-up demonstration to the whole student body at an assembly! Other teachers were quite impressed, and they have invited us to share about Christ with the whole school at the general assemblies in the mornings!!!
Last week I shared the George Wilson pardon story analogy at the Coffee Bar as well. Tonight we have a visiting Canadian singer/speaker Sam Rowland presenting at Coffee Bar. He has been here about 2 weeks on an outreach, presenting in schools, prisons, churches, etc. Many youth have been impacted and started our follow-up discipleship program.
It’s an exciting time watching God open up doors! Now may we be faithful stewards of these opportunities. Thanks for any and all prayers offered for the work and the youth here.
Modimo a go segofatse! (God bless you)
~Em
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Another great week!
Hi all!
Today marks 3 months since I set foot on African soil! In one way it seems like forever ago, and in another way it feels like time has flown!
Last Saturday night was Coffee Bar, and it was awesome! So there I was playing darts with some guys, when I saw a couple other guys staring at a drawing we have posted that depicts the gospel message. They were looking at it for awhile, and talking to each other, so I felt led to ask if they had any questions. “What does this mean??’ was their reply. I started sharing with them and then answering their various questions. We ended up sitting down and talking, and then a few other guys stopped playing the games available to them and pulled up chairs to enter into the conversation.
None of these guys had trusted in Christ and repented (turned from living for their own desires). That was actually a main focus of the conversation that they brought up, and they were struggling with turning from or letting go of things in their lives they know aren’t right in order to repent and follow Christ. They shared how strong the temptations are and how it would be so hard to follow Christ’s way. I explained to them that Jesus never said it would be easy; in fact, he said, “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). But I shared that when people trust in Christ and repent, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside them – the very same power that raised Christ from the dead comes to reside inside them! Through that power of Christ inside them, they can withstand the temptations – “Greater is He that is in us, than he who is in the world.” God’s grace is sufficient to enable His followers to follow and live in obedience.
We went through several Scriptures and discussed many questions they had, and we talked for about 2 hours! When it was time to close up shop, they said that they understand the gospel message and what it would mean to trust Christ and repent…they just weren’t ready to let go of their harmful habits yet. It was evident that they were really thinking about it and debating on whether they would trust Christ – I could see the wheels turning in their minds and their hearts stirring.
Amazingly, the message Sara had prepared to share to everyone at Coffee Bar that night (at a perfect time in my conversation with these guys) was about how some of them are holding back from trusting Christ because they are still holding onto some things…that they aren’t willing to let those things go in order to fully embrace Christ and His way.
Back in our conversation after Sara shared, I said quite bluntly with these guys that it basically comes down to a decision between Christ and [their sinful habit]. I assured them that it’s more than worth it to choose Christ and let go of their harmful (albeit pleasurable) habits – knowing Christ far outweighs the pleasures of this world. But I also shared that regardless of the benefit to us of choosing Christ (i.e. peace, joy, fulfillment, purpose…eventually heaven), we should be motivated to worship Christ with our hearts and lives because He is worthy of all our worship. We respond in loving awe to His sacrificial love for us.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say it was a great opportunity to “be real” with these guys and to help them realize their need for repentance. Ultimately, though, that is nothing I or my words could ever cause, but only the Holy Spirit’s conviction of their hearts. I pray that the Lord will continue to draw them to Himself and draw them to repentance and redemption.
After a great restful Sunday, Monday it was an “all-hands-on-deck” kind of work-day. Unexpectedly last week, we discovered that termites had eaten through the rafters of the ceiling at the YFC daycare for orphans and vulnerable children! So the ceiling had collapsed during the recent school break, and was fixed over the weekend. So our job was to paint the new ceiling, clean up all the mess, and put the classrooms back together again in time for the daycare/preschool to start on Tuesday. Mission accomplished! Despite our usual planning time for the Scripture Union club being taken up by the manual labor at the daycare, it was amazing how the pieces came together and God really guided what we shared with the students at the local school. It was awesome and powerful.
I had a busy week in terms of driving – drove to Gaborone Tuesday through Friday, mainly in attempts to get all the paperwork needed to apply for a Botswana’s driver’s license (don’t worry – my American one is still valid so I’m not driving illegally). This involved two trips to the U.S. Embassy, 3 trips to the Department of Road and Transport, two trips to police stations, and a trip to the Immigration office! Let’s just say I know my way around Gabs (Gaborone) much better now!
Thursday I drove to Gabs to attend a luncheon at the church I’ve been attending there. An AIDS prevention program called Face the Nation was started by the church in 2006 and now has the government’s blessing to teach for 5 weeks in every Senior Secondary School in all of Botswana (reaching 55,000 students!). About 130 Christian students from the University of Botswana (from 62 different churches) are trained for 5 weeks in a school of discipleship at the church, and then go out in groups of about 4-5 to each school to teach an abstinence/AIDS prevention curriculum for 5 weeks (this is possible because the University break is now, when the secondary schools are in session). The 5-week school of discipleship started this week.
Thursday was the Prayer Partners Luncheon for those who have volunteered and committed to pray for the volunteers at a particular school. I volunteered to pray for the team at Molefi School in Mochudi (which I either walk or drive past every day on the way to the YFC office). So Thursday at lunch, I got to meet the 4 students I will be praying for, as well as the two other prayer partners. I am excited for this opportunity to mentor and pray for these four: Sethunya, Maatla, Oaitse, and Rocky. The first three are young women who just finished their second year at University, and Rocky is a young guy who just finished his first year. His pastor is actually one of the other prayer partners. If you feel so led, you can also join in praying for them and the Molefi students.
And in other news, we got tickets today to go to the World Cup!!! So three of us are going to the New Zealand vs. Slovakia game on June 15 (the U.S. vs. England match was sold-out). It is only about 3.5 hours away in South Africa! Several of the other YFC staff are going to another game that they got tickets for using their South African citizenship before I arrived in February. Soccer, well…football, is huge over here so it is fun to be able to go to the World Cup! We are hoping to broadcast many of the World Cup games on a big projector screen here at the YFC office, which will likely be the only place the public can watch it on a big screen. At the mission conference we gained access to hours of DVD clips that we can show during the half-times, such as DVD testimonies of Christian footballers.
Alright, well tonight is Coffee Bar again, and I am sharing the short message. So if you happen to read this, prayers are appreciated (I usually speak around 2:30 EST). And also prayers for conversations with the teens, perhaps continuing the conversations from last week.
Blessings!
Em
P.S. And finally, just a reflection: I feel like Forrest Gump. The last couple times I’ve gone running in Mochudi, including this morning, I end up having 3 or more little kids running barefoot behind or alongside me for several minutes!
Today marks 3 months since I set foot on African soil! In one way it seems like forever ago, and in another way it feels like time has flown!
Last Saturday night was Coffee Bar, and it was awesome! So there I was playing darts with some guys, when I saw a couple other guys staring at a drawing we have posted that depicts the gospel message. They were looking at it for awhile, and talking to each other, so I felt led to ask if they had any questions. “What does this mean??’ was their reply. I started sharing with them and then answering their various questions. We ended up sitting down and talking, and then a few other guys stopped playing the games available to them and pulled up chairs to enter into the conversation.
None of these guys had trusted in Christ and repented (turned from living for their own desires). That was actually a main focus of the conversation that they brought up, and they were struggling with turning from or letting go of things in their lives they know aren’t right in order to repent and follow Christ. They shared how strong the temptations are and how it would be so hard to follow Christ’s way. I explained to them that Jesus never said it would be easy; in fact, he said, “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). But I shared that when people trust in Christ and repent, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside them – the very same power that raised Christ from the dead comes to reside inside them! Through that power of Christ inside them, they can withstand the temptations – “Greater is He that is in us, than he who is in the world.” God’s grace is sufficient to enable His followers to follow and live in obedience.
We went through several Scriptures and discussed many questions they had, and we talked for about 2 hours! When it was time to close up shop, they said that they understand the gospel message and what it would mean to trust Christ and repent…they just weren’t ready to let go of their harmful habits yet. It was evident that they were really thinking about it and debating on whether they would trust Christ – I could see the wheels turning in their minds and their hearts stirring.
Amazingly, the message Sara had prepared to share to everyone at Coffee Bar that night (at a perfect time in my conversation with these guys) was about how some of them are holding back from trusting Christ because they are still holding onto some things…that they aren’t willing to let those things go in order to fully embrace Christ and His way.
Back in our conversation after Sara shared, I said quite bluntly with these guys that it basically comes down to a decision between Christ and [their sinful habit]. I assured them that it’s more than worth it to choose Christ and let go of their harmful (albeit pleasurable) habits – knowing Christ far outweighs the pleasures of this world. But I also shared that regardless of the benefit to us of choosing Christ (i.e. peace, joy, fulfillment, purpose…eventually heaven), we should be motivated to worship Christ with our hearts and lives because He is worthy of all our worship. We respond in loving awe to His sacrificial love for us.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say it was a great opportunity to “be real” with these guys and to help them realize their need for repentance. Ultimately, though, that is nothing I or my words could ever cause, but only the Holy Spirit’s conviction of their hearts. I pray that the Lord will continue to draw them to Himself and draw them to repentance and redemption.
After a great restful Sunday, Monday it was an “all-hands-on-deck” kind of work-day. Unexpectedly last week, we discovered that termites had eaten through the rafters of the ceiling at the YFC daycare for orphans and vulnerable children! So the ceiling had collapsed during the recent school break, and was fixed over the weekend. So our job was to paint the new ceiling, clean up all the mess, and put the classrooms back together again in time for the daycare/preschool to start on Tuesday. Mission accomplished! Despite our usual planning time for the Scripture Union club being taken up by the manual labor at the daycare, it was amazing how the pieces came together and God really guided what we shared with the students at the local school. It was awesome and powerful.
I had a busy week in terms of driving – drove to Gaborone Tuesday through Friday, mainly in attempts to get all the paperwork needed to apply for a Botswana’s driver’s license (don’t worry – my American one is still valid so I’m not driving illegally). This involved two trips to the U.S. Embassy, 3 trips to the Department of Road and Transport, two trips to police stations, and a trip to the Immigration office! Let’s just say I know my way around Gabs (Gaborone) much better now!
Thursday I drove to Gabs to attend a luncheon at the church I’ve been attending there. An AIDS prevention program called Face the Nation was started by the church in 2006 and now has the government’s blessing to teach for 5 weeks in every Senior Secondary School in all of Botswana (reaching 55,000 students!). About 130 Christian students from the University of Botswana (from 62 different churches) are trained for 5 weeks in a school of discipleship at the church, and then go out in groups of about 4-5 to each school to teach an abstinence/AIDS prevention curriculum for 5 weeks (this is possible because the University break is now, when the secondary schools are in session). The 5-week school of discipleship started this week.
Thursday was the Prayer Partners Luncheon for those who have volunteered and committed to pray for the volunteers at a particular school. I volunteered to pray for the team at Molefi School in Mochudi (which I either walk or drive past every day on the way to the YFC office). So Thursday at lunch, I got to meet the 4 students I will be praying for, as well as the two other prayer partners. I am excited for this opportunity to mentor and pray for these four: Sethunya, Maatla, Oaitse, and Rocky. The first three are young women who just finished their second year at University, and Rocky is a young guy who just finished his first year. His pastor is actually one of the other prayer partners. If you feel so led, you can also join in praying for them and the Molefi students.
And in other news, we got tickets today to go to the World Cup!!! So three of us are going to the New Zealand vs. Slovakia game on June 15 (the U.S. vs. England match was sold-out). It is only about 3.5 hours away in South Africa! Several of the other YFC staff are going to another game that they got tickets for using their South African citizenship before I arrived in February. Soccer, well…football, is huge over here so it is fun to be able to go to the World Cup! We are hoping to broadcast many of the World Cup games on a big projector screen here at the YFC office, which will likely be the only place the public can watch it on a big screen. At the mission conference we gained access to hours of DVD clips that we can show during the half-times, such as DVD testimonies of Christian footballers.
Alright, well tonight is Coffee Bar again, and I am sharing the short message. So if you happen to read this, prayers are appreciated (I usually speak around 2:30 EST). And also prayers for conversations with the teens, perhaps continuing the conversations from last week.
Blessings!
Em
P.S. And finally, just a reflection: I feel like Forrest Gump. The last couple times I’ve gone running in Mochudi, including this morning, I end up having 3 or more little kids running barefoot behind or alongside me for several minutes!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Exciting stuff! Cool connections!
Dumelang!
One cool thing I forgot to mention about the Joining Hands mission conference last week was that when I addressed the whole conference body during the Youth track report, I also took the opportunity to share something quite significant. In the week before I arrived in Botswana, the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) of Botswana met with a couple local pastors near Mochudi and basically issued a challenge for Christians to prove in 3 years that promoting abstinence is more effective to lower the AIDS infection rate than the approach that relies more heavily on promoting condoms. They are willing to give funding to help abstinence causes the next 3 years.
YFC has already been brainstorming and writing up a proposal on how we can promote abstinence. However, none of these other missionaries I was addressing had apparently heard of that challenge yet, so it was valuable that I was able to share it and encourage the other missionaries/church leaders nationwide to step up their abstinence programs and can apply for NACA funding to do so. I also typed up the Youth track report which will be sent to all the missionaries, and I included this information there as well as a reminder.
Then speaking at the Coffee Bar outreach on Saturday May 1 went well. The youth were really listening (probably the most quiet and attentive we’ve seen them recently) as I shared about how Christ is the living water, the only one who can satisfy the thirsts in our life for love, worth, acceptance, hope, peace, and joy. I will share more details on that in a future post I think.
Wanna hear another cool story?! Before I left the U.S., I was wondering whether or not I could buy a good guitar in Botswana. I needed a new one, so I was debating on whether to buy it in the U.S. or wait and get it in Botswana. My dad found the name of a music teacher from Botswana on the internet and gave me her email. So I emailed her out of the blue, asking if she knew where I could buy a guitar. She emailed back with some places and said that she knows that the YFC director E.J. plays guitar, so I could ask him as well. Then time passed, I arrived here, and soon heard that a music teacher at a private school in Gaborone wants YFC to come there to minister. She goes to the same church as E.J. and Koekoes, the YFC Botswana directors.
It wasn’t until last week that I remembered how I’d emailed with a music teacher in Gaborone who had known of E.J. Could it be the same one?? I searched her name and the name of the school on the internet, and just searched “Music Teacher Gaborone,” as my dad had, but could not find her name or email listed anywhere online, even on the school’s website. I asked my dad if he could remember what school, but he could not recall. E.J. and Koekoes just returned this week from a 2 week ministry trip to Holland, and they confirmed that it was indeed the very same teacher I had emailed from the States!
And I just learned that E.J. still needs to meet with the headmaster of the prestigious private school for YFC to definitely be allowed to work there, but it looks promising. So we are just praying they let us work there, and if so, I will be working with this teacher, who has really served as the gateway into that school! How cool that I already had conversed with the very teacher who is helping to make this breakthrough possible to work in that school with a Christian organization for perhaps the first time. She too had wondered where I found her information online since she does not know of it being listed online. It just seems like this whole thing is a cool confirmation that God is opening up the way and wants us to work in that school!
Then, at church on Sunday, one of the girls who goes to that private school told me that her mom works at another private academy in Gaborone and wants YFC to work in that school! If you recall from last post, it’s much harder here to get into private schools than public with a Christian organization. Her mom works in the guidance/counseling department, which is the precise department we need to go through to get into a school!
On Tuesday, George and I visited a government (public) school to meet with the guidance/counseling staff there. One woman was new and the other is a Muslim, and they were both very excited about YFC coming and helping to start up a P.A.C.T. club (peer-counseling) there! In fact, they actually invited us to do the P.A.C.T. club! They are also helping facilitate the collection and distribution of a correspondence bible study course that we are already doing with interested students there.
Speaking of P.A.C.T. club, yesterday George and I co-led the P.A.C.T. club at another school and several of those students wanted to start the correspondence bible study course too.
Exciting stuff!
Blessings,
Em
One cool thing I forgot to mention about the Joining Hands mission conference last week was that when I addressed the whole conference body during the Youth track report, I also took the opportunity to share something quite significant. In the week before I arrived in Botswana, the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) of Botswana met with a couple local pastors near Mochudi and basically issued a challenge for Christians to prove in 3 years that promoting abstinence is more effective to lower the AIDS infection rate than the approach that relies more heavily on promoting condoms. They are willing to give funding to help abstinence causes the next 3 years.
YFC has already been brainstorming and writing up a proposal on how we can promote abstinence. However, none of these other missionaries I was addressing had apparently heard of that challenge yet, so it was valuable that I was able to share it and encourage the other missionaries/church leaders nationwide to step up their abstinence programs and can apply for NACA funding to do so. I also typed up the Youth track report which will be sent to all the missionaries, and I included this information there as well as a reminder.
Then speaking at the Coffee Bar outreach on Saturday May 1 went well. The youth were really listening (probably the most quiet and attentive we’ve seen them recently) as I shared about how Christ is the living water, the only one who can satisfy the thirsts in our life for love, worth, acceptance, hope, peace, and joy. I will share more details on that in a future post I think.
Wanna hear another cool story?! Before I left the U.S., I was wondering whether or not I could buy a good guitar in Botswana. I needed a new one, so I was debating on whether to buy it in the U.S. or wait and get it in Botswana. My dad found the name of a music teacher from Botswana on the internet and gave me her email. So I emailed her out of the blue, asking if she knew where I could buy a guitar. She emailed back with some places and said that she knows that the YFC director E.J. plays guitar, so I could ask him as well. Then time passed, I arrived here, and soon heard that a music teacher at a private school in Gaborone wants YFC to come there to minister. She goes to the same church as E.J. and Koekoes, the YFC Botswana directors.
It wasn’t until last week that I remembered how I’d emailed with a music teacher in Gaborone who had known of E.J. Could it be the same one?? I searched her name and the name of the school on the internet, and just searched “Music Teacher Gaborone,” as my dad had, but could not find her name or email listed anywhere online, even on the school’s website. I asked my dad if he could remember what school, but he could not recall. E.J. and Koekoes just returned this week from a 2 week ministry trip to Holland, and they confirmed that it was indeed the very same teacher I had emailed from the States!
And I just learned that E.J. still needs to meet with the headmaster of the prestigious private school for YFC to definitely be allowed to work there, but it looks promising. So we are just praying they let us work there, and if so, I will be working with this teacher, who has really served as the gateway into that school! How cool that I already had conversed with the very teacher who is helping to make this breakthrough possible to work in that school with a Christian organization for perhaps the first time. She too had wondered where I found her information online since she does not know of it being listed online. It just seems like this whole thing is a cool confirmation that God is opening up the way and wants us to work in that school!
Then, at church on Sunday, one of the girls who goes to that private school told me that her mom works at another private academy in Gaborone and wants YFC to work in that school! If you recall from last post, it’s much harder here to get into private schools than public with a Christian organization. Her mom works in the guidance/counseling department, which is the precise department we need to go through to get into a school!
On Tuesday, George and I visited a government (public) school to meet with the guidance/counseling staff there. One woman was new and the other is a Muslim, and they were both very excited about YFC coming and helping to start up a P.A.C.T. club (peer-counseling) there! In fact, they actually invited us to do the P.A.C.T. club! They are also helping facilitate the collection and distribution of a correspondence bible study course that we are already doing with interested students there.
Speaking of P.A.C.T. club, yesterday George and I co-led the P.A.C.T. club at another school and several of those students wanted to start the correspondence bible study course too.
Exciting stuff!
Blessings,
Em
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Mud driving and Mission Conference!
Hi everyone!
What an adventurous week! It rained here non-stop for several days, including Monday when we had to drive to the retreat center for the Joining Hands missionary conference. While driving there, Katie and I (the two American YFC staff) got stuck in my car in the mud on a twin-track dirt/mud road saturated with water. We had been following a guy from the conference who told us he’s pull us out if we got stuck. He was true to his word and pulled my little blue Toyota Corolla safely in to the camp. We were soon to find out that most cars had gotten stuck—our YFC comrade George had been stuck for 45 minutes before someone came who could pull him and the next car out!
The man who went before us and pulled us out is a missionary from South African who shared an analogy later – that sometimes in life the way the Lord leads us is not easy; it looks very muddy and difficult or even impossible to get through—but the Lord knows the way. He goes before us to lead and guide us, and He is able to pull us through.
This 3 day conference was for mission organizations and church leaders across Botswana (about 50 or so). Koekoes from YFC was on the steering committee who organized it, though she was unable to attend (in Holland on a ministry trip). So George, Katie, and I from YFC were the facilitators of the Youth Ministry track, one of three break-out session tracks that everyone rotated through. We only learned this a couple days beforehand, but it basically meant we handed out a questionnaire and facilitated discussions and networking between missionaries about reaching and discipling youth. It was encouraging to hear what everyone was doing in regard to reaching the youth of Botswana with the gospel and with the message of abstinence and life skills to work for AIDS prevention. The main sessions and devotions were also very encouraging, inspiring, and insightful. It was a beautiful thing to worship and network together with people across organizations and denominations, “joining hands to reach Botswana for Christ.” We talked a lot about working together to build the kingdom of God, not caring who gets the credit. We recognized the missionaries who had labored before us as we encouraged the Batswana among us to rise up and lead the church.
The informal fellowship and meal times were also a blessing. It was my first time having the opportunity to play piano (almost full-size keyboard) since I’ve been in Africa. I think the last time I played was in Colorado in late January, so that was the longest break since I started playing piano. Thus playing again was a blessing. I ended up reconnecting with a few missionaries I had met and served with in 2004 in northern Botswana at Love Botswana Outreach Mission. I had actually helped varnish one family’s house at the mission! Now they live much closer to us and they invited us over when we feel the craving for some home-cooked American food (Amen!). The missionary they worked under in 2004, the Love Botswana founder Jerry Lackey, was also there and we had lunch together one day. He too invited me to come stay up there at their recently acquired lodge with game animals on the property. Perfect since I had just been looking into places to stay in that town during a vacation.
We found out that about the same time I was in my accident, Jerry was battling stage 4 cancer. Doctors told him to get his affairs in order and update his will. After just one treatment of powerful chemotherapy [and lots of prayer], the doctors could not find any more cancerous cells! He has been fine ever since! So it was kind of cool to share our survivor testimonies since we saw each other last. After I shared my story, he asked, “Have you thought about writing a book?” Katie and I just laughed and I explained that yes, that is in the works. He continued, “A book will widen your pulpit. You can only speak to so many people, but books can widen your audience to share the story with so many more people.”
I also had opportunity to share my story with a Scottish missionary named Roberta who works with AIDS victims. She also encouraged me to write a book—“This story needs to be told.” She had brought a guitar and wanted to hear a song I wrote, so I had opportunity to play that. In one of the youth breakout sessions, Roberta had mentioned how she helps out at a monthly 4-hour fun time for HIV+ youth through the Baylor hospital (a pediatric AIDS hospital in Gaborone started by Baylor University in the U.S.). That had grabbed my attention so I asked her about that, and she provided me with the info of the guy who I can contact to see if I can help out. I just have had an increasing desire to get to know and “love on” some people with HIV/AIDS, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Of course, according to the stats here, many of the people I see around Mochudi and Gabs have HIV but may not know it, or they keep it concealed.
On the last day of the conference, I unexpectedly found myself in the position of addressing the whole assembly to report on the Youth ministry track that I helped facilitate with two other YFC staff (George had car problems and was unable to come in to share, and Katie urged me to do it). I had about 5 minutes notice before I spoke in front of everyone, but I was able to share, in addition to a summary of the youth track workshop discussions, the encouraging breakthrough that YFC has to start working in a prestigious non-religious private school with students from 40+ countries. We got that opening to start a praise and worship band there less than a month ago, and these missionaries were also surprised and encouraged about the opening (as were the youth leaders and youth at the Refresh youth retreat a week earlier, who interrupted my announcement of it with cheers and clapping). One of the YFC board members told me last weekend that it was a true breakthrough because it’s like the opposite of America—public, government schools here more readily allow Christian groups to present to students, but private schools rarely, if ever, allow Christian groups in.
Altogether it was very encouraging and I got several contacts with whom I hope to network to learn more or work together. And of course, who can forget the amazing drive home? The muddy twin track “road” had gotten worse apparently, and they did not think my little blue Corolla would get through. So again we followed a 4 x 4 in case they’d have to pull us out. With the video recorder rolling and prayers uttered, we entered the “road” for attempt number 2. We lost all forward movement at one point, wheels spinning in the mud (I looked back and saw the guy motioning to stop), but oh…the little blue charger suddenly surged forward just as “Eye of the Tiger” started blaring through the speakers! We continued on the long muddy track, almost getting stuck a couple more times, but by the grace of God, we made it through! The biggest dip/ditch thing at the end was no match! The guys standing just after that ditch applauded as we amazingly made it through. The video is quality footage. I will do my best to somehow, someday get that thing uploaded online for your viewing pleasure.
God is good!
Em
P.S. I’m speaking at the Coffee Bar outreach tonight, so if you happen to read this in time, prayers for that are appreciated too! I’ll be speaking around 8:30 pm (2:30 pm Eastern, 1:30 pm Central). Thanks!
What an adventurous week! It rained here non-stop for several days, including Monday when we had to drive to the retreat center for the Joining Hands missionary conference. While driving there, Katie and I (the two American YFC staff) got stuck in my car in the mud on a twin-track dirt/mud road saturated with water. We had been following a guy from the conference who told us he’s pull us out if we got stuck. He was true to his word and pulled my little blue Toyota Corolla safely in to the camp. We were soon to find out that most cars had gotten stuck—our YFC comrade George had been stuck for 45 minutes before someone came who could pull him and the next car out!
The man who went before us and pulled us out is a missionary from South African who shared an analogy later – that sometimes in life the way the Lord leads us is not easy; it looks very muddy and difficult or even impossible to get through—but the Lord knows the way. He goes before us to lead and guide us, and He is able to pull us through.
This 3 day conference was for mission organizations and church leaders across Botswana (about 50 or so). Koekoes from YFC was on the steering committee who organized it, though she was unable to attend (in Holland on a ministry trip). So George, Katie, and I from YFC were the facilitators of the Youth Ministry track, one of three break-out session tracks that everyone rotated through. We only learned this a couple days beforehand, but it basically meant we handed out a questionnaire and facilitated discussions and networking between missionaries about reaching and discipling youth. It was encouraging to hear what everyone was doing in regard to reaching the youth of Botswana with the gospel and with the message of abstinence and life skills to work for AIDS prevention. The main sessions and devotions were also very encouraging, inspiring, and insightful. It was a beautiful thing to worship and network together with people across organizations and denominations, “joining hands to reach Botswana for Christ.” We talked a lot about working together to build the kingdom of God, not caring who gets the credit. We recognized the missionaries who had labored before us as we encouraged the Batswana among us to rise up and lead the church.
The informal fellowship and meal times were also a blessing. It was my first time having the opportunity to play piano (almost full-size keyboard) since I’ve been in Africa. I think the last time I played was in Colorado in late January, so that was the longest break since I started playing piano. Thus playing again was a blessing. I ended up reconnecting with a few missionaries I had met and served with in 2004 in northern Botswana at Love Botswana Outreach Mission. I had actually helped varnish one family’s house at the mission! Now they live much closer to us and they invited us over when we feel the craving for some home-cooked American food (Amen!). The missionary they worked under in 2004, the Love Botswana founder Jerry Lackey, was also there and we had lunch together one day. He too invited me to come stay up there at their recently acquired lodge with game animals on the property. Perfect since I had just been looking into places to stay in that town during a vacation.
We found out that about the same time I was in my accident, Jerry was battling stage 4 cancer. Doctors told him to get his affairs in order and update his will. After just one treatment of powerful chemotherapy [and lots of prayer], the doctors could not find any more cancerous cells! He has been fine ever since! So it was kind of cool to share our survivor testimonies since we saw each other last. After I shared my story, he asked, “Have you thought about writing a book?” Katie and I just laughed and I explained that yes, that is in the works. He continued, “A book will widen your pulpit. You can only speak to so many people, but books can widen your audience to share the story with so many more people.”
I also had opportunity to share my story with a Scottish missionary named Roberta who works with AIDS victims. She also encouraged me to write a book—“This story needs to be told.” She had brought a guitar and wanted to hear a song I wrote, so I had opportunity to play that. In one of the youth breakout sessions, Roberta had mentioned how she helps out at a monthly 4-hour fun time for HIV+ youth through the Baylor hospital (a pediatric AIDS hospital in Gaborone started by Baylor University in the U.S.). That had grabbed my attention so I asked her about that, and she provided me with the info of the guy who I can contact to see if I can help out. I just have had an increasing desire to get to know and “love on” some people with HIV/AIDS, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Of course, according to the stats here, many of the people I see around Mochudi and Gabs have HIV but may not know it, or they keep it concealed.
On the last day of the conference, I unexpectedly found myself in the position of addressing the whole assembly to report on the Youth ministry track that I helped facilitate with two other YFC staff (George had car problems and was unable to come in to share, and Katie urged me to do it). I had about 5 minutes notice before I spoke in front of everyone, but I was able to share, in addition to a summary of the youth track workshop discussions, the encouraging breakthrough that YFC has to start working in a prestigious non-religious private school with students from 40+ countries. We got that opening to start a praise and worship band there less than a month ago, and these missionaries were also surprised and encouraged about the opening (as were the youth leaders and youth at the Refresh youth retreat a week earlier, who interrupted my announcement of it with cheers and clapping). One of the YFC board members told me last weekend that it was a true breakthrough because it’s like the opposite of America—public, government schools here more readily allow Christian groups to present to students, but private schools rarely, if ever, allow Christian groups in.
Altogether it was very encouraging and I got several contacts with whom I hope to network to learn more or work together. And of course, who can forget the amazing drive home? The muddy twin track “road” had gotten worse apparently, and they did not think my little blue Corolla would get through. So again we followed a 4 x 4 in case they’d have to pull us out. With the video recorder rolling and prayers uttered, we entered the “road” for attempt number 2. We lost all forward movement at one point, wheels spinning in the mud (I looked back and saw the guy motioning to stop), but oh…the little blue charger suddenly surged forward just as “Eye of the Tiger” started blaring through the speakers! We continued on the long muddy track, almost getting stuck a couple more times, but by the grace of God, we made it through! The biggest dip/ditch thing at the end was no match! The guys standing just after that ditch applauded as we amazingly made it through. The video is quality footage. I will do my best to somehow, someday get that thing uploaded online for your viewing pleasure.
God is good!
Em
P.S. I’m speaking at the Coffee Bar outreach tonight, so if you happen to read this in time, prayers for that are appreciated too! I’ll be speaking around 8:30 pm (2:30 pm Eastern, 1:30 pm Central). Thanks!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Talking about Christ at Government mtg!
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
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
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.
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