Providence Baptist Church

Providence Baptist Church of Raleigh North Carolina arrived in Botswana June 15.  They hit the ground sprinting.  The team began working with Gaborone Baptist Church in a village called Tsolomesesi.  Being prepared for VBS with the children they expected about 150.  The first day there were more than 200 and by the end of the week it was well over 300.  The children were able to do a craft, have a snack and have a bible story acted out by the team.  There were many decisions made in this village and we look forward to working with the church to follow-up with them to see them grow in Jesus.  Please be praying for this village that they will know the Truth and the Truth will set them free. 

The team now is working in another village called Molepolole.  They are working with Calvary Baptist Church there and are assisting them with evangelism.  Also pray for this village as God is at work there as well.

 

Refreshments

As a boy growing up, any time the word refreshment was mentioned, I knew that something good would follow.  Whether it be a nice cookie or a cold cup of juice, I looked forward to that refreshment, because it usually followed some type of physical activity or a long period of study.  The way something small like that could give an extra boost or resupply much needed energy was a great thing.  As an adult, I find myself on the delivery side of these types of refreshments and see the same results.

Scripture speaks of being refreshed in different ways.  Many verses speak to people taking something to eat to be refreshed and some talk about being refreshed by rest.  Both of these are obviously physical types of refreshment and very important.  Scripture also talks about having your spirit and soul refreshed.  At times, I can recognize when I need to be resupplied by the Lord, and sometimes He just sends an “extra boost” by way of spiritual refreshing.  This is what He has done for me over the last couple of days.

We currently have a volunteer team in from North Carolina.  As if some time visiting with a team is not refreshing enough, God also sent a special team member with them.  This man is the son of the pastor where we served in Brinkley.  We did not know he was going to be part of the team at first, and as we had only met him a couple of times, did not know if he’d remember who we were to begin with.  God is so gracious in that He has provided great fellowship, both about people we know and love, and about future things in ministry.  To take portions of 1 Corinthians 16: 17-18, I can say, “I was glad when J—, K—-, and K—– arrived, because they have refreshed my spirit.”  Praise the Lord!

 

Gaborone Baptist Church on Friday afternoons

    A fellow missionary Amanda Turner asked me if I would like to help her with a ministry opportunity at the Gaborone Baptist Church on Friday afternoon. She was wanting to assist the pastor’s wife with a children’s program that had been started many years ago through our former missionaries. I was excited for the opportunity to help. The first week there were about 12 that came. The pastor’s wife Ma Kabika told a Bible story and we helped out with the fun and games. The second week, Ma Kabika was going to a wedding and was not able to come. Amanda and I took over.  Amanda had crafts that were sent by a church in the states. The kids loved it. We started with 14 and it grew before we were through.  I told the Bible story then we played games and sang songs.  It was a great day with the kids.

    The children are very respectful and eager to learn about the Word of God. I can definitely see we will grow fast. We hope to continue this opportunity and look forward to it each week. I am planning to get some pictures of some of them so you can see their faces and begin praying for them. If you would like to donate crafts for them please email me and I can let you know what is needed. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

 

When life gives you brown eggs… you use extra vinegar.

That is exactly what we used, extra vinegar to dye our eggs.  I was not sure they would even dye but they did and they looked great. We had extra help from the Lowe family.  The Lowe’s were on their way home from South Africa headed back to Zambia.   They have three kids and we all sat around the table having a good ole Easter celebration and dying eggs. (Thanks to my sister- in-law Amy for sending the dye… they have no idea here about Easter egg dye)  It was great having them here to share the fun.  

 

Easter Rally

Easter in Botswana is different from the states.  There are no new dresses, no easter bunny, or easter egg hunts done by the church.  Here all the Baptist churches get together starting on Friday and camp out in the newly cleared out lot the Convention owns in Radisele.  Many of the church pastors preach, teach, and conduct bible studies to encourage each other.  This was the first time we have been able to attend the rally, due to our arrival on the field and Riley being born last year.  When we arrived, they were gathered to eat supper.  Then the worship began and finished with preaching done by one of our fellow missionaries.  The boys were able to teach some of the children games that they had leaned at AMTM.  The fellowship was good and we were all encouraged to see fellow believers praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Even though we celebrate Easter differently, the reason for the celebration is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day.  We are humbled and thankful for such a great sacrifice.

 

The Devil’s in the details

Most of the people where I am from have heard the saying, “The devil is in the details.” Well, he wants to be anywhere he can disrupt the work of God and this has already proven true for this Easter Rally. I just got home from what should have been a simple trailer pick up from one of our brothers. He, his wife, and another man came by the Mission Office to pick up a trailer with a tent for the meeting.

Upon arriving, the trailer lights did not function properly with his truck and had to be re-wired. As Bill, our Logistics Coordinator, and I were attempting to get the lights working, the battery on the man’s truck died. After hooking up the jumper cables for a long while, the truck would turn over, but not start. This went on for an hour and the truck was not starting. In the meantime, the wife had left to a store and was needing to be picked up because the store was closing.  We stood at the front of the truck with the hood up and prayed that God would start the truck so they could pick up his wife and begin the three hour drive.

He got back in the driver seat and the same thing happened, the truck would turn over, but just not start.  He and I got into another truck and I drove him to pick up his wife.  She had just purchased 28 mattresses at this store so that people coming to the Easter Rally would have a place to sleep, so we began stacking and tying on 28 mattresses to the top of the truck.  By this time it was getting dark and we still needed to get them back to the mission office, get the truck running, load the mattresses from the other truck into the trailer and get them on their way.

When we arrived back at the mission office, he got into his truck and it started as if nothing had been wrong.  The lights on the trailer worked well enough for him to drive, and we managed to get most of the mattresses inside the trailer as well.  One of the things that we discussed last week in our Annual Mission Meeting was how the devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy.  I know he was set on stealing the joy of us working with our national brothers and sisters toward preparation for the Easter Rally, wanting to kill our hopes that the truck would start, and destroy the plan to get that tent to Radisele, but praise be to God that HIS plan was accomplished.

 

Its Easier to leave than to be left…. for me.

Since my journey began here in Africa, I have experienced leaving and being left.  When we left in 2009 it was difficult to go but I knew many new things were in store for us.  I looked forward to new journeys.  However, family and friends have come to visit and have left to go back.  This has always been very difficult.  Yesterday, our long time friends, The Jones left to go back to the states for good.  They told us about 6 months ago that God was showing them to go back   When Lisa was telling me the news, I was so excited for them.  They would begin a new journey.  I wasn’t thinking about myself until the next day.  Then it hit me… they would be leaving us here…  I had to think back and see why we came.  When it was time to choose our place of service, it was between Botswana and Costa Rica.  We prayed and prayed for several weeks for God to be clear.  We did not want to be with the Jones unless He wanted us to.  God showed us in many ways that we were to serve here in Botswana.   Now it is a new journey here in Bots without them. 

We recently came back from our Annual Mission Meeting with our cluster.  This is a time of worship and training.  Highland Terrace Baptist Church from Greenville TX came over to lead worship and takes care of the kids while we had meetings.  Pastor Bobby Atkins did an incredible job preaching Gods Word and we all felt the Spirit move.  I knew that this week would be hard for us as a  family seeing that the Jones were leaving.  However,  I had a sense of comfort.  Many fellow missionaries, friends, and family have been praying for me and I could definitely feel them.  God is good all the time.  All the time God is good.  Brandon, and I have been fed and it was desperately needed.   We now can look forward to what God has in store for us and we are excited to see Him work.   My saying all this time.. it is easier to leave than to be left, well I am ok being left.  God has given me peace and I look forward to see what is ahead. 

 

FBC Brinkley comes to visit! YAY

Michael McDaniel, Jacob Sheffer, and Brandi McChristian came to Botswana for a vision trip.  A vision trip is a future mission trip to see where the church would like to work.  Brandon took them to a village, the universitiy and around Gaborone.  Our family was so excited to have them here.  We look forward to them returning next year to help plant some seeds.

 

My Parents Stay

    I arrived in Johannesburg South Africa in mid March. It is necessary to go down 3 weeks early just in case I was to go into labor early. Brandon and boys took me down and they needed to come back due to Rhett being in school. Rhett finished out school and they were able to come to be with me while I waited for the arrival of Riley. As previous post, she arrived April 6.
    My parents scheduled a visit last year even before I knew I was pregnant. Oh how God works! They arrived April 9th just a few days after Riley was born. They were able to stay with us in Johannesburg while we waited for Riley’s passport. She received a foreign-born birth certificate and US passport. We could not leave the country of South Africa until that was in hand. It usually only takes a week or so but the volcano in Europe stopped all packages. We told the US embassy that we needed an emergency passport so we could get back to Botswana and they issued one that day. The next day we were off to Botswana with Mom and Dad.
    We did a lot of sightseeing in South Africa and Dad was able to go hunting while in Botswana. He killed an Impala and we are still eating on it. I think the most strange thing for them was driving on the left side of the road. Dealing with cars all their life… well this was quiet different for them. As us all, we have had to get used to it, but now it is 2nd nature to us.  They also were amazed at going to church.  They attended Nalady Baptist Church.   Going to church really open up their eyes to see how the Tswana people worship.  The people are so free and really know how to praise our Father, not worring about what other people are doing or thinking.  
    It was so great having them here when Riley was born. They were so much help. It had been six years since I have had a little baby. When they left, I thought, I cant even get my bed made… how am I going to do this. haha  Also, they brought many things from people back home and all has been used. There are many things that aren’t available and if they are …. they are very expensive. Again very, very grateful for all the baby gifts. Mom and I had so much fun each day getting Riley dressed. The boys would look forward seeing their sister get dressed up. They would even fight who was going to pick out her outfit and then hold her.
    I truly am grateful that they were here when they came.  We enjoyed them so much.  They are planning on coming again next year and we are already looking forward to it.

 

Riley Aleese Warner

Riley Aleese Warner was born April 6, 2010. She weighed 8lbs and 1 oz measuring at 19 inches long. The time of her birth was 11:10pm. She was born in Johannesburg South Africa at Sunninghill Hospital. She truly is our lil princess and we thank our Father for her everyday.