Divine Appointments

John and I were in the village of Shashe on Friday. We had some great visits. John got a call from one of his friends. Her name is Motshabi. She was asking for prayer since she just got out of the hospital. We were going to make some more visits, but I sensed the Lord leading us to go visit Motshabi that day. We went to the store to get her some juice and bread. We met Motshabi at the house where she is staying. She was very sick still. I asked her if she was up to us sharing God's word with her and she said yes. I shared the gospel, using the F.A.I.T.H. message. Motshabi prayed to trust Christ! I told her that we would be back on Monday (August 3rd) to see how she was doing and to see if she had any questions about God's word. John and I went back to where Motshabi was staying. She was not home but out looking for a job. We met the lady who was the landlord of the house. John asked her if we could share God's word with her. She said, "I cannot refuse God's word." I shared Creation to Christ (C2C) with her. She prayed to trust Christ too!! Today John and I went to his home village of Tati Siding. We went to visit his aunt and cousins. They were not home. So we visited with the neighbor lady. It was just John, myself, and the neighbor lady. Soon one of John's cousins came to the Bible study. As we continued the study 5 other ladies came. God impressed on me to share many messages: The Woman at the well (John 4), Phil. 4:6-7; Romans 12:1-2; and Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armor of God. It was an awesome and powerful time of worship!! The greatest worship time that I've had since I've been in Botswana the past seven months! The presence of the Holy Spirit was very evident. One lady burst out crying with tears of joy and praise for Jesus! Another lady broke out singing "Our God Is An Awesome God"! Our prayers were vibrating in our souls! Words cannot do justice to how awesome of a time of worship it was! These are just a few of the divine appointments that God has given us. How I look forward to many other times when He shows us who to talk to about Jesus! As my helper John says, "People here are hungry for God!"

God is Doing Some Great Stuff!!

John and I went back into the village of Shashe today. I wanted to go back to talk to the chief (Kgosi) about where he was spiritually. When we got to the Kgotla the chief was not there. He was home sick. But there was a public meeting going on. About 100 people were there. John and I started to drive away, but we felt led of the Lord to stay. We walked up to the meeting. The only 2 chairs were in the very front. So we sat there listening to the speaker. I thought, "Ok Lord, what are You going to do today?" We stayed about 30 minutes. They were addressing the issues of water. Some people do not have it to drink there...no bore holes/wells. As we left I felt a little disappointed, but God spoke to my heart, "I wanted you here today so that people will remember you when you go to their homes. You will be familiar to them. The chief has given you permission to share God's word in this village." I thought, "OK Lord! This is Your village. Just let me know where You want me to go here." We then went to the home of RraMaja & MmaMaja. We visited them last week. RraMaja was out tending to the cattle. MmaMaja was home with her 3 grandkids. I shared Creation To Christ (C2C) with her. I asked her if she wanted to trust Christ as her Lord and Savior. She said, "Yes, I want to do that." She prayed with me to invite Christ into her heart. As I led her in prayer I noticed another voice. It was her oldest grandson (about age 12). He had been sitting behind me. He too trusted Christ!! I gave her and her two oldest grandsons notebooks, the gospel of John, & pens to copy the gospel. This helps them to grow in their faith. We will go back next week to see what questions and/or insight they have from copying Scripture. Please pray for MmaMaja. She is still grieving the death of her oldest son and daughter who died last year. Not only did she love her kids, they were helping to support her & RraMaja financially. Now they are struggling financially and emotionally. After we left MmaMaja's home we left to go to her daughter's house. It took a while to find. We had not gone to her house before, but we talked to her last week when we visited with her brother at his house. We found her house. Her 4 kids were in the front yard. John went up to the gate and asked if their mother was home. She was not. John asked them if we could come into the yard to share the word of God. They said no. John came back to the car. We were preparing to leave and the youngest daughter came to the car and told John, "We will listen to the word of God." So we went in. I again shared Creation To Christ. I asked them if they wanted to trust Christ. They said, "We have Christ." I gave them notebooks, pens, & the gospel of John to copy. After we left John said, "They are not saved." I asked him how he knew. "I see their eyes. They are empty, without Jesus. Their responses are not with Christ." Wow! I told John that he had the gift of spiritual discernment! I trust him. He knows his own people well. But since they are willing to copy Scrirpture, God will speak to them! Isaiah 55:11 says "My word will go out of My mouth and not return to me void, without accomplishing what I desire..." We will go back next week to follow up on them. It is getting busy going to the villages of Tonota and Shashe!! Praise the Lord! I will also go to the village of Tati Siding next week where John lives. There is a Bible study going on there now. It was started by our colleagues, Kelly & Ann Carrutheres about 2 years ago. Pray that the Lord will put fire in their hearts! On our way home John said that people in Shashe were responding to the gospel of Jesus. He said, "God is doing some stuff!!" I love to hear John as he speaks words of wisdom. He also said, referring to God's word..."When you know where the Medicine is, why go some place else?" Good advice!

The Chief of Shashe

My national helper, John, has a favorite verse that he is constantly quoting: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord" (Zechariah 4:6). Here is how we are seeing God's Spirit at work:Last Thursday John and I went into the village of Shashe to visit the chief to get his approval of wanting to come to share God's word. The chief said, "We cannot refuse God's word. You are welcome to come." There was a lady setting next to the chief. She leaned forward and said "You can come preach God's word in the school. I am the Headmaster!" After we left the chief we made two visits. One was to an older man and his wife, RraMaja & MmaMaja. They listended to our message. John interprets for me. He asked us to visit his son who lives near by. We then went to try to find the son's house but we could not. But we stopped when we saw an older lady. She invited us into her home. She and her older sister (MmaBosele & MmaKoba) live there. We shared God's word with them and gave them notebooks, gospel of John booklet, and pens to copy the gospel of John. Today we went back to Shashe to follow up on these ladies. They have started to copy the gospel of John. They had great insight. MmaBosele said, "Just like Andrew, the younger brother of Peter, brought Peter to Jesus, my younger sister invited you into our home last week and she brought me to Jesus through you." Wow! Marvelous insight!After this visit John said, "Let's give a Bible to the chief." We went back to the Kgotla (place where the chief has his office). Kgosi (the chief) was sitting alone in a area where they conduct public meetings. We walked up to where he was and sat on a bench in front of him. John told him that we wanted to give him a Bible as a gift. I gave it to him. He took it and as he held it, what he said next brought tears to my eyes....With great passion he said, "Ke al leboga, Thata! Thata! Thata!" (Thank you Very much! Very much! Very much!). Oh how I wish that I would always have this kind of passion, awe and respect of God's word. Sometimes I take God's word for granted. I forget who the Author of the Bible is. I get so wrapped up in daily activities and responsibilities that I am so focused on the stresses of life that I forget that God is still in charge and that my life needs to be an ongoing lifestyle of worship to my Savior. The way that Kgosi said "Thata" melted my heart. The way he held that Bible was like it was a priceless piece of art (which it is!). As we left I looked back and saw that Kgosi was reading his new Bible. It was so humbling to experience this. "Lord Jesus, forgive me when I take you for granted. Give me a continuing hunger and thirst for Your word that I may stay close to You, for without You I will fall to all kinds of temptations and make decisions that do not honor You." Amen!

Ibis Gardens Resort stay...our end of 40/40 in Zambia

PHASE IV

After our homestay, we traveled 7 hours to a resort called Ibis Gardens. Back to electricity, nice beds, air-conditioning, china, silverware and a shower and indoor toilet! Ibis had a beautiful swimming pool, where Luke spent most of his time! For three days here, we practiced language learning techniques and got ready to go back to our own countries and said our good-byes. It was great to reconnect with our friends we had gone to training with in Virginia and to meet new friends too. this was the largest group to go through the Safari 40/40 training.

Homestay at 40/40

PHASE III
Jazen, Patience, Chikondi and George live in their home that they are building. It really is just a shell right now...with dirt floors, brick walls, a tin roof and bricked up windows. Soon they will save enough money to have electricity. It will take them three years to pay for the floor, windows, doors, bathroom and kitchen cabinents/appliances. They will get these things done as they can pay for them. Their bathroom right now is a small brick structure about 30 feet from the house with an outdoor toilet (squattie pottie) and bathing area. We would bathe each day in this behind a curtain when Patience would heat some water over the fire. The bath was splashing water on us to clean off. This is how they bathe everyday.
Our stay with the family also included 3 hens and 1 rooster. They stayed in the room in the house across from ours. Every morning at 3 a.m., the rooster would start crowing and didn't stop until about 6 a.m. I think if we had stayed any longer...we would have had fried chicken for supper! We all slept on 2 inch mattresses on the dirt floor under a mosquito net. This was called our "Happy Place" because if we kept it all tucked in tight...under the mattress...then bugs, lizards and whatever were kept out!
Patience would cook all the meals over a fire. We ate traditional African foods like Nshema (which is the mealie (corn) meal stirred in hot water until it gets thick like grits). The Nshema is used for the utensils since you pinch off a bit, work it into a ball, flatten out a place in the middle with your thumb, and then use it to scoop up your other food like pumpkin leaves, okra, kapenta (small fish like minnows) and goat meat. Luke played games with the boys. Kim helped Patience wash their clothes in a bucket. I worked in their garden and went to a futball game. This was such a sweet family and they were very generous in everything they had.

More 40/40 our Rural Phase

PHASE II
We left Lusaka and started our rural phase of Safari by traveling 5 hours by chartered bus to the village of Petauke. Here we stayed for two more weeks in our Bush Camp...living in tents,using outhouses for toilets, and buckets for make-shift showers. We had to get our own water from the pump, heat the water on a campfire and use our buckets and rope system for our showers. During this phase, we went out into the rural villages and did DFAs with new Zambian helpers...to get the feel for rural Africa. We rode on the back of a huge truck into the village on some days and on others we just walked and walked and walked! This time, Kim and I were on a team. We enjoyed sitting with people and talking to them about their lives. Kim and I talked to one lady who was a traditional healer (witch doctor). We got to pray for her as well. The last 3 days and 3 nights of Bush Camp were spent living with a Zambian family...Kb flew back to Francistown to start school. So it was just Kim, Luke and I who went to live with the Phiri family.

Our 40/40 Adventure in Zambia

Yes, we have arrived back in our home in Francistown...unpacking, doing laundry, starting school and language study. We wanted to share a little of our time at 40/40. This program is designed for all new missionaries who come to serve in the Central, Eastern and Southern portions of Africa. It is meant to prepare us to live like the Africans do so that we can better relate and understand their culture and mindset. It was a GREAT experience. It was hard, fun and exhausting as well! We are very thankful for the time we had ...also very thankful to be back 'home'. Here are some thoughts from Randy's journal he kept while we were gone:

PHASE I
The first two weeks we stayed at the Baptist Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia. Kelland and Luke had teachers there who organized their school times and lots of fun field trips (like a Croc farm and a water park!) during the day. Kb and Luke loved being with the other MKs and made many dear friends as well. The adults were divided into teams with Zambian helpers as our guides and went out each day on a Daily Field Assignment (DFA). I was on a team with Abusa (Pastor) Alfred Tembo as my helper. We had to walk down a long dusty dirt road to catch a minibus to ride to our assigned site everyday. I went into the area called Kalikiliki (means hurry, hurry). It looked like it was far beyond poverty stricken. The roads were pretty much humps, potholes and a few rocks. The ride to the compound cost 2,000 kwacha a person! Sounds expensive, but here 5,000 kwacha is equal to 1 U.S. dollar.
As we walked around each day, we heard several young children call out, "Mzungu!"
which means "white person". In the market area there were several kinds of shops. Many had food like tomatoes, fish called kapinta, goat intestines, mealie meal. Each day we visited various people to talk to them about their families, customs, and culture. On one visit, we went out to share the gospel using Creation to Christ. It takes about 20 minutes to share, a presentation that explains the reason Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sins. Four adults prayed to trust Christ as their Savior. Kim shared C2C and 9 children prayed to trust Christ. Our Zambian helpers were to follow up on these decisions. We will never know the outcome until we get to heaven.
One of the DFAs was to visit people who were sick or who had a death in the family. I visited two people who had had strokes. Kim visited a family going through a funeral. She and her partner, Marci, got to help make NShema for the dinner they were preparing.

I talked at length with one of the Zambian helpers. He had questions about weddings/marriage. I asked him about the same topic for Zambians. He said a man would pay a 'bride price' for the woman he wanted to marry. Men will pay the bride's father one or more cows. If they have no cattle, then men can work cultivating the fields of his future father-in-law. One man worked for three years for the bride price! Why is this price paid? Because it shows respect to the family and shows her family that he is committed to the woman. Look at the great Bride Price that Jesus paid for us: His death on the cross.