Botswana Day 9 & 10

The weekend has come to a close. Our direct ministry time has ended. It has been an incredible expereince. Our students showed great maturity, never complaining and always working hard till the day was done. We worked with a group of college students from America and our students benefited from their presence and mentorship.

Friday Colleen and I were invited to lunch with an old Indian muslim friend of mine. We played soccer together here in Lobatse 10 years ago. I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him before returning home in 2002 but hadnt heard anything from him. We had some spicy chicken curry and his whole family sat around the table with us. They are still devout muslims but I wanted to maintain that connection, hopefully one day he will email me with a searching question and I can direct him to the truth. His son, who is now 20, invited me to come out and play soccer with them Saturday.

Saturday we participated in setting up and running components of the Lobatse Baptist Church “Family Fun Day”. The students painted faces, helped with games, and made sure each child there was loved on. Several children from the local orphanage came by. Our students did an incredible job showing the love of God to these children. Saturday afternoon Alex White, one of the summer missionaries, and myself played soccer with a group of under 21 Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians, and Batswana. We had a great time and several of the older players remembered me. One in particular, Mogomutse, a Motswana guy, 23 years old, sought me out specifically. I felt like he had just found his lost brother, he was smiling as we spoke. He was just 15 when I left but he remembered me. I invited him to church and we headed home for an great Braai, or cook out.

Sunday morning I got to preach at Lobatse Baptist. God was good. I met a guy who was a student at one of the schools I led Bible studies in back when I was a Journeyman and now he is a church leader. Mogomutse showed up. He is not a believer but hopefully he will continute to attend and give his life to Jesus.

This trip has been intense for me personally. Several people I knew and worked with from 2000-2002 are now dead or have fallen away from the faith. My heart was so broken during our time. But God is good and seeing others who had been impacted by the work I did. He renewed my hope and reminded me that God continues working, even when we are not present. He will raise up new believers each day in all the world. It’s been a joy to see that happen this week.

Tomorrow we head off to Pilanesburg for a short stay at a game reserve. I plan on being amazed by, and a little intimidated by God’s creativity. We will not know if we will have internet until we are there. This may be our last post. If so, continue to pray for us as we see God appointments even as we relax a little. We return home early Thursday morning. Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Jeff