Here is a video of the baptism talked about in a previous post. Be blessed!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Zimbabwe Trip
This past week Brent had the privilege to travel to Zimbabwe to see how God was working. In the past 6 months there has been 6 churches planted and in the next year they are expecting 10 more churches. God is truly working and there is real life change happening. Here are some highlights
74 people from this village were baptized.
People traveled from all over to watch those being baptized, God is so good!
During the service people from all over the village still came to gather water, it was such a great testimony for the village.
After the baptism we all walked back to church and had a great Sunday service under a shade tree. We then took lunch, rested a bit and later showed the Jesus film along with a Sunday night service. Church lasted all day and well into the night but everyone was so happy to be there. God is truly working!
The next morning we broke camp and traveled to an Orphan care center that will soon be opened. The church members have taken this project on by themselves and have spent many days getting the care center opened by roofing the 16 rondavels
They have been given 16 rondavels (small round houses) and will be able to host close to 64 orphans.
The church has been rethatching all of the roofs in order to get ready for the students. The process starts by cutting and drying grass.
Next the grass is tied together on the ground.
It is then rolled out on top of the rondavels and tied to the wood beams.
The last process is to line up the roof and make it look good. It’s so wonderful to see these new church members giving of their time in order to serve the community.
Please pray for the people and the work in Zimbabwe! God is great!
Sanyati Baptist Hospital
After such a great time in the village we traveled to see the work at a local Baptist Hospital. The hospital has a long term volunteer doctor missionary and his family working there. The hospital over the next year will get a complete makeover from different teams from the states. Here are some pictures.
Hospital waiting room
This is a new born baby that was just a day old. They love to wrap up the little ones in so many blankets it’s hard to find the little ones.
Many of the people in the rooms will take the mats off the the very large bed and put them on the floor.
This little girl was so funny, she watched and watched us for a long time until she decided that she did not like us and let out a warning scream, so much personality.
One of my favorite pictures, such a nice young man. He will be going home very soon.
This little boy was so cute. He was eating Cheetos and just loving life, he is recovering from pneumonia. Nothing but smiles until he had to cough, and then right back to smiles.
Pray for the family that is working at the hospital. The husband is the only doctor on staff right now while the family minsters to those in the hospital. Pray also for the makeover and the teams coming to minster. God is Great!
The next day we were able to go fishing in Zimbabwe, it is so different than living in the desert of Botswana. So much water!
Birthday Fun
It’s always so much fun to have a birthday when the kids can enjoy the party. Taylor loved the package from Grammy, she is always asking, did we get a package today? Fun times for sure!
We even had a local store make a very nice ice cream cake, so yummy.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Ian Michael Turner
Our sweet nephew was born in Maryland on March 25, 2011 weighing 9 pounds, 1 ounce. He is just so cute!!
Please keep him in your prayers. He will be in the hospital until at least March 30 due to a possible infection or heart murmur that is causing his breathing to be too rapid. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they try to diagnose the problem and treat him quickly so he can go home.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Baptism at GBC
This is Gaborone Baptist Church (GBC). This past Sunday they had a baptism service for 5 individuals. The Lord is working through the people in this church. Please pray for the pastor (Moruti Kabika) as he leads the church.
Gaborone Baptist Church
Pastor Kabika is on the far side. Each service is held in Setswana with an English interpreter.
Here are 2 of the people who were baptized. Praise the Lord!!
Friendship
One of Taylor’s really good friends is Caden. He and his family live here in Gaborone and unfortunately they are heading back to the States in April. We are going to miss their whole family and Taylor will miss her friend very much. She told Caden in the car yesterday as we drove him home that she was going to marry him. They are such sweet friends!
Taylor and Caden
Funny face pictures are the best!
Baking/decorating gingerbread cookies
Monday, March 14, 2011
Life in Africa
Normally when we go out we don’t have a camera with us, but the other day we purposefully took our camera with us to capture life here. We live in the capital city of Gaborone in Botswana and it is rather developed but just 10 minutes outside the city you are in the village and very rural areas. Here’s some pretty normal things we see.
2 donkey carts ahead of ous on the road and on the right you can see a lady carrying something on her head as most of the women do here.
We live in a very hot, dry place where most of the country is the Kalahari Desert. Here is a small stream with some cows grazing around it. Most animals here just graze freely and you have to stop for goats, sheep, donkey, and cattle to cross the road.
Donkeys seem like such a sad animal. They do look for shade to stand in as the days get very hot.
The above van is called a Combi. This is the transport system around town. There are normally 3-4 rows of seats and normally they get pretty packed out.
Above is an example of some small “shops” set up on the side of the road to sell candies, sodas, or fresh vegetables.
Most people here send their kids to a nursery school like the one above from the time they are about 1 year old. People look at me strange when I tell them that Taylor is not in nursery school.
