The Turner Adventures: August 2018

14th anniversary

We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on August 14. We went out to dinner just the two of us and then hiked Kgale Hill as a family. Love this man with my whole heart!!

Top of Kgale Hill overlooking out city

Love this sweet girl

Taking a little lunch break

sweet kids

Out to dinner

On August 4, our dear friends Tebogo and Phemelo had their Lobola (Low-bow-lah). This is the traditional wedding that takes place before the white wedding. The groom-to-be brings the "bride price" that was agreed upon by both families uncles...in this case Tebogo was worth 10 cows. Only the married men and women are allowed to join in to this traditional wedding and it takes place at first light which is around 6am. If the groom is late, he is often times charged additional cows so everyone is on time on this day which is not typical African time. The white wedding will be November 24 so stay tuned for pictures :)

The bride being presented

The groom-to-be (Phemelo) and bride-to-be (Tebogo)

African Baptist Theological Education Network

August 1st - 3rd a historic meeting took place in Kenya and Brent and 3 others from our seminary traveled to Kenya. This first meeting of the Africa Baptist Theological Education Network (ABTEN) included theological educators from across Sub-Saharan Africa. We praise God that there was representation from 20 different countries! The desire for this meeting was to form a coalition of Baptist seminaries who would partner together to a) mutually encourage one another, b) mobilize more laborers into the harvest and c) lead the African church to return to their Baptist roots and experience a theological revival; where Baptists are leading the way in addressing issues like the prosperity gospel and other aberrant theologies that are plaguing Africa and the world. During this meeting God united us in our shared vision, shared challenges, and shared solutions. We enjoyed fellowship, created accountability, and pursued integrity in doctrinal fidelity. Our prayer is that this new coalition will help us all to improve our teaching and lead our institutions to be even more healthy in the future.
Pray for for the Baptist Convention Seminary in Botswana that is just 2 years old that we would be able to train up pastors and leaders in the churches throughout Botswana.

L to R: James Clark, Jack Rantho,
Benjamin Kabika, Brent Turner

Getting some coffee before heading back home

Flight to Kenya

Botswana Baptist Women's Conference

Amanda attended the annual Botswana Baptist Women's Conference in July. It's such a great weekend of getting together with the other women from all over Botswana and worship and learning together. This years speaker was from Southwestern Seminary, Dr. Candi Finch and she did such an amazing job.

Dr. Candi Finch

A time of sharing with the newly married Batswana

The pastor's wives

The married women wearing the traditional blankets and
head coverings

Mt. Zion Baptist Church Mission Trip

Sometimes it so easy to think, what can I really do to impact the world? Just one life can impact the world in so many ways...such is the life of Sarah Harmening. If you remember in some of our previous updates, Sarah was a high school student on her way to Botswana in June 2017 on a mission trip when her bus crashed on the way to the airport and Sarah lost her life. Her family has honored her life in so many ways...raising and donating $91,000 to the IMB in Sarah's name which part of the money provided the Baptist Convention Seminary with some much needed books, provided school supplies for our Friday children's ministry and also will cover a conference to teach church planting strategies. Hundreds of thousands have heard the name of Jesus because of Sarah's love for Jesus. We were privileged to have Sarah's family and a few others from Mt Zion Baptist Church in Alabama to come to Botswana in June 2018 to share the love of Jesus with so many.

A local artist, KG, painted some photos we had framed with a plaque in Sarah's honor to be hung in the seminary. We shared Sarah's story and Jesus with him and now he is meeting with Brent for bible study. The ways Sarah's life impacted so many is proof that one life can make a difference. YOU can make a difference in someone's life today by sharing Jesus with them.

*Photo Credits: JJ and Jesse Yount

Touring the seminary and the library that the donation in Sarah's
honor helped build and supply the books

Teaching the Youth

Scott and Karen Harmening sharing at church

Mt Zion and Nehemiah Teams

The Harmenings meeting Pastor Kabika

Sharing at a school

Giving out school kits to the Friday children's ministry
at Gaborone Baptist Church. These were the kids Sarah
was coming to work with.

Children's ministry at Gaborone Baptist Church

KG, the local artist who painted the paintings for the plaque
in honor of Sarah

The plaque in honor of Sarah

Happy 11th birthday, Taylor!

On June 29, Taylor celebrated her 11th birthday. She celebrated with an art party as this is one of her favorite things to do. She loves riding horses, reading, doing art, and playing netball. We are so thankful the Lord blessed us with this strongly, independent young lady.

Painting

face painting

happy 11th birthday, taylor!

Pinata time

Nehemiah Team

We were blessed to have two guys, Reuben and Jacob, who were a part of the IMB's Nehemiah Teams to come join us for June and July and to share the love of Christ throughout Botswana. They truly immersed themselves into the Batswana culture and served in any way we asked them...they even had to help kill and cook a cow for a conference. If you would like to serve on a Nehemiah Team in the future go to www.imb.org/students.

Sharing with high school students

Evangelism in Gakuto

Reuben preaching to 650 kids at a school

Limbo at Friday children's ministry

Strong bonds were made in Lobatse

The boys got to slaughter a cow for a conference

Hiking Kgale Hill

Ellie-9 months

Ellie turned 9 months old on June 7. She has officially been outside of my tummy as long as she was in it. It's amazing how much they learn in such a short period of time, their mind is like a sponge. She is saying "mama, dada, tay tay, bah bah (for Bradyn)" and is just the sweetest baby ever!

9 months old

When dad fold laundry...

Ellie-8 months

Our sweet Ellie turned 8 months old on May 7. She is keeping us on our toes with all of her crawling around. She has started pulling up and standing holding onto things. She also got to ride a horse with Taylor and loved it. Finally, she has started to sleep through the night and mommy is so happy!!!