As you have seen in some of our previous posts, Brent has become quite the hunter since we’ve arrived here in Africa. Taylor loves to hear her daddy’s hunting stories and calls every meat that we eat, no matter what it is, warthog or impala. Recently, Taylor found daddy’s camo and had to put it on. I think if she could ever learn to be quiet, he just might take her hunting with him…she cries everytime he leaves and does not take her.
This past weekend we took a 5 hour journey to Johannesburg, South Africa to enjoy some of the amenities of a large city. We had a great time shopping and eating out at some great restaurants which does not happen too often here in Botswana. We also were able to visit a place called the Lion Park.
There were 2 giraffes Taylor was able to get up close to and feed. She really enjoyed it but said their tongues were “yucky”.
They also had several ostriches. Fun fact: male ostriches are the pretty black color that you normally see and the females are a brown color.
There were some caged areas with lion cubs that we could go in and pet them. Even though Taylor looks like she is by herself in the below picture, we promise we were supervising her very closely.
They had an area we could drive through with our car that had adult lions. The male lions are just so majestic and below is a picture of a female lion grooming another female lion. No petting these fellas!
James 4:14 has really been on my heart recently. “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”
Recently I was asked by Taylor’s nanny to visit her cousin, Boitumelo (Bo-ee-too-may-low). About 2 weeks ago, Boitumelo’s 3 month old little boy passed away. When I was asked to do this visit, I have to be honest and tell you I did NOT want to go. I prayed about it and I knew that this is something I definitely needed to do, but I did not yield to this right away. I shed many tears over this little one that was so abruptly taken away from this earth and I did not want to go out to this village and cry as I was supposed to be the one encouraging and praying for this mourning mother. When talking with the local pastor here, he told me that it’s ok to go out there and cry with the mother as it shows her how much I care for her and her situation.
So this past Wednesday, I made the journey to a village about 25 minutes away called Malapowabojang. We were able to visit with Boitumelo and one of her brothers whose name was Sunday Times, he obtained this name because he knows all that goes on in the village. I was able to witness to Sunday Times as he clearly does not have Jesus in his life and after he left, I was able to spend some time alone with Boitumelo. Almost everyone here has a cell phone, and she had a phone that had a camera on it. She had taken pictures of this little babies short life and wanted to show me. As I sat beside of her, she flipped through 30 pictures with the last being this little one in his coffin. I have to tell you my heart was broken for this mother and many tears were shed with her, but I tried to relay to her that our God is sovereign and loving and that this little ones life was not in vain. I have realized that sometimes people just need someone to cry with and to talk with when something like this happens.
Please pray for Boitumelo as she continues to mourn the loss of her child. I plan on continuing to minister to her…she is supposed to come to our house for lunch one day this week or next week and I plan on sharing my testimony with her and diving a little deeper to understand if she has a relationship with Jesus Christ. Also pray for Sunday Times, her brother, that he would come to know Jesus as his Savior.
Christ’s humbled servant,
Amanda
Since the arrival of our crate Brent has hosted a few Wii parties to get to know some of the guys that live here in Lobatse. Who would have thought that these boys would be happy playing for hours and hours, but it is so much fun for them and Brent.
Pictured: Josiah, Baraka, Judah, and Yessani
Taylor has had these pair of jeans that her Grammy bought her over a year ago that just now fit her. They are her first pair of “real” jeans. The first day that she wore them, we were just playing here around the house and she ended up falling three times because when she would run she would not have the stride she thought she would as the jeans did not move well. A couple of weeks later I was planning on her wearing the jeans again as we were heading up to Gaborone to visit some friends and their new baby, Riley. When Taylor saw that I had her jeans out for her to put on, she said “mommy, I don’t want to wear my jeans because I can’t run and I fall down”, so I told her that she could wear something else to go see baby Riley. I could see her thinking about it and knowing how much she loved her jeans and the pockets and she finally said “mommy, I’ll just walk today” and with that we put her jeans on her. What a big girl she is growing up to be! Below are a few shots of her in her infamous jeans.
Taylor loves her nanny, Bantle. What a relief it is to leave her with someone I know cares so much for her.
