GBC kids Friday ministry

Amanda and her friend Torie have been working with the children at Gaborone Baptist Church (GBC) for the past year. They have partenered with the pastor’s wife in helping with this ministry and we have been praying for more nationals to come alongside of us to help with this ministry. In the last month, the Lord has brought 2 college youth to work with us-Phatsimo and Lesh-we are so excited to have them join us.

We start our time together by playing for 30 minutes until all of the kids arrive.

Then we come inside and say our Bible verses together. The kids have learned so far: John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Psalms 118: 24, and Colossians 3:20.

We then have a bible lesson for the kids. We have been leading up to Christ’s death on the cross since Easter is just around the corner. Recently we talked about the Last Supper and you will see where Torie washed all 30+ kids feet. We try to rotate teaching and do it in both English and Setswana. Most kids speak English but especially the younger ones do not know English yet.

Above: The kids made kites out of paper and string and had a blast

Below: Showing the example of how Jesus washed the disciples feet

Above: This is Mma Kabika (the pastor’s wife) and Phatsimo teaching a lesson.

Ways we stay COOL

We rarely ever get rain but recently we received a steady downpour of rain for 2 days. It was so great and the kids had to of course go out and play in the rain/mud.

When there is not rain we have popsicles :)

Lipstick, tents, and TV

Taylor LOVES making cards for people. For Valentines Day I let her have a tube of lipstick to kiss on some cards. Well, the other day she found it again and used it on a card without asking. The result…lipstick reaching her cheeks :)

Taylor and Bradyn love playing together. Taylor get her princess tent out and Bradyn loves to crawl in and out the door. Love these two stinkers!

He wants to be just like his daddy!

1st trip to the ER

Sometimes I have to remind myself that God is in control, especially in situations with my children. This past Sunday night (March 11), we had our first trip to the ER with Taylor. She was bouncing on a bouncy ball and bounced right into the cement wall in her room (no dry wall here). My kids have both had many goose eggs in their lives, but this one was so huge and purple/black that is really scared us. We took her to the emergency room here in Gaborone. Most things happen very slowly here in Africa, but I thought the emergency room would be a little differently. Nope!! We could not get anyone to help us and we were expected to sit on this bench behind about 20 people and wait in line. There is ZERO sense of urgency in the ER, but I was about to lose it. My child is crying/screaming and no one who worked there really cared. I finally went to the hall and let Brent stand at the desk until someone would finally help him. I called my brother who is a doctor and just mostly cried but asked him if she was going to be ok.

After a few patients let us skip ahead, we finally were able to see a doctor and he ordered us to go for X-rays. When we finally were able to get the x-rays done, we saw the doctor again and he cleared her to go back home as there was not a fracture. The picture below is Day 2 after the bump and most of the swelling had gone down. It’s amazing to know that she can hit her head as hard as she did and be ok.

This was just a reminder to us that our God is in control of both the big and small situations and I am so thankful He took care of our little girl.

Ledumang

On Saturdays, the kids and I try to go walk over to Ledumang (Lay-doo-mong) to visit. I am not for sure how to describe Ledumang other than its one of the places in the city where the poorer people live. We have made several friends in the area and will be continuing with bible study with Taylor’s friend Pearl and her mother and also will be starting another bible study per a request today while we were there.

Today we went to visit Pearl’s sister who has a 3 month old baby named Kgatlego (Kaw-Klay-ho). Most babies I have held here in Botswana wear diapers (or nappies as they call them here), but when this baby was put on my lap I noticed she just had panties on. In my mind I thought, surely this baby has not already been potty trained. WELL, surely she had not. I got wetted on 2 times in just 20 minutes. So I pushed Bradyn home in the stroller with Taylor walking beside of me as quickly as possible with my pants wet as can be and paid Taylor 4 pula to watch Bradyn while I took a shower. I can take quite a bit, but I so don’t like getting wetted on. TIA-“This is Africa”

This is Kgatlego, the not so potty trained baby who wears panties. She is so adorable! She wore these little ropes tied around her neck, wrists, and ankles. I asked what it meant and I was told that it was to keep the bad spirits away and to keep her healthy. Pray that the family will trust fully in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, He is the only one who can truly protect us!

Random

Recently we dumped pictures from our phones to our computer. So this is our random post of fun pictures over the last few months.

Taylor decorating Valentine cupcakes with her friends Lili and Elliott

Bradyn enjoying a lollipop

This is Riley. She is so sweet and we just love her so much! I give her all the hugs I wish I could give my nieces/nephew…it’s a lot!

Above and below: This was our 2 day journey to Cape Town. Taylor watched movies and Bradyn slept with the blanket over his head

Above: Taylor playing dress up

Below: We found this little ride thing at a gas station, fun!

We have few restaurants here but one of them is called “Spur”. It’s all about Indians which is so random to me here in Africa. The kids got some Indian hats.

Taylor has recently started swimming lessons with her friend Elliott. To be honest it is not going all that well as she is terrified of putting her face/head in. Not sure how long it will last.

Above: Best friends watching cartoons together. By the next picture you can see that Bradyn does not stay entertained very long by the TV

This is us in church. We try to entertain the kids however we can and this day the sunglasses worked for all of 5 minutes.

Above: Bradyn looking out the window for daddy to come home

Below: We do our own haircuts and this shows Bradyn’s not so great hair cut…cutting little boys hair that won’t sit still is not easy.

Botswana Orphan Care Center

We first met Allison and Kasey in June 2010 when they came to Botswana. They came with several other students from Mississippi College and stayed for the summer to do mission work during their summer break. They both just graduated with their teaching degree and have felt the Lord calling them back to Botswana for 2 years to minister to the orphans. They have hearts of gold and we are so glad they have followed the Lord’s calling in their lives. If you would like to read more about their project go to: http://orphancarecenter.blogspot.com/

They recently spent the weekend with us and the above picture was a girls day out and we got chicken pies at a local shop.