Deaf ministry

The church that we have connected with here in Gaborone, Botswana is just amazing! Gaborone Baptist Church is a thriving church with an amazing pastor who loves the Lord. They do many outreach programs and one of their most recent ones is taking on a deaf ministry. To be honest I don’t know the entire story but there was an existing church for the deaf here run by some independent missionaries, but they had to go back to the States leaving no leadership at the church. Gaborone Baptist Church invited the deaf members of the church to come and be a part of their church family with many members signing up for sign language training to help interpret the service. A lady from Texas named Janice has a passion for the deaf and gave a month of her time to come here and be with the deaf and to teach those willing to learn sign lanugage. What a blessing it is to see the deaf worshipping our Lord in their own language!

His calling

“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

In the village of Mochudi, Brent and Jones have been faithfully going out every week telling people about Jesus. This area is a very dark place that practices witchcraft and many other traditional beliefs and many people warned them before going out that this is such a difficult place to do ministry. The Lord opened a door through one family in this village that has opened doors to spreading the gospel all throughout the village. Many have come to know the Lord and we are still working at getting a group together to study the bible as opposed to going house to house.

As Brent and Jones passed by an area that they normally don’t visit they heard some older men yelling  towards them. Alcohol is a huge problem all throughout Botswana and Brent and Jones figured that these three men  were just drunk but the Lord directed them to go talk to them. As they got closer they realized that these “old men” were actually young men in their 20’s and they started asking questions about why they were out walking in their village. Brent and Jones shared with them about Christ and how He had changed their lives. ALL THREE of these guys accepted Christ before Brent and Jones left the village of Mochudi this day.

Sometimes its so easy to ignore people and just keep walking, but we are called to share the love of Christ with those around us. Pray the Lord gives you opportunity to share Christ with someone and He will do it…just listen for His prompting. I know in my life I have fought with the Lord about not telling someone about Him because it was not “convenient”, but I’ve tried to think of it this way “if I don’t tell this person about Christ then maybe no one will”. The bible tells us if you call upon the name of the Lord you will be saved, we encourage you to share this with someone today.

Kingdom of Heaven a bit fuller

We have been working at Gaborone Baptist Church with a children’s ministry on Friday afternoons for over a year now. We are always sharing the love of Jesus with them and stories about His life. It was becoming a bit discouraging as none of the kids were coming to the Lord. Kids here think they can’t get saved at a young age and have to wait until they are older. It seems that children here are often overlooked and don’t have much self-worth so I don’t know if that has something to do with them not accepting Christ. We have come to find that we NEED to pour our lives into these kids as older Batswana sometimes are set in their ways and will not come to Christ, so our goal is to plant seeds early with these kids by implanting scripture in their hearts and showing them that God does love them and has a plan for their lives.

I know sometimes there are just those who “plant seeds” and I was content being one of those planters with these children, but something happened in the lives of 4 of these girls last week. They came up afterwards and said, “we asked Jesus into our heart today.” Praise God!!! Please pray for Koziba, Banti, Boipelo, and Antonnet as they begin to learn more about their Savior and that there parents would allow them to be baptized.

Ledumang update

We wanted to update you on the bible study happening in a nearby neighborhood called Ledumang (Lay-doo-mang). Amanda and Taylor go there every Saturday morning at 10am and meet with about 4 ladies and 8 children. This bible study has been something Amanda feels like the Lord is leading her to do, but there just was not clear direction of where to begin study. Initially she was trying to get a ladies bible study, but kids just kept showing up so it has turned out to be both a ladies and children’s bible study. We do some songs and a bible lesson just for the kids and then we have started an in depth study of the book of John with the ladies. Please continue to pray that the Lord’s hand would be in all we do!

Mopane Worms

I’m sure I will get some flack over this post, but the other day we let Bradyn try some Mopane (Mo-pah-knee) Worms. They are dried caterpillers that are often eaten here. We have to admit that WE have not tried them but he was excited to try it. He didn’t eat much before he was done but he tried it and we have the proof :)

The last picture is one I found on the internet of how they are sold.

1st day of kindergarten

Taylor started her 1st day of kindergarten on May 7. She had a great 1st week of school and she and her teacher are getting along well. It’s going to be a great year!

BFF

I hear the term BFF (best friends forever) and I am so thankful that my daughter has found her BFF at such a young age. Taylor and Madylanne met in July 2009 when we started our training as missionaries and they literally have been inseparable. They do live in different countries (Taylor in Botswana and Madylanne in Zambia) but their hearts are inseparable. They speak of each other on a daily basis and the 1-2 times a year that they do see each other, they just pick back up where they left off.

We recently had a mission meeting in South Africa where  Madylanne’s family was at as well and then we were blessed to have them come stay with us for a week. Here are a few shots from the week.

Above: Madylanne and Taylor enjoying some ice cream at Sanitas

Below: The girls were able to get their faces painted

Below: Each year when we see them we do either an early or late birthday party for the girls. Their birthdays are just a couple of weeks apart in the month of June. They have celebrated their 3rd, 4th, and 5th birthdays together so far.

Bradyn and Matthew are just 4 months apart in age and because their sisters are such great friends they will have to be best friends as well.

Annual Cluster Meeting

Once a year all of the missionaries in our Cluster (Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho) get together for a time of spiritual, physical, and emotional refreshing. We had a team come from FBC Perryton, Texas to do VBS with our kids while the adults were able to sing, hear preaching, and hear reports of what the Lord is doing around the world. We had a great time and love our mission family.

Above: We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn heading to our meeting in Tshipise, South Africa

Below: Taylor getting a trim from the pastor’s wife at FBC Perryton

Above: Each missionary family got a goodie bag from FBC Perryton that had goodies like hershey, milky ways, pepperoni, coffee creamer, and skittles…all those things we miss from America :)

Below: The kids were in class thru the day and did VBS “Amazing Wonders Aviation”. Taylor also got to hang out with her best friend Madylanne. They met 3 years ago during our training in Richmond, VA. Madylanne and her family serve in Zambia but when they see each other once or twice a year its like they never have been apart.

Taylor’s class with her teachers Ms. Gran Gram and Ms. Angie

Above: The kids making their best silly faces

Below: Bradyn’s toddler class with teachers Ms. Ginger and Ms. Carolyn

One night for dinner we had a luau theme. So much fun!

Below: During one of our worship times, we all had communion together

Above: Brent was acknowledged for his 5 years on the mission field (our 3 together plus his 2 years in Kenya as a journeyman)

Above:We also took up an offering for Lottie Moon that supports missionaries around the world

Below: We had a picnic one afternoon complete with sack races, piggy back races, wheelbarrow races, watermelon seed spitting, and volleyball.

Above: Taylor’s class doing an egg/spoon race

Below: Taylor loving on Uncle Gregg…our kids love their mission aunts and uncles

Above: On the last night, the kids did a VBS presentation to show us all they learned.