Sons and Daughters of the KING

We are sons and daughters of the KING! Does that truly sink in with you? 2 Corinthians 6:18 states "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." One of my favorite times of year is Easter. Here in Botswana, it's not a time of going to get new dresses or suits and preparing that amazing Easter meal after we all head to church...rather here in Botswana we meet in a big dirt field  filled with tents and worship our risen Savior all weekend with our brothers and sisters in Christ. I had the privilege of leading our children's ministry program this year and the children were able to learn about how they are sons and daughters of the King. We looked at the life of Queen Esther and how she had tremendous "courage" and the life of King David and how he was "chosen" by God and lastly the life of King Jesus and how he shed His blood for our sins. If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you too are a child of the King. I urge you if you are reading this and don't know the King of all Kings...surrender your life to Him today!

Teaching the children

Ellie and her friend

The Vines family from Zambia joined us

I love using the "Resurrection Eggs" to
tell the story of what Easter truly is about

Ellie had way too much fun in all the dirt

Our friends and colleagues-Staci and the Still family

Limbo, limbo, limbo

My girl playing jump rope

Friends

Sons and daughters of the KING

Friends

Love these kiddos!

Brent's 40th birthday

Yep that's an elephant

On March 21, Brent celebrated his 40th birthday. We are so thankful for this guy and had so much fun celebrating him. On the day of his birthday, we had a volunteer team here and we had already planned to take them on a safari on that date so we just tagged along.
The weekend after Brent's birthday, I had planned a getaway for just the two of us (this is Amanda writing). In my mind I had planned this super relaxing weekend in a air conditioned place, maybe getting our toes done or a massage...but in Brent's mind he wanted to go camping. So since it was his birthday, I conceded and he took me camping in Khutse for 2 nights which is at the bottom of the Kalahari desert. Brent has been to this campground with volunteers before but I have never wanted to go as there are no real showers or flushing toilets. In the past he has seen all the antelope and elephants but never any cats. The first night there, we saw a male and female lion mating about 1km from our campsite. At 4am, a loud roar made both Brent and I sit up in bed...we never saw him but he sure was close.
The next day we searched and searched for the lions, not finding them anywhere. We went back to the water hole that was only 1km from our campsite and at 6pm another male lion came roaring out of the bush. He was looking for the other male and female. We watched him until dark and then went back to our campsite to cook dinner.  About an hour later we hear the roar getting closer and we jump in the truck, ok I jumped and Brent walked slowly despite my pleading. Not long after, we heard the roars coming from the other side of our camp, the lion had passed by. He was certainly not looking to hurt us but was trying to find what we found out the next day was his brother who took off with one of the females.
Oh the joys of nature and being in the wild. Camping with lions would never fly in America, right? We had such a wonderful time together and thankful we didn't get eaten :)
Many thanks to our teammates Coye and Sherra Still who kept our kids for the weekend! We are blessed with wonderful teammates!

On safari with the volunteer team

Happy 40th!

Ice cream cake with just the family

 Camping trip to Khutse

Where the pavement ends, the adventure begins

Female lion in the water

Male and female lion...look closely for the male

Driving around looking for our lions

My amazing spotter

Giraffe

The brother from night 2 

The bucket shower stall and pit latrine enclosures...not
luxury camping. 

Girl trip to Johannesburg

For Christmas, we love to give gifts of making memories. This year Taylor's gift was a trip to Johannesburg with mom for a girl weekend. We had such a wonderful time together and enjoyed making many fun memories together. Love this girl!!

Eating at our favorite Kung Fu Kitchen

Mall of Africa

Watching a movie

Laser tag

We had a large nail in our tire, discovered as I was putting gas
in the truck on our way home. Luckily there was a tire place
right across the street from the gas station and they fixed us right up. 

Irene Market

Ziplining

I love my girl so much!!

Kid update

BRADYN

Bradyn made the cricket team this term at his school. We have tried to learn all the rules of cricket but still have a lot to master. Well done to Bradyn and team for winning every game this season.

TAYLOR

In the beginning of March, Taylor had a little accident with a door and the door won, ugh! It was a broken door at our gym and it slammed closed on her finger and immediately disconnected 3/4 of her fingernail. After a trip to the ER she ended up without a fingernail. She is recovering now though thankfully, but continue to pray that her fingernail grows back. 

ELLIE

Ok, so the Ellie update has a few more pics because she is the baby and yes I have taken lots more pics of her. She is now 18 months old and full of joy. She loves to read and follow her brother around everywhere. She says dada, mama, sis, uh oh, thank you, and baa (for the sheep). It's amazing all her little brain soaks up so quickly. Love this girl!!

Awana Graduation

A year ago, we trained about 30 people on the children's ministry program of Awana. After completing a year of running a successful Awana program, we hosted a graduation for 13 of the attendees. Well done for all the churches in getting the gospel out to the children here in Botswana. 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Seminary books and bookshelves

Many thanks to the Harmening family and many other wonderful donors who donated bookshelves and books for the seminary library. These were all donated in honor of the Harmening's 17 year old daughter Sarah who lost her life in 2017 in a bus accident on her way to Botswana on a mission trip.

University reaching University

University students reaching university students...this is exactly what happened here on the campus of the University of Botswana with a team of college students from Mt Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. In preparation for the teams arrival, we met with the head of Student Welfare and they warmly welcomed us to do ministry on campus for the week. But also we are so thrilled that they asked us to have continued ministry on the campus after the teams departure. We are really looking forward to what the Lord is going to do on campus. The week held many meetings with different departments and meeting different students and religious organizations that are represented on campus already. We held a drop in sessions in a dorm where students could come and talk about suffering and loss and we were able to encourage the students with hope in Jesus Christ. Pray as we continue to do ministry on campus with University students.