We were able to celebrate Taylor’s Sweet 16 birthday at a local outdoor tea garden called Sanitas. She invited a few special friends and in the words of the kids at the table next to us, ‘she looked like a princess’.
Monday, July 10, 2023
Ellie Sports Day
We loved getting to go to Ellie’s Sports Day at school and watching her do all of the activities with her little classmates. We are so thankful for an amazing school for our kids to attend.
4th of July
We love celebrating our home country of America on the 4th of July. We had some yummy hamburgers and hotdogs, glow sticks, sparklers, and American flag canvas making that made the evening so much fun with friends: Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Botswana
We took a weekend camping trip to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans of Botswana. We went with Muddy Face Botswana and were able to take our quad and ride what seemed like forever into the pans. We had the most unbelievable sunsets and had a blast enjoying all of the stunt shows, wheelie competitions, and bands-Flying Bantu and Sunset Sweatshop. We will definitely make this an annual event.
Safari-Madikwe Game Reserve
We love when volunteer teams come and they see the beauty of Botswana through its people and sharing the Hope found in Christ. We also love being able to let them enjoy the vast beauty of the landscape and animals. We went with the team this year to Madikwe Game Reserve and certainly were blessed to see so many amazing animals. It never gets old for us, we could hang with the animals every day and never get tired of it.
Bereaved Parents Events-Botswana
From the moment we met Karen and Scott Harmening nearly a year after their daughter Sarah was killed in a bus accident on her way to the airport to fly to Botswana, our hearts have been knit together and they have become some of our dearest friends. They have traveled to Botswana on multiple mission trips and brought their other 3 daughters with them. They have embraced the people and place their daughter Sarah was called to go to and share the gospel with them in so many different ways.
This year, they approached us about doing a Bereaved Parents Gathering with a few parents from Botswana that have lost children and of course we were on board. Due to an overwhelming response, we ended up hosting 2 events for bereaved parents where over 100 grieving parents found community and understanding and were clearly presented the gospel and the Hope of Christ for their sorrow. They did this in conjunction with an amazing organization for Bereaved Parents in the States called ‘While We’re Waiting’ (https://whilewerewaiting.org/) and we were so blessed to have the founders of that organization here with us and help fund the event.
In addition they hosted a conference for about 40 church leaders and pastors on caring for grieving people and a symposium of 18 mostly non-Christian counselors and health care providers where they discussed the importance of the Hope of Christ in grief and mental health care .
In the absence of room to adequately share the fruit we saw, Ephesians 3:20-21 is the perfect summary passage for the Botswana mission trip, God did immeasurably more than we could begin to ask or imagine, to Him be the glory."
Here is a link to Karen’s blog post: https://listeningtohim.com/2023/07/01/exceedingly-abundantly-above/
MZBC children’s programs
We loved having a volunteer team from Mt Zion Baptist Church (MZBC) in Huntsville, AL here with us. They served so well as they ministered to the kids from Gaborone Baptist Church in Botswana by conducting an amazing kids program each afternoon.
Thank you MZBC!
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