The last week we were in Botswana, Brooke, Katie, Lara, and myself took a trip to northern Botswana to meet with potential contacts. As we were trying to plan though, everything we planned kept falling through. It was the night before we were supposed to leave and we didn’t have a place to stay the first night, bus schedules changed, and we got to the point where we weren’t sure God wanted us to go north. We all took a lot of time to pray. After prayer, we all thought God still wanted us to go, but that we needed to let go of control and just trust God will provide us lodging and transportation. So the next morning we got on a bus to Francistown (halfway to Kasane). When we got there, we called a potential contact and he brought us to his home, fed us, and met with us. We got to know he and his family and all that they are doing in their city and around the world. After spending the afternoon with them, it was now 8pm and we still had no place to stay or bus, but they helped us book an overnight bus to Kasane that left at 11:30 pm. We were so thankful!
After a very hot and uncomfortable bus ride (I maybe got 1 hour of sleep), we finally arrived in Kasane at 6:30am. We had arranged for an American missionary to come pick us up from the gas station and we were supposed to call him when we got there. Well we were there, but there was no cell phone reception in that area. We were at a loss. No one had cell service or a landline phone. We spent about a half an hour asking people if they knew the Honey’s (who were coming to pick us up). No one knew. Just as we were praying, a car drove up and out stepped Mr. Honey. God is good! Mr. Honey took us to his home, gave us coffee and I had the best shower I have had in months! It was outside!
Keith and Robbin Honey treated us so well. They made us home cooked meals, drove us to where we needed to go, and told us story after story about their lives in Africa. They have crazy stories including getting thrown out of their small motor boat by a hippo! I could listen to them tell stories all night. They brought us to their church and some of us were able to participate in their Sunday School while others went another church. We also met with a missionary from England who has lived there for over 40 years. We found out that there is so so much work to do in Kasane and they could really use missionaries. Not short term missions like the World Race, but their need is long term missionaries. We told the Adventures in Missions office and hopefully they will be able to send a long term missionary there.
The Honeys have been there for years and when they first got there they started and pastored multiple churches, but now that many of the churches are established, they help mentor and support the new, local pastors of the churches. Kasane is also a big trucking city so the Honeys are trying to start a business that caters to truckers. They hope to serve coffee, tea, food, and have pool tables so the truckers can have a good, Christian environment to go to when they need a break. The Honeys will use that business to spread the Gospel.
It was so hard to say goodbye to the Honeys and Kasane, but we had to get on our bus that left at 5. We got to the bus station only to find out there was no bus to Francistown that left at 5. We asked around and found a bus that left for Nata at 2. We quickly ran and got food and jumped in the bus. The bus driver told us we would be able to find a bus from Nata to Francistown that same day, but we were very skeptical. If there was no bus, we did not know what we would do because Nata is a small town and lodging would probably be hard to find. But we got on the bus, trusting God would provide.
We arrive in Nata and our bus driver tells us that the bus we need to get on is leaving the parking lot across the street. Brooke hops off the bus, sprints across the street and waves the bus down. Thankfully it stops and we hop on! On our way to Francistown, we ask the people sitting around us if there is an overnight bus from Francistown to Gaborone that we can take. They all say no. So we made lodging reservations. It is way over our budget. 50 dollars over our budget. Being treasurer I was very stressed, but that was our only option unless we wanted to sleep on the street, so we had to do it.
We arrive in Francistown and decide to ask the other buses that are there if they are going to Gaborone, just to make sure none of them are going. They said they aren’t but there is a bus from Zambia that is about a mile down the road that is going to Gaborone. The bus driver is telling us we need to go now! So we get a taxi and go there. Our taxi literally pulled in front of the bus as it was driving out of the parking lot. We jumped on the bus and were on our way to Gaborone. All 4 of us were blown away.
We barely got all three buses we took that day. When we left Kasane we did not have a plan. We left trusting that God had a plan and He did. When you give your needs to God and just let Him take charge, that is when you see miracles happen. That is when you see His provision for you. And that is when you know just how much He is taking care of you.
