I mentioned in my last blog, this month we’re doing UH (Unsung Heroes). After seeing the new year in together as a whole squad in Mokolodi, and spending a day catching up, we all headed out to our different ministry sites on the 2nd. Our team was offered a place to stay for the couple nights by the host of one of the other teams. So we stayed with team Con Srey in Molepolole while we got a crash course on how to do UH, and did some prayer to determine our first step. Margaret spent most of the day on the 3rd teaching us how to do UH, and how to do it well. We spent the morning of the 4th in worship and prayer, and the afternoon planning the logistics of our next move.
As we sat in a time of prayer that morning, we each asked the Lord to speak to us about where He would have us go. And then we listened. When we came back together as a group, we all had something to share. Mandy was the only one on the team who really knew much about the country, and actually knew any names of other cities. She felt like the Lord was telling us to go to Francistown. All 6 of us (Sam, our SQL is with us for the first half of the month) felt like we were being told to go North. Danica didn’t know where any of the cities were in Botswana, but the Lord gave her a picture of the country, with an ‘X’ where francistown is. Kelsie felt the Lord saying we should go to the place where 2 rivers meet. (Turns out that’s francistown, exactly). Sam got a picture of the sign language sign for “I Love You” superimposed on a map of Botswana, with the fingertips being the cities we would travel to.
So clearly, we were to head to Francistown! So the morning of the 5th we got a ride from Con Srey’s host to the local bus rank. We took a bus from Molepolole back to Gaborone, and then another bus from Gaborone to Francistown – about a 5.5 hour bus ride. On the bus ride Kelsie had the opportunity to explain what we are doing to the lady she was sitting next to. The woman said she felt like the Lord was leading her to help us find a place to stay (we hadn’t found a place yet). So when we arrived, she got us a couple taxis and took us to a small lodge that her friend Lucy runs.
We talked with Lucy, and were able to agree on a really good price for us to tent in the backyard. Plus, we have a bathroom, kitchen, and living room inside to use! It’s really a great place, and miraculously within our budget 🙂 So the next morning, the 6th, we set out to find wi-fi and start contacting people. Sam made some phone calls to some churches he had found when we were doing research on the 4th, and set up 2 meetins. One for that day, the 5th, and one for the next day, the 6th. So at 1pm Sam and Mandy met with the pastor of a local church that is really growing fast. They had a really solid visit and learned alot. They decided that he probably wouldn’t be the best fit for a team, but he gave them a couple new contacts who could potentially be really good matches.
The second meeting Sam set up was with the Lephoi Center for the Blind. Me and Sam met with them at 9am this morning, and that was the start of a very interesting day……check out the next blog to see what happened!
