The Best Is Yet to Come

God has spoken this to our team over and over again since December. It first came up during a team Bible study when we were in Honduras. Then when we were in Malaysia in January, it was said in three separate sermons. When we were in Swaziland in May, He reminded me of the phrase when I was tired and homesick at the beginning of month 9. I was sitting in my hammock thinking about how three months seemed like such a long time before I’d be home, and God gently spoke that phrase to my heart, telling me that the final two months of the Race would be the best yet. And then at the church we visited in Swaziland, the pastor mentioned it in the sermon the following Sunday. I like to think that was God just making sure I got the point.

God showed He meant what He said by giving us Botswana. Even though I am weary and home is so close and my desires for home are stronger than ever, He has proved faithful to His Word by giving us our best month yet. And I know it doesn’t stop here. Even though I can’t imagine a month better than this one, God has a history of doing things bigger and better than we can even imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

So why has our month has been so amazing? Where do I even start?

From the very beginning, God set everything up back in December at our month 4 debrief in Honduras. My team made an impossible prayer list–a list of things we wanted to see happen that would be impossible without God. We thought it was just for our month in Malaysia, but six months later, He keeps answering those prayers. Our ministry assignment in Malaysia was Unsung Heroes, where our goal for the month was to find Christian ministries who might be interested in partnering with World Race in the future. One of our impossible prayers was to find a contact in another country (other than Malaysia).

Kingdom City is the amazing church we found and attended while we were in Kuala Lumpur. Their slogan is “Welcome Home” and we truly felt at home there the minute we walked in the doors. We were welcomed, loved, and prayed for by the people there. After the service, at the VIP Lounge (the visitor center), we met Rhoda, who would soon become our good friend. We were excited to hear that she was from Botswana, because we were scheduled to go to Botswana in June. We also made another friend from Botswana named Abel. Abel has a passion for street ministry and Spirit-led evangelism, and I loved hearing story after story of how he has seen God radically transform the lives of people he has met. I learned a lot about hearing God and being led by the Spirit from him, most importantly that there’s no pressure on us. All the pressure is on the Holy Spirit, because He’s the only One who can do anything that really matters. When Abel heard we were going to Botswana, he gave us the contact information of his good friend Matthews Papi, who is starting a branch of Kingdom City in Gaborone, Botswana. As soon as Abel handed me my notebook after writing Pastor Matthews’ information I turned to my team and said, “Hey guys! We just got a contact in another country!” One of our impossible prayers had been answered.

The next step that set us up for this month happened in Cambodia. During our debrief at the beginning of April, our squad mentor announced that month 10 (June) would be ATL month, and that we could either go to Botswana or Namibia. ATL stands for Ask The Lord, so our ministry for the month is to ask the Lord where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do, and we go do it. We were thrilled to hear this news because it meant we could meet up with Pastor Matthews and help with starting Kingdom City Gaborone. So I sent Pastor Matthews, Rhoda, and Abel a message letting them know that we were coming and asking if we could work with them. So they started making plans for us to come. Another blessing in Cambodia is that we got to visit Kingdom City Phnom Penh on Easter Sunday!

Two months later, we arrived in Gaborone, Botswana. Pastor Matthews and three of the church members picked us up from the bus station. They were so welcoming that I instantly felt like we were family. Again, the Kingdom City slogan proved true as we were welcomed home by our Kingdom City family in the third country we met them in. Eugene drove us around and helped us get settled into our house where we stayed for the month. I just smiled when I saw “The best is yet to come” written on the air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror in the church’s car. God works things together in our lives so beautifully and then He sends us little reminders of His goodness.

The next evening we attended the church planning meeting, where they were planning their first service in the new hall. I still can’t believe God’s timing, that we got to be a part of their very first services. It was SO GOOD seeing our friend Rhoda again after meeting her in Malaysia in January. We made many more instant friendships as we met other members of the church leadership team. Boago coordinates the church outreach activities. He introduced himself and told us that he had ministry planned out for us every day that we’d be there. Neo and Ofentse lead worship and invited me and Ashley to join the worship team. Sadie runs the children’s ministry and took Britt and Megan to serve on the Kid Impactor team. Rhoda runs the VIP Lounge and Sprads and Lindsey helped serve on the VIP team. And Jenna helped serve on the Welcome Team. We also met and instantly loved Wabo (the photographer), Tumelo (who runs media), Phatsimo, Boitumelo, and so many others.

We went out to do outreach and evangelism with Boago pretty much every day. The first day we went to the labor office, where people go to seek employment. We brought our instruments, shared the Gospel, made relationships, prayed for people, and worshiped together. We all prayed for one man who had chronic back pain for seven years, and he was shocked when God healed him! It was a good day, but that was just the start. We then made our way across town to a local high school, where we were invited to lead the after school Bible Club meeting. Ashley, Neo, Boago and James led opening worship and I gave a short message about abiding in Christ, from John 15. It was so fun getting to teach the Word to high school students again.

A few other days we accompanied Boago to the hospital to pray for the patients and families there. We got to pray for so many people to receive Christ and for healing. We even got to worship out loud in the women’s section, and the women were really touched. A few of them gave us Si’Swana names, and one lady named me Kobamelo, which means worship. On Saturdays we went out with the church outreach team to knock on doors in the neighborhood where the hall is located, to invite people to church. We spent Sundays setting up the hall getting things ready for service, which took place at 3:00pm. I loved getting to sing on the worship team and welcoming visitors after the service in the VIP Lounge.

We also had the opportunity to go to the village of Muchudi, where our friend Boago’s parents live. They let us stay with them in their home for two nights. Boago’s mom is one of the most joyful and passionate evangelists I have ever met. She loves the Lord so much. We spent our time there going around the village meeting Boago’s extended family and praying for people. First, we had to meet the chief, to get his permission before going around evangelizing. There were actually three chief, of varying ages, who work together to govern the village. They gave their consent and even let us pray for them. The oldest one asked for Ashley’s hand in marriage. (She hates when we tell people that part of the story). One of the men that Boago, Megan and I had prayed for in the hospital a week earlier was a former chief of Muchudi. Unfortunately he passed away, but his family was extremely appreciative of us praying for him, especially that we had given him the opportunity to pray to receive Christ before he passed away. We went to visit the wife while we were in Muchudi. She greeted us warmly, shaking all of our hands. We visited with her for a while, as Boago translated for us. Then after we left, Boago told us that it’s a cultural tradition for a recently widowed person not to shake hands, because they believe the spirit of death will pass on to them too. We apologized (and kind of scolded him for not telling us that ahead of time), but he stopped us. He said, “No, it’s a sign that God is breaking through those cultural beliefs. She extended her hand out to me first. It shows that she doesn’t believe in those superstitions; she believes in God.” It was really cool to see God working even in a situation where our inital prayers for healing weren’t answered. I loved getting to experience the culture of the Muchudi village, and to pray for encourage people there.

Because this month was ATL month, we spent quite a bit of time in prayer, asking God what He wanted us to do before we made plans. We started praying while we were in Cambodia, and we all agreed that we felt God leading us to both Botswana and Namibia this month. So our original plan was to spend two weeks in Botswana and then two weeks in Namibia. We made contact with an American missionary family in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, who was excited about hosting us for the last two weeks of June. However, some complications arose (mainly that our transportation budget was only a third of the amount we needed to get to Namibia and back). So we emailed the Graham family in Namibia, telling them that we wouldn’t be able to make it, and we told our Botswana friends that we’d be staying all month. But we didn’t give up hope of going to Namibia. We felt like God had put Namibia on our hearts for a reason, so we prayed, “God, if You want us to go to Namibia, You have to get us there.” Long story short, we went back and forth about going to Namibia or staying in Botswana too many times to count. It literally felt like every day, a new factor arose that made it possible for us to go, or something happened where we were back to staying in Botswana. Finally, Steve emailed us saying that some families in his church, when they heard that we couldn’t afford to come, offered to let us stay in their homes for free, and they took turns cooking dinner for us. With the money we saved in food and housing, we were able to afford our bus tickets to Namibia. Praise the Lord! My next blog will be about our amazing week in Namibia.

I loved getting to help start Kingdom City Gaborone, and doing outreach at the labor office, hospital, and the neighborhoods near the church hall. But my favorite thing about our time in Botswana are the friendships I made. We loved the friends we made there so much that we wanted to be around them constantly, and they felt the same way about us. We invited them over to our house for dinner and sleep-overs many nights while we were there. I know those will be eternal friendships, because only God can make friendships happen that deep that fast. We thought the Wednesday evening church meeting would be the last time we saw our friends, so we prepared our hearts to say goodbye then. But then they all came over to see us while we were packing on Thursday. And then, six of them showed up at the bus rank at 6:00am on Friday morning to say goodbye! Rhoda and Boago even sat on the bus with us until it started to pull away. They loved us so well.

I can’t even describe how much I love Botswana and how much my time there has meant to me. God really meant it when He told me, “The best is yet to come.”

Check out the Kingdom City Gaborone website, featuring the amazing Pastor Matthews and all our wonderful Botswana friends! 🙂

www.kingdomcity.com/gaborone/

Stay tuned for a blog about our week in Namibia!