Team Hallelujah and Team Covenant celebrated our halfway point on the race together at what we called “Camp Chill”, partnership with Delta Cross Ministry in Seronga, Botswana. My month 6 in Botswana was an interesting month. It felt like a lot and nothing happened at the same time.
Here is a glimpse of what life was like in an African bush:
-
Our travel from Livingstone, Zambia to Seronga, Botswana involved a 8 hour bus ride to Namibia, drive through a game park, overnight camp out, ferry ride, and 2.5 hours off roading – a typical travel day on the World Race, casually hopping into another country .
-
Feeding 15 women for a month with only one trip to the grocery store meant strict meal planning and all food items have a permanent mark that states “do not open until [insert date]”
-
Our daily schedule involved door to door evangelism in the morning from 9-11 (which meant meeting local people and inviting ourselves to their home), children ministry in the afternoon from 4-6 (free play, organized games, story/activity), and coffee/worship/bible study with our host family in the evening from 7-9 (unlocking the old testament).
-
Showering during the day may cause sunburn. Showering in the evening is beautiful under the starlight but you never know what is showering with you in the dark.
-
The water was safe to drink but had high concentration of iron. There is a red tint to the water and my mouth taste like blood after almost every drink.
-
Fat Cake Fridays! Our host Estelle is an amazing cook! We all look forward to fridays when we stuff our bellies with fat cakes to a point that we quickly regret it as soon as we get up and leave the table into a food coma.
-
Electricity was available sometimes. Cell reception was not really a thing. Wifi was non-existent.
-
I’m a homeowner. I have lived in my tent all month and now understand some of the worries of one. For example, when it pours, which was quite often, will my tent flood? What animal was it making sound outside my tent in the dark? When I wake up in the morning and roll off my sleeping pad, would I feel a live frog between my tent and my footprint? (I don’t think i’ve ever gotten out of the tent faster…)
- It’s too hot in the tent in the afternoon, which means there was a lot of hammocking time over a beautiful view
- I’ve seen more horses, donkeys, goats, and cows than people in a month.
While our daily living was absurd in my mind, my team had the honor of speaking to two people who belonged to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church. During our evangelism training from our host in the beginning of the month, we understood their point of view. They are well versed in their scripture but every conversation we had drew us back to the fourth commandments about the Sabbath. Preparing for discussions made me realize the FREEDOM because of the gospel.
During the time of the Old Testaments (OT), the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites, twice. In the New Testament (NT), when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was in Matthew 22, he responded with:
“You shall love your Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.
The two commandments taught by Jesus in the NT covers the ten that were given in the OT. The first four of the ten commandments can be summarized into loving the Lord your God and the remaining six can be summarized into loving your neighbor as yourself.
According to Galatians 3:19-29,
“the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith”.
Before faith, every law and regulation was written out. It’s all about what to do and not to do. However, one of the most powerful word in the bible is the word “but” – it’s a shift in the story. This “but” is faith and this “but” shift the story from the OT to the NT. This “but” shifted from all the laws in the OT to simply the 2 commandments in the NT. That’s what is so beautiful about the gospel; we go from being the prisoners of the law because of sin to being sons and daughters, royalties, of the King.
Growing up, the church in my mind is associated to what I should or should not do, which in my mind is very restricting and it felt like I was always being watched. Living not for approval of men but to be more like JC has been very freeing. Not only that, it’s not as tiring anymore. My prayer for the two men that my team talked with in Botswana is that they will also be freed from the chain that is holding them captive.
Here’s Team Hallelujah – a group of amazing women who I’ve grown to love so dearly!
