11 things I learned in Botswana:
It’s fun to celebrate your team
February was a month of birthdays for my team. We got to celebrate 3 out of 6 birthdays together in one month! It’s funny to think that I felt a little stressed as we tried to figure out the different ways we could make each birthday special. How does one celebrate a birthday on the race when you have limited access to activities and limited space for gifts? Luckily we have spent about half a year together and have gotten to know each other pretty well. We also had the luxury of messaging their family members to see how they celebrate birthdays back at home. Each birthday we celebrated ended up really just being about showing love to that person, so no stress was needed! Welcome to a new year of life to Lyndie, Rachel, and Allison!
Evangelism isn’t that scary
When your month is solely devoted to evangelism you get to meet some pretty interesting characters. We met Dr. Goodhead just 2 days after arriving in Botswana, and it really set the tone for how my month would look. I was not very comfortable with the idea of evangelism before last month, but an hour long conversation with Dr. Goodhead changed that idea for me. He taught me that every awkward feeling or rejection that you might receive when sharing your faith is worth it if you get to share with someone that they are loved. If you want to hear the full story of meeting Dr. Goodhead you can check out my past blog HERE.
Strikes affect the entire community
I think this was the first time I’ve actually experienced a strike and seen the weight it can have on a community. The students at University of Botswana went on strike because half of them never received the allowance that was due. They vandalized the campus, broke into buildings, stole food, and harassed professors to cancel classes. This led to the university shutting down for an entire month. I immediately thought about how this affected my team and I (since college evangelism was our main ministry), but it wasn’t until later that I realized how much it affected others. Canceling classes for a month meant that people wouldn’t graduate on time, and they might have to pay to take an extra semester as well. The campus was scheduled to return to normal classes the week after we left, so we were happy to hear things would be back to normal.
We can live in a really small room
My squad practiced all sorts of crazy sleeping scenarios back at training camp, and now I know why. We stayed at the CRU office, which meant they turned an office room into a makeshift bedroom for us. All 6 of us slept in a room that was probably about 12ft by 20ft and had a giant desk taking up part of the space. You could say that we had quite a cozy sleeping situation. Sleeping in such close quarters led to some funny stories of stealing sleeping bags and stuffed animals in our sleep. Rachel even had a dream she was climbing a mountain one night and woke up to find out that the “mountain” was actually just Allison.
God knows when we need rest
Like I previously mentioned, our main ministry was cancelled due to the campus strike. This left my team a little lost on how we should spend our month. We ended up spending most days doing mall and market evangelism. We attempted to walk around the neighborhood to get to know the people around us, but it seemed that every time we went out it would rain and spoil the plans. On the rainy days our ministry because just spending time with CRU staff members and encouraging the work they are doing. During the month I felt pretty restless, but looking back I am now thankful. We are right in the middle of the World Race, so the excitement has worn off a little (or sometimes a lot). We’ve learned that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Having a more restful month has was God’s way to prepare us for South Africa, which has been the busiest month yet for us.
It’s perpetually raining at Victoria Falls
Well…kinda. The “rain” is technically water spraying from the waterfall. Before we got there I knew that a rain jacket was needed, but what I didn’t know is that it would be pouring so much that a rain jacket didn’t really make a difference. It was such a surreal experience to be walking at the same height of the waterfall but still get drenched by it. Getting soaked added so much more to the experience. It was so liberating!
Head vs heart
I was doing a devotional called Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind in Botswana and it constantly talks about how the mind is a gatekeeper to either heaven or hell. One of the questions in the devotional led me to do a word study on the word “heart.” It’s funny because it’s supposed to be a devo about the mind, right? Well I found that the word “heart” in the Bible is not just referring to feelings/emotions.
Blogging is important
We now have a new member of our squad! Claudia is our squad content manager and her role is to help all of us blog more. Apparently the number of blogs being posted in the past few years has decreased, meaning that less people are hearing about what AIM is doing. Blogs are how I heard about the World Race, so I know how incredibly important they can be. So now I will be aiming to blog at least once a week (when wifi permits). Yay blogs!!
You don’t need to go on a safari to see African animals
When I knew I was going to Africa I immediately thought about the possibility of going on a safari. Little did I know, I got to see so many animals just driving through the country! There were multiple times that we had to stop the car to let monkeys, hogs, wild dogs, and elephants (yes, elephants) cross the road. I felt like I was meeting all the cast of The Lion King, minus the lions haha.
Every day can be an adventure if you say “yes!”
It’s always been a dream of mine to see Victoria Falls, and I figured I would have to put that dream on hold for a few years. When I found out that we were in Gaborone it seemed pretty unrealistic to be able to make a visit happen, but God had other plans! Since our ministry changed during the month our host helped us set up the cheapest way to go visit Vic Falls. I wasn’t planning on doing anything big last month, but when the opportunity presented itself I had to jump on it! Visiting Vic Falls was such an incredible experience that I will never forget. The magnitude of the falls was humbling and reminded me just how big our God is. If you’re ever remotely in the area, make sure to visit!!
