I have been in Maun, Botswana for 17 days now and I feel my heart growing more and more attached to this dry and hot place. The people are wonderful. The land is beautiful even in its sweltering heat. And the ministry opportunities are so plentiful… if you know how to find them. This month, my team and I are staying at a hotel/campsite where we have spotty wifi, a pool, and our own campsite. The place is swarming with tourists wanting to travel to the Delta and the many other safari opportunities. The staff here at Sedia Hotel are so friendly and sowing seeds is as easy as growing our relationships with them. But along with everything else, our actual ministry is the hardest part about Maun… our ministry schedule is the part I HATE about Botswana. In short, we have an open ministry schedule 99% of the time. We have been struggling with not knowing what we will be doing, even on the same day we are supposed to have something to do. The plans are rescheduled or postponed or not even feasible and most of the time, we end up wandering here and there and hither and yon! Lord give us flexibility and patience, because I did not sign up to the World Race to sleep in or lay by a pool all day.
The second week we were here, we met someone by the name of Beauty. She is a devout Christian and follower of Jesus Christ. She is kind and sweet and reminds me of my mom. She asked for help with a Christmas luncheon for the elderly and we latched on to her! We spent the time with her with excitement that we hadn’t had since starting the month, while wrapping up Christmas gifts for the elderly and chopping up vegetables and chicken and beef. The next day, we helped cook all the food and serve the elderly while laughing and overflowing with joy as we shook hands with all the guests and greeted them with “Dumella” (hello) and “Laki” (how are you) as their faces lit up at hearing us speak Setswana. We spent all day with her and her family and it became apparent that we were all going to LOVE this woman of God that God brought to us.
She spoke about how she would love to sponsor World Race teams in the future and how she has so many ministry opportunities that she could easily become a ministry contact. She also spoke of a property that she owns that has a house and that she would love to house World Race teams! So, we all piled into her car and went out to the property to help water her plants and to look at the house. First off, the place in which the property and house resides in is beautiful and so peaceful! The house is beautiful! Surrounded by trees and quietness, the property feels like a refuge of the blessings of God. With lightening cracking in the distance and the sweet cool breeze blowing through the trees, we are blown away by the presence of God. Beauty goes on to say that she has buried a Bible in every corner of her property and on the doorstep of the house. The Word of God literally lives in her house! We pray over the building and the land and we all feel like this is just the beginning of what God wants to do there. The seeds are being sown and the harvest is just about ready… she just needs the workers!
Since those few days that we were able to work with her, we have hung out with her almost every single day afterwards. We have gone to her church and worshipped. We have gone to her house and cooked dinner for all of us 9 at night. We went on a Safari with her son, Pesa! And we have had many conversations about the goodness of God and who He is. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out… strong and dependent on the Lord. She trusts God without fail and has a heart for others more than herself. How awesome is the Lord that He gives us exactly who we need right when we want to give up! He has blessed us so much just by giving us an opportunity to bless someone else. He allowed us to lavish love on a woman that prayed for daughters before we came. I call her my Botswana mom not just because she reminds me of my own mother, but because she is sowing into us the way a mother would her daughter. She loves us as we were her own… Just like the Father loves us and made us a part of His family.
All of this being said, I am not bragging on this amazing woman… I am bragging on the Lord who brings people into our lives under divine appointments and allows us to sow seeds into each other. God knows what He is doing, believe it or not… and He knew that by us coming to Maun, we would be able to prepare the way for so much more! He knew, He knows that the best is yet to come and that the way we love now will impact the way others are received later. He doesn’t ask us to understand, but He does always ask us to love… no matter what! Just as her name is Beauty, He asks us to live a beautiful and loving life devoted to Him. Everything we do matters even when our ministry doesn’t look like the ministry we signed up for.
