I’m not sure what I expected from Africa, but everything about Botswana has been challenging and encouraging in different ways. Our ministry hosts for the month are a young couple (and their sweet baby), who moved from Kenya to Botwana to plant a church. They have a big vision and even bigger hearts. This past week has been the most proactive period of sharing my faith since coming on the Race, but if I’m being honest, in my entire life.
Our ministry for this month looks a lot like hanging out with your friends. We go to a college campus (a place I haven’t frequented in about five years) and talk with students there. When the obvious question comes about what we’re doing in Botswana, we have the perfect opportunity to tell them that we’re missionaries traveling to share and show God’s love.
I think one of the things that strikes me most about these conversations is that it feels the same as it would in America. As soon as someone mentions religion, things can get quiet. People are afraid to say anything because I think we’re afraid to disagree. And I think that fear comes from how some people (yes, Christians) can treat people who disagree with them. No one wants to be treated like their opinion is invalid. But the truth is that opinions are just that, opinions. We don’t go into these discussions with hard evidence that our faith or our beliefs are any better or truer than those of others because that’s not what God intended. He expects us to come to him and to live by faith. Facts don’t need faith.
So when I go up to people and start talking to people about my faith, I can’t come to them with an air of superiority. I come humbly, telling them of the things I’ve struggled with and how I see God’s presence even in those moments of seeming failure. And we have seen fruit. On our second day on campus, I got to lead two new brothers into praying to receive God’s love and accept his forgiveness. I don’t think there’s another moment these past few months that I can point to as being more significant than sitting under that tree on campus and praying with those two college students.
And yet, literally as we prayed, the forces of chaos and disorder were at work as well. From what I understand, students at the University of Botswana were protesting, even vandalizing school property, because some of them had not received the monthly allowances the government provides for them while they are in school. That means they didn’t have money to buy food or pay rent, understandably upsetting circumstances. So we left that afternoon, and the next day, we received word that the campus had been closed indefinitely and students were being kicked out of the dorms.
Maybe you think that’s an unfortunate coincidence, but I do not. I believe spiritual forces are at work, and those that we war against are not happy about the fact that six powerful women of God just showed up to bring his kingdom. You don’t know to believe that, and no, I can’t prove it. You don’t have to agree, but I’m not going to try to change your mind. I can’t do that. Only God can do that. But I can love you, and I do. Maybe that’s all, but I think that’s enough.
