Botswana. My first country in Africa. We flew from Cambodia to Thailand to Kenya to South Africa to Botswana. The moment we entered the Kenyan airport, I was filled with excitement. We were finally in Africa. The flight alone from Kenya to South Africa was enough to incline my heart towards Africa. We made quick friends with the flight attendants. They pointed out Mount Kilimanjaro through the clouds. They had actual yogurt on the flight that we couldn’t help but ask for second helpings. They were so kind and sincere. It was such a warm welcome after traveling for 20 hours.
My team partnered with Youth for Christ in Mochudi, Botswana. There were different ministry outlets that we helped with. They had a daycare center for orphans and at risk children. During the week, they would go into schools around the area and preach the Gospel. Sometimes this would look like having a small group, an assembly or an after school kids club. On the weekends they would open up the offices for the youth and young adults to have a safe place to enjoy. There were computers, a pool table, ping pong, a foosball table and board games for them to play. This provided an alternative activity to the usual weekend activities of drinking and partying.
My team stayed at the staff house down the road from the offices. There were nine of us living in the house. We had beds this month. We were really excited of actually having an oven. I missed baking so much. My teammate Christopher, turned 26 this month. I was able to bake him a cake and was super excited to have a home baked good. It’s funny the little things you rejoice over, like an oven. For Valentine’s day we baked cupcakes and made “punny” valentine day cards for each other. It was probably one of the best nights I’ve had so far on the race.
The next morning was a reality crasher. At around 530am, we discovered our house had been broken into. Laptops, cameras, shoes, phones, purses, passports, money and credit cards were stolen. There were nine people in the house and not one of us woke up during the incident. When we told the police that no one had woken up or seen the perpetrators, they were astonished. The places that the intruders had to go to steal some of the items was as close to our personal space like on our pillows or under our beds. We praise God that no one was hurt and that they only took physical unimportant stuff.
It was an act of God that no one woke up that night. The heat and mosquitos were a big cause of no one ever getting a good night rest. They got into the house by cutting a metal bar on a window. They had to open squeaky, rickety metal doors… still no one woke up.
A few nights before the robbery happened, we had a day dedicated to 24 hours of prayer. A word from the Lord that my teammate Anna-Bonita received was that “This is the Lord’s house”. Those words rang true the night of the robbery. God protected us that night. He gave us all deep sleep. I have been reading through the Old Testament and learning about God’s protection over the Israelites in the wilderness. God is fiercely protective. I am so thankful that I believe in a living God who always protects and shelters those He loves.
