At the beginning of Botswana my squad had team changes! I am now on an all girls team of seven: Megan, Holly, Grace, Bre, Devon, and Jenny. They are an amazing group of women and I have loved serving along side them and living in community together. Our team name is Summer Breeze.
For month nine of the race my team was in Seronga, Botswana. Seronga is a village in the northwest of Botswana. It is located right on the Okavangu Delta. We traveled to Seronga from Durban, South Africa where our squad had debrief the first few days of the month before traveling to our ministry locations. It was the most traveling I have done to get to a ministry on the race – a total of 41 hours to arrive to Seronga! We took three different van rides, two public buses, and a ferry just to get to our ministry site.
My team Summer Breeze was paired with another team at our ministry location – a total of fourteen racers. We had no previous knowledge of what the ministry was going to be like or what to expect. We were questioning whether it was worth it to travel so far to go to small village in Africa. We had no idea how amazing Seronga would be and it was well worth the long travel!
The ministry we served alongside is called Delta Cross Ministries. It is run by Willie Booyse, his wife Estelle, and three daughters Simone, Arista, and Karliene. They are South African and have been in Seronga for eight years. Delta Cross Ministries focuses on planting new churches in the different villages in the Seronga area. They train pastors for the new churches and do door-to-door evangelism by building relationships in the villages. They also do a children’s ministry Monday – Thursday in the afternoon.
Simone, Arista, me, and Karliene
Willie Booyse
In the morning, different teams would go out in groups of four to five to share the gospel with people in the surrounding villages. We received training the first couple of days about how to share the gospel in a way that is best for the Botswana people to understand. It is common for Botswanans to pray to their ancestors and worship God. At first this was uncomfortable for me to jump into sharing the gospel with someone that I had not yet formed a friendship with. We quickly saw that the people were open to hearing the gospel and it became more comfortable. We would usually return to the same people we met to continue to build a friendship with them and answer any questions they had about Christianity. We would pray with people and invite them to church. One of the small groups even started a Bible study with a family that was interested in learning more about God.
In the morning time we would rotate helping with the preschool in the village. I enjoyed serving there – the children were so cute! We would teach a Bible lesson, sing songs, do a craft, and play games. In the afternoon we did a children’s ministry for any child that wanted to play games and hear a Bible lesson. We learned the Botswana version of “duck, duck, goose” is “snake, snake, hippo”. We had around thirty children that would come each day during the week.
One of the best parts of Botswana was the Booyse family. They welcomed us into their family with open arms and showered us with hospitality the whole time we were there. A challenging part of the race is that we are treated like short term missionaries when we go from place to place each month. We start new with our ministry contact each month – when a person could have come from the previous month exhausted. Exhausted physically, emotionally, or spiritually. It is bound to happen on the race. Processing what I have seen and experienced in the previous months and staying present where I am at is challenging.
After being on the field for eight months it was unexpected and refreshing to have a ministry contact that went above and beyond to serve us and pour into us. Without any hesitation they treated us and loved us as family. They opened up their home to us to hangout anytime of the day and made us feel comfortable and relaxed. They had delicious coffee made all of the time – a real treat compared to the instant coffee we are use to drinking! It showed me how the gift of hospitality can bless someone so much and it made a huge difference in our month. Hospitality is not something you experience on the race often – traveling constantly staying in hostels, sleeping in airports and bus stations, and sleeping in a tent or a church. We don’t encounter the chance to receive the gift of hospitality. I didn’t know how much I appreciated and treasured it after not having a place to call home for eight months. It made a huge impact on all of us.
They hosted a Bible study that we participated in every night. On Fridays we would have a Christian movie night and eat Estelle’s delicious “fat cakes” – amazing fried dough that we would put meat on top of or cinnamon for dessert!
My time in Africa was a time of refreshment and recharging. I was very nervous for what Africa would be like – thinking it can’t get harder than squatty potties, bucket showers, and sleeping in my tent like the majority of my time spent in Asia was like. As usual, my expectation was totally wrong. God knew exactly what I needed and I left Africa feeling rested and excited for the last two months in Eastern Europe!
My team is currently in the capital city of Skopje, Macedonia. We are serving at Qiriazi Center where we teach English to Muslim Albanian students as a base to share the gospel with them. We have been building relationships with them and doing out reach in the city.
