Summary of my two months in Africa!
In Botswana I had the opportunity to stay with and spend time with three different missionary families. As an aspiring long term missionary I LOVE spending time with missionaries and always gain so much insight from them, hearing about how both rewarding yet challenging a life in missions can be. I would like to share more about my time with these missionary families.
Meet Clark and Hazel:
Clark is a medical doctor and has many other talents. He plays the piano exceptionally well and is also a writer. He introduced us to some of his books and has also produced many gospel tracts of his own that we were able to use during our time doing missions with them. He and his wife, Hazel have worked in medical missions in Botswana for over 30 years. They have now retired from the medical portion of their missions work but their heart to love the people of Botswana and to share Jesus with them has not stopped. Clark is an active leader at the church they attend and they do multiple outreaches in the community, especially in the less reached surrounding villages. We had the opportunity to see the work they are doing in the village of Mochudi during our time with them. Hazel led a Sunday school class for the children there while Clark led devotional teachings for the women in the village. It was such a joy to be apart of that experience and one of my favorite days in Botswana.
With the children at the Mochudi Village
After church with Clark and Hazel
Meet Andrew and Sandra:
On the bottom left with our team
They have also been missionaries to Botswana for nearly 30 years. Andrew is a leader in business and Sandra has an immense passion for presenting the gospel to people in a way that they can understand based on their culture. She studies various cultural perspectives, specifically the “Honor Shame Culture” (more prevalent in Asian and African culture), and how important it is to know this concept to be more effective in evangelizing to the people of Botswana. They both offered us tons of knowledge in missions, and the history/culture of Botswana. It was very interesting and informative to be around them, soaking in their pearls of wisdom. While there, we got to visit the Livingstone Museum. Dr. Livingstone was one of the early missionaries to Africa and Botswana in the 1840s. At the Livingstone Memorial site outdoors we saw the remains and foundation of the first church built there along with remains of his house, clinic, and his grave site. Andrew also took us on a mini safari at the Gaborone Game Reserve which was a lot of fun!
Meet Arista, Estelle, and Simoné:
Estelle and her two daughters have been missionaries in the Okavango Delta area of Botswana for some time. They recently moved to Gabane, Botswana after the death of their father/husband. Arista also shared with me she lost her twin sister recently as well due to complications from Malaria. It was sad to hear they have experienced so much loss and grief in their family in such a short time. However, they have a great testimony, that despite all of this heartache they still have full and complete trust in God, their rock. They know that God will continue to lead and guide them through the next chapter in their lives as missionaries in their new location. We ended up staying at their house which is just down the road from Andrew and Sandra’s house. Estelle cooked us very good meals each day and I enjoyed the quiet nature area surrounding their home and all of their animals too. They have three dogs and four cats. My favorite cat was Penelope. 🙂
In South Africa we spent time in Nelspruit, Jeffreys Bay, and Cape Town.
Nelspruit:
A time of debrief with the entire squad!
This is Marianna, our lovely Air bnb host who loves and supports missionaries
Jeffreys Bay:
This is where we partnered with Global Leadership Acadamy for three weeks. It is a program that is similar to the World Race. They send teams to other countries and throughout Africa to do missions as well. They also have built a local high school and have a beautiful log cabin as their missions house to provide housing for World Race teams and other missionaries who stay there. On our first day we met Wendy, the manager of the missions house. She told us the story about how the house came to be. She has a son who was a part of a Global Leadership team. After completing his missions work he came back to his home in Jefferys Bay and met a girl from one of the World Race teams who was staying there. They ended up dating, falling in love, and were going to get married in the United States. A day after they got married they were both tragically killed in a car accident. Wendy shared how that was two years ago. The mission house was built in memory of them. Now, the mother of the girl who was killed would be coming to visit Wendy at the missions house for the first time. They would also be having a memorial service to burry the remainder of the ashes just outside of the log cabin. Our team was invited to be a part of this memorial service. Sadly, just a few days after we all arrived in Jeffreys Bay, a member from my team found out his father passed away unexpectedly. We were all so heart broken for him. The day this happened I just realized it had been exactly six months since my dad passed away. In the morning after hearing the news I felt ok but as the day went on I felt every emotion of losing my father all over again and I knew exactly what my team mate was going through. Many tears were shed that day. When surrounded by so many memories of grief, only God can be the comforter. Our team member, Travis went home to be with his family but it was a happy reunion when he returned to be with us again and met us in Cape Town. God is faithful to heal us from grief as we continue serving Him.
For the rest of my time in Jeffreys Bay we had various activities and service work to keep us busy. Anita also works with Global Leadership Academy. She was the main person who set up our ministry schedule and provided transportation for us. She also owns two restaurants where we ate most of the time as the food was amazing. On our first Sunday in Jeffreys Bay, Anita connected us with Pastor Chris who is the pastor at Fathers House Church. He took us to the Fathers House Church in Port Elizabeth for two days which is a town about an hour away. We got to work with the youth there helping to set up decorations for an entire Disney themed village they were building for their children’s week coming up. I helped decorate the village candy shop which was a lot of fun. On the days we were not in Port Elisabeth I worked at Beats and Books. It is a non profit organization set up like an after school program. Their main focus is helping kids ages 7-17 with homework, providing a safe environment after school for reading and snacks, as well as teaching the kids from the Bible, facilitating worship, and teaching them how to play musical instruments including piano, drums, violin, and trumpet! When I was there I helped clean, organize their library of books, make snacks for the kids, as well as helped with their first ever spelling bee for the students. It was great to work with the leaders at Beats and Books; Cornelius and his wife from Zambia, Grace from Australia who is the violin teacher and music coordinator, along with Carla and Johnathan from Chile who are missionaries to South Africa with their three sons. I really enjoyed my time working with everyone and getting to know the kids and it was hard to say goodbye.
Another member at Global Leadership Academy is a guy named Mulder. He is in charge of construction activities. The first day there he led us in a project to help sand and varnish bricks in one of the classrooms at the school. He also worked with the guys from our team to help build a soup kitchen for the local community! While our team was there they helped to build the start of the building and finished laying the foundation. I was really impressed with their hard work especially working in less than ideal weather conditions. Most days it was very cold and windy and we were all freezing.
Wendy, Me, Anita, and Mulder in front of the log cabin missions house
Serving as greeters at Fathers House Church in Jeffreys Bay!
With some of the youth at Fathers House Church in Port Elizabeth
Picture of the candy shop in the village I helped decorate (unfinished)
Photo with Pastor Chris from Fathers House Church in Jeffreys Bay
Leadership Team at Beats and Books!
Cornelius, his wife & children, Grace (front center), Carla & Johnathon (bottom right)
With all the kids we worked with at Beats and Books!
Cape Town:
A time for another debrief and some last minute South Africa sight seeing.
On top of Table Mountain overlooking the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa
Currently, we have moved continents again and are back in the warmer temps of Europe! I’m with different team members this time. Meet my new team, Team Salt:
Sam
America
Lindsay
Travis
&
Matt
(where our team names scripture verse comes from)
And Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth…”
– Matthew 5:13
We landed in Sofia, Bulgaria and tomorrow we will be heading out to Athens, Greece followed by Rome, Italy before heading to Spain! We are excited to continue building relationships, partnering with churches/ministries, and sharing the good news of Jesus wherever we go.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who publish peace, who bring good news of happiness, who publish salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
– Isaiah 52:7
Lastly, I am still raising funds for my current missions trip and the rest of my journey through Europe and South America. I am only $650 short and the deadline has already passed. If you feel led to give and support me in the missions work I am doing in the nations please click on the donate button at the top of the blog site. All donations are tax deductible. As always, thank you for your love, prayers, and financial support! More updates to come.
