Ever since I was a young boy I remember having this deep desire to travel and get outside of what I’ve always known. The one and only place that I always wanted to go see was Africa. I remember saying “it’s like a home that I’ve never been.” Jokingly, but I really desired to be there and experience the land, people, and culture. Every part of it.
So I was so excited to be going to Botswana for month 5!
This month was a bit different from the others in a couple of different ways. So we were Seronga, Botswana partnering with Delta Cross Ministries. They are located in the bush of Botswana and have been around since the early 90’s. Our host was an amazing South African family of 5 and they moved here from to lead the whole DCM church and organization.
The host family felt like MY family in so many ways, and it felt like home. This is the only country so far where we’ve gotten to do ministry with an actual family and out of their home. At the beginning of the month our hosts repeatedly said to us, “This month, my house is your house. Come and go as you please.” So we did just that, and this family took us in so well. They shared all of their things with us, and it was amazing! Watching how this family functions and how my they showed hospitality reminded me so much of how my household does that back home. I loved it.
One of our focuses was to evangelize to the villages around us. Unlike the other countries we actually got to tell the people exactly who we stayed with and refer them to DCM. The host actually gave us permission and trusted us to go out and represent his ministry. He wanted us to really focus on building relationships with people, trying to visit the same people everytime we wet out so it would go past the surface. I. Was. Pumped! This was right up my alley, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
But…I quickly got discouraged.
If you know me, you know that I love people. I love building relationships with people. So off we went, in twos, and we’d meet back at the hosts home in the evening for debriefing. Most of the times we’d go out and talk to someone one day and they wouldn’t be home the next day. It’s like we were having to press the restart button a lot. During debrief, everyone would be so excited as they shared stories of getting to talk with the same people everyday. I had nothing. The guy who loves building relationships had nothing to share.
I decided to come out of the funk and trust that God had a plan for this and for me. So we started prayer walking, praying over the people who live in the homes, and my heart started to change. It wasn’t all about me like I had been making it. And God taught me a few things. One of those things was being content with what He had for ME through all that we got to do. Through the discouragement of how evangelism went I had to trust that maybe God had me there to intercede over the villages. Although I thought I’d get to use my strength in building relationships and the expectations that I set through all of it wasn’t what I expected it to be, I was taught by God to trust that my prayer has power.
Side note – I love Africa!
Thank you for your love and prayers. I am grateful to be on this trip and all God is working out in me.
I am in South Africa now. So I will send an update from here soon.
