Team LESS returned to Manzini, Swaziland on Monday for a night of rest in the care of Lisa Black’s incredible hospitality. That night at our team debrief we were discussing with Gary what’s next. To super paraphrase, he taught us that, “God will open doors and He will shut them. Following God is pretty easy if you’re willing to go where He sends you… you just “fall forward” and let him guide you along the way.”
So forward we fell to Alabanza, a missionary retreat center outside of Pretoria in South Africa. After our planned day of fast internet we headed to the embassy to get new pages added to Michael’s passport. Then, we were to head to the bus station towards our next open door… The wonderful people from Danny‘s church at home (K2 in Salt Lake) who are in Lesotho doing missions with an orphanage there.
Snag 1: We were missing a signed parental form for our younger buddy Michael. Door closed to leave that day. So back to Alabanza we went.
Snag 2: We woke up this morning to do our new daily routine… pack up, pray, and head to the embassy in Johannesburg, head to the busses. With the car loaded we received a call from Danny’s friends that there was a disagreement with their hosts and it probably wouldn’t work for us to be there.
Door Closed. If it weren’t for bureaucracy we would have been in Lesotho last night and leaving again today. Amazing.
Standing in the driveway we were invited to coffee by the head of Alabanza and she marched in all the missionaries she could find to start giving us contacts from all over the region. Someone on the panel mentioned “Mama Elizabeth,” a local legendary super powerful Grandmother who has been doing ministry in Botswana forever.
Botswana is a country we have talked about many times but had yet to find our open door. Contact after contact didn’t work out.
However, after one phone call, we were told that Mama Elizabeth was at her house 40 minutes from us with her son who is still in full time ministry in Botswana. Extra confirmation? Mama Elizabeth would be thrilled to escort us herself up into Botswana. Our panel of missionaries gasped with excitement for us at this proposal.
Powerful experienced woman of God. Botswana with transportation. Sounds like our open door…
We’re going to fall forward into Botswana on Sunday.
We won’t know about communication until we get there… so until then…
Following God is a whole lot easier when you listen to the doors He opens and shuts.
Blessings!!
