tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes? Look
at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
It was the night before we were to leave Johannesburg to go to Botswana. We did not know how we were going to get there. A bus went an hour north to the wrong city in Botswana and to get to the bus station in Jo’burg would cost us $150 which we did not have. We were on a very tight budget. We were all praying and God came through. He provided a way for us to afford renting two vehicles to drive ourselves to Botswana. The next day we left for Botswana as scheduled. On the way we picked up an older woman named Grace to take her to Lobaste where she would try and catch a ride to another city. (hitchhiking is a normal form of transportation there) She said that she had just prayed to Jesus that she would get a ride. She was going to her father’s funeral. God had a plan in us having Grace with us. When we got to the border of Botswana, they wanted us to give them an address where we were staying. Well, we didn’t know that, but Grace let us use her address so we could get across. We ended up taking Grace all the way to her family since it was dark out. The whole family came out to thank us and gave us some home baked bread.
God provided us with the time with the Walker family. They blessed us so much especially with food. We had several meals at their house which helped us so much with our tight budget. The fellowship also was a great blessing for all of us. It felt like being at home. I was really getting homesick by this point in the trip.
From Lobaste, my team had to take three buses to get to our ministry contact. Bus stations can be very hectic and crazy in Africa. But each time there was someone there that helped us get right onto the correct next bus with no problems. God also watched over our safety and protected our stuff. We ended up not going all the way to Moralane that night and staying at a missionary house where we were again provided with another amazing free meal. Also all our lodging for the whole month was free.
On Saturdays in Moralane village, Khumbu would invite all the kids in the village to his property to play games and sports and then would try and feed them a meal. Well the Saturday we were there they did not have any food to find the kids. All week we had been discussing how the 10 lb bag of rice we had was way more rice than we needed (we also had a small bag of rice from the previous week). We knew that that rice was meant for the kids, so we donated all 10 lbs of it for the kids. It was amazing to be able to be used by God to provide for others needs. It was cool to witness the kids sitting there and eating. There was enough for seconds for all the kids.
Once again we were in the 11th hour trying to find lodging for the next day. At the end of July, Bling and Spectacle were on their own for debrief. The whole squad was not meeting up together. We had decided that we would debrief in Jo’burg because we had to return the rental vehicles there. However, everywhere we could afford to stay was booked up. But once again God provided. Michael Walker helped connect us with a friend in Jo’burg who knew about the Baptist House and training center. At the same time our contact, Lyn’s wife had a friend trying to find us a place. As Ashley was booking our spot at the Baptist House, the other helper had just called there for us. So God really had a plan for us to stay there. It was a beautiful location up on a hill where you could see all of Jo’burg. We all got our own rooms for the week too. First time ever on the trip! We had beds, and hot showers. God surely blessed us.
God always has a plan and a purpose in his actions. We may not see it right then or even this side of Heaven, but he is working. This past month has really helped me to walk in faith in all things. God has been doing that this whole trip, but this month I think I finally got to the point that I completely trust God and will allow him to lead me always. There is a whole world of unknown coming up at the end of the race when I return home. I have no idea where I am going to work or live, but I know that God has a plan and he will provide for me and show me the steps I am to take when I need to know.
