Thank you for all of your prayers on our behalf during our recent journey to Botswana. Your prayers sustained and strengthened us, and they were heard by our Mighty God who moved night and day on our behalf.
We left on our journey on Friday, April 30th, and arrived safely in Mahalapye late in the afternoon on Sunday, May 2nd, to find that Mike Tomasulo had, by the grace of God, accomplished an amazing amount of work. He had purchased an 8 passenger van which we have been able to load up with as many as 15 people (transport laws are quite different here). We have rented a very roomy 4 bedroom house with two additional out buildings which will make wonderful dormitories for our future students. The extensive property allows room for the new covered pavilion that the church now meets under. The house also has a large room that the church can use in inclimate weather. The room itself can hold over 50, and the connecting large open hallway can hold at least another 50.
We had two days before the campaign began to set up a barebones household. Though the house is bare of furniture except for beds, a handmade dining room table, plastic chairs and all but the minimal provisions, we are content and well pleased. Lisa Tomasulo, Joyce and I have stayed busy with shopping, laundry, cleaning, and cooking three or four times a day for 12 – 15 people. We had a team of brothers come down from Francistown for the week to assist us by leading worship, interpreting, helping with set-up and take-down every night, and so much more. We will be eternally grateful for their help.
The next day was spent putting up the tent, lighting, sound system for the five night evangelistic campaign that was to begin that night – all finished just in the nick of time – God’s perfect “nick of time”, as always.
The first of five nights of evangelistic meetings took place under the tent Tuesday evening, and we had about 100 people in attendance. By the end of the night, there were 18 adults and 22 children who had trusted Christ for salvation. After the salvation call, we prayed for the sick and several were healed. Each morning we held a class for new believers under the tent. Not only was this a wonderful time of getting these brand new believers off to a good start on their faith walk, but some people who worked near by walked into the tent and actually asked us “How can I know God?” People were led to Christ during these morning meetings and filled with the Holy Spirit – resulting in some very dramatic transformations. Scott preached with a power and intensity I had never seen in him before, to much avail!
Each night of the campaign saw more people coming to salvation, and there were healings taking place every night. As the new believers returned night after night bringing unsaved friends with them, we could feel ourselves growing into a church family more and more with each passing day. These precious new believers would show up early to help us set up and would stay late to help us take down. We could see the transforming power of God at work in them by the changes we saw in their countenances every day. Each night, the increase in their joy and excitement was evidenced by the exuberant abandon with which they worshipped God. These normally shy people were not hesitant in giving testimony after testimony, night after night, of the work that God was doing in their bodies and in their souls.
After eight days in Mahalapye, we had completed our 5 night evangelistic campaign, and had a most glorious time. We saw 75 people give their lives to the Lord, and we witnessed many healings. We give all glory to God for His great goodness. On Sunday, May 9th, we held the first gathering of Christ the Rock Community Church in the tent, and there were 50 people in attendance. We were amazed, as we had been told by others with much experience working in Botswana that we should be very happy if 15 -20 people came. Again, we marveled at the greatness of our Living God.
A very big “Thank You” to those of you who contributed to our Offering for the Poor”. It has been a tradition of ours to take a special offering for the poor with us on each of our trips to Botswana since our first visit there in 1998. We look to Jesus’ admonition to the rich, young ruler to “give to the poor”, to the Apostle Paul’s example in II Cor. 9:9, and the Council at Jerusalem who encouraged Paul: “They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.” Gal 2:10
We were able to identify a very needy village a few miles outside of town where there is great poverty – the village of Madiba. One family in particular caught the attention of both Scott and myself, and we were able to deliver a month’s worth of food to this very poor family with three generations and several children living in two one-room houses about 15 x 15 ft. We were also blessed to provide them with enough plates and cups (metal – far more durable and practical for village life) for the entire family; a small matter you might think, but they had only a couple of each and had been eating in shifts for a very long time. We also purchased a new pot for their cook fire – yes, I said fire. No one in this village has electricity, indoor plumbing or running water.
We were also able to provide a gift for Pastor Isaac Ncana to distribute to the poor in the Village of Shashe, and one for Pastor John Ramotsabi to distribute in Francistown.
Many, but not all of you are aware that a very dear sister in the Lord from our church passed from this life into glory just one week before we left for Botswana. Our beloved sister and friend, Gabrielle Flaherty, was a devoted wife and mother of three young sons. She was a faithful servant in the family of God, and in our community, giving much of her time to ministering to children and to the elderly; and especially enjoying her years of coaching little league teams.
We have established a ministry in Botswana in her honor; a lasting tribute to the life of a godly woman. Though we had less than 48 hours to plan in the natural realm before leaving the country, the Lord went before us and caused His plan for this ministry to unfold before us as we went. And so, the ministry of “Gabrielle’s House” was birthed – one mile at a time – during the course of our African journey.
Monday, May 10th found us very busy preparing for the first outreach from “Gabrielle’s House”. We were expecting 15 – 20 children, but arrived to find 75 children and several adults waiting for us. Once again, we are overwhelmed by the goodness of God. By faith we brought enough food for 50 children, but God literally multiplied the food. We didn’t feed five thousand with a few loaves a couple of fish, but it was an amazing experience none the less. These children have so little, not one single toy in sight, many of them already HIV positive, but they were smiling, singing, and laughing all afternoon. Oh for such contentment!
While we are waiting for God to provide a venue for “Gabrielle’s house”, we will be running the program from the ministry house in Mahalapye, with oversight being provided from here in the States. We are going to take “Gabrielle’s House” to needy children like those of Madiba, to minister to them with both natural and spiritual food. It is our great hope to be able to expand this ministry in the future, and to provide clothing, school supplies, shoes, and a variety of services, including tutoring, to these precious children. After the second week in Madiba, the ministry had already expanded to three other neighborhoods.
In addition to “Gabrie
lle’s House” outreaches in these four outlying villages surrounding Mahalapye, we were able to give a $200 gift to the “Powerhouse Sports” ministry run by Rob and Mary Grindley in Selibe Phikwe. This amazing ministry, just one of many issuing out of Branch Ministries, serves 200–300 children, six days a week, providing opportunities to participate in organized sports – something we take for granted in this country, but that these children would otherwise never know. They also receive a full meal each day, in addition to clothing donations and other gifts. The Church of the Harvest has been supplying sports equipment for this program for years, but the funds to provide the coaching staff and food are a constant need. We hope to be able to continue to give out of “Gabrielle’s House” funds to this very worthy ministry in the future, believing this would have been near and dear to Gabrielle Flaherty’s heart.
“Gabrielle’s House” was also able to make a$200 donation to “Children of Hope”, another off-shoot of Branch Ministries, for the construction of a playground in the orphan village that is being constructed by the Grindleys near the village of Sefophe. The orphan village is coming to life, with the first home near completion –just awaiting the electrician’s skillful touch.
The foundation for the second house has been dug (by hand, as are all things here) and is ready to be built upon as soon as the funds for the second house are provided (approx.40K per house). When Mary told me that she wanted to build a playground before the first group of orphans arrives here to live, I felt strongly moved to ask her if we could pay for that with funds donated to “Gabrielle’s House”. Again, I knew that my dear sister Gabrielle would have built it with her own hands had she been there.
And so, we were able to give $200 to get the project started, and are trusting God for the remaining $400 that is the estimated cost to complete the playground. As we walked over the approximately 6 acres that the government of Botswana has entrusted to the Grindleys for the building of this orphan village, my mind was racing with ideas of all the things that we might be able to do in Gabrielle’s memory to help bring life to this village and the children who will soon live here.
We are trusting God to provide the funds needed to keep this wonderful, lasting tribute to the memory of our beloved Sister, Gabrielle, going for a very long time. One of the weekly outreaches will be to the children who live in horrible poverty only 500 meters or so from our house, across a dry river bed. They will meet under our front carport, or in the house in colder weather. We are already trying to make arrangements to serve these needy children a more substantial meal than we are practically able to serve out in the villages.
There was so much I wanted to do, but there was so little time to work. I must content myself with all that God accomplished in the three weeks we had to work with, but my heart is longing already to go back as soon as possible, and I hope to take some of you with me in the future. I wish you could see with your own eyes, and hear with your own ears, the many ways that God is already bringing life out of death – something that only He can do. I hope that these few words will give you a little glimpse of what “Gabrielle’s House” has become in such a short time.
Please pray for us to have the wisdom and discernment to know exactly what it is that God would have us do for these children, for the funds needed, and workers to minister to the little ones, as all of this is far more work than our dear Pastor and his wife can carry on by them selves, though they are willing. With all of their other responsibilities, the ministry will not be able to grow much beyond it’s present state without other workers to join with them in this noble venture.
We were able to spend five days in Selibe Pikwe with our beloved Rob and Mary Grindley. We taught a four day conference on the End Times, and Scott preached on the Kingdom of Heaven on Sunday morning. We greatly enjoyed visiting all of the ministries that Rob and Mary are spearheading and were completely overwhelmed by the abundant grace that has been poured out on them to labor in so many directions at once, so effectively.
In addition to pastoring two churches, running Powerhouse Sports, building an orphan village (Mary works side by side with the other construction workers), teaching Bible School students, and providing shelter, food and income for a staff of co-workers, they were starting a four night evangelistic campaign in the village of Tobane, as we were leaving, to start another church. Oh, and did I mention that Mary’s women’s ministry “Ladies of Virtue and Excellence” is touching and transforming the lives of women like nothing I’ve ever seen?
It would take pages and pages to describe, and volumes of pictures to portray all that God is doing through Rob and Mary. Please keep them in your prayers, for grace and strength to be multiplied to them, and for God’s abundant provision to be poured out on the work of their hands.
I composed the following text message to the church at home while returning to Mahalapye after our time with Rob and Mary in Selibe Phikwe:
“I’m texting while we are on a bus (and I use the term loosely) going through the African countryside. I’m watching families cut and gather the long grass on the sides of the road – most likely to re-thatch the roof on their dwelling, or perhaps to make the traditional brooms the women use here to sweep their homes and yards. Yes – they sweep their yards (read – dirt) – no grass to mow here.
The driver must stop now and then to let a family of donkeys or a few head of cattle cross the road. Plenty of goats and cattle along the sides of the road. You won’t see what we would consider African wildlife along the road unless you head north towards Kesane. There’s nothing quite like your first view of giraffe heads sticking up over the tops of trees.
Now our bus driver is doing what African bus drivers like to do best – driving like a maniac. This is the part Scott hates – he looks a little nervous right now :-). They are in a great hurry to reach their destination before dark – a very dangerous time for anyone to be on the road – no street lights – people die often from hitting animals at night.
Just had to get off the bus (all of us) to have our I.D. checked. Botswana is cracking down big time on illegal immigrants (The U.S. could take a lesson).
I love the constant smell of wood fires in the air – many here have no electricity or running water and still cook over fires. It is a country of great contradictions -a few modern buildings in the large towns, people trying to dress like Americans (quite sad to me), great poverty, unbelievable contentment.
I look to the east and see the mountains of Zimbabwe and feel a longing in my heart -a beautiful country with such great need! Who will go? I look to the west and know that the Kalahari Desert is just out of sight. Who will go to the people of the pans? Sighhhhhhhhhh
In between the towns and larger villages, you often see small communities of round or square mud huts with thatched roofs. Their fences are made from tree branches. This is the Africa I love!
We are on our way back to Mahalapye for our final two days with Mike and Lisa and the new ministry team. We had wonderful reports of the ongoing work there while we were away. As you may have already heard, we had 50 at our first church mtg. There were 54 people at the first Biblestudy at the ministry house last Wednesday night (O.K. COTH U.S.A.- let’s rise to that level of commitment! These people have to walk miles in the dark to be there for homegroup). Lisa caught a few children taking baths in our outdoor wash sink during homegroup -too funny- they had never seen running hot water and were amazed!
The second Sunday of the new church, the first under the pavilion behind the ministry house, there were 75 people. Our Great God is doing a Great thing here!
I’m hoping the sun will begin to set before we reach Mahalapye. If you haven’t seen an African sunset, you can’t imagine what you’re missing. It is especially beautiful out here, away from the city. The light of the setting sun filters through the smoke of the wood fires and the dust that is one of Botswana’s constants, and creates the most unimaginable colors in shades of purple, pink, peach and everything in between.
We have been thrilled to see the changes to the countryside due to much needed rains (pula – also the national currency). The trees are greener than we have ever seen them, the grass in the bush is green, and the cattle are fat. On our last visit, the cattle looked like skeletons, and many were dead on the side of the road.
Please pray for us as we still have much work to do in our final days here – equipping the new ministry team – so much to do and so little time. We must entrust them to God’s equipping and keeping power while we are not here.
Just passed two young boys driving a donkey cart – coming in from the bush after gathering firewood. Pastor John has promised me my own donkey cart and donkeys when I come back. Mary and have decided we will name our donkeys Lucy and Ethel.
We have just stopped in the town of Palaphye and there is the Wimpy’s hamburger joint – oh the incongruity of it all!!!!!!”
During our final two days in Botswana, we were able to set in motion the plans for our Ministry Equipping Center. By the grace of God, it will be much more than a Bible School, but will be centered in the local church, providing hands-on experience as well as classroom training for our students. We will all live, eat, learn, and minister together over the course of a two year program. Scott and I have been developing the courseware over the past several months, and continue to do so. We will be video taping all of our materials so that classes can go on with or without us in the country. We believe that God will bring guest teachers from all over the world to enhance the equipping of these ministry students. After arriving home, we learned of the arrival of our very first residential ministry student.
In closing, we covet your prayers; for God’s keeping power to protect, maintain, and grow the work that has been started in Mahalapye. We have already identified a wonderful young couple, “Tex” and Joyce Kiti, who will pastor the new work. They were working side by side with us night and day for these past three weeks, and moved into the ministry house with their baby son, Joseph, after our large team of helpers left town. Tex is a former student of Scott’s from the bible school in Francistown, and came highly recommended to us by Robert Grindley and Pastor John Ramotsobi. Please keep Tex, Joyce and Joseph in your prayers as they step out by faith to embrace their calling to shepherd this beloved new church family.
Thank you again for all of your prayers on our behalf, and on behalf of the new work that has been established in Botswana.
Many Blessings to You all!
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