Thursday, April 28, 2011
We are SUCH bloggers!
Well, our time here is close to finished, and Natalie and I have successfully posted two blogs! But, just in case any of you were worried if we were still alive... Here is a picture to put your nerves at rest! We are alive and we are well.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Two of our different rooms we stayed at during orientation. The second one is the place we were at for most of orientation week.
Our first night
Our first night
Sweet little boy from our "home stay" Two nights of orientation, towards the end, each of our teams stayed at different local houses. We stayed with our, now friends, DK and Matata and their son Loapi. DK is the pastors daughter at the church we attend in Naledi. It was such a cultural experience, to see how they live every single day. They were so welcoming, considerate and respectful. It was a wonderful, challenging, eye opening, fun, memorable - time for us both.
A house in the village of our home stay.
Language Lesson mornings.
Some Team Pictures :)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Greetings from Botswana!
Hi friends! I am so sorry about how long it has taken me to do this. I did not intend on there being this long of a delay. Haha, but then again, those who know Natalie and me are probably not too surprised :). I just wanted to quickly update everyone on some things going on here in Gaborone!
The first ten days that we were here were orientation. This was the time that we spent with the other 15 Hands On students from all over the US. They were all sent out around Africa, in various countries. Our training was here in Gaborone and we did that all together. This consisted of several team building activities; some for all 17 of us and some for just Natalie and I. It was to build trust in your team, and to prepare us to work with another individual in order to complete a task: the task of spreading the Gospel. As you can imagine doing it with your sister adds a unique dynamic, but the Lord has definitely used it in our relationship! We also had several sessions where we were taught by various missionaries, about different things needed as you head onto the mission field. A couple of days were spent out in villages where we walked around, going house to house, to share the Creation of Christ. We had some really neat opportunities on these days. God opened a lot of doors to proclaim the truth! We also had a day where we worked at a feeding project. It is project done by some woman here, who feed the orphans in the village 5 days a week. It is an incredible ministry, and we were able to be a part of it for a day. Orientation was challenging and stretching, but it was so good. Our last weekend together we were all sent out to different villages to stay with a family. Natalie and I were placed in Naledi where we will be spending a bit of time over these next months. We stayed with a family from friday to sunday, in their home. For a couple days we just lived life with them, cooking with them and cleaning with them. It was another very challenging, yet incredible things that God used to teach us.
After orientation we headed to our apartment where we will be living for the next 4 months. Our WONDERFUL roommate Kelly picked us up and we officially were home! Let me just say that Natalie and I are beyond blessed with who we get to work with on this trip. The journeyman (Keely), who we are able to live with, is absolutely a gift from the Lord. In addition, the missionaries we will work closely with are just amazing. We are so blessed! So anyway, we arrived and spent that first day or so just unpacking and getting settled in. We met with Andy (our great supervisor) and just discussed different things. These first two weeks have really consisted more of preparation through prayer and learning about the culture. Every morning Natalie and I go to Naledi where we learn language ad culture from 9 until 12. We get the chance to ride Combi's (the local transportation) each morning and afternoon. We have definitely had some cultural experiences with that as you can imagine :). We love it! After culture and language we usually would head to the University or other places around Gabs to prayer walk. This time is used to pray for the people here, and ask the Lord to prepare our hearts for those He will bring us into contact with. It is our time to ask the Spirit to lead us where He desires us to be! Our nights usually consist of dinners at missionaries homes. On Tuesday nights we do a bible study with the leadership students for the ministry, at the University of Botswana. This has been an incredible thing to be a part of. These students are hungry, and that has been so challenging and encouraging! We are loving getting to know them, and their passion is just amazing! God is using them at their schools, as they meet with other students to disciple them and preach the Word. Be in prayer for each of them!
That as been about it for us so far. We have spent these last two weeks mostly preparing and getting our hearts and minds ready. Monday we will begin going on campus with the intention to make connections with students. Our goal is to start out connecting with them, and lead into an opportunity to share the Gospel. After that we try and disciple them and continue meeting with them throughout our time. We have already made several connections, and God is definitely at work placing people in our lives that He desires us to spend time with! Be in prayer as we try and connect with different girls, with the goal of sharing the Gospel. Pray for boldness as we go to different places. And pray that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as it leads. Most all, pray that God is glorified! That is what this is all about! So please be in prayer that His name is proclaimed and that His name is glorified through it all!
Thank you all so much for your support. It means more than you know to Natalie and me. We miss you all so much. We will continue to try and update this as often as possible. Thanks again for everything!
La :)
The first ten days that we were here were orientation. This was the time that we spent with the other 15 Hands On students from all over the US. They were all sent out around Africa, in various countries. Our training was here in Gaborone and we did that all together. This consisted of several team building activities; some for all 17 of us and some for just Natalie and I. It was to build trust in your team, and to prepare us to work with another individual in order to complete a task: the task of spreading the Gospel. As you can imagine doing it with your sister adds a unique dynamic, but the Lord has definitely used it in our relationship! We also had several sessions where we were taught by various missionaries, about different things needed as you head onto the mission field. A couple of days were spent out in villages where we walked around, going house to house, to share the Creation of Christ. We had some really neat opportunities on these days. God opened a lot of doors to proclaim the truth! We also had a day where we worked at a feeding project. It is project done by some woman here, who feed the orphans in the village 5 days a week. It is an incredible ministry, and we were able to be a part of it for a day. Orientation was challenging and stretching, but it was so good. Our last weekend together we were all sent out to different villages to stay with a family. Natalie and I were placed in Naledi where we will be spending a bit of time over these next months. We stayed with a family from friday to sunday, in their home. For a couple days we just lived life with them, cooking with them and cleaning with them. It was another very challenging, yet incredible things that God used to teach us.
After orientation we headed to our apartment where we will be living for the next 4 months. Our WONDERFUL roommate Kelly picked us up and we officially were home! Let me just say that Natalie and I are beyond blessed with who we get to work with on this trip. The journeyman (Keely), who we are able to live with, is absolutely a gift from the Lord. In addition, the missionaries we will work closely with are just amazing. We are so blessed! So anyway, we arrived and spent that first day or so just unpacking and getting settled in. We met with Andy (our great supervisor) and just discussed different things. These first two weeks have really consisted more of preparation through prayer and learning about the culture. Every morning Natalie and I go to Naledi where we learn language ad culture from 9 until 12. We get the chance to ride Combi's (the local transportation) each morning and afternoon. We have definitely had some cultural experiences with that as you can imagine :). We love it! After culture and language we usually would head to the University or other places around Gabs to prayer walk. This time is used to pray for the people here, and ask the Lord to prepare our hearts for those He will bring us into contact with. It is our time to ask the Spirit to lead us where He desires us to be! Our nights usually consist of dinners at missionaries homes. On Tuesday nights we do a bible study with the leadership students for the ministry, at the University of Botswana. This has been an incredible thing to be a part of. These students are hungry, and that has been so challenging and encouraging! We are loving getting to know them, and their passion is just amazing! God is using them at their schools, as they meet with other students to disciple them and preach the Word. Be in prayer for each of them!
That as been about it for us so far. We have spent these last two weeks mostly preparing and getting our hearts and minds ready. Monday we will begin going on campus with the intention to make connections with students. Our goal is to start out connecting with them, and lead into an opportunity to share the Gospel. After that we try and disciple them and continue meeting with them throughout our time. We have already made several connections, and God is definitely at work placing people in our lives that He desires us to spend time with! Be in prayer as we try and connect with different girls, with the goal of sharing the Gospel. Pray for boldness as we go to different places. And pray that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as it leads. Most all, pray that God is glorified! That is what this is all about! So please be in prayer that His name is proclaimed and that His name is glorified through it all!
Thank you all so much for your support. It means more than you know to Natalie and me. We miss you all so much. We will continue to try and update this as often as possible. Thanks again for everything!
La :)
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