Week 15 - December 6

We've been without water nearly all week. It returned for a few hours every couple of days, allowing us to frantically refill our containers. We have it much better than many of our friends in the nearby Tlokweng area, who have lived without water almost every day since August. Their lives are much harder than ours. The dams are all dry, and the rains have been few and far between this season. We should expect to do without in such a severe drought, but the reason for the water cuts is poorly maintained infrastructure. It's really frustrating. The pipelines meant to carry water from the rainier areas of the country and from neighboring countries were poorly designed and continue to burst regularly. When a burst comes, we go without water for several days as they scramble to patch the pipes. Things that are taken for granted in the US - like water coming from the tap - have become small luxuries here. It changes one's perspective on privilege and comfort and necessity.

I spent the first half of this week planning a staff retreat that was then canceled. Administrative work brings me an odd amount of joy, even when the plans fail. In fact, they are highly likely to fail here. We have a saying that goes, "Write all your plans in pencil." It was fun, even though it all came to naught.

We had a planning meeting with the ladies of Redeemed Girl ministries this week, too. Marian Jordan Ellis is a speaker and writer, and some of our girls have been using her podcasts and Bible study materials in their small group. When Marian, who has a special relationship with Cru, heard of this, she immediately asked when she could come. We're still working on finding funding to cover all of the expenses, but I'm sure the Lord will provide. Taffy, our national director, and I cast vision for Botswana and shared some of the issues we see that she could address. We landed on an all-day event focusing on biblical sexuality. Join us in praying that the Lord would prepare the hearts of students and prompt them to attend. Marian does an awesome job of sharing her story, speaking truth, mixing in humor, and calling students to Jesus. We'll be inviting other ministries and churches to join us, and we're praying at least 300 students would attend.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for the visit of a friend of the ministry. Pastor Fred works with the Campus Crusade movement in Kenya, known as Life Ministries. He joined us in Botswana to provide a training for pastors and youth workers. Nailing down details is always challenging here, especially when it comes to preparing or ordering food, as the local custom is to allow anyone who shows up to attend. The moving pieces drew me to prayer constantly this week, and I saw the Lord answer my prayers. The training, called "Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry," was held at a local church. As the coordinator, I needed to arrive at 8am, and we finished around 5pm. In the moments in between, I ran around setting up the hall, fixing tech problems, serving the tea snacks, mingling during breaks, helping the speaker, delivering and serving lunch, and helping to guide discussion groups. I was busy, but I loved it. Serving in behind-the-scenes capacities brings me life. Seeing laborers equipped and sent out gives me hope.

Pastor Fred also spoke at our church, Gaborone Community Chapel, on Sunday morning. As his liasion, I was responsible for chauffering him. The rest of my Sunday was spent working on more admin. I'm pretty exhausted as I write this, and I miss quality time with our students. I look forward to next semester!