Botswana Bulletin – Eighteenth Edition

Botswana Bulletin – Eighteenth Edition

“Busy Being Busy”

May 7, 2006

Greetings and a belated happy Easter from Gaborone, Botswana!  Wow, is it May already?  I tell you, time flies when you’re having fun.  It also seems to fly when you’re busy and as of late this has been the case.  This is going to be a loaded update so let’s get right into it.

As May approaches so does some of the cooler weather.  It’s felt like winter here in Botswana recently.  We had some cool days with some rain mixed in so the first instances of winter coats and hats have appeared.  Now to put things in perspective the temperature only has to drop below 20ºC for Batswana (the local people) to feel cold.  I will admit though, I did find myself wearing a sweater 2 days last week.  Maybe my polar bear skin is finally beginning to fade.

Life as a short-term missionary has been slowly turning back to normal.  What do I mean by this?  Well, I’ve started moving again!  From April 10^th – 30^th I was dog & house sitting for the Murley’s (one of our pilots) who are home on furlough.  On April 30^th I moved from the Murley’s to a village just east of town called “Tlokweng”.  In Tlokweng I’m dog & house sitting again for the Hammes’ (our Housing Director) who is vacationing in Zambia.  I should be here at the Hammes’ until May 10^th when I’ll move again to Gaborone. 

Well as all of you know April was the month of Easter.  Now because Gaborone is a transient city and people usually go to their home villages for holidays (Easter included) my church decided to do something special before Easter Sunday.  So, on Palm Sunday we had a play production written by one of Flying Mission’s very own staff members, Michelle Royce (HIV/AIDS worker).  The play was really well done and it was great to see some of the youth participating.  The play dealt with a young couple dealing with the pressures of real life and how there is usually more going on outside of our situations (spiritual realm) than what we can see.  I thought it was really well done and was very proud of everyone who took part in making it happen.  Maybe I’ll have to be in the next one!

Other new developments at church have been in the worship team.  As many of you know I am playing and teaching the drums.  Something I may not have mentioned before is that I am now playing an African drum instead of the usual drum kit.  This has allowed my student, Andy Moyo, to play more often and I think it has been good to play with him and help him develop his timing.  Also, I really enjoy playing my drum!  I purchased it last year while visiting some friends in Johannesburg, South Africa.  I’m hoping to be able to return home with it in November but I’m not sure what customs will think of it.  Hopefully I’ll be able to bring it so I can play it at church back home.

Anyway, back to the new developments in the worship team.  One of the guys from our youth group (Tshepo) has started attending regularly to play guitar.  He struggles a bit at times but I think he is doing extremely well.  He obviously has a gift in music and I hope he continues to use this gift to worship God.  Another new member has been Gilbert Collins.  Gilbert and his wife Sarah have come from the USA to work with the Peace Corps.  Gilbert is a very talented bass guitar player and it’s been great to have a bass guitar in the church again.  As a drummer I really appreciate the extra rhythm he brings on the Sundays he’s been playing.  Unfortunately, Gilbert and Sarah left for the US this week but will be returning next month.  So for now we are once again bassless (if that’s a word). 

April also marked the arrival of two new Flying Mission short-termers.  One from Germany (Tobias) and another from…Canada! (Luke)  It was great spending time with a fellow Canadian who also brought me a small package from home.  In the package were some pictures of my new nephew Caleb (the pictures are great Lori!) some Easter candy from home as well as one of my favourite things to eat…Kraft Dinner!  You can’t buy anything that even resembles Kraft Dinner here so I was so happy that my mom was able to send some.  It doesn’t really give you much for nutrition but it cheesy goodness really hits the spot!  J

Getting back to Easter, it’s actually a four day weekend here in Botswana.  Good Friday and Easter Monday are both holidays so people usually head out of town.  However, I decided to stick around Gaborone and eat!  I went to 3 braais (BBQs) during the weekend and I tell you it was fabulous.  For one of the braais I decided to try cooking again and made a pot of chilli.  I’ve only made chilli for myself before so I was a bit nervous as to what people would think of it.  I tell yah, I was shocked.  That pot was picked clean!  I even had a few people comment on how good it was!  Chilli is an unknown recipe in Botswana so part of the reason it went so quick may be because of experimentation.  However, I’m beginning to think that there is a chef buried deep inside me somewhere. 

Getting back to church matters a new development has popped up recently.  I met with the pastor of my church a week or so ago and we discussed the possibility of me rejoining the leadership team.  We both agreed that titles are not necessarily the main issue for leadership and I was glad he was considering having me back.  We had another congregational meeting in April and it looks like we are pushing ahead with the proposed vision statement of our church.  Now that we have a vision statement it will be the job of the leadership team to come up with a mission statement that puts this vision into practice.  It will be great to be involved in the shaping and molding of the mission statement as it will be the backbone of the ministries we will be focusing on.  The new vision statement of Open Baptist Church G-West  is (forgive me I may not have memorized it word for word) “We want to be for this generation a community which gives God delight.”  It appears our mission statement will revolve around 4 main topics:  Children, HIV/AIDS, authentic worship and discipleship.  Please pray for me and the rest of the leadership team as we attempt to seek God’s will as to what the next step for our church is.

We had a great service last week at church.  We planned a “Culture Day” last week which basically meant that we wanted people to come to church dressed in the clothing of their culture.  We also asked people to bring some traditional food to share after the service.  I was finding it hard to think of what to wear last week when it suddenly hit me.  I decided to wear my Edmonton Oilers jersey and go to church as a hockey player.  I was glad to not be the only one thinking along these lines as Gilbert (the bass player on our worship team) wore a Green Bay Packers football jersey!  It ended up being quite an enjoyable event. 

Speaking of the Edmonton Oilers, word has got around to me that they are now in the second round of the NHL playoffs.  I was so thrilled when I heard, I even had a chance to listen on the Oilers website to Rod Phillips announce the winning goal by Hemsky.  He SCOOOOOORES!  For those of you reading this letter who earlier in the year were telling me how the Canucks were going to win the cup, well, I hope this turn of events will silence you.  Oh, and I hope this brings an end to those stupid Flames flags people were attaching to their cars on the streets of Edmonton.  GO OILERS GO!   And in the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Okay, sorry for the hockey tangent I just took you on but I can’t help it.  It’s in my blood.  Anyway, the last thing I’ll share with you is how happy I am to see friends returning to Botswana.  Just this first week of May has already brought 3 people/families back to Gaborone. 

The first to return was a fellow Canadian and long term Flying Mission member, Tina Kort.  Tina in case you forgot is our Initial Ministry Coordinator and is the reason my Setswana developed so fast (she’s my Setswana teacher).  I’m glad she has returned as I can now start up my Setswana lessons with her again.  Plus she is a great lady to be around!

The second person to arrive was another important person to Flying Mission and that is Diane Vos.  Diane is our HR Director and comes to us from the country just south of Botswana, South Africa.  She was only gone for 6 months but her absence has been felt in the office.  It will be great to have her back in the office on a regular basis.

The last people to arrive were the family of Bob and Esther Genheimer.  Bob and Esther run a Christian store here in Gaborone called “Lesedi Christian Centre” (Lesedi means light).  Bob and Esther came back with 2 of their kids Isaac and Hannah.  I get along well with Bob and Isaac because both of these guys are hardcore rockers like me.  We used to get together on Sunday nights at there house and jam so hopefully that tradition will continue once they get settled.  Bob is a killer guitar player and Isaac plays both the bass guitar and the drums.  I can’t wait to get together and jam with these guys!

Okay, well I guess that’s about it for now.  Sorry that this update was a bit long but there was just so much I wanted to tell you guys I wasn’t sure what to leave out.  So as usual I put it all in!  There is one thing I haven’t put in yet and that is prayer requests so here they are:

1) Please pray for my church Open Baptist G-West

- we are presently going through a transitional phase and the leadership of the church needs prayer

2) Please pray for my work at Flying Mission

- things have been busy at the office lately and there have been times when I’ve felt run down.  Pray for strength.

3) Praise God for good health!

- God has granted success in my mother’s second pacemaker operation.  My sister and her son Caleb are both fine and healthy.  Praise God for answered prayer and that he continues to watch over me and my family’s health.

Thank you all again for your prayer and financial support.  Tsala sentle!  (stay well)

Graham Crawford <><