Botswana Bulletin – Fifth Edition

Botswana Bulletin – Fifth Edition

“What ever happened with that prayer request?”

January 30, 2005

Hello again from sunny Gaborone, Botswana!  Luckily, we have had some rain during the past few weeks so it doesn’t have as much of that “desert feeling” right now.  Thanks to all who prayed for rain!  We still need more, specifically here in Gaborone.  The farmers require rain for their crops and the dam which holds our annual water supply is quite low (about 25% capacity).  The rain has been late this year and we really need more or there may be water shortages is this area later in the year.  We only have one rainy season here in Botswana and then its months and months without rain so it’s now or never.  So to all those who haven’t assumed it already please keep praying for rain here in Botswana.

Speaking of prayer, I thought my focus for this Botswana Bulletin should be prayer.  In the past I’ve received prayer letters from other missionaries and was always excited to hear about what they were doing and wondering how I could pray for them.  However, I was always disappointed when I would never hear how God had answered their prayer requests.  Now, I don’t mean to put down any missionaries saying that they weren’t communicating properly.  What I mean to say is that I feel the need to share with you, my supporters, some of the answers to the prayers that you have been praying for.  It was my intention when I left Canada to keep all my supporters as updated as possible.  It’s very easy to just give you a “calendar of events” in these letters but I feel that you deserve more than that.  So, with that said lets get to it.

I asked last month if you would pray for my spiritual life.  I was finding that my soul was feeling hungry and wanted prayer that I would find some spiritual food to chew on.  To explain that a little you have to understand that there is a shortage of pastors here in Botswana.  Please pray for God to raise up pastors here in Botswana!  Currently the church I attend has no pastor so the preaching is done by people in the congregation.  Now I think its great that people in the congregation are willing to preach but frankly, most of them don’t have a clue what they are doing.  You don’t realize how much you miss good preaching until your without it for a while!  Anyway, as a result my Sunday mornings aren’t as spiritually uplifting as they were back in Canada.  However, it hasn’t been all gloom and doom.  After asking for prayer I had one of the missionaries here in Flying Mission approach me saying he would like to start a bible study with the short termers!  What an answer to prayer!  It’s been great so far.  It’s so good to get together with fellow brothers in Christ to pray and encourage each other.  So thank you for your prayers in that matter.  God has been faithful!

I also asked last month if you would pray for God to send people here to Botswana to fill some of the positions that will be vacant soon.  God has done just that!  We have some short term volunteers coming from England to help in our HIV/AIDS ministry.  We have a gentleman from South Africa who is interested in replacing our finance manger when she leaves.  We lost one of our key personnel in the HIV/AIDS ministry but have a lady from Ireland coming to overtake the now vacant position.  God answers pray indeed!  Please continue to pray for God to send more people though.  Specifically, pray for a replacement office manger and aviation manager.  Right now we have temporary personnel filling in those positions but we really need someone permanent to come and fill those positions. 

Back in November I asked that you would pray for me regarding my Setswana language learning.  Well, it has been going great!  I can even report to you that this week one of the pastors who works with us, Moruti Nwako, (moruti is the setswana word for pastor) told me that I should be teaching Setswana!  I think his compliment was a little premature but people have been commenting on how well I have been catching on.  Now before you throw me a party, I should tell you that most of the credit should go to Tina Kort our initial ministry coordinator.  She is Canadian but has been living here in Botswana for almost 30 years and can speak Setswana just as well as any local.  I had asked her early on when I arrived if she would be able to have a lesson with me once a week.  Well, after the holidays she organized a day when me and all the short termers could get together and take some lessons with her.  For those who want to pray for me regarding this matter, please pray on Monday mornings.  Those are when we have our lessons and when I need prayer the most!  Tina is a great teacher and always likes using games to help us learn.  Her teaching style has made it very easy to learn so I give her a ton of credit.  Continue to pray for me though that I would continue to learn.  The local people here love to speak there own language so it’s important for relationship building that I learn this language. 

Thank you for praying for my constant moving!  Things have settled down a lot the past few months.  I have been living in a house belonging to a family that is on furlough now (Bryan and Diane Wilson).  The phone line in their house has enabled me to access the internet on a much more regular basis.  It’s also nice to get into a somewhat regular routine.  I have a roommate now named Benjamin.  He’s from Germany and we get along quite well.  It’s nice to have someone else in the house to chat with (his English is pretty good) when you come home from work.  He’s not much of a cook, but I enjoy his company.  So once again thank you for your prayers.  It’s nice to have some space of my own for a change.

I asked for prayer regarding my emotions.  This one will be on-going I’m sure.  I definitely miss my family and friends but knowing that almost all of them supported me in coming to Botswana I don’t feel that I’ve abandoned anyone.  I’ve really appreciated the packages, letters and e-mails you have sent me.  It’s a great reminder that there are people out there thinking about me and praying for me.  Thanks for the emotional boost guys!

As of the end of October it appeared that I was going to be without a supervisor.  The IT Manager (Richard Wheatley) was planning to go on furlough from early December to the end of March.  I had asked for prayer as I would have been responsible for all the IT duties during that time.  As it turned out, the reason for Richard’s trip was rescheduled.  His father was planning to remarry in January (I think) and Richard was going to attend the wedding during his furlough.  As it turns out his father rescheduled the wedding to some time in April.  I’m glad that things worked out this way because I think it would have been a little overwhelming to have been put into a position without a supervisor so soon.  God definitely knew what he was doing!  Thank you for your prayers.  God works in mysterious ways!  Richard is planning to leave around April some time and will be gone for about 3 months.  I will keep you posted on this as things develops.

The oldest prayer request I have given is (believe it or not) still and issue.  When I arrived in Botswana I was without a drivers license.  I had decided to renew it before I left the country as my permanent address was changing because of my parents relocating.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get my new license in time before I left.  I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal as my parents could just mail it to me.  Well, they mailed it to me in November and it still hasn’t arrived!  I’m assuming it has been lost.  Please pray for this though because my roommate Benjamin just received a letter from Germany that was sent way back in October!  So needless to say sending and receiving mail is a definite test in patience.  My mother has arranged to get me another copy of my drivers license but there is the concern of how to get it to me once we have the duplicate.  Please pray for patience as God works things out in his timing.

Well, I think I have you updated on all my prayer requests now.  I hope you have enjoyed hearing a little bit of how God has been answering prayer in my life.  I’m beginning to realize more and more the power of prayer.  James 5:16 declares, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  I am thankful for your prayers and I am thankful to God for showing me that power through your prayers.

These are my most recent prayer requests and I am excited to see the work God will do in answering them.

- continue to pray for my Setswana lessons.  I am progressing in my ability to speak it but still require more study and practice.  Pray for diligence.

- continue to pray for my drivers license.  Pray that it would either arrive or that my parents will be able to send it to me by some other means than air mail.

- continue to pray for rain.  We desperately need more rain here in Botswana.  Pray that God would be merciful to this land.

- continue to pray that God would send more missionaries to this area.  Besides the needs of the Flying Mission itself we desperately need pastors to come and disciple the new christians here.  The Batswana are very receptive to Christianity but there are few people to guide these infant Christians into a more mature relationship with there saviour.  Pray for spiritual leaders to come to this area.

Thank you again for you support and prayers.  It means so much to me.  If there is something in your life that requires prayer let me know as I would be happy to pray for you as well.  Take care and God bless you all.

Peace and prayers,

Graham Crawford <><