“Movin’ and a Shakin’”
Hello again from sunny Gaborone , Botswana Gaborone
Once the office space was given to us it
was up to the Flying Mission personnel to; build the walls, do the painting,
install the computer network, phones, etc.
A lot of work was done before I even arrived. I did get a chance to help setup the new
computer network and phone system however, most of the help I was able to give
was in the form of muscle! It is
surprising how much stuff a little office can hold! Once all the furniture had been moved and
setup we officially opened the new office on October 4th but missing
one very important thing……phone lines! I’ll
explain more on that later.
After the office had been established it
was time for me to start my “Initial Ministry”.
Initial Ministry involves being introduced to some of the ministries
Flying Mission is a part of as well as learning more about the culture and
language of Botswana
The initial ministry coordinator for the
Flying Mission, Tina Kort, helped introduce me to some of the cultural
differences here in Botswana Botswana
I also had the privilege of receiving a
Setswana name while in Kumakwane. My
Setswana name is “Rapula” (or Raps for short) which means “Father of
Rain”. It was given to me because
shortly after I arrived in Kumakwane it finally rained (It has only rained a
couple of times this year so it was a huge blessing). I enjoy the name because Graham is a very
difficult name to say for the Botswana
One of the last things I was able to do
while living in the village was to attend my friend Collen’s baptismal
service. It was a very different
experience than what I was used to.
First off, I don’t think I’d ever been to a baptismal service that big
before. I can’t remember the exact
number but there were at least 30 baptisms.
Praise God! The service started
off normal enough with some singing (in Setswana of course) and a sermon (also
in Setswana). After the sermon the
baptisms began. The first thing I
noticed was how deep the tank was. It
was more like a baptismal pit than a tank.
I’ll attach some pictures to the end of this letter so you can see what
I mean. I’d have to say that what
surprised me most was the fear of the people.
The Batswana (the name of the people of Botswana
I was also surprised by the way in which
they baptize you. I really think there
needs to be some baptismal training for these folks because they are going to
kill somebody! They were using 2 people
to do the baptizing because nobody has told them that the person being baptized
should bend there knees. If the person
bends their knees a lot of the weight is distributed to the person’s legs so
the pastor doesn’t have to carry all the weight, which is good in case the
person is a lot heavier than the pastor.
For example, they baptized one lady who must have been close to
300lbs. After they lowered her in she
must have been under that water for a good 5-10 seconds before they were able
to pull her out.
I was also quite shocked at the force in
which they were doing the baptizing. The
first man they baptized was an elderly gentleman, maybe 65-70 years of age,
very thin and frail looking. Well, after
getting his name and saying those familiar words, “I baptize you now in the
name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit” they chucked this poor man down so hard
that his feet came shooting up out of the water! I’ll admit that it was quite humorous to
watch, but very dangerous! Luckily he was
ok, but I think he was pretty shook up afterwards.
After the baptisms the people go to the
front of the church and give there individual testimonies. Once all the testimonies have been given the
pastors come up, lay there hands on the peoples heads and pray over them. It was good to see some of the other people
that I had met in Kumakwane there being baptized.
After moving back to Gaborone Gaborone Gaborone
After my initial ministry ended it was time
for me to get busy in the IT department.
As I mentioned before the first thing on our list was to get some phone
lines into the office. Without going
into a ton of detail I’ll just say it was a big headache. Praise the Lord though, we were able to get
them up and running early this week. It
was a big prayer item for us the last couple of weeks so it was a definite
answer to prayer. Once the phones were
hooked up we were able to set up our server and internet connection. Yes, our office now has internet! The next big project for us in the IT
department is to get the server in the new office working correctly and then
build a new server for our airplane hangar location.
As usual I have a few prayer requests before
I go. Some of these have to do with the
Flying Mission and Botswana
- My language learning
- I have surprised
a few people at my ability to speak the language but it is still very hard to
carry on conversations. Pray that I
would pick up the language fast.
- My increasing IT responsibilities
- My boss,
Richard, is going on furlow in December.
That means I will be the interim IT Manager during his absence. Pray that I would catch on fast to procedures
and some of the different technology used here.
- For rain
- Botswana
- For replacements
- We are losing a
few key people do to furlows and such so please pray that God would send us
replacements quickly. One of the more
urgent needs is a replacement Senior Aviation Manager. Pray that God would direct us to the right
person.
Before I go I want to thank you all again
for your support. I would not be where I
am without you. I am very aware of that
everyday and I thank God for the great support team he has given me. I thank you for the e-mails and “snail mail” you
have been sending me they are a great encouragement. Ok, that’s it for now, “Go Siame!” (Good bye in Setswana)
Peace and prayers,
Graham Crawford <><
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