Botswana Bulletin – Sixth Edition

Botswana Bulletin – Sixth Edition

“Decisions, Decisions”

March 5, 2005

Greetings from hot and sunny Gaborone, Botswana!  (yes its STILL hot and sunny here)  Wow!  It’s hard to believe I’ve been in Botswana for almost 6 months now.  I know I’ve experienced a lot so far, but it still seems like time is going quicker than I had expected.  I’ll try to update you as best I can on what has been happening this month without boring you.  I’ve always been concerned that my letters are too long, but I have appreciated the positive feedback I have been receiving on how much people are enjoying my updates.  I’ll admit it’s been tough at times to know what to write considering the diversity of my audience.  What are people expecting to hear?  Can I live up to those expectations?  After thinking and praying about it I decided it would be best to just be myself instead of trying to write what I felt peoples expectations were.  After all, most of you know me anyway and you all know I’m no Billy Graham when it comes to writing.  I actually had one person write back to me and say, “You write like you talk!”  I’ll take that as a compliment.  :-)

On the last weekend in January I had the opportunity to go to a fancy banquet with a family I know from my home church (Open Baptist Church “G-West”).  It was held at one of the finest hotels in Gaborone known as “The Grand Palm” and was to have as a special guest the US ambassador to Botswana (apparently a very big deal).  It was super fun!  I had a chance to meet some new people and practice my Setswana.  Oh, and the food was very western which was a nice treat for me.  It was also nice to go out and do something fancy.  An opportunity I don’t get much these days!

During the first weekend of February I was able to give Open Baptist Church G-West (the church I’m attending) a hand in installing some new sound equipment for the church.  Things have really been going well at the church and we were able to afford some new sound equipment and cables. This allowed us to put the sound board at the back of the church instead of on the stage where it used to be.  The sound person can now control the volume from the back of the church which is a definite improvement.  I helped by installing the cabling in the ceiling and mounting some conduit to the wall to cover the cables.  Hopefully, this will improve the quality of our worship services because the sound will be more balanced.  I’ll talk more about OBC later.

My Setswana lessons have been going really well, so thanks to you who have been praying about that.  I get compliments all the time on how I am improving.  I’m definitely not fluent yet, but I can tell the locals appreciate my efforts in speaking there language.  Sometimes strangers are amazed that I can speak anything at all!  Keep praying for me regarding this as it is obviously helping out a lot in my relationships with locals.

I attended an SIM meeting about the middle of February which gave me a chance to meet some other SIM missionaries and hear about the ministries they are involved in.  It was great to hear about the work SIM is pursuing in Botswana and by the sounds of things SIM is very happy with the work its missionaries are doing in the country.  I’ve been really blessed to have SIM as a sending mission.  They did a lot of behind the scenes stuff for me before I arrived here and are keeping in good contact with me.  It’s good to know that someone is there to give you a hand when you need it.  They even sent me a Christmas gift! (a book) 

Once again Open Baptist Church “No Matata” (the mother church to OBC G-West) requested my drumming skills for another Sunday night worship service on the last weekend in February.  It was great to get back together with the same team I played with in December.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have as much time to practice as we did before so things were a bit rushed.  We only had a week to rehearse 15 songs!  Needless to say we practiced like crazy the weekend of the service.  We practiced most of the day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon.  By the time we had finished the service Sunday night I was exhausted!  However, the service went very well so it was great that I could help out.  I wish you could see how crazy the people get when they worship here.  They are so unashamed of expressing themselves!  The women do this thing with there tongues that kind of sounds like a native Indian war cry.  Its like, “Lalalalalalalala!”  It sounds awesome when they do it!  They would clap after every song too which was pretty funny.  I’m not used to people clapping when I play!  :-)  It was a privilege to be a part of such a cool worship celebration.  There is talk that the next Sunday night service we do will be held at an outdoor amphitheatre here in Gaborone.  Please pray that this opportunity would become a reality as it will be a great chance to make an impact in the community.

Getting back to talking about OBC G-West, they had a very important meeting today.  They invited about 20 people (myself included) from the church that they considered “the core of the church”.  In the meeting we were all challenged to become members of the church and be willing to volunteer for some leadership positions that are presently vacant (believe it or not. being the senior pastor was one of the options!).  Well, as it turns out someone nominated me for a leadership position at the church (I hope its not to be the pastor!).  I’m not sure exactly what position I was signed up for but apparently one of the members of our leadership group will be approaching me this week to talk about it.  Please pray for me as I’m not sure exactly what to do about this.  My workload with Flying Mission has increased as well as other activities I have become a part of so free time is becoming harder to come by (thus explaining why my letter is late this month).  I don’t want to stretch myself too thin so I would appreciate your prayers.  Oh, and for those who may be wondering I did decide to become a member of the church.  I’m already a member of a church back in Canada but apparently I can be given a “dual membership” which allows me to be a member of 2 churches at the same time.  I’ve really enjoyed the services and serving on the worship team so I found no reason not to become a member. 

Another big meeting happened a few days ago with me, my supervisor Richard Wheatley, and the director of Flying Mission, John Lubbe.  I had asked Richard earlier this month if it were possible that my time with the Flying Mission could be extended after my contract ends in September.  I have really enjoyed my time here and thought that maybe it would be possible to stay longer if Flying Mission would have me.  After discussing it with Richard we decided to bring it before the “big boss”, John Lubbe.  So after talking and discussing my performance thus far, Flying Mission decided to formally invite me to extend my contract for another year (until September 2006).  Now obviously this has to be discussed with my sending mission SIM first, but I thought it would be good to inform you of the possibility considering that it would affect you as well.  I will still be returning to Canada this September but for how long…well, it depends how things work out.  I would really appreciate your prayer on this matter as it is a huge decision to make.  I wasn’t sure exactly what God had in mind when he called me to Botswana but it is becoming clear to me that it is for a purpose.  May God guide as he so faithfully has in the past.

One last thing I’d like to inform you of is an answer to prayer.  I have been asking you to pray that my drivers license would arrive in the country and well…its here!  My mother was able to send the replacement to one of our Flying Mission pilots who was on furlough in Abbotsford and he landed here last night with it.  What a relief!  Thank you so much for your prayers as this will definitely help make things a little easier.

Ok, well I guess that’s it for now.  Here is a reminder of my prayer requests for this month:

1)  Setswana Lessons – I’m improving but still have a lot to learn.  Pray that I would pick the language up quickly to help improve my relationships with the local people here.

2)  Amphitheatre Worship Night – pray that this opportunity would become a reality as it will be a great chance for the church to reach people in the community

3)  Leadership position – OBC G-West has nominated me for a leadership position.  Pray for wisdom in responding to it, whatever it may be.

4)  Mission extension – Pray that I would be able to make a decision on this huge opportunity.

Thank you again for the wonderful support team you have been to me.  I honestly would not be here without your help.  Ke a leboga tata!  (Thank you very much!)

Peace and prayers,

Graham Crawford <><