Botswana Bulletin – Thirty Ninth Edition
“Oh My Sweet Carolina!”
May 12, 2010
Greetings from a sunny and warm Edmonton,
AB, Canada! Yes, it appears summer is
finally arriving. After a large
snowstorm dropped 10cm of snow on our fine city back at the beginning of May I
think a few people were wondering if winter would ever end. Currently there is no snow in the immediate
forecast so I think it’s safe to acknowledge summers presence. Not that I wasn’t enjoying the snow. Strange as it may sound for some, after
missing so many winters in a row I was actually beginning to miss snow. Having grown up in Northern Alberta there has
always been something familiar and comfortable about snow and cold
weather. However, after living in
Botswana for 4 years you start to develop a fondness for the “warmer side of
life” as well. I guess I just enjoy each
season for the value each brings. It’s
when the seasons go on and on and on....I’m thinking you’re getting the
picture.
Anyway, the first thing I feel is necessary
before I talk about anything else is apologize for my lack of correspondence
during the year. I stated in my last
letter that I was expecting a heavy course load, and indeed it was quite heavy. The truth of the matter is I tried to write a
letter a number of times but was never able to complete one. Then time would pass and I’d feel the need to
edit the letter to add some of the new things that were happening. This would lead to me having to pretty much
start over. So, as weak as my excuses may
be, I sincerely apologize for those who were feeling out of the loop. Be comforted in the fact that you weren’t
alone. So assuming you’ve accepted my
apology, let me get to work in updating you all.
First things first, school is out! April 29th was the last day of
exams so I’ve been free as a bird ever since.
I’m happy to report that all my marks have come in and I received A’s in
all my classes save one unfortunate B+.
I know that B+ comes as a surprise to you all, but know that I’ve
accepted it and am moving on...har har. J
I should mention that I purposely stated
that school is “out” and not “over”. In
fact, in order to graduate from my degree program I need to complete an 8 month
internship in my field of study (namely Network Management). It has always been my desire to return to the
mission field so once school was beginning to wind down I spoke with SIM to see
what my options were. For those
wondering about returning to Botswana, I did contact the field there as well
and discussed options on returning there.
However, I wanted to look at other options as I felt receiving training
in a different field may be of value.
After discussing options with SIM I was made aware of the possibility of
doing and internship at the SIM International office in South Carolina. Actually, I believe I mentioned that this may
be a possibility in one of the letters I wrote last year. Anyway, after contacting SIM International and having
an interview with the staff there, I really felt like this was the place I
should be going. Thankfully, SIM
International agreed! So, I am happy to
announce that I have been formerly accepted to do my internship at the SIM
International office in South Carolina, USA!
As you may expect, this job will be similar to what I was doing while in
Botswana, meaning working with computers.
Without getting into too much technical detail my main role will be to
work alongside the Network Administrator there and I will be taking on a few
projects that they have planned for me later in the year. The plan will be to arrive in South Carolina
around the end of July and return to Canada around the end of April 2011. I only plan on working at SIM International
for the duration of my internship and then to return to overseas mission work
thereafter. I’m excited to go and I really
feel that this is all part of God’s plan for me being as what I call an “IT
Missionary”.
My immediate plans are as follows. There are various things that need to be put
in place in order for me to go to South Carolina. The first thing that we (we meaning SIM and
myself) need to establish is a valid Visa for me to live and work in the US for
a 9 month period. The second thing I
need to plan is church visits to update my supporting churches on what is
happening. To be clear on what it is
I’ll be doing, I need to acknowledge that this is in fact a missionary position
and I will once again be raising my own prayer and financial support. I’m happy to announce that I don’t forsee
this as a major issue because of the current support both in prayer and
finances that I’ve received over the years.
The reality of the costs entailed in going to South Carolina total
approximately $1900/month. Assuming that
current monthly givers continue to support me during my internship (for those
of you reading this who are, I’ll be contacting you soon) I should have about
85% of those costs presently covered. Praise
the Lord! If you’re at all surprised on
hearing that believe me you weren’t the only one! However, it shouldn’t come as any surprise to
me. Since 2004 I have been blessed to
have an overwhelmingly generous support team.
It sounds like such a redundant thing to say but I really can’t speak
enough on how large a blessing this has been to me. For those who have supported me since this
whole adventure began, I want to deeply thank you for your support. When a missionary is looking for support, one
of the ways they define that will usually be “financial and prayer
support”. Over the years I've discovered that something is missing from that statement. It’s
something I like to call “Emotional Support”.
I define this as things like packages from home, caring letters and
e-mails, simply put, just people showing that they care about you. For those who took the time to “emotionally
support” me, I want to thank you for that as well. Although that support cannot be measured in
dollars and cents, it really is just as important.
I debated about whether I should send out support
letters prior to writing this letter, but I wanted to update as many of you as
I could as quickly as possible on what was happening so I decided an e-mail would be the quickest way to do that. I will be sending out support letters shortly
for those who may be interested in supporting me. I’ll also be contacting my supporting churches
to plan a Sunday visit to each so hopefully I’ll be seeing some of you in
person shortly. For those wondering on
approximate dates I’m thinking I’ll likely be visiting churches sometime in
June. I’ll know more once I contact the
churches.
So with that I believe I’ve brought you all
up to speed. As usual, before I go I
would like to share a few prayer requests with you. Before I do I’d just like to elaborate a bit
on one of the prayer requests. My mother
could really use your prayers right now. She’s had some issues with internal bleeding
over the last few weeks in both her stomach and in her right leg. She spent about a week in the hospital
battling through it and then was sent home.
After being home about a week it got worse and she had to return to the
hospital. The doctors haven’t figured
out exactly what is going on so as you can imagine it’s a bit of a frustrating
thing to go through. So yah, if you could
help me in praying for my mother I’d appreciate it. The rest of the prayer requests should be
self explanatory so I’ll list them below:
1)
Mother – pray for healing and for encouragement
2)
US Visa – pray that this necessary step in the process be completed
properly and timely
3)
Support – pray that the $1900/month goal is reached by the end of
July. Praise that approximately 85% of
those costs are currently covered.
4)
Travel – I’ll be travelling to a few different churches in the next
month or so. Pray for safety on the
roads and meaningful connections with people while at the various churches.
One last prayer request I should
mention as a praise item is, I found a place to live! The exact location of the office is Fort
Mill, South Carolina. I’ve actually been
telling some people that I’m going to Charlotte, North Carolina, because that
is the largest major city by Fort Mill (they are only about 20 miles
apart). Anyway, during my internship the
plan is to stay in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
For those wishing to visit or send a letter or something I’ll post my
new address once I get settled down south.
I want to thank SIM International staff member Joseph Kejr for offering
a room in his house for the duration of my stay. Will the blessings ever end! J
Ok, one more thing I should throw in. I realize that titling my letters as
“Botswana Bulletins” is rather inappropriate considering I’m not currently in
Botswana. So I’ve decided that this, the 39th edition of my Botswana Bulletin (wow, has there been that many
already!) will be the last for the time being.
The new name I’ll be giving my letters is a simple play on words which
will be titled “Carolina Catch-Up”. So
if you see an e-mail in the future with that as the subject, you’ll know it’s
me!
Alright, with that I’ll bid you farewell
for now. I look forward to seeing most
of you sometime during the summer!
Peace and prayers,
Graham Crawford <><
For more info on SIM Canada visit: www.sim.ca.
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