Botswana Bulletin #51
“Back To Botswana”
April 6, 2012
Prayer
Requests
1)
FM Board Meetings/AGM – Please be in prayer for the Flying Mission
Board. They are having some important
meetings to discuss how the mission will be moving forward after some issues
arose between some of the leadership. A
way forward will be presented at the Flying Mission Annual General Meeting in
June. Please pray for Godly wisdom as
the Board meets to discuss the future of the mission.
2) Adapting
– For the most part I feel I have arrived but I do find I need to remind myself
from time to time that I am in a different culture. Things are different here than they are in
Canada and sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Your prayers would be appreciated.
3) A
house! A car! – Praise the Lord that I
was able to move into a house that seems to fit me just fine. Praise the Lord that I found a car and was
able to get it registered and insured last month.
4)
Safe travels – Praise the Lord that He kept me safe during all my
travels and that my bags arrived with me in Botswana.
5)
Richard/Tina – We have 2 people here at Flying Mission that have
recently gone through surgeries and are recovering at home. Tina Kort (Initial Ministry Coordinator)
broke her leg and Richard Wheatley (IT Manager) was having a lot of pain in his
back which ended up requiring both of them to have surgery. Praise the Lord both surgeries went well and
both are resting comfortably at home.
Pray for speedy recoveries, we miss them already!
6)
Work – Please pray for me as I continue to work hard to get the IT
issues sorted here at Flying Mission.
There are still a number of issues that need to be resolved. Pray that I’ll be able to get things sorted
so that people can work without distraction.
7)
Church – I’ve gotten involved again with the worship team at church and
was invited to help out with the youth group on Saturdays. Pray that the worship team would grow and develop
and that the youth would be challenged in their faith and daily walk with God.
Introduction
Greetings everyone from warm and sunny
Gaborone, Botswana! Yes, I’m back and
it’s been great catching up with old friends and even making a few new
ones. Much has changed since I’ve been
gone so it’s taken a bit of time to settle back in to life here. However, I think I’m beginning to “arrive” so
I thought now would be a good time to share how things are going over here.
Trip
Back To Botswana
On March 4th I headed to the
Edmonton International Airport with my Dad to catch my first of four flights to
Botswana. Unfortunately, it didn’t take
long before I faced my first issue of the trip.
The issue was that because my first flight was a domestic flight (from
Edmonton to Toronto) I had to pay for a second bag. I’ve never had to do that before but
apparently someone thought it would be fun to switch the rules up a bit. So, I ended up paying $70 to haul my 2nd
bag from Edmonton to Toronto. Apparently
hauling them from Toronto to Botswana is free of charge. Perhaps next time I’ll try to get a direct
flight out of Edmonton to save money!
Anyway, once I got on the plane I had a
great time meeting the people sitting beside me. The one guy was an industrial electrician who
was working in north Yukon close to the Alaska border. He was originally from Ontario and was
heading home for a holiday. The lady
beside him was a coach for the Ontario Special Olympics Curling Team. They just had a Special Olympics event in
Edmonton and were all flying back to Toronto.
It was cool to hear from her and she even introduced me to some of the
athletes. Apparently Team Ontario
finished dead last but they all had a lot of fun. I guess that’s the point though right! I shared with both of them the purpose of my
trip and they both seemed quite interested, and maybe even a bit jealous that I
was heading to such a warm climate!
Although Canadians can’t complain too much this year, it’s been a very
mild winter. However, I’m still glad to
be back in warm Botswana!
Needless to say time went quickly and
before we knew it we were in Toronto. The
flight was a little bit delayed which only gave me about 1.5 hrs until my
flight to London was departing. When I
checked in to British Airways I was met with another issue. The agent was concerned that they wouldn’t
have enough time to move my luggage to the plane that was taking me to
London. “Great,” I thought. “I can’t even make it out of Canada before I
lose my luggage!” Since I couldn’t do
much about it I just made my way to the gate and said a little prayer for my
luggage. I know it might sound kind of
lame to some to pray for my luggage but it’s a great habit to get in to. I remember hearing a quote that I don’t remember
exactly, but it goes something to the effect of “The more you trust the Lord
with the little things in life the easier it is to trust him with the big
things.” Plus, it always makes me feel
better knowing I’ve committing something into His hands. And wouldn’t you know it, when I went to get
on the plane I checked with the gate agents and they were able to confirm that my
bags had made it on board. Maybe praying
for my bags wasn’t such a lame idea after all, eh? So, with both me and my bags safely on board
we headed to London, England.
We arrived in London quite early, about
6:30am. My next flight out wasn’t for
almost 12 hours so I was going to have a long wait. In the past I’ve usually gone out and
explored London to pass the time. I must
be starting to get old because this time I got myself a day room at a hotel and
had a shower and a nap! It actually was
a great idea because by the time I had to head back to the airport I felt
really refreshed. So back I went to
Heathrow Airport to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa.
I got a few hours of sleep on the plane
which was good because I still felt fresh once I got to South
Africa. I would have gotten more sleep
but there were these 2 Sri Lankan men sitting beside me. Unfortunately, they must have had a lot to
drink because they kept getting up and going to the bathroom. This wouldn’t have been so bad if I had the
window seat but I had the aisle. After
about the 4th time being nudged out of dreamland I asked the guy
with the window seat if he would like to switch seats so they could come and go
as they pleased. He refused. I guess they were enjoying the fact that they
could interrupt my sleep whenever they wanted.
I only had about 2.5 hours in Johannesburg so before I knew it we were boarding
to head to my final destination, Botswana!
The plane that flies to Botswana is usually quite small so there is no
walkway from the terminal to the plane.
They have a bus that drives you over to the plane. This was fine except when we got to the plane
they wouldn’t let us off the bus.
Normally this doesn’t sound like that big of a deal but for those who
have travelled internationally to countries that…hmm…don’t find deodorant a
necessary part of life, you can understand my dilemma. Luckily before too long a man in a reflective
vest began to walk towards the bus.
“Excellent,” I thought. “I can
finally get some fresh air.” To my
dismay the man simply opened up the bus door and told us that the previous
passengers had made a real mess of the plane and it was taking more time to
clean it up. My immediate thoughts on
what they could possibly be cleaning up made the smell in the bus seem like a
flower garden. “Oh no,” I thought. “What if someone threw up in the airplane!” Eventually they let us out of the bus and I
walked slowly toward the open door of the plane, horrified by what smells might
await me. To my relief the plane was
odor free. Praise the Lord! For those who have ever flown in a plane
while there was a full puke bag on board knows how intolerable it is (I’ve had
the privilege of sitting in front of such a person once). So, with a clean plane and empty puke bags,
we headed to Gaborone.
An hour later I landed, breezed through
immigration, and was warmly greeted by a number of people from the Flying
Mission family. The next challenge was
to see if my bags had arrived with me.
I’ve been told a number of horror stories where people have had bags
lost or stolen during long trips around the world. Thankfully, I’ve never completely lost a
bag. Only once have I had a bag delayed
and it arrived in Botswana the next day.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw both my bags on the
luggage carousel. The only issue I had
was a repeat from the last time I
travelled to Botswana. I have a suitcase
that is called a “spinner”. For those who don't know, a spinner is
a suitcase with 4 wheels on the bottom.
This seems like a great idea but the first time I travelled with it one of
the wheels broke off. I was able to repair the suitcase during my time in Canada and I figured it wouldn't happen again. Well, when I went to pick up my bags I noticed tone of the wheels had broken
off again. Oh well, at least the contents made
it.
Back
To Work
Flying Mission gave me 2 weeks to get
settled which was great because it gave me a chance to get some things sorted out with the house, immigration, and it also gave me time to find a car. After 2 weeks I headed back to work and was
immediately bombarded by a number of issues.
Now that I’ve had a few weeks to catch up, things seem to be less
stressful than they were. There
are still a few issues that need to be solved so your prayers for my workload
would be appreciated.
Back
To Church
I was finally able to attend a service at
my home church here in Gaborone, Open Baptist Church G-West. It was great to see familiar faces and I even
had a chance to play my Djembe (African drum) during my first Sunday back. Needless to say I’ve gotten involved once
again with the worship team which gives my drumming student, Andy Moyo some
welcome rest. We typically take turns
playing the drums so we each get a chance to sit in the congregation some
Sundays which works great to prevent burn-out.
I was also glad to finally meet the new youth pastor our church has
hired, Pastor Ngugi. Ngugi is from Kenya
and has a lot of experience working with young people.
I was asked if I’d help with some of the youth who want to form a
worship band. We get together on
Saturday afternoons for bible study and band practice. So far I’ve had 4 young people interested in
learning the drums so it’s going to be a tough assignment! I’m hoping we’ll have people trained up
enough to start playing some songs soon.
Please be in prayer for me that I would be able to be a blessing to
these young people as we spend time together and in God’s word.
Conclusion
As usual my letter is getting quite long so
I think I’ll stop here. Thank you to
each and every one of you who have helped make this trip back to Botswana
possible either by praying for me or helping me with my finances or both! I appreciate it so much.
Until next time!
Peace and prayers,
Graham Crawford <><
For more info on SIM Canada visit: www.sim.ca.
For more info on Flying Mission visit: www.flyingmission.org
The opinions expressed are
my own opinions. They are not
necessarily the opinions or views of my employers, SIM or Flying Mission.
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