Botswana
Bulletin #55
"Easter
Edition"
March
27, 2013
Prayer Requests
1) Audience of One – Thank you to all who prayed
for the Audience of One concert on February 22nd. We performed well as a band and many people
have commented on how special a time it was of worship to our God. We hope to continue to do more worship
concerts in the future.
2) New roommate – Praise the Lord for a new
roommate! I now have a new roommate
named Kevin Dhowtall. He is a pilot for
Flying Mission and he comes from the small African island of Mauritius. Kevin is a blessing in two ways because he is
able to take care of the house while I’m here in Canada and he also pays half
the rent! J
3) I currently have 100% of my financial support
for my next year of ministry! Praise the
Lord! A big thank you to all of you who
continue to support me through prayer and finances.
4) My travels – Please pray for me as I’ll be
travelling a lot during the months of March and April visiting supporters. For the moment the snow is still around so
pray for safety on the roads as I travel.
5) My Mother (Alva) – Please continue to pray
for my Mother as she struggles with her health.
The doctors are suggesting that she get a heart transplant done so she
is going for tests to qualify to be put on a donor list. She continues to need blood transfusions
weekly. Pray for healing.
6) Flying Mission – Continue to pray for Flying
Mission that the issue of lack of funding can be sorted out. The current lack of funding is causing Flying
Mission to shut down some of its projects.
Pray that new donors would be found.
Introduction
Greetings
from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! I
arrived just in time to experience a little bit of winter before spring
arrives. I’ve had very few winters over
the last decade so I try to enjoy them while I can. Many may think it strange that I’m enjoying
the cold but I find it welcome relief from the heat of the desert. Last time I spoke to you was back in January
and a lot has happened since then so let me get straight into the updates.
Audience Of One
Back
in October I requested prayer for an upcoming Audience of One concert that was
to take place at the end of November 2012.
Do to some unforeseen issues we were unable to play in November and we
rescheduled the concert for February 22, 2013.
The theme for the night was “Holy God” so all of the songs we sang
centered around the holiness of God. It
was an awesome night of worship and we are talking about doing it again in some
other cities in Botswana.
New Roommate
In
February I acquired a new roommate, Kevin Dhowtall. Kevin comes from Mauritius and is working as
a pilot for Flying Mission. God brought
Kevin along at the perfect time because I was hoping I could have someone look
after the house I’m renting in Gaborone while I was away in Canada. Not only is he looking after the house
though, he’s also paying half the rent!
This makes living life in Gaborone cheaper and also more fun since I
have someone to chat with at home again.
Back To Canada
On
March 1st I arrived back in Canada for a short 2 month
furlough. Some of you may be wondering
why I’m back so soon so I’ll give you a short recap. My original plan was to return to Botswana
for 2 years. A number of issues arose in
Botswana which caused those plans to change.
There were some important IT problems that need to be addressed but
couldn’t be because the IT Manager was having back troubles that required him
to have surgery. With nobody left to
help with the IT problems I was asked to come to Botswana ASAP to help with the
immediate problems even though I did not have enough support to go for 2
years. The decision was that I would
leave immediately and go for 1 year then return to Canada to raise additional
funds. Well, a year has now passed so
that is why I’ve returned. In my last
letter I had mentioned that my finances have actually been doing quite well and
that I already had 90% of my needs met for next year. Well, after only being home a few weeks, I
now have 100% of my support! Praise the
Lord! A big thank you to all who
continue to support me financially and prayerfully so that I can continue to
work with the Flying Mission in Botswana.
I’ll
be spending most of my time in the Edmonton area but will be doing some
travelling to visit friends, family and supporters over the next month and a
bit. Here is a schedule of my travel
plans so you know where I’ll be and when:
March
29-30 – Stettler, AB
March
31-April 5 – Edmonton, AB
April
6 – Fort McMurray, AB
April
7 – Fort McMurray Fellowship Baptist Church
April
8-13 – Edmonton, AB
April
14 – McKernan Baptist Church
April
15 – Lone Butte, BC
April
16-17 – Surrey, BC
April
18-20 – Parksville, BC
April
21 – Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church
April
22 – Langley, BC
April
23 – Lone Butte, BC
April
24-29 – Edmonton, AB
April
30-May 2 – Toronto, ON
May
3 – London, England
May
4 – Gaborone, Botswana
So
as you can see I’ll be doing a lot of travelling! Your prayers would be appreciated. Also note that my return plane tickets have
been purchased and I will be arriving back in Botswana on May 4th.
Health Update On My Mother
(Alva)
I’ve
received a couple of e-mails from people asking about my Mother’s (Alva) health
situation. She is still struggling with
anemia and is requiring 2 units of blood every week. The doctors aren’t sure why she is losing
that much blood each week and for now all they are doing is putting it back
in. The ultimate solution the doctors
have given would be for my Mother to undergo a heart transplant. Currently she is going through tests which if
she passes would mean she would get put on a donor list. If she is unable to receive a new heart I don’t
believe there is much else the doctors can do for her. Pray that the Lord would work out all things
for His glory.
Flying Mission Update
Many
of you have been praying for the issue of disunity within Flying Mission. Well, it appears those prayers are being
answered. After a number of lengthy
meetings between the Flying Mission Board members and the department managers,
it appears that everyone is in agreement with how to mission should move
forward. A big thank you has to go to
Les Stalhke who has been our outside consultant during these important
meetings. He has brought a lot of great
wisdom and experience into these meetings and has helped mend some of the relationships
with the mission. Thank you Les!
However,
the mission is now faced with a new problem.
Donations to Flying Mission have been decreasing over the years. I’m sure part of it has been due to the
financial recession the world has been experiencing and partly due to the fact
that the mission has been struggling as a unit.
Flying Mission Care Ministries (FMC) is the department that overlooks
the orphan care, home base care and discipleship projects that Flying Mission
is a part of. At the beginning of last
year one of our major donors was unable to provide us with any funding. This caused a major financial gap in our 2012
budget. It was decided that we would do
our best to keep projects running despite the finances not being there to sustain
the projects. New donors have not been
found to help keep our projects going so FMC is now being forced to close some
of these projects. The hope is that the
closing of these projects will be temporary but nothing can be done until new
funding is found. Please pray that new
donors would be found so we can continue this important work in Botswana.
Happy Easter!
I
think that is all that needs to be said for the time being. I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to visit many
of you in person as I travel. I
apologize for any of you who will end up feeling left out. Know that it is not my intention to snub you,
it is simply difficult to find enough time for everyone. I’m sure you all understand.
Before
I go I’d like to wish all of you a Happy Easter as we celebrate the death and
resurrection of our Saviour and King Jesus Christ.
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 in this letter are my own opinions. They are not necessarily the opinions or
views of my employers, SIM or Flying Mission.
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