Botswana Bulletin #59

Botswana Bulletin #59

"New Year, New Challenges"

February 5, 2014

Prayer Requests

1)  Family – Please continue to be in prayer for my family as we mourn the loss of my Mother who passed away on December 30^th. 

2)  Travel – Please pray for me as I begin travelling this month to visit supporting churches, family and friends.  My Father will be joining me on the journey.

3)  Rain – Please continue to pray for rain, specifically in Gaborone.  There has been rain in the northern part of Botswana but Gaborone is still very dry.

4)  CEO/MD – Flying Mission is still in need of two people in key leadership roles (Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of FMS).  Pray the Lord would lead Flying Mission to the man He chooses.

5)  Open Baptist Church – The Senior Pastor (Norman Schaefer) of Open Baptist Church Bluetree has resigned.  This was due to some issues between the senior pastor and the elders board.  It’s caused much unrest in the church.  Please pray that the church would be able to sort out its leadership issues and that the Lord would bring healing to broken relationships.

Introduction

Greetings to all from a very cold Edmonton, Alberta, Canada!  Considering I was born and raised in Fort McMurray (and during the winter in the month of November no less) I’d like to think that cold weather is just a part of who I am.  Having grown up in a cold environment it should be easy for me to handle temperatures of -20C and below.  However, after 9 years of living abroad in Botswana I’ll have to admit it…I’m cold!  It doesn’t help that I left unexpectedly from Cape Town and had no winter clothing at all in my suitcase.  So I partially blame the lack of sleeves in my closet for part of my discomfort.  Some have been wondering how long I plan to stay in this freezer I call home so I thought it best to send out a letter to inform you all of my planned movements.  I’ll also give an update on some of the stuff that was happening in Botswana before I left.

My Mother’s Funeral

As most of you are aware I left Cape Town, South Africa on New Years Eve to travel home to Edmonton, Canada when I received the news that my Mother had passed away from a heart attack on December 30^th.  My Mother’s funeral was held on January 4^th and it was a beautiful tribute to the godly life that she lived.  Over 300 people were in attendance and many came from out of town to pay their respects.  I was overwhelmed by the sympathy shown from our extended family and from our friends.  My missionary family including people from both Flying Mission and SIM all did a great job in encouraging me and the rest of my family.  I appreciate all of you for the e-mails, Facebook messages, cards and all the other forms of communication to express the shared sadness in my Mother’s passing.  I’m going to miss her, but I look forward to the day when we will meet again in glory.

Travel Plans

After the funeral I spoke with both Flying Mission and SIM and we agreed that having an early furlough now was the best thing to do (my furlough was originally planned for May 2014).  So, I began meeting with and contacting pastors to plan visits with my supporting churches.  These are my travel plans for the next couple of weeks (I’ve also included the churches I’ve already visited in case you missed me):

January 19 – Fort Saskatchewan Alliance Church – Fort Saskatchewan, AB

January 26 – Fort Saskatchewan Fellowship Baptist Church – Fort Saskatchewan, AB

February 2 – McKernan Baptist Church – Edmonton, AB

February 8 – Travel to Fort McMurray, AB

February 9 – Fort McMurray Fellowship Baptist Church – Fort McMurray, AB

February 10 – Travel to Edmonton, AB

February 15 – Travel to Calgary, AB

February 16 – Renfrew Baptist Church – Calgary, AB

February 18 – Travel to Vernon, BC

Febraury 19 – Travel to Maple Ridge, BC

February 22 – Travel to Parksville, BC

February 23 – Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church – Parksville, BC

February 26 – Travel to Blue River, BC

February 27 – Travel to Edmonton, AB

I’m hoping that I’ll have a chance to visit with many of you during my travels.  I don’t have a lot of time in each city I visit but I’ll try to make the most of it and visit as many of you as I can.  For those wondering when I’ll leave back to Botswana my plan is to begin my trip back on March 3^rd.  I haven’t confirmed my plane tickets with SIM yet but should have them by the end of the week.

Now that you know what my future plans are, let me fill you in on some of the things that have happened over the past few months.

AME Grad/ECD Grad

At the end of October Flying Mission was happy to host the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) School graduation.  For those who don’t know, Flying Mission founded a school to teach local Batswana how to fix and maintain airplanes.  The reason for this is that there is no school currently doing this in Botswana and if local people wanted to learn they needed to travel out of the country which is often too expensive an endeavor.  I was happy to see that the school has grown over the years and so has the graduating classes.  It was great to see the students families there to express their appreciation to Flying Mission for the work it’s doing in educating their children and providing a bright future for them and their families.  Congratulations class of 2013!

In November we celebrated Flying Missions 2^nd Early Childhood Development (ECD) School Graduation.  Once again for those who don’t know Flying Mission founded a ECD School after discovering that many people working in day cares and crèches (kindergartens) were unskilled in developing young children.  After seeing the need for educating these people Flying Mission began forming a school curriculum and began teaching classes back in 2011.  Once again it was good to see family and friends supporting the graduates and we wish all of them the very best in their careers.

Uncle Bob and I playing music for the ECD Graduation

Rain Is Falling

The rainy season starts and ends during the hottest months in Botswana which typically ranges from December to March.  The rain has been more than enough in the northern part of Botswana but in the south it is still very dry.  There has been small rain showers here and there but not enough to make a big difference.  The last report I received said that the Gaborone Dam, the main source of water in the city, is currently only 12% full.  Please pray the Lord would be merciful and provide rain for the city of Gaborone.

Chief Executive Office and Managing Director

I’ve shared in past letters the situation with the leadership of Flying Mission.  As it currently stands we have two positions that we are in desperate need of filling.  We currently have two interim people “standing in the gap” but we need full-time Godly people to take on these key positions.  The first position is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flying Mission.  This is the highest ranking position in the mission.  Our last CEO resigned a few years ago and the previous CEO, John Lubbe, has been filling in for us in an interim role.  John is wanting to retire and leave the mission in the hands of a capable leader so please pray that this person would be found.

We are also needing someone to fill the role of the Managing Director of Flying Mission Services (FMS).  FMS is the aviation department of Flying Mission in Botswana.  We currently have someone filling in this position on an interim basis but we are also needing someone to stand up and take on this challenge on a full time basis. 

Both these roles are very important to the present of Flying Mission (keeping things running) but are also very important for the future of Flying Mission with regard to its vision and goals.  Please pray that the Lord would send workers into His harvest field (Matthew 9:38).

Zambia Trip

During the last two weeks in November I had a chance to visit Flying Mission Zambia (FMZ) in Lusaka, Zambia.  I shouldn’t just call it a “visit” as it was a work trip but I did get a lot of visiting in during the evenings with some of the personnel we have there.  However, the trip almost ended before it even began.  Let me explain.

For those of you who are familiar with air travel you’ll know that delays can sometimes happen.  Well, in Africa it’s almost a given.  Most flights I’ve had in Africa are inevitably late and I’ve just grown to accept it.  Sometimes it’s actually really convenient if you yourself are running late or want to spend a bit more time with your friends at the airport before you start travelling.  Anyway, in this case, it wasn’t convenient.  Not in the slightest.

Flying Mission had booked me a flight with Air Botswana from Gaborone, Botswana direct to Lusaka, Zambia at 11:15am.  According to their website, my ticket and other unimportant paperwork the flight was about 3 hours long meaning I should arrive in Lusaka at around 3pm.  Well the first issue occurred when I went to check-in.  I was told immediately that the plane was delayed so the flight would not be taking off at the expected time.  Then I was told they were switching the plane to a different type of plane and oh yah, we’d be landing in Kasane, Botswana for a layover.  What?!  It was explained to me that the type of plane we were going to fly was no longer a twin engine turbo prop (the slow double propeller airplane) but a much faster jet airplane.  Well, that actually sounded nice.  It should get us there quicker and it should be a more comfortable plane to fly in since it was bigger.  Maybe I won’t be that late after all.  I spoke too soon.

We boarded the plane and waited for a long time before we were finally told that they were “waiting for paperwork”.  It sounded weird but we just sat patiently in the plane and waited to slowly die of heat exhaustion as the plane was beginning to cook in the hot Botswana sun.  Eventually the paperwork arrived and the doors of the plane closed and we were on our way.  Awesome!  I’ll only be an hour or so late now.  I spoke too soon again.

We took off and started flying for about 15mins when I noticed that the plane was doing a 180 degree bank and was losing altitude.  We were going back to Gaborone!  To my horror the flight attendant announced over to us that the plane was experiencing engine problems and we would be heading back to Gaborone.  Oh, and they also told us they had no idea how long we’d be there.  Wow.  I was beginning to think that driving to Zambia would be a better option at this point.

So we landed in Gaborone and piled back into the terminal.  At this point is was around lunch time.  I was starting to get hungry.  To be upset and then on top of it all to also be hungry…that isn’t a good mix.  I approached the gate agents to see if there was something they could do.  They were waiting to hear what the status of the plane was going to be.  I suggested that while they were waiting maybe they could serve us the food that they were going to serve to us on the plane.  I actually didn’t think they would do it.  However, to the joy of all the other passengers in the terminal, that’s exactly what they did.  They wheeled the little carts into the terminal and turned the gate into a small lunch bar.  This was somewhat political because it’s hard for people to complain when they have food in their mouth.  After solving the problem of hunger, everyone went back to figuring out whether or not we’d be leaving on a plane.  My worst fears were realized when I saw the door of our plane close and the ladder moved away and it began its “walk of shame” back to the Air Botswana hangar.  It was a sad sight for all of us.  However, just when all hope seemed lost, an Air Botswana representative approached the gate and announced that they were now preparing the original plane that we were meant to fly.  The issue was they didn’t have any crew for that plane type so they had to call in crew members who were at home to come in and work.  This was going to take some time so we waited patiently in the terminal until the plane arrived with its crew.  And then it happened.  We boarded the plane and flew direct to Lusaka.  And we were only 4 hours late!  Needless to say, I was grateful to be in Zambia and grateful for the two weeks I had with the FMZ folks.  I can’t wait to fly there again!

Open Baptist Church Update

As many of you know I have been attending a different church for the last few months (Open Baptist Church Bluetree).  It is the Mother Church to the church I’ve attended for years (Open Baptist Church G-West).  Bluetree was experiencing a drop off in participants in their worship team and I was asked if I would help them out on the drums.  I was happy to assist.  However, I began to realize that there was a much greater problem in the church besides worship team attendance.  Some battles had begun among the leadership group in the church and it ended up causing the senior pastor to resign from his position.  I was saddened to see yet another Christian organization experiencing disunity among its leadership.  Please pray that this issue of disunity which seems to be affecting so many churches and Christian organizations would come to an end.  I’m frankly sick and tired of it and I know Satan is having a ball seeing the results of it.  Pray that we would stand together as the body of Christ and resist the evil ones evil plots.

Language Barriers

As most of you know I have been trying to learn as much Setswana as I can while in Botswana.  I have to admit there have been a number of times when I’ve been laughed at for what I’ve attempted to say in Setswana.  This is normal and happens to people who are infants in a language all the time.  However, I’ve had an opportunity recently to laugh at some of my local friends as they’ve murdered my national dialect, English. Here are two examples.

During the ECD graduation a woman was speaking to the crowd and I couldn’t help but laugh at what she said.  We all sometimes make silly grammar mistakes but I thought this woman’s error was a doozy.  She was speaking about how we need to continue to do the work of the Lord despite difficulties, circumstances, etc.  It was all going very well until she said regarding God’s work, “We should never stop doing her work the way he wants us to.”  Um, Amen?  I had to at least give her some political correctness points for her not attributing one specific gender to God.

I was talking with a local friend one day and we were commenting on just how hot it was outside.  In reply another friend who was talking with us agreed and stated, “Yesterday I melted and turned into a steam.”  I wonder what more than one steam would be?  Could you have melted and turned into many steams?  Too funny.

The African Art of "Extreme Laddering"

Conclusion

Anyway, I think I’ve managed to update you all on my comings and goings.  I’m looking forward to seeing some of you as I journey around Canada this month.  Thanks again for those who diligently pray for me as well as provide financial support for my ministry.  Without you it simply wouldn’t be possible. 

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 in this letter are my own opinions.  They are not necessarily the opinions or views of my employers, SIM or Flying Mission.