Just pictures

 Here are just some picture I have not posted yet.  Not really in any order. 

This is Koketso (not sure if that the correct spelling).   He is one of Tobi's student that meets with him almost everyday at the Civic Center.

 Uummm............just a random picture of the sandals I bought.  I thought any of my girl friends might like to see them.   When we were robbed I had two pairs of shoes stolen and of course they were my two most comfortable.  So I had to buy some new ones.   While I was paying for my "authentic" African sandals the ladies told me she gets them from Thailand. : )  Yeah, so these are my world traveling sandals. : )

 Back to what's really important:
  Here is Koketso teaching a friend the same lessons that Tobi taught him.   I took a picture because I knew it would make every preacher heart that reads this blog glad.

 

Tobi, Oupa and Sam.

 

Oupa is another one of Tobi's students who has been faithful.   Both Oupa and Koketso have said that through Tobi's teaching they have come to the knowledge of the truth and because of that knowledge have repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

 At the Civic Center.   Tobi talking to Oupa and Sam having a lesson with Simon.

 Tobi and Oupa at the Civic Center which is where Tobi and Krista have spent many hours of the last two months talking, teaching and just hanging out.

Tobi and Oupa on their way to the men's study in the park.

One last random picture.  Firestorm (isn't that the coolest name ever for a Doberman?) looking like he's dead but really just sleeping.

Randomness

 Here are a few picture of random things we've been doing here and random people we've met.

This is Krista and Senziwe at the Civic Center.  Krista meets with her almost everyday and after the lesson they talk and talk and laugh like little girls. 

 I am actually getting used to all the spiders here.  This is a wall spider.  (I don't think that is their official name. : )  

They are everywhere, but stay on the wall, ceiling or floor and do not get into my stuff so I don't kill them on sight like I usually do with spiders. : )  I still can not stand the daddy long legs. They are just so creepy. : P

This has been our classroom for the last five weeks.  Rachel is glad to have the white board gone and the living room looking livable now. 

One day Krista, Rachel, and I walked to the store for groceries and I was able to use my wonderful backpack to carry stuff back to the house.  It was fun.

Who says it doesn't get cold in Africa?

One day I made Roasted Tomato and Feta scones.  They were very yummy, with lots of cream and butter in them how could they not be?

This is Tobi at the Civic Center teaching Wada and Tshapang.  They are two teenage friends that come together for lessons.  They are usually there already waiting for Tobi when we drive up.  Tobi has not been able to meet with them for awhile.  He is hoping to contact them again this week.

Krista's birthday party on the 11th.  Rachel made a wonderful black forest cake with strawberry jam instead of cherry pie filling. It was delicious!

And, for the record, the Hammetts have us Humphreys totally beat as the world's worst  Happy Birthday singers. : )

Trust me, we have proof.

Here is Krista with all Mazula's kids in the back seat of the Prado.  Mazula is one of the main men at the mission here.

A picture taking on our return journey from Kasane.  We think we have bad potholes in Alaska! : )

The best things on a long road trips.

Naps and an Ipod.

Here is a picture of the church services here in Francistown on Sunday.

Rejoicing in Heaven

 This is Francinah.  She is one of the ladies at the market here in Francistown that I meet with almost everyday for Bible studies.  We have been going through the scripture diagrams for about two weeks.  This Thursday she told me that the night before she had knelt with her family and told God she wanted to turn from her idols and have faith in Jesus Christ. She asked me to continue to pray for her, that she would not be tempted to worship idols again.  She told me her biggest idol is money. 

Yesterday we studied Colossians 1:13 &14 and at the end of the lesson I asked her what was her favorite part of the passage.  She smiled really big and said it was the part about being translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. : )   

 Pray for Francinah as she is a new Christian in a land of spiritual wolves.  Most of the religious leaders here prey upon the people.  These ladies were astonished that I was not getting paid to teach here in Botswana.  Religious people are thought to have a lot of money because they usually do.  It come from the people. It is very sad.

 This is Maggie.  She works the same stand with Francinah and another lady named Fayina.  She has been through all the lessons with Francinah.  She told me at the last lesson that she wanted to repent but she didn't want to have faith because God had not supplied money for her children.  We talked about what faith is and that you can't "see" God's "safety net".  Please pray for her.  It is hard for me to say "just have faith" when I have a warm house and plenty of food and money to return to at the end of the day.  But I know that God loves Maggie and will always take care of her if she will believe him. 

This is part of the market I go to everyday.  Most of them sell oranges.  They have a very different supply and demand system than we Westerners, one that I'm afraid this very Western mind will never grasp. : )  This was Friday and it was so cold I was wearing two jackets, a hat and mittens. : )  Lies Your Teachers Told You About Africa, sounds like a book I should write. : )

I told these ladies that my family and friends in Alaska wouldn't believe it was cold in Africa until I had a picture of them all bundle up. It was so very windy it was genuinely cold. This is my "blackmarket" group.  They are my problem group and do not seem to take the studies seriously.  They are a lot of fun, even though they give me trouble.  Lizzy, all the way to the right is the one that ties my scarf for me. : )  I always have an interesting time with them. 

 

This is Farai.  I have been teaching her off and on for three weeks.  She drives to the South Africa border every few days for more oranges.  She has had three funerals in her family in the last two weeks.  Pray for me to be able to communicate truth to her in a way she will understand.

So, Mr. Gerth, did I make your day?   : )  I know that all of this is partial a result of your faithful prayer for us.  Thank you so much.

Just want to say hi to a few people I know are checking the blog but not commenting. : )  

Hi, Mrs. Ronnie!  Hope you're having a good summer.  I think you would like seeing all the interesting things here in Africa. 

Hi to Mike and Kassandra and Logan!! : )  Missing you guys! Mike, I'm trusting that you're keeping Jordan out of trouble. : )  Kassandra, I trust you're getting bigger and bigger right on schedule. : )

Hi, Mr. Chris, Mrs. Christy, and Sarah miss you guys and choir practices. : )

Hi to everyone at ACNM!!!!!  

Miss you guys like crazy but not really missing the crazy. : ) 

(If that doesn't make sense to you just ask Shannon or Kelli to translate: )

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Ambassador

It is hard to believe, almost painfully hard, that I can lead someone to life. I can communicate with real eternal souls. I can speak words that have meanings. I can point to the object of faith. People, living souls, come and trust me as a teacher. There are two boys, Wada and Tshophang, who would trust every word I say. They have come to me almost willing to place their souls into my hands. This terrifies me, and I am quick to tell them no. My instinct is to cast their trust off of me. To throw it away as you would a hot coal. I've questioned how this could be: how I could be expected to lead eternal souls towards the object of faith, how something as broken as me--me who, apart from the blood of Christ, am the very definition of profanity--how these profane lips are entrusted with the task of leading one towards the object of faith, that is, towards salvation, truth, life, and--in a name--the person of Jesus Christ, the object of Christian faith. The weight of this reality is almost painfully hard to accept, yet it leaves my heart with a flutter of excitement. It is something that is inside me that I can't deny. Even if I tried to ignore it, which my flesh often has, I find myself compelled to share the object of my faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Am I faithful to share it? What a silly question. Am I faithful in anything? Am I human or am I God? No, I have always failed to share it as I should, but I always find myself driven and pushed to share it, as if an external force would not allow me to keep my mouth shut. It is something that I must share, or else I will be driven to madness. And so I welcome those who would hear. I plead with them. I direct their trust toward the mouth of God, and not my own. I pray that they would catch a glimpse of the object of faith, and when they see Him, that they would cling to Him and continue there for all eternity.

Doing Hard Things!

It would be obvious for me to say that we are not the most faithful blogger out there.  I would like to say that we are truly repentant but after teaching the lesson on repentance to one of my group of ladies on Thursday, my conscience won't let me. : )  I have noticed something interesting which I'm sure is not true across the board but does seem to be a pattern.  People who are more open and free with their views in "real life" (who could that be? : ) don't make very good bloggers but those who are more private and quiet are much more faithful and personal on their blogs.  Has anyone else notices this?   But because I love you all I'm going to exert myself and write something.  I can't remember what I've told who and who I've told what so here is just an overview of what we're doing right now.
We are in Botswana right now.  This will be the end of the third week on Tuesday.  Mr. Hammett is teaching classes on different aspects of missions and teaching strategy and we are doing bible classes with some of the people here in Francistown.  Krista and me were not aware that we would be included in these lessons until we got here.  The group this time was smaller then previous groups and included another girl, Anne, so I think that has made this group a little different from the others.   Rachel warned us that it would be very busy once the classes started but I don't think any of us really understood how busy.  This is are schedule every week day.   We have devotions at 8:00am in the morning so if you want any breakfast, coffee, or a shower you have to get up in time to be done by 8:00.  These devotions are not like your usual morning devotions.  They usually consist of one verse but sometime it may only be a few words.  Then Mr. Hammett asks a billion questions and you have to think really hard and this goes on for at least an hour.  One day it was two and a half hours.  By the end of this my head is hurting and I'm tired again and it's only 9:00am. : )  Then he usually asked us two questions.  What did you learn from the passage?  and What does God want you to do?  Everyone has to answer, no exceptions which means you'd better be paying attention. : )  Then we have a lesson on how to teach the Scripture Diagrams from the book he wrote.  I think some of you have seen it or used it before.  Mr. Hammett's method of teaching them uses a lot of questions.   The goal is to try to always ask questions and avoid statements.   This goal of this method is to have your student find truths in the Bible themselves as opposed to you telling them truths, which is a lot less powerful.  It takes some getting used to.  Especially since you are also trying not to use "yes" or "no" questions. : )  Then after diagram lessons we either have a Phonetic lesson with Nat or a lesson on Mission strategies with Mr. Hammett or the girls sometimes have a lesson with Mrs. Hammett.  The phonetic lessons are very interesting but also quite difficult.  The more you study the more you find that learning another language is hard work.   We are just trying to be able to say and write our students names correctly.  So we usually have fun in class trying to say weird sounds and learning pitch and tone and many things about speaking that you never though of before.  Nat is always very patient with us and Phonetic classes are always fun.   Usually we finish morning classes right at 12:00 and eat a quick lunch (which is always very good. Mrs. Hammett makes the best lasagna every: ).   We have to be done with lunch and ready to leave by 12:30.  Downtown Francistown is not far from the Hammett's house and we usually get there a little before 1:00.  Half of us get dropped of at the market place and the others get dropped off on a nice shady street in front of the cities Civic Center.  Me and Anne are always in the market place.  This is a group of stands, usually selling oranges, vegetables, candy or other odds and ends, lining one of the main roads with a taxi rank (parking lot) on one side and a mall on the other.  I have lessons with several groups of women that run their own stands.  From 1:00 to 3:30ish I walk around the market and meet with whichever of these women are available.  It is one of the most interesting experiences of my life.  About the third day of teaching I started seeing a lot of American money floating around and by the fifth day it became obvious I was in the middle of some sort of business that wasn't quite kosher. : )  It's been fun.  I think me and Anne are in the middle of Francistown's blackmarket (and I'm not talking about the color of their skin. : )   I learn something new everyday.  Last week I learned how to tie a scarf over my hair.  Lizzy, one of the ladies in my blackmarket group, ties it for me almost everyday.   I usually wear it around for the rest of the day and get a lot of smiles and kind words about it.  I love it.  Most of the women are Swana but a few are Zulu, Shona, or Klanga.  There are also many people from Zimbabwe here, legally or illegally, it doesn't seem to make a difference.  Me and Anne carry around little stools so that we can have a place to sit while teaching.  It is always sunny and warm.  I'm getting darker everyday and my freckles are starting to show.  We usually wrap up by 3:30 and me and Anne walk down to the Civic Center to met the others.  I love this part of the day, walking through all the vendors and taxis with all the noise and people.  Sometimes we stop by one of the shops to pick up something to eat.  Francistown is not like South Africa.   We are usually the only white people in a sea of black faces.  It is an unique experience that I have come to love.  The people of Botswana are in general much more friendly then other countries, including the US.  We are constantly being greeted by strangers.  The women wear the most beautiful skirts and dresses and there is no such thing as clashing colors to them. : )  After our relaxing walk to the Civic Center there is usually someone still doing lessons so we all sit on the brick wall under the trees and wait.    Mr. Hammett has assigned us all to write out the whole book of Acts so many of us work on that while we are waiting or we walk down to the Pick and Pay (a little grocery store) and buy something to drink or a snack or just walk around.  There is a little fabric shop across from the Civic Center.   Most of the fabric shops are run by Indians or Pakistanis.  I bought some fabric Thursday to make a bag and maybe a head scarf, we'll see.  We usually all get home by 4:30.  Dinner is at 5:30 then we usually have a few more classes or watch a video on culture or one day we watched a sermon by Milton Martin.   Then we debrief.  We all just tell about our day, who we taught and how it went.   It is encouraging and neat to hear about everyone else's experiences and we usually have a lot of laughter and good ideas for the next day.  By then end everyone is tired and we go to bed because we know that it will all start over again at 8:00 the next day. 

P.S. Brother Gerth, : ( I'm a very bad student.  I have no paper for you yet.  I would like to say I'll write it soon but I just don't think that's going to happen.