Botswana Day #2: Seeing Botswana and the African Safari

We arrived in Botswana after 24 hours of traveling! By the time we got in it was already dark but by the looks of it, it seems similar to America, we will see tomorrow. We are living at the University of Botswana in a family style dorm with 6 bedrooms and a common living room. The next day we woke up and went on an a two hour African Safari. We went to the same place the our past presidents have been on and we ran into someone in the secret security (graduate of UCF) who was planning a trip for Michelle Obama who will be traveling to Botswana in the next 10 days. During the safari we saw wildebeests, giraffes, pumas, impalas and more… it was awesome!

I noticed that I don’t find a difference between America and here. I see certain parts of the culture that are similar to Sierra Leone, like statues, time, some clothing, some common phrases. But almost everything else is Americanized. How can the same continent be so different. Botswana is still considered a developing country but things seem to be going very well. After the Safari we went to the mall (which looked better then most of the malls near us), we walk into stores with air conditioning, there are cars high class cars everywhere, and I could shop for any and everything I could ever need in America but more cheap.

Day#2 and Im Already in Trouble

It’s amazing when you see the faith of a younger generation professing their faith and shining the light of Jesus to others! I was honored to witness this first hand with a group of girls (ages 12-17.) I sat outside as they passed me and said, “we’re going to go evangelize, want to come?” I jumped at the opportunity and followed as we walked 30 minutes to a small village through the forest. The girls decided that they would surprise a family there by making dinner for them so as soon as they reached the village they worked together to cook a meal for the family. Then they walked around the village to talk with people and invite them to join us in bible study. Everyone piled on benches in the middle of the village. I had to hide because there was a baby who would cry every time he saw my face (think about how scared you would be seeing a person who was a different color then you had ever seen.) Then the girls led worship, and gave a sermon, had a memory verse, and in the end prayed over all of the people. Praise God for these women of faith and their devotion to the Lord. They do this every Wednesday. They go into villages, make relationships, and share the gospel BOLDLY! …we went “flow flow” (fast) home because it was getting dark…and I arrived home like a child who knew she had done something that probably disappointed her parents. Uncle Magnus (who was in charge of our team) was waiting for me. Lets just say I was on strict orders for the rest of the trip to tell him if I went anywhere! J

Living in a Village

We journey to Sinhuan Sunday morning so that we could make it to church before settling into where we would be staying for the next two nights. We enjoyed worship in English and Mende (their native language) and a sermon by Father Abraham who planted the church and is also a teacher at the school. Father Abraham praised God because he has 9 children and his oldest in currently in University. For a man living in a village to have a child in university is a testimony to how God can provide miracles! After church we walked with Father Abraham to where we would be staying. They put us up in the chiefs house and so unlike many other huts with dirt floors we had a cement ground! Then showed us the bathrooms in the back of many of the huts. One was covered with palm trees and rocks at the bottom to do your business (this is also where you bath) and the other (for #2) was also covered with palm trees and a cylinder block you could sit on! After getting settled in we walked with the children to see the women making palm oil..and after helping them for 10 minutes I was exhausted and yet these women were at least 50 years of age who had been doing this for hours already! Then it began to pour and we ran to father Abrahams porch where we sat together eating mangos until the rain cleared!

            Once the women returned Courtney and I helped prepare dinner. We did not know the language very well so she would show us how to do certain things and we would mimic her. As we cooked they played music and the children, moms, and dads began dancing (MTV style) and would laugh and Courtney and I when we would try to dance with them.

            As night fell it was pitch black. We began to get out head lamps out as the children crowded around our home. Then Uncle Ben (another teacher from the school) brought out a lamp, as other brought instruments, and chairs, and then the worship party began. We danced until 11pm at night! To watch them dance is truly remarkable because, you can see the joy in their eyes as they dance, it was amazing.

            No matter how late I go to bed I always wake up early and this was no different. People begin waking up at 6am fetching water and preparing for work for the day. Children must do their chores before they leave for school so I watched as children swept and walked up and down the hill fetching water. The morning were my favorite times because I felt apart of their culture! I said BAE (how did you sleep) as people walked past and they would respond Cyangoma (praise God) and we would shake hands to greet one another. Once everyone was ready we walked through the swamp, across the forest, and in a village together to get to school!

            The next night was another night of dancing, singing, and praise to the Lord! This village holds a special place in my heart because of people like Father Abraham and Uncle Ben who have been faithful to the Lord and have brought hope into their village by shining the light of Jesus! 

Short Term Mission Trips

I don’t think I could do another short-term mission unless it was in Sierra Leone again (since I want to continue the relationships I have built here.) The reason being that I always think of the future. So being in a short term mission you can be involved in peoples lives but you only allow a certain amount of your self to be fully immersed because you know you will be back to your “real world” in a short matter. So if you face trials “well I only have this much time left and then ill be home,” I am not saying short-term missions are a bad thing because I think they are wonderful. They have opened my eyes to realities I was blind to before going but personally I could NOT do another new short-term mission trip. If I go on another mission trip I’m going there with the mindset of being there for life. Without a pre-purchased plane ticket home. 

Sick In Africa

So I am sitting in the house with Mark. We are both in for the day because of the sickness that has overcome him, Matt, and I the past couple of days. Being sick in Africa without running water and living with 8 other people has defiantly been an adventure in itself.  It is not fun being sick in Africa.  Although it has been eye opening for realizing what it is like for the people living here. I became sick the morning we were still staying in the village and had to leave the village earlier to get home. The walk from Sinuhun to where I stay in COTN goes through a swamp and takes about 30 minutes to walk. COTN is also the only place with a nurse and so whenever people are sick they have to walk to COTN to get treatment. As I walked I praised God I didn’t feel worse and that I was able to walk straight to my house, but I thought about all the people who are sick past to point where they should be walking and yet they have to walk in the heat of Africa at least a mile (usually more) to get help. In America we get sick and we have a nice big bed to lay in, tv to reoccupy our mind from the pain were feeling, light in the night when we cant sleep, air conditioning, a car to drive in if we need help, and ambulance to pick us up if we REALLY need help, and yet here they have none of this. 

Car Accident in Africa

Obstacle #3 car accident in Africa. Courtney, Matt, and I were exhausted. It was 1pm and after picking up some needed supplies to hold us over until we got our bags we started to head to Banta (where the Orphanage is.) This is about a 7 hour ride. Needless to say we all started to pass out in the back of the range rover. I woke up without knowing what was going on, but with immediate fright. I began to be tossed around the car and all I remember is looking out the window and thinking “im going to fall out of the car, im going to fall out of the car…Im going to die”…by the power of God (and I still don’t know how I stayed inside) I was pulled back inside of the car. Then everything stopped. We all got out of the car and I see Courtney lay immediately on the ground with a bloody nose. I look at the side windows and they are both smashed out, I check on everyone else as other people stop their cars and run up to the scene to make sure we are all ok. I didn't know what to do. I hear Mama Angie tell me to get water and so I go to the back of the truck to get water and things are everywhere! There is a mix of water, eggs, food, and glass. I grab a bottle of water and go back out. It was then that I noticed that I was also bleeding and the natives around that ran when they saw the accident tried to care for my wound. Then we all piled back into the car without knowing what happened. As we sit there Courtney begins to cry, the shock of the accident begins to set in on all of us and we are paralyzed by what we just experienced. We head to the nearest “hospital” just so everyone can be checked out. We get out of the car and see the front completely smashed. We asked Uncle Magnus and Mama Angie who were sitting in front what happened and they couldn’t tell us. They said there was a force from the car pushing us to the side. We ran off the side of the rode through a ditch and back on. We still don’t know what hit the front of the car or why the two side windows were smashed out. Again I praise God that His glory shines through this situation. He continues to put situations in my life where I can ONLY rely on Him and ONLY trust in Him more and more. Father knows best! As the drive went on (we still had 6 hours a head of us) more bruises and aches began to arise. We finally arrived to the orphanage around 9pm where we received the most powerful healing, beng surrounded by the children. Before I even got out of the car I heard “auntie Jesi!.” The kids knew someone would be arriving but they had no idea who it was. I got out of the truck to the children overwhelming me with hugs and praise that I “kept my promise and returned.”Then, I walked into house 2 (the house I looked after last time) and saw pictures I had left with the kids all around the room. Pictures of my mom, dad, brothers, sister, grandma, friends…it was breathtaking to see that I have a special place in the lives of these children just as they have a special place in my life as well (if you cam to my house before leaving and saw an abundant amount of my Sierra Leone children you would understand.) Its now day 5 and I am feeling almost 100% better. Courtney and Matt still have pains in their back and shoulders and Mama Angie went to a doctor today for the pain she began to feel. But we are all here to continue to walk down the path God has laid out for us to shine His glory. 

God is Powerful!

This path God has been leading me on…has been…refining. I don’t like to fail, I like to succeed and succeed well at everything I do. And so the realization that I was not going to be able to go to India and that there was nothing that I could do about it, forced me to realize that need and fall on God and listening for His voice instead of forcing my own ways. Of course that whole process of getting both the Sierra Leone and India visa was chaos. I spent numerous hours, a lot of money, lost one passport, and lost nights of sleep worrying over the situation. God showed me that he can make things happen but he also has the power to take it away (something we rarely recognize.)

            Then by the power of God alone, Courtney surprised Matt and I in the airport and hour before boarding the plane. Recently we had come to the conclusion that Courtney would not be able to come because her second passport was lost in the mail and she was not able to obtain a visa. Amazingly, she received a emergency visa within hours and was given the go ahead to get on the plane and the visa would be handled upon getting to Sierra Leone. Another way God showed his power. We arrived in Freetown and went right through security because of the connections the COTN has with the natives.

            Obstacle #2 all 6 of our bags get lost. We were told that our carry on’s needed to be checked in because of space and so the only things we had were the cloths we were wearing, a couple books, and our medications. We arrived in Freetown at 3:00am and did not leave until 7:00am waiting to make sure we would be notified when our bags returned. But again God showed His glory. None of us were upset. We were so glad to be there that the bags did not even seem to matter. God will provide our every need.