May 27, 2008

Dear Loved Ones,
We woke up to some rain this morning! Strange...and its been a cold weekend. Our attendance was down today but still blessings along the way. We continue to watch new believers coming and growing and experiencing the blessing of being in a family. We had youth today but for the first time we were way down. There were only three girls today. We had a fun time together, talked about the greatness of God.
Steve’s sermon today challenged them to think past the temporal things of life to the eternal. So they have a lot to meditate on as they read the word this week.
We would like you to pray this week for an opportunity we have to host on our campus a lady by the name of Pam Stenzel. She is an abstinence speaker and author of the book Sex Has a Price Tag. We have used her videos in our youth group in previous years but she will be here in Botswana and we have the privilege of having her speak Wednesday. We have invited our church youth and their parents. Also we are encouraging a parent from every family in the school to be represented and in order to be sure the students make it for the meeting, we are having a cookout and a movie after school for them on Wednesday. Please pray with us that as she comes, her message will not only be timely but culturally accepted.Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.
This week I heard Charles Stanley via podcast. In the sermon he said, “the greatest asset someone can have is someone praying for them” I immediately thought of each of you who pray for Botswana and God’s work here. Thank you for praying for strength and creativity for Steve and I.
Thank you for praying for our children, Amanda, Derek and Devin, who are really no longer children but still need the prayers of God’s people every day.
Continue to pray for the Southern African region. You may have seen on CNN the violence in South Africa towards foreigners, Zimbabweans in particular. We pray the South African government will make a stand against this sort of behavior.

Please continue to pray with us for wisdom and stamina to do the work that is before us each day.

Reaching the Unreached,Steve, Pam, Amanda, Derek and Devin

Back to school....

Dear Loved Ones,

It’s way past my bedtime, but I wanted to get a report to those of you who have been praying this week.

Helen’s husband, Craig, did get the job last Monday – in fact, he got a better job in the same company. Pray with us that he will keep this job and some of their financial difficulties will ease. We praise the Lord for answered prayer on Helen’s behalf.

Our friends came in on Tuesday, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since. We had an elementary chapel each day starting Wednesday, and then a middle-school, secondary chapel.

We are thrilled to report that ten students, one staff member, and a teacher accepted Christ this past week. Thank you for praying! We are praising the LORD! Great way to start a term!

Pray with us that these will grow in the Lord as we continue to work with them. Friday evening, we had a youth meeting and interestingly, the lesson directly paralleled Steve’s recent sermon series. We had a great time playing Apples to Apples and Spoons – both favorites with our youth. Saturday noontime, found us together eating lunch and then we separate devotion times for the men and women.

Our attendance was great and we had a wonderful time together. Unfortunately, something disagreed with almost everyone that came and some were unable to attend church today.

Today we celebrated Mother’s Day and recognized all our wonderful mothers with special gifts like many of you do. For those of you who have prayed through the last years for Anne, she attended the first Mother’s Day service since the death of her baby today. It has been amazing to watch God heal her heart! She said, she wanted to just stay in bed, but she said, no, I’m going no matter what!

We have a special request tonight for a young man, aged 21, named Thabo. He is the brother to Ruth who has attended the church since the beginning. This week his mother found a small box in his room that he had made into a coffin shape and put his picture inside and “Rest in Peace” They do not know why he would do such a thing and it has been very alarming to them. Thabo is unsaved. Pray for Ruth to be able to talk with him and tell him about the Lord Jesus who alone can heal whatever hurt he is experiencing.

Also, some may remember Mmapula who was saved at the airport as we left to take Devin to America a couple of years ago. Although we have known all along that she is HIV positive, this week she was told that they will start her on ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs) next month. She is afraid. I had opportunity to pray with her just after she heard that news at the clinic on Friday.

I hope you will remember to pray with her, that she will find her strength and comfort in the word of the LORD.What God has done and is doing here still amazes us every day. We thank Him for giving us the opportunities we have each day. At present, each day is both challenging and exciting.

We are so thankful that so many of you are praying for us every day. We know our strength lies in the Lord’s answers to your prayers.

Reaching the Unreached,Steve, Pam, Amanda, Derek and Devin

April 20. 2008

Dear Loved Ones!
Earlier this evening, we sat down to watch a mystery show on television and our little daschund gave a strange growl. When Steve got up to investigate there was a snake slithering around in the dining area! That makes number 29 that we have killed since coming to Botswana. We don’t live out in the bush anymore, but right in the middle of town! It is getting cool and I suppose it was coming in to find a warm place.

We were thrilled to have 97 this morning and it wasn’t even Easter! So thankful for what God is doing here.

This week, we and four of our young people spent the week with a group of children with HIV/AIDS. Three were selected to be overnight counselors. Many of these children are orphaned. One comment heard this week was from a young girl. She had overheard another girl saying that she lived with her mother. “How old are you – how can you be living with your mother? Mothers die before you are ten!”

We are thankful for these opportunities to share the love of Christ with those in our country who many times have no one to care for them. Thank you for praying for us. Today our youth studied about forgiveness. There is a song on the popular charts that says “it’s too late to apologize.” So we talked about if it is really ever too late to apologize. One young adult who is an orphan told me he struggles with forgiveness because his uncle who raised him spent all the money that his father had invested for his education. He said, “It is like you knew exactly what we needed to hear today.” So thankful that God directs our lessons and our lives.There is something you might be able to help us with.

Since we are in the capitol city and we have a mixture of nationalities, our services are conducted in English. Our school is an English Medium School meaning that all the classes are done in English, except for the Setswana and French classes. If you have Christmas or any other programs or musical programs you have done and would like to pass them on to someone who will put them to good use, please consider this ministry. You can send them directly to us, or via the missions office in Springfield. Even choir or kids choir music would be great. At this time, God has not sent any musicians to our church so we are happy to use CDs!

Our address here is P.O. Box 45159, Gaborone, Botswana.....the missions office is P.O. Box 191 Springfield, MO 65801

We still have two more weeks before school starts back. On May 7th, we plan to start with a spiritual emphasis, please join us in praying for that.

We plan to have some special guest speakers come and we ask that you pray for them as well.We are thankful for your prayers, for ourselves and the people we love here in Botswana.

Reaching the Unreached,Steve, Pam, Amanda, Derek and Devin