About a week after our last posting, Julie was asked to "help start off" the new school year at the international school she has periodically taught at during our time in Maun. The school was in a crisis with a number of teachers unable to start working due to work permit cliches. Also, there was a teacher shortage due to a huge influx of students to the school. When she completed term 3 of 2011 with the Standard 1 and 2 classes [grades 1and 2], she was told to order and organize for a combined class of about 15 students. When she was asked to return to start the new school year, she ended up with 41 students in the combined class. The group was one third of the primary enrollment. With two days notice, she had to scramble for supplies, desks, chairs, and reorganize the room to fit that number of students. The larger of the two groups was the Standard 1 students, who are pictured below as they made a "real graph" with the 11 girls and 15 boys for a total of 26.
Then each student made a picture of themselves to place on the "picture graph"wall.
The Standard 2 students did the same math graphing activity, so that we could all see how many boys and girls were in each class.
The Standard 2 group had 9 girls and 6 boys for a total of 15. They also made a picture representation of themselves for a "picture graph" wall on their side of the room.
After a couple of weeks, the Standard 1 teacher was able to take her class and Julie was left to enjoy another month with the 15 Standard 2 students before a teacher could replace her. Some of the students are pictured below on a "civvies" day, when they do not have to wear their regular uniform.
The students were busy doing a cooperative learning painting project when these photos were snapped.
Over a couple of weeks, the students had been reading stories with settings at the sea and the seashore, so the group murals they are painting represented that theme.
As the six weeks of "helping start off" the school year came to an end, it was very hard for Julie to leave the students...She is still able to see them weekly though, when returning to teach Bible Club. The picture below is of Julie with the Standard 2 students.
While Julie was teaching, Colin remained busy with his Flying Mission Services responsibilities. The new woman to replace Julie began on the 16th of January. Linda is pictured with Kevin and Patricia while celebrating Patricia's birthday on the 24 the of January.
Colin also flew one of the planes down to Gaborone for maintenance and spent a few days there.
There are now 3 twin engine planes available for charters and mercy flights that are based in Gaborone. Two of the planes are pictured next, while the third was off on a mercy flight.
Mercy flights are almost a daily occurrence, and often with numerous calls for medical transport in a day.
Colin watched as a flight came in transporting a sick child to the larger hospital in Gaborone, the capital city where the FMS base is located.
As January was coming to an end, we were invited to go on a picnic with a group of our close friends one Sunday after church. It is always lovely to get out on the river and see a variety of birds, along with local people fishing in mokoros.
The Kowalski family and Keith's parents were among the people invited.
Also, Angela and Graham along with a number of children they currently have living with them while they children attend school in Maun.
We had picked up some fresh watermelon that is in season now, for our contribution to the food.
It seemed to be a big hit and everyone ate their portion while soaking in the warm river water on that hot summer day.
Little fish could be seen in the clear shallow water, seemingly interested in the watermelon seeds being spit into the river around the boat.
The afternoon rain clouds began to roll in, so it was back into the boat to travel to Maun before the showers started.
In the area of direct ministry outreach, Julie has continued to teach Sunday school regularly and began meeting weekly with the teens to do a foundational Bible study distributed by Flying Mission. Most of the group is pictured below, along with our dear friend Pusetso from Sepopa. Pusetso has been in Maun to get some job training and has been an additional help with translating with the local children attending church. We see this faithful neighborhood group of young adults as the future leaders of the church that we have been attending over the last 4 years.
Cheryl and the Kowalksi kids have been using their ministry gifts to do puppet shows when invited. On Julie's last day of teaching, she asked them to present a story at the weekly chapel for the 128 primary students. The show was very well received by students and staff.
As mentioned earlier, Julie will continue to do a weekly Bible club and will finish the term with help from Cheryl and the Kowalski kids. Cheryl has a number of new songs for the children and Julie to learn...
...in addition to more Bible stories that Jacob and Abigail have to share using puppets.
It has been wonderful to see the physical and spiritual growth that has taken place in the children while doing the weekly Bible club over the last three years. Please pray that someone will be willing to continue to outreach with these beautiful children.The first weekend in March was quite special in that through months of discussion, prayer, and planning we were finally able to host a Child Evangelism Fellowship [CEF] missionary to do a training session here in Maun. After a full day of travel by bus from Gaborone, Colin searched the new bus rank for our guest.
Once he was found, Colin welcomed Mr. Reuben Akormedie, the regional director for Botswana, who has been ministering here for the last 15 years.
Our missionary friend from Rakops also traveled to Maun with 3 ladies from the preschool program established through his ministry. Everyone stayed with us for two nights, and are pictured next while eating a quick dinner before starting a Friday evening session.
There were 14 people who attended, from a variety of local outreach programs for children. We were able to organize and secure the conference room at Island Safari Lodge for Friday evening and a full day training session on Saturday.
Originally Julie had wanted to see that the Sunday school teachers she had been encouraging and working with, would be connected with someone who could get them more materials. As the plans were coming together for the weekend session, more people wanted to participate as the news spread by word of mouth. All that attended found the time well spent, as they learned new songs and techniques for ministering to children.
The Tswana speakers quickly translated some of the new songs, and shared them with the rest of the group.
Holding the CEF training weekend, and doing the foundational Bible study with the church teens are just a couple of ministry goals we have felt necessary before leaving Botswana. There are still a couple other areas we had hoped to see through before leaving, but our time is growing very short. One thing we had wanted to do was make a final trip to Sepopa to do a special activity with the children there. People have been asking Pusetso when we are coming back, and it would be nice to see those people we have been able to encourage there...Unfortunately, our Pajero has been in the shop since the 25th of January. The main delay has been securing the correct parts...Please pray that we might be able to make a trip there before our departure. Our time is Botswana has been such a blessing. We have found the people so open and eager to hear the truth of the gospel, and we feel all of our professional, spiritual training, and gifts have been fully used.As we begin to pack and make plans to return to Alaska, we are still not sure where our next home will be. We are hoping to resettle on the road system, so we can be near friends and our son who is living in Fairbanks. Though that is our hope, we are keeping in mind that God may have another plan for us...so we will keep in mind to, "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this." Psalm 37:5
