April 29, 2011

April started off with babysitting a 2 month old Jack Russell puppy for friends while they traveled to South Africa for medical treatment. The picture below is of "Hurricane" enjoying the warmth of the morning sun.
Our friends gave her the name she has because she can be extremely active and when she slowed down in the evening, we enjoyed having a little pet to cuddle with while we relaxed.
Julie set up her desk area out on the patio while watching the puppy. Being outside for the day gave "Hurricane" room to play and not get into too much mischief. Having her with us those days did stir a desire to have a puppy of our own, but we will have to wait until we return to Alaska in a year. It was fun to have a little pet to care for though, even if it was only temporary.
The surprise of the month was the arrival of a new baby son to our porter, MT, and his wife. They did not even realize that KK was expecting until just a month before the birth. Julie was able to help bring KK and the baby home the day after the birth of baby Taboka who was born April 12. Below is a picture of the home coming with the four other siblings seeing their new brother for the first time.
Here is a closer look at Taboka. His name means "we are thankful" in the Kalanga language. In the culture here, the mother will stay home with the baby for 3 months and the father has to stay elsewhere. Fortunately MT had built an additional small brick flat for his brother on the plot he lives on, so that is where he is currently staying.
As mentioned in our last blog, we planned to travel to Sepopa again on April 16 to do some follow up ministry with the Sunday school program there. Patricia went with us this time and spotted a large elephant in the brush on the drive there. That was rather unusual for the panhandle area.
We arrived in Sepopa that Saturday about 1 pm, and Pusetso had already had the children at the Sunday school building for some morning learning activities. The church had been flooded for a few weeks, so on Sunday they had been using the Sunday school building for church. Due to the high water, Pusetso was meeting with the children on Saturday instead. Unfortunately not many of the boys could come on a Saturday, as it is harvest time so they must work in the fields. The children had just finished a snack when we arrived and then Julie opened up the afternoon events with some singing.
Then we took the children outside for some games that would reinforce the last few weeks' teachings. Patricia jumped right in as an additional helper with the forty children attending ages 3 years to 15 years.
Each game went along with a teaching aligned to the Wordless Book from the Child Evangelist Fellowship material we left with Pusetso in February. The gold lesson explains that God created Heaven and the world with all that is in it. Everything that was said had to be translated into Setswana by Pusetso. The pictures to follow may give you a small glimpse of a few fun learning activities we did with the group.
Learning through play seemed to be a new concept to the kids, so even translating how to play the games was not enough. For every game, Julie and Onalenna showed the group what they were to do. In the picture below they showed the teams lined with pairs of two how they were to put a balloon between them using part of their body to do a relay. Because God created man to be special, Julie would call out a variety of different body parts they had to use to relay with the balloon.
In the next picture, the children were "going for the gold" and were given a golden tail as a flag for groups of three to try to claim. The game was used to reinforce the gold page in the Wordless Book that represents Heaven, which is a wonderful place filled with God's glory and grace.
The Wordless book has a red page that represents the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. In one of the games, the children had to crawl one by one under their team's legs to be the first to the cross Julie was holding.
The teaching was to help show that the only way to heaven is through His blood shed on the cross by Jesus.
The next page in the Wordless is a "clean" white page. When people understand the love Jesus has for them, and accept Him to be the Lord of their lives, then they are a new person and filled with the Holy Spirit. To explain this, the children were given balloon to play with. At first the balloons were not filled with air and brought no joy to play with. Once the balloons were filled with air they were a part of a fun activity that brought joy and happiness to those participating.
The game was a way to get the concept across that in knowing Christ and having the Holy Spirit, we will be filled with joy no matter what our circumstances are. There was a relay to follow as a way to collect the balloons. Later, the children were given the filled balloons to take home.
The special game lessons seemed to go over well with the group, and lasted about 2 hours. We then had a chance to get in a good visit with Pusetso and her family at their hut.
Notice the balloon in the picture of Julie with Pusetso and her girls.
While we visited, Pusetso's mother was roasting freshly harvested corn and beans, which we ate later with our dinner.
Colin even waded out into the flooded yard of the church to try some fishing. He only caught grass though...There was a fence between him and the main river channel, so no need to worry about crocodiles.
Sunday morning we all joined the growing church for morning services. Patricia is pictured next, just before church standing just outside the parsonage. The water had receded enough for everyone to meet again in the church building next door.
Pastor Reuben did an early Bible study for new believers that we sat in on until the regular service was ready to begin.
There was lots of singing before the children were excused for Sunday school. Julie left with the teachers and children to observe how things are going with the material she has organized.
Pusetso is the main teacher, and Onalenna assists her with the class. They seem to be doing quite well with the group and new children continue to come weekly.
After church was over, the congregation had prepared food to share in honor of our visit. We were asked to go first and take what we wanted, and then the others were served plates of food. It is the fall harvest time and food is plentiful. There was a lot of a chunky corn mush called Samp, cooked pumpkin and pumpkin greens, cooked bean greens, and a small portion of beef among other things. Below is a picture of Patricia and Julie as they finished eating. It was very thoughtful of the church family to make sure we had been fed before our drive back to Maun.
Just a couple days after returning from Sepopa, we had a visit from Graham Crawford who has been the IT for FM off and on for a number of years. He was in Maun back in May two years ago to help set up the computer in our office. The first day he arrived on the morning flight from Gaborone, we put him right to work repairing some computer issues on our office and personal computers.

For most people in Botswana, Easter is a four day public holiday. Unfortunately, when dealing with the tourist industry there are no holidays and we had flights to do even on Easter. Colin ended up having to overnight at Jack's Camp and on Easter had to fly to Francistown to leave one of our planes there. The rest of the day was spent driving back to Maun by car and he got home after 7pm. Below is a picture of the old runway and the new runway under construction at Francistown airport, where he left the plane.

Fortunately, our church had a sunrise service as the rest of the day Julie was busy flight following Keith and Colin. This time of year m mornings are cool with winter drawing near, and an early service was a lovely way to celebrate the event of Christ's resurrection. The story of Easter was told through narration and songs done by students from Okavango International School [OIS]. Our friend, Angela, led the group as she not only leads the worship at our church but is also a teacher at OIS. Most of the students that sang are part of the Bible club Julie does at the school with Angela.
The day after Easter, Colin got a couple of days off so we took Graham up to the Khwai River area north of Maun and spent the night in a tented camp there. Below is a picture of Graham by the river, which is really more like a creek even in the flood stage.

We saw a few animals while driving around the area and lots of bird life. The only new wildlife we saw was this Opened billed stork pictured below to add to our bird sighting list.
The tented accommodation was comfortable and clean. The reason we decided to stay there was that they gave a resident rate and allowed people to self drive into the camp.
After driving around the area a bit the day we arrived, afternoon tea was served in the dinning tent when we returned to the camp.
Breakfast was served early the next morning, and then we left to travel on narrow sand-tracks through the thick brush until we came to a large open pan.
The pan had a large herd of Giraffe lingering around in the coolness of the morning. It is always fun to explore a new area, and our wondering through the bush eventually took us back to the main road to Maun.
On the flying scene the flight schedule has remained very busy this month, with many days requiring Keith and Colin to fly larger groups in both planes. Below is a picture Colin took of Keith as they flew over a large salt pan.
Colin flies a faster plane and despite taking off after Keith, Colin would always pass Keith along the way. The next photo is of Keith landing on the Pom Pom airstrip in the Okavango Delta.
With the rivers rising as the rain waters from Angola come from the north, many of the bush airstrips are beginning to flood again this year. Below is the flooded Nxabega in the delta.
Due to the busy flight schedule, it is often more practical to have a pilot overnight at the camp if he will be departing with passengers the next day. Colin has been doing most of the overnights this month as he insisted Keith remain in town due to Cheryl's pregnancy. The baby is due the end of May, but she has gotten so big and the baby has dropped, that we are feeling it could come early. On a couple of the more recent overnight trips, Colin saw a group of southern stripped squirrels on the drive to camp.
They seemed to act similar to the Meerkats that reside in the area.
On another day while driving from the airstrip, the guide spotted a cheetah in the brush. At first, Colin could just see the tips of the animals ears and some of the face.
But then it sat up and let itself be clearly seen only forty yards from the truck. This sighting was a pleasant surprise.
Before closing, again we would like to share some photos from the flight line in Maun. With such a busy airport, there is always something interesting going on.
Beware of strangely shaped bugs before removing the pitot tube cover [above].

Six DeHavilland Tiger Moths [above] and one Hornet Moth [below].

Tiger Moth and cockpit.

Cessna 14o in U.S. Air Force livery and departing Tiger Moth.

As we continue seek direction to best serve the Lord and others while living here, we ask that you also pray with us for wisdom in the daily decisions and activities that fill our time. Our desire is to consistently remain in His will. For we know,"To God belongs wisdom and power, counsel and understanding are His." Job 12:13

March 31, 2011

Another full and busy month has breezed by with lots of visitors and ministry activities. Early in the month we had a few days visit from Pastor David, whom we met while in Sepopa in February. He was passing through Maun on his way home to Mochudi, and we enjoyed having more time to get to know him better. The photo to follow was taken early on a Saturday morning before Colin took David to the bus rank. It is too bad that David had to get home that day, as the next stop Colin made after dropping David off was to the men's breakfast at our church. With the help of a couple other men from the church, Colin continues to help cook and provide nourishing meals once a month through that ministry.
Other pilots and missionaries came and went during the month, and we enjoy the fellowship as people stay in the flats next to our house. Colin continues to do all the maintenance and Julie does the cleaning of the FMS rentals to help keep the expenses minimal.

The highlight of the month was doing a 5 day Bible club outreach on the Kowalski plot for the children living in their neighborhood. Cheryl, Julie, and a few other ladies from the neighborhood teamed together to plan and run the program. Keith also helped out most of the days, and Colin came by with MT one day as well. The club was well attended with over one hundred different children during the week, with the largest group being 85 on the last day.

Every morning for almost an hour before the gate was opened, there were children gathering outside waiting for the activities to start. After a few days, we even heard them singing some of the songs they were learning. At nine o'clock, we would open the gate and children would sign in, get a name tag, and share the Bible verse from the day before with Cheryl and all the helpers.

Julie had lots of fun games to start the day off and children could easily join in after checking in at the attendance table.

As the crowd of children thinned out, the other helpers would come over to the games until it looked as if everyone that was coming was there. Cheryl was usually the last one checking kids in. Below is the Kowalski family, and the children were also a big help with the club.
Once everyone was signed in and had a name tag, Julie would end the large group game and we would start the day off by greeting all the children and introducing ourselves.
Then we would have an opening prayer. Of course, everything had to be translated into Setswana by some of our helpers from the neighborhood.

Otis and Ipataleng, in addition to a couple of their older children, were especially helpful with interpreting. Each day we taught the children many new songs, and also sang some Setswana songs that were familiar to them.

Just to give you a quick sample of the children singing a Setwana song, there is a short video clip attached again this month. The song is called "Retla bina Hosanna" and they are singing about dancing around the throne of King Jesus.


When the singing was finished, Julie and Cheryl alternated days of teaching the lesson. We used the Child Evangelist Fellowship Wordless Book that gave a full gospel message through the 5 day teaching. The wordless book uses 5 different colors that explain the lesson in a large picture book to follow. For example, the first day we talked about heaven and the color used was gold. Both Julie and Cheryl were given a variety of the CEF teaching material when on furlough, and it has been getting well used in our church Sunday School, the Sepopa Sunday school, Bible club, and now the 5 day outreach.
When the lesson was finished, the little ones 6 and under went off with some of the other ladies to learn a simplified bible verse, while the older ones learned the complete verse for the day.
Then Julie played games with the older ones that she created to also support the daily message that was taught. The younger ones played games in another area of the property.

When the games were finished, Cheryl had juice and snack ready for the kids and each day she found a away to give a snack that matched the color used in the wordless book.
On Friday, our final day, we did a few extra things for the children. When they left after the two hours of activities, the older children were all given a New Testament Bible in Setswana on behalf of Flying Mission and ...
.....a gift bag that had a few treats and essentials that we had been given to distribute. Notice that the girl getting her gift bag from Cheryl is curtsying in thanks.
Later that evening, the children and their families were invited back to sing more songs, watch a slide presentation from the week and see the Jesus film for children in Setswana.
By the end of the week we were all very encouraged by the response of the children to the outreach, in addition to the relationships that were formed. The Kowalski family even had a few extra people ride to church with them the following Sunday.

That Sunday happened to be our last Sunday school for the first term of this year. The children had spent a large portion of the term learning about Moses and they shared with the church members that day the new song, "Pharaoh Pharaoh", that was learned along with the unit.
Since there is going to be a one month term break and the weather is starting to get cooler as winter approaches, not only did the children get a special prize for good attendance this term but also the Kowalski's distributed warm sweaters that they had brought back from Canada while on furlough. There is so much need here, and anything people give us to share is greatly appreciated.
On the 27th of March it was our anniversary. Next year it will be our thirtieth and we hope to take one last major trip before we head back to Alaska. This year we went out to dinner at our favorite lodge and treated ourselves to a steak dinner for the first time.
The last week in March was also the end of Bible club for term one. The group has really grown spiritually and in numbers this year and Julie enjoyed integrating some sort of game when possible to connect the children to the lesson being taught. This activity pictured below was to lead into a story about putting God first in our lives. It is easy to let other things become more important...The cotton balls in the game were supposed to be equal to money and the children were given a spoon to gather as many as they wanted in just a few minutes. It was interesting to see a variety of character traits expressed in the game and the observations helped lead into a good discussion before the lesson.
For the final day of club this term, the children got to watch a children's video title,"He Has Risen" and eat Julie's special goodies of Rice Krispies bars. Rice Krispies treats are always a big deal to the kids, as none of them had ever eaten them until she introduced them to the kids.
Through each month we have many visitors, and do not always mention everyone in this blog, we did want to include the Word to Africa missionary family that we have grown to love so much over the last two year. Dries, Ilse, Jana, and Cordre were here for one night on their way home from Gaborone after attending their mission's annual team gathering. Jana is speaking up a storm in English now, and Cordre is walking everywhere and excited to explore everything. After his early and shaky birth at the remote clinic in Gumare, Cordre seems to certainly be a happy and active toddler these days. The family is pictured below, just before leaving for their home village in Mahopa in the remote north west corner of Botswana.
During the month, Colin also had to fly a critically injured patient with head injuries from a remote sight. The lack of medical personnel and services for serious conditions in Botswana is very frustrating. The poor man was bleeding from his nose and ears and had to walk to get into the plane when dropped off by the medical staff for the medical evacuation. Another man in a T shirt, who was supposed to be the nurse attending the patient, also flew along but had absolutely no supplies such as gloves, gauze, etc. Darkness was closing in and Colin was able to get the man as far as Maun, but the hospital here and in Francistown would not take such a serious case. One of the FMS King Airs had to be dispatched to meet Colin in Maun and then transport the patient to Gaborone. All we can do at in these types of situations is just pray for the people who are suffering and hope they get the proper medical help once FMS has completed the mercy flight.

When possible we like to add a few everyday photos before closing. This month here are a few from the flight line in Maun.

Not only does Colin fly customers to remote camps, but often he has camp staff to transport also. This is one of the Jack's Camp staff just before departure.

Some of Colin's pilot friends tow a Caravan with a little truck.
Sunrise at the airport just before an early departure.
Upcoming things we would appreciate your prayers for are: a ministry follow up trip to Sepopa the 16th of April; a busy flight schedule for the next few months through November; a safe arrival for the Kowalski baby due the end of May; additional staff needs for the Maun base as the operation is growing and we prepare to return to Alaska in 15 months. We are reminded that these things are all in the Lords hands and we place our faith there. The Lord has promised that, "...I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand." Isaiah 41:10

So we carry on and trust because "Faith is not a sense, nor sight, but simply taking God at His word." [A quote from Christmas Evans]

February 28, 2011

Traveling to Sepopa, a small village in northern Botswana on the Okavango River panhandle was definitely the highlight of the month. We left early on Saturday February12, and arrived in the early afternoon. Pusetso had made arrangements for us to stay at the parsonage with Pastor Reuben. The house is situated on a beautiful piece of land, which is set right on the edge of the Okavango River. When we were there in December, the channel by the parsonage plot was dry and in the photo below, you can see that the waters from Angola had just filled the channel that week. The water will continue to rise and reach Maun in late June.
Even arriving mid day on a Saturday, we found the village so quiet and peaceful. People were going about their daily chores and a young boy was at the water's edge spearing fish for the family meal.
After meeting with Pastor Reuben and his visiting friend David, who was staying to do a crusade over the next two weeks, we went to see Pusetso's mother and explored a bit more around the church property. Colin always is fascinated with the huge cactus plants that grow in Botswana and there was one by the Sunday school meeting hall on the church property.
Pusetso and her friend, Onalenna, had a few other responsibilities to complete before we could meet with them for some children's ministry training. Pusetso had told us in December that she was trying to teach over fifty children with no materials or experience. So after planning ten weeks of lessons and gathering up basic supplies to help with the teaching, we spent the afternoon going through everything. In addition, Julie taught the ladies some children's songs and games that could support the concepts being taught in the lessons.
By the time the training session was over, it was evening and getting close to meal time. When returning to the parsonage, we discovered that the power was out in Sepopa and the two burner hot plate used by Pastor Reuben was not going to be an option for cooking. Reuben and David had already begun roasting a lower cow leg bone to boil in a large cast iron cooking pot over the open fire. In the picture below the two legs look like some firewood, but if you look closely you can see the legs while the fir and hoofs are being burned away. Also, in the back ground is the little church building on the property.
Julie pitched in with an additional pot of cheese and noodles.
In the morning it was time for church. The local children began to gather in the church early and like so many of the kids attending our church in Maun, they carry in little siblings that they are carrying for.
The actual church prayer, praise, and worship service went on for two hours before the children were excused for Sunday school class. It was a very lively service with Pastor David playing a key board that he had brought with him. Everyone attending had such pure joy and never seemed to grow tired of singing and dancing in the aisle. We have attached a short video to give you a sample of a truly African worship service. Pusetso and Onalenna are leading the singing and everyone is singing "Hosanna, Hallelujah..." repeatedly, though it is hard to hear over the keyboard.



The children were up front in church and participating in the service right up until they were excused to walk up the hill to the Sunday school building. Pictured below, they are coming out of the small church structure.
Once settled in, Julie introduced herself and taught the lesson to model teaching strategies for Pusetso and Onalenna. The two Batswana ladies took turns interpreting everything Julie said into Setswana. A mother and a few older children were also recruited as additional helpers for the class time.
When the lesson was finished, everyone went outside to play some games and sing some more songs as church was still in session. It was an hour and a half before the main preaching was finished and everyone returned to the church building for some final music, dancing, and closing prayer.
All in all, it was a 4 hour service and we had to leave shortly after for our long drive back to Maun. Pusetso and her church family seemed genuinely thankful for our visit and we felt truly blessed to be a part of what God is doing in Sepopa through this small group of believers. We have continued to be in phone contact regularly with Pusetso and are looking forward to a follow up trip to Sepopa in mid April.

On the flying front, February was a bit slow for tourists but Colin was asked to pilot a private plane out of Gaborone to a village located in the south western part of the country. The owner of the airplane services boreholes and pipelines, but does not know how to fly. The arrangement with FMS is to basically rent a pilot to fly the plane. This is the second time Colin has been asked to do the flying, but it was his first time to travel to that part of Botswana. He always enjoys making friends with new people, and enjoyed his day with the passengers.
About a week later, Colin was also able to be joined by the son of a good friend for a few hours of flying from the Okavango Delta to Jack's Camp in the Kalahari. Jordan has a strong desire to learn to fly and it had recently been his birthday. So, to fly with Colin for a couple hours was quite a treat for him.
Then as the month came to an end, an FMS affiliate and his wife came to Maun for a weekend visit. Colin was asked to fly them on a scenic flight into the Okavango Delta and Julie was invited to join them.
It was a lovely evening and the lush delta was full of all kinds of wildlife. It was the first time Julie had seen hippos from the air as they rested under the clear waters that are prevalent in the area.
Flying Mission Services has a tracking system to follow the flight paths of all their aircraft. The map below shows the path of the one hour scenic flight that evening. Spidertracks, as it is named, updates every ten minutes and if the flight follower clicks on one of the dots on the red flight line, then the time, altitude, and airspeed can be seen.
Concerning other areas of our work in Maun, we decided to meet weekly with our FMS team for a Bible study at the office since it is the slow season. It has been a very positive time of fellowship and has brought us even closer together while we grow in our faith.

As for direct ministry and teaching, Sunday school continues to grow and the numbers are now getting close to eighty. We are looking at separating the older children of 12 to 14 years and having more age appropriate lessons for them next term. There are fifteen attending regularly and usually thirty weekly in that age group. A young man from New Zealand, that has been attending church regularly, and a few other people may help with that group. If so, it would relieve the overcrowding problem that is currently developing into an issue. Please pray about this with us.

Also, Bible Club is going strong every week with a number of new kids attending this term. Furthermore, Julie and Cheryl are in the planning stages for a 5 day outreach to the children in the Kowalski's neighborhood over the term break in April. The dates will be April 4 through 8. Again, please keep these ministries in prayer and that the children attending will have hearts that are open to knowing the love Jesus has to offer.

Sometimes we like to share just some ordinary and daily experiences of life we have here. For instance, on Colin's last couple of days off he has been trying to help our Pastor solve a problem with Pigeons that have taken roost in the parsonage carport. The birds make a huge mess all over the car nightly, so Colin has had to try to figure out a way to discourage them from setting on the upper beams of the carport. He first tried stretching rows of wire above the beams, but the Pigeons still found a way to roost. The next stage of this project has been to put chicken wire above the beams. So far, Pastor Alex says it seems to be working.
Just for fun, another small day off project included here is a picture of Colin putting new tires on the little Nissan March we affectionately call the "Jelly Bean". If you really look closely at the size of Colin beside the car, and the size of our Pajero next to it, you can see just how small the "bean" is. It is amazing to see Colin cram into and drive the March when needed....

As a continuation on the last couple of statements concerning things mentioned "just for fun" and birds roosting, here is a picture of a Barn owl that has taken up roost in the Maun Airport terminal. We had not seen one before in Botswana, so it is another bird we can check off the list of our Southern African bird book.

In closing, we would like to share a portion from the Blackaby devotional, Experiencing God Day By Day... "There will be times when, immersed in the ordinary details of life, you may be oblivious to the extraordinary that is right next to you. You can be in the midst of a common moment, only this time the activity is filled with the presence of God. There may be times when, in the middle of your harried day, you notice something unusual. Your first reaction may be 'I'm too tired to go aside to investigate this!' or 'I'm not going to disrupt my life for this.' Yet, in that moment you may have the opportunity for a unique encounter with God."

Our time in Botswana has been passing quickly but day to day, week to week, month to month, and now even...year to year, we continue to leave ourselves open to being used of God in whatever He puts before us. Even in the ordinary things of life, we feel God's presence and pray that we can continue to, "...live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2