Oh Happy Day!

I've been singing this song all evening because today, FINALLY, after three and a half months, my vehicle is fixed and home!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this! Here are a few reasons why I'm excited:

• Grocery shopping and checking my mail whenever I want
• Dinners out on my nights off (and a break from hostel food!)
• Meeting up with friends that don't live at the mission
• Getting to pick up a couple of my students for church
• Taking the teens out for milkshakes
• Afternoons at Audi Camp!! (This is my favorite place to go in Maun. Quiet, relaxing environment, good food, and yummy cafe mochas!)
• A way to "escape" when I just need a little bit of time away

Tomorrow I have to get my vehicle registration renewed and work on getting my Botswana license. (Yes I've lived here for eighteen months and haven't gotten one yet. Oops!) Now that they are really cracking down on this and issuing huge fines, I am definitely getting this done right away. Then you can be sure you'll see me all over Maun, enjoying my vehicle again!

Sunburn, part 2

It's been a while since I had my last sunburn, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me when I get such funny reactions from my kids at the current state of my skin. On Friday I was at our annual inter-school sports day competition at Maun's stadium, and I was one of the recorders. This means I was sitting at a table near the finish line, recording the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers. It wasn't a hard job at all and I actually really enjoyed it. The only problem, though, is that I had to sit in the sun for five hours. Some of that time was in the morning, when it is still cold outside, (we're in winter now) but enough of the time was spent in the direct sun for my face to acquire a new red-orange color.

Yesterday and today I've been receiving weird looks and stares from the teenagers, along with several questions like, "Miss, what happened to your face??" One of my girls said yesterday she thought my face was just red from taking a nap, but then she said, "I kept looking at you and it wasn't going away!" She also proceeded to tell me a lot of the kids were laughing and making comments in Setswana, trying to figure out what was going on with my face. This, to me, is hilarious!! I have to keep reassuring them that it will go away and my normal color will return...maybe after a little bit of peeling, of course.

I forget what a surprise something like a sunburn can be to those who never experience it. Thank you, sun, for providing new, interesting conversations and fun laughter around our boarding hostel.

A Stirring

Do you ever wake up one day and just decide it's time for a change? That is what I've been going through today. I don't mean a physical change, but an emotional and spiritual change. It's time. I've found myself in this kind of winter season for the past few months. After last night's Bible study with the girls, God has shed some light on some things in my heart and I woke up this morning ready for a change.

At Bible study we were discussing "Guarding Your Mind," and we read through a couple of really good articles addressing this subject. When we were discussing this one and the need to immerse ourselves in the Word of God by daily meditating on what it says and applying it, I shared with them how for many years I woke up every morning and began my day with an hour with the Lord, doing Bible study and praying. During that time in my life, it was so much easier to guard my mind and to have my priorities right, because I was beginning every single day by focusing on Him and filling my mind with Him. It was easier to love others, to be gentle, to walk in peace, to put others first, and to live in joy.

A few years back I went through a really difficult season in my life and began to get off track with the Lord. I began to neglect my daily time with Him and definitely saw the results of that in my daily life. When I reached a point of brokenness, healing began, but I found myself in a new struggle to restore that daily time with the Lord, a struggle that still continues in my life today. How is it that something can be such a natural part of my every day and then end up becoming such a struggle? I don't get it, but that's what has happened.

When I was sharing this with the girls last night, it was like a light went off in my head and heart. It's time for a change. It's time to put my precious time alone with the Lord at the top of my priority list again. It's time to "be still and know that He is God." (Psalm 46:10) It's time to return to my first Love, to fervently seek Him again. In doing this, I expect I will quickly begin to see changes in my life. That's how the Holy Spirit works. Give Him more access to our lives and we will quickly see His fruit increase in us. Galatians 5:22-23

Amazing how God will use even our own words to speak to us. I am pretty sure that out of the twenty of us at Bible study last night, it was the leader who learned the most. I pray that I will be faithful in pursuing Him and this change I'm so hungry for.

Proud Teacher

I've shared before how much I love my class, what amazing kids they are, and what a joy it is to go to work everyday. I often pinch myself because I just can't believe how blessed I am to have a class like this and to have the opportunity to teach in this kind of environment. Our school is an international school, therefore my class is an international class. I have students from Botswana, Zimbabwe, America, India, and South Africa, and last year also had students from Finland and Poland. It's a beautiful view from my teachers' perspective when I look into the faces of my precious, multi-cultural students.

Being an international school located at a mission brings double the blessings because I also have the freedom to pray with my class and share Biblical truths with them. Along with learning math, language, reading, science, and social studies, my students get to learn about heroes of the faith, godly principles, and Jesus' parables and how they relate to us today. I absolutely LOVE teaching in an evironment like this!

Weekends stay pretty busy for me since I live with the boarders, so I am often feeling kind of run-down on Monday mornings. Yesterday morning as I was walking to my classroom, I saw several of my students waiting outside the door. When they saw me, a bunch of them ran up and hugged me and told me they missed me over the weekend. I just stood there, thanking the Lord that this is what is waiting for me every Monday morning. :)

I haven't shared many pictures lately, so I would like to share several recent shots of these kids I adore so much.

Getting ready for "Sports Day"

I worked at the long jump station:

Playing "What word is on my head?"

Even Stacy joined in on the game!

A recent birthday swimming party:

At our school's sponsored walk:

We work hard in class...

But we also make time for fun!

I am a very blessed teacher!

Technology and Bibles

Technology has proven to be a great blessing to me during my time in Botswana, mostly with helping me to stay connected to home and to keep people updated on my life here. An added blessing of things like Facebook, though, is getting to reconnect with so many people from the past.

A couple of months ago I was able to reconnect with several people I was friends with my freshman year of college. One of them co-pastors at a church and when he found out about the ministry I'm involved in here in Botswana, he asked if there was anything I needed. I told him that I'm always asking for Bibles and journals. Immediately he took on the task of collecting money and ordering a bunch of Bibles to send here for the teenagers.

I was amazed last week when the box full of brand new Bibles arrived, each of them with a personal message written by the people who had donated the money for them. Tonight I had the teenagers, both boys and girls, who don't have Bibles, gather around the box and choose a brand new Bible for themselves. They were so excited!!

One of my favorite responses was from one of the girls. As she reverently held the Bible in her hands, she asked me, "Am I borrowing this Bible?" When I told her that no, this was her Bible to keep, her wide-eyed response was, "Really? This is my first Bible!" She then turned to a friend and said, "Look, this is my first Bible!" Such a sweet, unforgettable moment!

I love how creative God is. He always seems to provide in the most unexpected ways! Thank you so much Scott and Family Worship Center. You have really, really blessed us!

Waiting on Him

Tonight after prayer time with fellow missionaries here at the mission, I am feeling lighter and a renewed hope. It occurred to me tonight how often right before great breakthroughs, the heat is turned up just a bit. I hope, pray, and believe that a huge breakthrough is coming and that I am just feeling the preceding heat right now. I'm thankful for what He's been doing and look forward to what's to come, especially with the teenagers. May my eyes be wide open and my ears in tune with what He is doing and saying. I don't want to miss a thing!

P.S. My vehicle has not been working for three months now. Hopefully the needed part is coming in the mail this week. I'm praying that the 3rd time is the charm (this will be the third part used to try to fix the problem) and that my car will be functioning again very soon. I'm actually praying for sometime next week. (Please Lord!)

Struggling

I don't know where this has come from, but I have really, really been struggling today. I'm just feeling overwhelmed, discontent, doubting, questioning, wishing I were somewhere else, etc. Please, could you say a prayer for me and for whatever is going on. I am needing some encouragement and strengthening from the Holy Spirit. Ugh, I hate feeling this way!

Thank you in advance for prayers.