Two Months...This is going to be tough!

Oh my gosh, it's hitting me. Seriously. I am feeling the full weight of all the emotions that come with the words, "Two months." I just can't believe it! How did this time already get here? I feel like I will just blink and find that it's only one month left. Time is just flying by so quickly, and honestly I kind of want to put the brakes on a bit. I'm not ready. There's so much left to do. All those kids in my class who I've poured into for almost two years...I'm not quite ready to let them go. And these teenagers who've actually become friends of mine, not to mention all of the adults who've become my family. How will I leave all of this and walk away? Gosh, it's going to be so hard.

But I will do it, with the strength, the peace, and the joy that the Lord will provide. Thankfully, the kids, the teenagers, the adults, the country of Botswana...all of them belong to Him. They are safely in His care and I know He's going to continue the great work He's doing in all of them. Maybe I'll see some of it from afar. Maybe I won't see or hear from some of these people again until Heaven. Either way, I rejoice that God will not leave them. He loves them so much and will continue pursuing them for a deeper love relationship with Him. I was just one person in their lives. He will send more. And though they've blessed me more than I can possibly express, He will give me the strength to leave them in His hands and open my heart up for new relationships, for new students, for new youth to pour into, for new experiences and opportunities to share Him with others. The chapter is slowly coming to a close....but I know a new and exciting one will quickly follow. And praise God that He will hold my hand as He leads me into it.

Lord, give me all the strength I need, and please, please help me to make these last couple of months the most special, most precious ones yet.

Ideas?

If you got to live in Africa for two months, what would you be sure to do? Planning for my last 60 days and am open to ideas. I also want to make sure I didn't miss anything I should have done. Can you believe I only have two months left?? I sure can't. I'm really hoping to make them count!

Praying for the Youth

My heart is burdened again for our youth. Sometimes I feel like youth ministry is like a roller coaster: up and down, up and down....But I know that these are God's kids and He is infinitely more interested in their lives than I am. He won't give up on them....so I can't either.

We've seen quite a bit of good lately. Here are some praises:

• Matt, Kelly, and I have been investing in a group of eleven teens who we see great leadership potential in, as well as a heart passionate for the Lord. Our leadership meetings (held every other Saturday) have been wonderful and great encouragements to us. I'm so excited to see how God continues to work in them!
• Project 3:45 has been going for three weeks now and we are seeing good fruit already. (This is an initiative to get the kids reading their Bible every day.) Many of the kids have commented on how much they are loving reading the Word.
• Some of the youth who've been really resistant to the Lord this year are beginning to change. We see their hearts softening and their hunger for the Lord growing. So exciting!
  

While we rejoice in these praises, we continue to pray over many of the youth who we see continuing to fight the Lord's working in their lives. Some of them started out being excited about Project 3:45, but are beginning to lose that excitement and their commitment to it. Some of them were once so hungry for the Lord, but are now resisting Him completely. And we still see so much negative peer pressure. We will press on in prayer, believing for change, and would love for others to partner in prayer with us.

If you would like to begin praying intentionally with us for the youth in Botswana, specifically those we work with, please contact me to let me know and I will give you more specifics on things to pray for. We've prayed that this term would be the most powerful one of the year, and we still believe it will be. We've already seen God answer prayer in huge ways, and we believe so much more is yet to come!

To blog or not to blog?

I've been wondering lately about the value of blogging these days. I'm not sure if many people are reading this or not, and wonder if Facebook, Twitter, and newsletters are better avenues for news and pictures. Just wondering. If there are any readers out there still, would you just let me know your opinion?

Morning at the Park

Every other month or so, Matt and Kelly take all the children's church kids to a nearby playpark on Sunday morning. Since Semakaleng and I have now started working in children's church every other Sunday, we were able to accompany the kids this morning. It was a wonderful time with lots of smiles and laughter. Here are a few pictures from the park:

Five of these guys are in my class. Love it!

Totally pooped out after a great morning!

*You can find the rest of the pictures from the morning here.

Monkeys

Today's "you don't see that everyday" and "oh yeah, I live in Africa moment" happened while my class was at a nearby pool for their swimming time. Several of the girls began pointing and laughing at the school bus parked close by, while exclaiming, "There are monkeys on the bus!" When I walked over to look, sure enough there were three monkeys running around the school bus. It was great watching the bus driver working to shoo them out and seeing one monkey just stand next to the bus, looking clearly offended to have been kicked out. Maybe he was the same one who left a little "present" for us on the dashboard.....I love Africa!

Numbers

I calculated some interesting numbers today:

632 days since I arrived in Botswana. That's 15, 168 hours. I wonder how many of those I made count. I'm remembering today that each day provides twenty-four new hours to try to make a difference, to love, to share Christ with someone, to encourage someone, to laugh or cry with someone, to help carry a burden, to grow in knowledge or wisdom, to discover something new in the Word that I never noticed before, to appreciate the beauty in the creation around me....the opportunities are endless.

Praying that my last 75 days (1,800 hours) in Botswana are spent well, striving to make each moment really count.