Some Prayer Requests!

Prayer Requests:
-The students signed True Love Waits Commitment Cards last week. Pray that the students will be strong in this commitment.
-Pray for the Form 3 students (~10th grade) as they begin exams. These exams determine whether the complete their schooling this year, or whether they can go on to senior secondary school. Pray especially for Gofaone, Oreeditse, Gaone, Tumisang, Wangu, Onalenna, and Esther. These are some of the girls I’m especially close to and they are very nervous.
-Pray for Kelly, Crystal, and I as we are trying to think of ways to improve our program, Operation:HIV (He Is Victorious), so that we can better serve the community and better incorporate nationals from our church.
-Pray for me as I struggle to potty train my new puppy.
-Pray as I visit some of the homes of the kids in my Bible study. Pray that I will have the opportunity to share Jesus with these students’ families.

Life Changes!

Last week was a week of many life changes. Well, just two. I haven’t gotten my hair cut since getting here in January. Now that it's gotten ridiculously hot again my long hair was driving me crazy. I decided to cut off 10 inches to donate it and get my hair cut really short. I figured if I didn’t like it, it’d have time to grow back before coming home… So here’s my before and after:

The second change is the new addition to my household. Lulabelle (the Burninator) is supposedly a poodle. I don’t think she has a bit of poodle in her. She looks more like a Chiuwawa to me. Any guesses? In the first night I cleaned up 4 accidents in the house and she threw up in my bed. I’ve got my work cut out for me. Training tips? When she’s not expelling things from her body, she adorably curls up in my lap and sleeps.

Happy Anniversary Palapye Baptist Church!

This week marked the 1st anniversary of Palapye Baptist Church. To celebrate we held special prayer meetings each night of the week.

On Saturday, we had a fluoride clinic for the kids.

And on Sunday we held baptism for the first time on the church property. Before, we had been transporting everyone to a camp across town that had a swimming pool, so it was really special to be able to baptize at the church. Bro. Thabo spent the entire week building the baptismal pool outside the church. And Sister Cenilza sewed baptismal robes. Here are some pictures from the service.

Happy Independence Day!!! Pula Botswana!!!

Saturday, September 30, marked Botswana’s 40th year of independence. We celebrated by attending a party at the kgotla (the village meeting place). Many groups performed for the village leaders, including the traditional dance group from Mmaphula CJSS (where I teach). Here’s them performing:

Here’s a picture of me with the girls:


We also met the chief of Palapye. He asked us how the war in America was going. Here Crystal, Kelly, Maria (a missionary from Brazil), and I pose with the Chief Ndebele.
Pula Botswana! (which literally means “rain Botswana” but the sentiment is more like “live on and be prosperous Botswana!”)

Timber!

So our neighbors were cutting a tree down and a branch from the tree fell onto our cinderblock wall. We discovered that we are not truly surrounded by an indestructible goliath of a wall.

This was the damage that one branch did! Luckily the next day some people came to fix it, but the dogs had to spend the night on the chain. They were not too happy. Here’s a picture of our ferocious guard dogs Nina and Jabu. (Looks are deceiving…After a mishap last week with the dogs attacking a child, the rumor in Palapye is that the white girls’ dogs killed someone.)