Any Tree’s a “Lavatree” (And by that we mean a lavatory.)

Well, tonight is our last night in Botswana…we’re headed for Johannesburg bright and early tomorrow. We’ve been busy since our last update, though. (And the computer cut off while we were in the middle of typing just now, so we have limited time, so this will have to be quick.)

Yesterday we went on a SAFARI! After sleeping in a little and eating a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, we drove down to Tau Game Lodge in South Africa.  We had a five-star buffet lunch, and then we had a few hours until our game drive, so we watched animals from a deck overlooking the main watering hole.  We read our Psalms and had tea on the deck before we loaded up in two amazing vehicles. Our first stop was lions, and it was quite an eventful sighting. We’ll save the rest of that story for later… Then we saw an elephant who had a tire stuck on its foot. They said we might be able to be there when they tranquilized it, but that didn’t end up working out.  We also saw zebras, impalas, guinea hens (kamikaze chickens) and lots of other birds, and a herd of cape buffalo.  When we stopped for a snack break, we had some delicious meatballs, samosas, and biltong and all the girls (and most of the boys too) successfully used the bush as a restroom.  On the second half of the drive, we came across a watering hole where we saw three herds of elephants and two white rhinos!  After dark, we stopped the truck to look at the stars.  The whole drive was an amazing demonstration of God’s power and the beauty of His creation, but that was particularly stunning. We saw Venus, the Southern Cross, and could even see the Milky Way!  Then we drove back to the lodge to warm up (yep, it was freezing. Wait until you see the pictures of us in full winter gear) and drove back across the border to our hotel. 

Today, we spent the morning watching all the missionary kids who weren’t in school while their parents were having a meeting.  They are so precious and we had a lot of fun playing with them, acting out the story of David and Goliath, and making some crafts.  Then we went to some curio shops (that’s what souvenir shops are called here) and got to do some shopping before coming back to the Warner home for a tasty dinner of nacho impala (but whose impala is it?).

It’s been hard saying goodbye to people because I think we all feel like we’re leaving family behind, but it is an encouraging thing to know that the work will continue both through the missionaries and the church communities we worked with.

See you soon!

We climbed Mt. Everest; the girls wore skirts and one lady wore heals.

Just kidding, it was a different mountain. It was about a fourth of a mile hike up to the place we wanted to see.  Guess what we saw: David Livingstone’s cave!  Livingstone was an early missionary in Africa, and we felt so honored to be in a place he spent time in.  We climbed up the steep mountainside and reached a really small and smelly cave.  This was yesterday…Since our last blog, we’ve done so much and it’s hard to explain in one paragraph all the amazing things God has done.  We went to church in Molepolole, and we got to experience some awesome a capella worship.  Tyler taught children’s Sunday School.  He taught about the promises of God through the story of Noah’s Ark and he did an awesome job.  Bryan preached and he also did well–that is, God spoke through him!  Then they served us a GINORMOUS meal.  No, bigger than you think.  Sometimes they only eat one meal a day, so they load up.  And we had to clear our plates so we wouldn’t offend, and it was definitely a team effort. 🙂 We also learned “We Fall Down’ in Setswana, and they were so surprised!  They loved it.  We had dinner with the Davis’s at a local mall.  Then on Monday, we had a half day of ministry and then went to the mountain.   I should mention that the boys cooked us and the missionaries a delicious meal!  Like I said, there is a lot going on around here that is hard to put down into words.  Let’s just say that it is awesome to see God moving despite our weaknesses.  Today we had a half day of ministry in the morning, evangelizing and praying as always, and then we went to a village that is a new ministry location for the churches we’re working alongside.  Then we split into teams and prayed over the village as we walked.  Moruti Thlokwane said this village has been on his heart for a long time, so we prayed for the harvest and the laborers.  We are now at the Jones’s eating another wonderful dinner… We have learned that all missionaries are excellent cooks.  The meat of the evening is barbecued eland.  Also, we’ve had to say goodbye to the churches we were working with because this was our last day of door to door ministry. It’s hard to believe.  Pray that God would show himself in the rest of our trip and that we would remain focused, especially in the small details and events that might be easily overlooked.

Also, the team has a new favorite song: Beautiful, by Phil Wickham.  Here’s the link…      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4cYdP1ngw

Also, to Dianna and Doug Grote: We love you and are praying for you.  The girls wore pink and some of us wore our 5K shirts in memory of Kristen. We love you!

Danis says: Tanner and David, I miss and love you!

Rivah rivah, bank bank!

Just a quick update for tonight!  Today was a fun day.  We always start with 5 psalms at each meal.  We all ventured to Calvary Baptist to play futbol with the nationals.  The boys stayed, joined by our missionary friends, and the girls went to Molepolole Baptist.  We played games with some of the children, including Lions and Zebras (Sharks and Minnows) and a game called River Bank, which we will have to teach you all!  Hope was a champ and beat all the children, just saying. Some girls did evangelism too.  The guys and Megan went to the pastor’s house for lunch after a full day of futbol, and fortunately there were no injuries apart from the Americans’ pride. Then all of us went out riding around “the Bush” on the back of Mr. Davis’s safari vehicle!  We returned to the Davis’s for some relaxation and lasagna with impala meat….mmm.  We are just about to worship together, but we wanted to say hello and we love you!  Praise God for an awesome day of fellowship and fun.

Love,

The B-Team

ps: The Davis’s dog named squirt ate Megan’s shoes.  JK, but she did cry.

…but then she was ok.

not an official update…again…

David & Tanner,

Wow, I can’t put in to words how much we miss y’all!!  We are having an amazing time.  It is so great to be a part of God’s work here.  Thank you for giving me, Hunter & Rachel this opportunity to come.  I know how hard it is to stay home and how hard it is not to hear.  We are all doing great and everyone is doing an amazing job.  This is such an amazing group of youth.  Daren, Shawna & family sends their love and miss you, too.  I love you both soooo much and miss you tons!!!! Tanner, we can’t wait to hear about your camp, I know you did great!  David hope all is going well with work and please don’t work too hard.  I love you both!!!!!   

Hi, Mom and Dad!! We love y’all!! Yall would be so proud how wonderful everyone is doing!! Thanks for all your training!!!

Shocking Developments…

Today was our second official day of ministry!  The day before yesterday, we had training with Todd and Branden, two of the missionaries we work with.  They prepared us with some strategic advice and encouragement for our ministry.  Then the girls cooked some delicious spaghetti, and we sat around the table for about an hour after finishing…you could call it “team bonding.”  We had many silly conversations and silly games such as “Mafia” and “Wink Murderer.”  The girls also had some shocking encounters involving the showers…:) something we like to call “sweet, hot, electric, water.”  Imagine those trick pens and gum packs that deliver tingly shocks to victims…We’re fine, but it has provided a lot of fear and laughs.  Yesterday was our first ministry day.  We split up into two groups; one at Molepolole Baptist and the other at Calvary Baptist.  Those groups split down further and translaters joined each.  We spent several hours prayer walking and evangelizing, and there are many exciting stories!  Some will have to be saved for later, but a few of our team members were able to pray with people who decided to follow Jesus! Later that evening we looked at the stars and worshipped together, joined by some workers at the Lodge.  Today was another day of ministry, and relationships were furthered and we had more adventures spreading the gospel.  Rachel and Logan had a particularly intersting adventure… There was a funeral coming up, and here, funerals are big events with a lot of preparation.  Like, 1,000 people.  So Logan and Rachel witnessed some nationals skinning and gutting bulls!  Jonathan and Hunter ended up helping.  Logan helped prepare some bread that we later ate–delicious.  Hope and Megan and Bryan had adventures in another part of the village… They revisited a boy on his birthday (Tatayaone), and he accepted Christ!  They also seemingly offended a woman walking with sticks on her head.  Hope and Megan were taking pictures and she started yelling at them.  Apparently she was kidding, haha, and then Bryan started carrying the sticks on his head.  Tyler and Matt have been working with the pastor of Calvary Baptist going door to door.  They gave their testimonies, and the kids have enjoyed seeing their pictures on Tyler’s camera.  By the way, keeping the number of pictures under 1,000 isn’t going to happen! Oh, and to all the kids at CSCC, hope you had a fantastic week and know I (the best teacher ever: tyler) miss you. Jonathan and Hunter: Nearly trampled by donkeys, debated evolution, talked to soldiers, talked to mothers, prayed as they walked, discipled others, rocked the Setswana language.  Emily and Danis met a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ, but they were also a part of a couple of people’s decisions to follow Christ!  Emily likes to get hit by trees with thorns on them.  Danis likes to feed a boy named Cupcake/Paluko and was almost sold a child today.  Start getting an extra bedroom ready, David! 🙂

Tonight is pizza night at the Davis’s! WOOOOHOO! We are about to have worships time, so we will see you later!  Please keep praying that God will be glorified in us!

Love,

The B-TEAM

Ps: to all the kids at CSCC, have a great week and

Not the official update

So the official update is coming soon…and God is doing amazing things in and through our team…and…Penny…I’m sorry we got cut off last night, I will try to talk to you soon….don’t worry! No matter what it takes, I WILL FIND YOU!!!! I love you, Bryan

Dear Encouragers,

Where do you get off being so supportive? 🙂

Thanks for all the comments and prayers!  Praise God, because we have arrived safely with all of our luggage.  It was a long tiring journey, but it was worth it.  We had our first home-cooked meal in Africa with the Davis family and the Warner family and some of the other missionaries we will be working with.  It was absolutely delicious, and the fellowship was very encouraging.  We are all looking forward to see what God will surprise us with, and praying that our theme, “Your Kingdom Come,” will be realized in many ways.  Thank you for your prayers and continued support.  We’ll update again soon! 

Love,

The B-Team

Heading out

Bags are being weighed, tagged, and loaded up…I think we are heading to Botswana!

Luke 10:9

You’re at the Botswana Team Blog

We will now refer to it as the B-Team, similar to the A-Team but without the van and the chains (anyone? no? ok)

We will only be able to check the blog every other day but keep the posts coming!