Great Things He has done!!

Scott and I returned home from our trip north on Sunday. To say the week was wonderful, eventful, God-filled, and blessed doesn't begin to describe it. Our travel on Tuesday was safe and smooth - a sweet time of "one on one" for us. We meet up with the rest of the team in Francistown for lunch. The team consisted of 4 men from the states that traveled with www.calltoafrica.org , 6 Rally Team members from Face the Nation, and 3 members from OBC. After unloading at the farm in Sebina where we called home for the week we trekked into Masunga. Every evening of the trip we were part of the team doing Evangelistic Rallies in different villages. Tuesday night started in the market area of Masunga. We set up lights, sound systems, keyboard, and puppet stage in front of a small grocery store. The FTN rally team performed and Ken Galyean shared the gospel. We celebrated with Several new believers that night. Below is a picture of me with a young woman (in red stripes) who decided to follow Jesus.

On Wednesday the Pastor's Conference and Children's Ministry Conference began. We were happy to have 12-14 leaders spend 3 days of intensive training with us. Scott did an excellent job as always explaining the importance of Children's Ministry, equipping them with new ideas on teaching, and providing them with 2 years of curriculum. I was glad to be there to assist him and encourage the leaders. Wednesday evening our evening rally was held in Mosojane a village we have served and invested in this past year. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in that place despite the high winds and sands about blowing you down was incredible. Many, many more people made first time decisions to follow Christ including many of the children we have worked with the past 3 times we visited. Scott was able to pray with the children and encourage them in their walk with Jesus. Please continue to pray for these children to grow in their knowledge of Jesus and to be discipled through the local church. I am attaching a few pictures of the conference and the mosojane rally.

On Thursday Scott took me early in the morning to visit my sweet friend Elizabeth who runs a daycare in the small village of Malambakwena - 5K from Masunga where the conference was happening. Due to transport I ended up spending the day there with Elizabeth, teacher Grace, teacher Kate and 20 precious children. Elizabeth and Grace had both been part of the Children's Ministry Conference we led in August at Open Baptist Church. I enjoyed helping Elizabeth cook, reading to the children, and hearing everything they have learned this year. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed my time there.

The rally on Thursday was held in Malambakwena. There was a small crowd due to the "unseasonably" cold winds but we Praise the Lord for the one teenage girl who made a public profession of faith. Please pray for her and the others that heard the gospel message. Pray for transformation for this entire village. After the rally we packed up as we did every night and headed back to Sebina for bed. This night I was blessed to have little visitor spend the night with me. Natasha (Elizabeth's 5 year old) wanted to go with me - so of course I took her! ( You never have to twist my arm to take a little girl home with me)!!

Friday was the last day of the conference. We had a few things to do around the villages including going back to the daycare center to repair an awning over the playground and deliver some food that Mr. Brian had bought for them. The conference was a success and the participants left feeling equipped, encouraged, and empowered to continue the good work in their ministries. That afternoon I had the opportunity to go to a prayer meeting at the local high school of Masunga. There were 1200 students in attendance to be prayed over and encouraged before they started their final exams. Friday night was our last rally and was held in the village of Sebina. The farm we had been staying at was owned by one of the local pastors and she had told us of the prayers she had poured out over this village. She shared her heart about Sebina being very oppressed but her vision of it being won for Jesus. I know I have said this many times before but it is hard to put into words what the Lord did that night. As the rally began I sat in the chairs among the people and was soon surrounded by 3 or 4 young kids. After the Ken shared and invited response to the message the little girl in front of me turned around with tears in her eyes and asked me to go with her to the front. It was my honor and privilege to do just that. As the Holy Spirit continued to move many, many others came forward to begin their walk with our Lord Jesus. We prayed with them and took their information to give to a local church for follow up. As this was happening the crowd of people began to grow. Many walked over from the bar next door to see what was going on. Feeling led by the Spirit, Ken decided to start the rally again since so many had gathered. The outpouring of the Spirit that night was beyond belief. One woman testified to having issues with alcohol. She said I have a beer in the car that I am drinking. She went to the car and poured the remainder out. She said I want this Jesus and I want to live for Him!! We prayed with many and counseled many more. Scott was witness to a Muslim man praying the sinners prayer and was able to talk with him and put a Bible in his hands. How can I describe this night? Only one way - "GO GOD!!!" Here are few pictures from Friday.

Saturday morning Scott and I packed up to head home to our boys. The rest of the team ran a soccer tournament with the local schools. We made it back to Francistown, got some gas in the car and started the 4 1/2 hour trip home. About 3K out of Francistown the Surburban just stopped. Scott was pushing the peddle and the engine was running but nothing was happening. We made it to the side of the road where it totally stopped. We just looked at each other and said "now what?" with no contacts in Ftown we called the team we left in Masunga. We then called Elizabeth and her husband Pastor Andrew. They started making some contacts with people they knew and before long a pastor and his wife came to help us. We had the car towed and the Pastor helped us get into a motel and gave us some vouchers for dinner and breakfast. In the mean time our sweet friends Andrew and Elizabeth had "hitch hiked" to Ftown to be with us. They wanted to make sure we were OK. We were so grateful to have them with us. We finally got the Suburban to a car repairman that works on electrical issues - which was the problem. In God's divine way the mechanic was also a lay leader of a church and is called into missions himself. We spent some time with he and his wife listening to their testimonies and God stories. Darren (the electrical mechanic) reminded us that God was looking out for us because had we been farther down the road we could have have been stranded and been unable to get back into Francistown before things closed for the day. He also shared of deciding to turn his phone off for the weekend so they could rest and how his wife was the one that called by the other pastor to see if they could help us out. Do things happen by chance? I think NOT - God has divine appointments for all of us. After dinner Andrew and Elizabeth headed back to Mosojane where they live and we had an evening alone with nothing but REST... Something we have a hard time getting!! That night before bed we realized our laptop was missing so we spent much of our "supposed rest" racking our brains on when and where we last had the computer. At this point we were really feeling "under attack" - after all, messing around in Satan's territory doesn't come without opposition. The next morning we continued to try to locate the computer, making calls to places we had been and people we had been with. After we checked out of the motel we were to meet up with the rest of the team on their way back to Gaborone. While Scott was checking out I was looking at our bags and realized one of mine was not there. I told Scott that I thought the bag was in the back seat of the Suburban and that the laptop was in it. He called the mechanic (whose number we now had ourselves) and sure enough it was!!! Relief!! The team made it to Ftown around lunch time and we got in the church van with 7 of them. We arrived back Late Sunday night - so happy to see our boys again. We are blessed to have some really good friends in Gabs that came on Saturday when we got stuck and took them to stay at their house. The boys had fun and we didn't have to worry. We left the Suburban in Francistown to be repaired and are praying to have it back by the weekend. Here is a picture of Darren and Diane with Scott this was our ride into town to meet the rest of the team.

We are home now reflecting on the Great Things HE has done!!

Please continue to pray for the people of North East Botswana. Pray for all of those that made decisions to follow Jesus. Please pray that others would come to know Him as Lord. Pray that all who attended the conference will be fruitful in their ministry to children. Pray for Red Hills Daycare as they seek to reach the youngest, very vulnerable children. Pray that God would meet their financial needs so they can minister to more. Pray for Pastor Alan and wife Lindy as the minister in a church in Francistown. Pray for Darren and Diane as they minister also. Pray that God would supply everything they need to do the ministry he has given them vision to do. Pray that Darren would be able to fix our Suburban quickly and cost effectively. Praise God with us for all of HIS provision on our trip. Praise him for our boys being well cared for by Kez, Mercy and Vivian. Praise him for the Davis Family that kept them on Saturday and Sunday. Praise him for all of His promises including the one we clung too during our time of attack ~ "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 1John4:4

We love you all!!! ~ Tonya