Field News

Reach 4 Life kicks off
Department: Mercy Ministries

We have started the Reach 4 Life abstinence program, which focuses on biblical principles and life skills in a way that is relevant and communicating with the youth. We will be using this in five secondary schools this year, hoping to reach all the students with the Reach 4 Life book (which includes the New Testament) and have 300 students in Reach 4 Life clubs at the different schools. We have already presented it to the school heads and teacher and they give us their full support. We have also started training of club leaders. Our goal is to promote abstinence to the degree that it becomes a positive peer pressure to abstain.

The program is being led and implemented by Munya Katumba, and with him are Angela Smartt, Thato Ngele and Israel Boogere. They have a lot of experience working with youth, and are very excited about the whole program. Our greatest challenge at the moment is to have enough Reach 4 Life bibles to distribute to all the students at the school.

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Tumelo Playpark suspended
Department: Mercy Ministries

The Tumelo Playpark began as a startup program for orphaned and vulnerable children in Maun. The local social and community development department decided that Tumelo needed to be registered and could not be operated informally. After a number of meetings we agreed to close the program while reviewing alternatives. We are currently seeking approval to use one of the residential houses at the Love Botswana plot until we can raise money for a permanent building for 30 children. In the meantime, we have split the group of children into two and take them on field trips throughout the week, which they thoroughly enjoy. But it is difficult and frustrating not to have a permanent place to operate, more so for Siw, Ketty, Bogolo and Caroline who all go the extra mile to help those kids in a difficult situation. We are, however, optimistic about the future and the hopes for a new building. We just hope it won’t be too far away...

The Tumelo Playpark program not only focuses on the educational needs of the children, but looks at the whole situation from where they come. This means we are working with more than 100 people, providing counselling, practical help such as food and clothes, and assistence for them to access other sources such as government programs. One girl we are helping is 15 years old and severely handicapped. She is being looked after by her 19 year old sister who just gave birth to a little baby. Because of lack of care, she developed bad pressure sores. We have been assisting with taking her to the clinic for treatment as well as stimulation to her on a regular basis. Her pressure sores have now healed completely, and she has progressed in her developments. Zhie and Rachel, our two case-workers, are truly busy following up on all the needs.

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Care – Lorato Home
Department: Mercy Ministries

It is our vision to be able to provide emergency care for abandoned and orphaned babies until permanent solutions can be found for them. The need for this has been highlighted over the last two years, as, here in Maun, four babies have been abandoned and sent to the hospital for care. It is one of the goals of the Lorato Home to return the babies to the care of their birth parents or birth relatives if at all possible. In November, Love Botswana was asked to care for a baby which the mother was unable to care for. One of our volunteers – Rachel – cared for the little baby boy full time for six months, helped by Johanne during daytime. The baby was recently able to be returned to the care of his mother. We are planning to build a specially designed house specifically for this program as soon as funding can be secured.

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Village Church Discipleship Report
Department: Village Church

• 36 people have started the discipleship program since the beginning of this year and 7 have graduated so far
• 20 people have been saved through church services since Jan 2006
• We have launched the discipleship program in the All Nations Village Church – Sehitwa. 10 people attended the first session.
• The discipleship material has been translated to Setswana and we plan to begin this discipleship with inmates at the Boro prison here in Maun in April.

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Training up Evangelists
Department: Village Church

We have trained 30 students from Love Botswana Bible Institute in evangelism using Evangelism Explosion III training. Seven of our existing evangelism team members from the Village Church have helped with the practical training of the bible college students. During this training 44 souls have been saved thus far and at least a quarter of this number has attended our church services and begun discipleship classes.

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Bible Institite has a New Director
Department: Love Botswana Bible Institute

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish he will eat for a life time.”

This is our goal at Love Botswana Bible Institute. It is not our goal as missionaries to reach all of Southern Africa on our own but it is to train up and equip the sons and daughters of Africa. We are excited to see this happening. This term has been our largest class. We have 34 students. They are doctors, teachers, rural pastors, lay leaders in churches, sons and daughters of pastors from other churches. We have young men and women fresh out of secondary school. Pastors from other churches and other towns have sent us their young men and women to train in ministry.
The students are being taught Systematic Theology, Missions, Evangelism, classes on how to draw near to God, how to be release from past hurts as well as how to guard yourself from future offenses. Weekly we have students testifying about how the things that they are being taught in Bible School are impacting their lives now. Some of our students are professionals that have recognized the call on their lives to be missionaries to other countries.
It’s working.
The vision is coming to pass.
Weekly many of our bible school students go out on Saturday to do evangelism. Numerous people are being led to the Lord and discipled because of their efforts. As a practicum the students are required to plan and implement three mission trips. They went on their first trip on March 29th to a neighboring village. Please keep us in your prayers. We are claiming Botswana and southern Africa for the Kingdom of God. We dream big because our God is big. King David once said “...taste and see that the Lord is good.” If you were to talk with our Bible school students you would gain a deeper appreciation for what King David meant by this statement. It is a great blessing and a wonderful challenge to be the director of LBBI. Please keep us in your prayers and be apart of the great work that God is doing in Southern Africa.

Director,
Michael Walker

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