News > Africa

Botswana UBF, Africa
February 6, 2014

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”(Mark 1:35)

First: the work in new students. As usual, even last year, students came to the Bible study and quit. But Msn Deborah and I kept meeting the students and preaching the word of God to them. We had Bible study in their dormitory rooms or on benches or in classrooms. The Botswana campus has three months of vacation from July to September and one month and a half from December to mid-January. Most of the students who were doing well in Bible study became weak during the vacation and left us afterward. My key verse for 2013 was Revelation 10:10, “I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” I prayed to take the word of God with relish and share such tasty word of God with students. The word of God was tasty in my mouth, however students did not like it. Seeing them stop Bible study was painful to me. A student accepted the word of God well.

However, after the vacation he lost spiritual grace and desire, and left. I came to think, “They also will leave after a several Bible studies. Should I keep doing this? Until when should I repeat the same thing?” I wandered around the campus, not knowing where to go and whom to meet. But after studying Matthew 16:16, which says, “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” Campus students seemed to be spiritually dead. But Jesus who died for the sins of the world is the living God. He is alive. The living God is at work, though the situation appears so hard. Then I could get up and spread the word of God again. Then the living God sent us several good Bible students who heard the word of God sincerely. One student stayed outside the campus but he loved and studied the Bible. Another student did Bible study twice a week, inviting his friends in his room for the Bible study. On the last Sunday worship he wrote and shared his testimony. They came to the Sunday worship service and studied the Bible even during the examination period. I thank the living God for sending such precious students. I praise the living Lord for helping us not give up but feed campus students with his word of life. May they remain in the grace and truth of Jesus during vacation, and come back to Bible study.

Second: disciple-making ministry. Whenever the students graduated, they left for several reasons. Even last year, a student went away after graduation because his joy was to go far away from us. We had three students who were left as shepherd candidates. We used to have daily bread meeting in a student’s dormitory room. But last year every Thursday, we had group Bible study with these three students in our house. We shared the Bible testimony, the word of God and the delicious supper cooked by Msn Deborah. They learned to meditate on the word of God with an absolute attitude, enjoying Korean food. One of them is a student and a volleyball player. He used to have matches on Sundays. Even though he missed Sunday worship service sometimes, he learned the importance of keeping it and struggled not to miss it.

Another was the oldest, having shared fellowship with us for five years. We hoped for him to be the ancestor of Botswana campus ministry. He took one additional year, because he failed in three subjects. But when his graduation was near, he was bound to fail in some subjects of his 3rd year and all the subjects of his 4th year. His real problem was that he fell into his drinking habit and led a student to another student drug dealer to get commission. For fear of the police, he hid himself off-campus, not doing well in his school studies. He used to share the gospel with me. But now he has been hiding such a serious problem for over three years, ignoring all the chances to repent. His mother said that I must be responsible for him. I gave my effort to help him realize the gravity of his sin and repent it sincerely and study again. However he refused the word and chose to go back to his country Zimbabwe. As we confronted his problem, all our efforts for him that we have made for five years seemed to be in vain. We prayed to raise up life-giving disciples of Jesus. But he sold drugs for money.

I lost direction, not knowing how to serve students anymore. Because of him even the words of other students sounded like lies. I felt deeply defeated and sorrowful but God gave me his words through Haggai 2:4-5. “‘But now be strong…Be strong, all you people of the land…and work. For I am with you,' 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'” I felt deep loneliness but I was not alone. God was with me. Botswana campus mission was not a failure. The Spirit of God remained among us. Through his problem, God worked in two others, making them realize that any kind of sin problem will not remain hidden. They confessed their real problems in their testimonies. They became more sincere before God. Now they are in the 4th year, the last year. I worried that they, too, might quit our fellowship after graduation. But God gave me his promise that he was with me and his Spirit remained among us.

I pray to keep the promise of God so that I can keep working for Botswana students to raise up 12 faithful disciples of Jesus. I would like to hold on to Mark 1:35 as my 2014 new year key verse. Above all things, I need to humbly kneel down before God. Jesus gave his top priority for prayer to God. Then he was given new direction and strength to do the will of God; that is, preaching the word of God. He did not depend on his ability or successful experience. He depended on God in prayer. God will give me his wisdom and strength when I seek his help to do his will. I pray to learn Jesus’ earnest Morning Prayer.

One word: Jesus’ Early Morning Prayer

Timothy Chung