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Botswana UBF, Africa

March 22, 2013

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."

1. Easter Bible Academy

We held the Easter Bible Academy with a total of nine attendants (two missionaries, three brothers and four sisters) on April 7-8, 2012. During the Academy we studied Exodus 16 to have daily bread training, and John 19 and 20 regarding Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. We had a wonderful Easter choir and prepared a worship dance for the Southern African regional conference. We also had a Gospel key verses memorization competition and awarded the first and the second place winners. In the middle of academy night one brother heard that his room was broken into and two laptops were stolen. We prayed earnestly for him and for the Resurrection message. That night the robber was caught and all laptops were returned. The next Easter morning we praised the Risen Lord and his resurrection power joyfully. We prayed to live by resurrection faith.

2. Southern African Conference

We prayed to invite our 6six regular members (Sis: Anikie, Kabo, Charity, bro: Michael, Martin, Kitso) to the Southern African regional Bible conference. UB campus had three months vacation from May to July. After finishing her five year study sis K didn't come back to Gaborone. Another sis A quit Bible Study due to her busy work and worldly desire. Another Sis C got a boyfriend and had family persecution towards our church. She must change her old passport to get a new one for the trip. But her parents refused to give her her old passport. Brother K could not find his passport. Another brother M had family problems and another brother M had spiritual depression. So inviting one person to the conference was too hard. But God heard our prayer and SA co-workers' prayers. Finally two days before the conference Charity got her new passport in an express way and Michael restored his spirit. They attended the conference and received much grace. Charity overcame her family environment and prayed to be a witness of Jesus. Michael repented his absence in worship service and decided to serve UB campus students sincerely. They invited their friends and the students to Sunday worship service.

3. New academic year invitation

In August UB began the new academic year with new first-year students. After the regional conference, with a new spirit we invited many freshmen. They invited their friends to the Bible study. 16 new students and three graduates began to attend our Sunday worship service but finally five brothers and one sister remained even though most of them quit the Bible study after trying one time or three times. Two boys, Lars and Omphile, finished 12 steps in one semester of three months. This is the first time since we started Botswana campus ministry in 2004. When we could no longer use a common room in the campus for our Sunday worship services, they offered their dormitory room for our Sunday worship service.

We had a Bible testimony sharing dinner party on November 16. Msn. Deborah prepared exotic Korean food and three brothers and four sisters attended with their testimonies and shared them.

4. Daily Bread Sharing Meeting 

The most impressive thing the last year was that we had continued weekly daily bread sharing meetings on campus. Four students came to this meeting regularly. We prayed that young students could have and keep a personal faith based on the words of God at all times. Through this time we could repent our sins before God and others. One day before the meeting, a brother asked what was the meaning of today's passage. Though this meeting, we could train ourselves to deny ourselves to come to the meeting in the evening and to mediate on the words of God.

5. Disciple training in Pretoria

Kitso and Michael prayed to be shepherds and fed some students. But Kitso was a UB volleyball player and sometimes missed Sunday worship service due to matches. Michael went to another city Francistown for his driving license test for two months. On December 3-7, Pretoria center planned to have a disciples' training camp. Kitso could go to Namibia as a Botswana youth volleyball player, but he chose a spiritual training in Pretoria. Michael couldn't pay transportation fees to come to Gaborone but he asked money from his uncle and came one day before the camp. They could have a good opportunity to study the Bible and fellowship with many shepherds of Pretoria and Mozambique.

The last year was not very easy to us. Two shepherdess candidates left us after graduation. One brother senior student who tasted Jesus' forgiving grace but was very weak left us saying that he could not manage to join in every Sunday service. Serving him was a burden. However his leaving us was a bigger pain. Material independence problems still remain and we lost our place for Sunday worship service. But we devoted ourselves to the meditation of God's words and to writing. We made an effort to feed ourselves first to take care of the students.

Through the study of Revelation, I could hear a word saying, "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." Humanly I prefer a sour fruit to a sweat chocolate or candy. But when a couple continues campus mission for a long time without fruit it is really sour. Enjoying the words of God alone is sweet. But obedience to the word of God is sour. But if I obey God's word, I can taste the sweet love of God. I am grateful for being used in his work itself. Seeing some students eat the words of God is really sweet. Sharing the gospel of Jesus was a great joy. When Msn. Deborah comes back from the Bible study, she is really pretty. I pray that I may eat the sweet word of God diligently to feed the students with the abundant words of God. I pray that we may keep doing gladly the sour campus mission with the sweet words of God.

Prayer topics:

1. May each member grow to be an independent servant of God's words through daily bread
2. May Michael, Kitso, and Charity feed a sheep
3. May God grant us the best place for Sunday worship service
4. May 12 devoted disciples of Jesus be raised up.
5. May the income of the taekwondo business double.

By Timothy Chung, Botswana UBF