From our street to yours ...

Glyn, Susan, Maeyken, Adriaena

January 2007                                                                   #4.1

New Years Goals or Resolutions?

January 10 is an important date in our calendar. I’d like to say that it is some big celebratory day like a birthday, anniversary or some other fun occasion. But in actual fact it is a very serious day that takes work and planning. It is the day that our “Annual Report” is due to Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church USA Witness and AIMM. But it’s not just any ordinary annual report that outlines the highlights and lowlights of the previous year with a brief statement about the coming year. No, in fact setting our goals for the coming year is a central part of this report.

Writing this report can be very uplifting. You can look back at what was accomplished in the previous year and get excited about future possibilities. But it can also be very frustrating as you discover what you didn’t do and the things that seem like mountains ahead of you. And so as we wrote this report we experienced feelings of satisfaction and success at what was accomplished yet also impatience and yes even failure at what didn’t happen. It is a difficult thing to measure one’s accomplishments in ministry. Growing up I often heard my mother reflecting that a woman’s work is never done. You can always find one more cupboard to clean, one more dusty shelf etc. Often times that’s how I feel with ministry. There’s always something left undone. There’s never enough time or energy in a day to do everything that could be done. And so when I come to January 10^th each year I can feel overwhelmed at all of the things that could be done or need to be done. That’s when Glyn’s systematic way of organizing things like reports helps to calm my spirit and to get a proper perspective.

So we sit and put on paper our goals for the coming year. But this year I want to think of them as resolutions not as goals. The difference may seem like semantics but I wonder what will happen if I change my thinking from goals to resolutions. We have a goal of helping to start new classes upon the initiative of Batswana leaders. What if instead of it being a goal I resolve to help get a ladies class started at the Spiritual Healing Church. I resolve to work with a church to put together a retreat focussing on Behavioural Change from a scriptural perspective. I resolve to connect better with those from North America who support our ministry here in Botswana. The list could go on and on... Goals or resolutions. Maybe they are the same thing. But whether it is a goal or a resolution both of us desire to do and be what God is calling us to do or be as we minister in God’s name representing the Mennonite Church from North America. Wow!

                                                                  Susan

Upcoming Events

Jan 25 - Feb 27 Glyn at Selly Oak, Birmingham England

Mar. 2-6 Mennonite Church Canada Learning Tour Participants in Botswana

Mar. 30 - April 1 Glyn visit Lerala to help the Bible class.

April 6-9 Paseka (Easter) We will worship with AICs all night for the weekend

April 10-24 Philip Cutmore - Glyn’s nephew will visit after being in South Africa for an “Out of Town” course from CMU.

April 21 - May 18 Friends Shirley and David Froese will visit.

May 15-28 Bluffton College student trip.

Bopaganang Basha Ba Semoya

This is the youth centre in Francistown that we support with finances and encouragement. Springsteen Mennonite Youth (Manitoba) have been raising money to help cover our financial contribution to this centre. We received the following affirmation in a report reflecting on an annual youth retreat they attend thanks to our support. “...I honourably take this time and space gratefully thanking the Interchurch Ministry Botswana for assisting us with finance. It has been very easy for us to attend this youth conference with the hep of ICMB for so many years that is why there deserve to be acknowledge. Rev Glyn Jones has done much in development of our bible programs and we still look forward for assistance from him, his ideas are very unique and helpful and we gonna continue implementing them.”

Thanks also to...

Rainham Mennonite Church Sunday school children (Ontario) who supported a young boy named Agreement by paying his tuition, transportation and other costs to attend school at Old Naledi Education Centre. Agreement is too old to attend the government school so must pay to go to this private school.

Shantz Mennonite Church Sunday school children (Ontario) who helped support Vanessa, a young woman who needed tutoring in order to rewrite her high school exams which she did not do well in the year before because of the untimely death of her mother. Vanessa’s mother was a long time friend and partner of Mennonite Ministry Botswana. Also to their Vacation Bible School children who sent their offering to help subsidize Bibles.

To all of you who sent Glyn birthday greetings in November for his big “50", as well as Christmas and New Years greetings. A special thank you to Wadsworth Mennonite Church (Ohio) for the Christmas Care package. We enjoyed making the “pizza” with our guests on Christmas day! The biggest thrill was the package of marshmallows. Here we cannot get packages of solely white marshmallows and they are never as fresh smelling or feeling as the ones you sent. Funny the things that make you miss home!!!

Family

Southern Africa Retreat was an amazing time together with our colleagues from Botswana and South Africa. We left Botswana feeling tired and drained but after the retreat and holiday time in Durban and the Drakensberg we felt refreshed and renewed. We have an amazing team of colleagues here in Southern Africa and we are incredibly thankful for this. We were 11 adults and 12 children (includes one friend) at retreat. Each day included a worship time prepared by one of the family groups which concluded with personal sharing and prayer. New Year’s eve we hung out together and enjoyed a chocolate fondue. We also found time to spend a day on the beach together, go hiking, play football (soccer) and other assorted games.

Maeyken began her high school career on January 17^th! She is attending Westwood International School and so far is really enjoying the new challenges and experiences. Adriaena returned to Thornhill for Standard 5. The first day was difficult without her sister but she has adapted quickly. She loves her teacher and is very excited about the coming year.

Glyn leaves on Thursday (January 25) for Birmingham England to spend the month reading about AIC’s. We will miss him here. (And not just for his wonderful Mr. Fix it qualities!) But in order to effectively reach our goals we need to understand more about the people and churches we are working with. While there he hopes to spend a weekend with Kent and Fran Brower in Manchester (prof and friends of Susan’s from Canadian Nazarene College), James and Inke Milligan in Edinburgh (friends from Egypt days) and Bob and Andrea Slinn in London. (relative). He also hopes to attend a variety of churches and make connections with Mennonites at the London Mennonite Centre. So with lots of reading to do and trains to ride between various locations we know the time will go by quickly for him!

Susan’s new year’s resolution (and yes this is a resolution) is to try to slow things down a bit. Life can be very full here with too many demands from too many people. She hopes to pursue a few more “just for me things”. We’ll keep you posted.

Contact us

Mail us at: 

Susan Allison-Jones &

 Glyn Jones

Box 33, Gaborone,

Botswana

Phone us at:

267-390-5554

(Just remember that we are 7 hours earlier than Ontario!)

We welcome your financial contributions for our support and invite you to send these to:

Mennonite Church Canada WITNESS

600 Shaftesbury Blvd

Winnipeg MB

Canada R3P 0M4

Please Pray for...

... Christina Søvndal’s work permit to teach in Botswana. Westwood International School is reapplying for her permit. Please pray that God will intervene in this. Work permits can be very difficult to get especially if it is not straight forward. Without a work permit Steen and Christina will not be able to afford to stay in Botswana.

... Maeyken and Adriaena and the Søvndal children as they begin new school years. Pray especially for Maeyken as she adjusts to a new school and high school expectations.

.... Glyn’s trip to the UK. Pray that he will learn a lot and that his time away will also renew and refresh his spirit. And for Susan, Maeyken and Adriaena as we stay here. Pray that we won’t encounter too many technical, household and vehicle problems while Glyn is away. Pray for safety and good health for all of us.

.... Mission Worker for Francistown. Mennonite Mission Network has identified someone who has been approved for ministry, who fits the needs for Francistown and who feels an emerging call to join us here in Botswana. We are very excited about this possibility. The Ministry Support Team (MST) is now working to get together financial support. (Network personnel must have their cost of being on the field in pledges or cash before they come. This can be a challenge for first time workers who do not yet have a support base or stories from the field to garner support.) Please pray that American churches and individuals will come forward to support this person. If you belong to a Mennonite Church in the US and wish to support the work in this way please contact Barbara Eichorn (secretary to Africa Network Administrator Steve Wiebe Johnson) at Mennonite Church USA mission Network (links from our home page).

... Clarification on Job responsibilities for Steen Søvndal. We are excited to have Steen working at Kgolagano College specifically with AIC students. However, connecting with these students given the structure of learning (distance learning and short courses) is proving to be a challenge. Pray for Steen and Susan as they work on clarifying expectations and possibilities with the leadership of the college.

Give Thanks for...

... an amazing Southern Africa retreat and a good vacation time

... good starts for our girls and the Søvndal children for a new school year. Especially give thanks for the quick acquisition of English for the Søvndal children. Pray for Annika (age 5) who is still taking it all in but not talking a lot. Thanks also for Rebekka’s improved health. All seems to be well now.