From our street to yours ...
Glyn, Susan, Maeyken, Adriaena
April 2009 #6.1
Hearing God's Voice
Steven Ncube, pastor
of the Brethren in Christ Church, being
tranlated from English to Setswana.How do we hear God’s voice? Many years ago when I worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship they requested that all high school groups deal with the question “how can we hear God's voice?” on an annual basis. Discerning God’s voice amongst all of the other voices and messages can be a difficult thing.
God's voice is not always loud and clear. We have to listen and often that involves being quiet and asking good questions. We hear God's voice as we listen to our hearts and as we discern where we find the joy of God in our lives. We hear God's voice as we read and reflect on the Bible. We hear God's voice as we listen to the people of God and as they too carefully consider what God is saying.
Mennonites believe strongly that God talks to us through the community of believers. Before coming to Botswana we spent time talking to people about the move. We spent time in prayer. We listened to others around us. And we called a discernment group together. That evening we told people of two options and asked them to pray for us. They then went and spent about an hour in prayer. When they returned they talked about what they had seen and heard and we listened. People reflected on scripture that had come to mind. Some had images that they saw. One person had a significant vision of our family in various settings. In her visions Botswana was the only place where all four of us were visible and happy. When we listened to all these voices we heard God speaking to us and it was clear that we were being called to Botswana.
More recently we have been processing whether to stay in Botswana or return to Canada. There are some very practical considerations that have been part of this
decision. God is telling us that now is a good time to return as a family. Ministry wise it also feels like the right time. Throughout our time here we have seen significant transitions in the way the Mennonites are involved in the ministry with AIC’s here in Botswana. We are now at the point that significant shifts need to be made. So we have been asking God “what next?” Some voices were saying “stay,” and others “time to return.”. After much discernment we decided that now is the time to go. And amazingly, virtually as soon as we made that decision we had a surprising amount of peace about it. Leaving will not be easy as all of us have formed a real attachment with friends, the ministry here and this land. But we believe that now is the time that God is saying to us to leave the ministry here in God’s hands and move on to the next challenge God has in store for us.
Easter at the
Spiritual Healing Church
Susan with Mma
Propheto and Mma
Bishopo at the Spiritual Healing
Church Easter Celebration.Listening to God's voice is a task for all of us no matter what our age. Is God calling us to a change? Is God asking us to move or to do something different in our lives? Is God nudging us to call someone or reach out to help someone? Is God asking us to use the skills that we have accumulated in a long working career to help others in a far away place – maybe not making the salary we are now? I suspect that God is calling to us often and we are not ready to listen and so miss the exciting possibilities that God had for us.
Glyn
In the Future
What have we been doing?
♦ A visit to Mthata, South Africa. Glyn travelled to Mthata, for 10 days at the beginning of February. He participated in the quarterly Bible Conferences of the Bethany Bible College. Mennonite Church USA Network Colleagues, Joe and Anna Sawatzky work with African Independent Churches in the Transkei. Glyn found it very helpful to see a different model and to talk with Joe and Anna about the similarities and differences of our work with Independent Churches.
Madudu with new
glasses
facilited by a North American
donation.
♦ Bible Classes beginning. We are excited to tell you that the Old Naledi class began with new members in February. They are meeting every Tuesday evening under the capable leadership of Mme Osupeng. It is a small group but very dedicated. Just as exciting, a pastor from a village 60 kms from Gaborone contacted Mme Osupeng and told her that his church was interested in starting a study. Glyn visited one Sunday with local leaders and the class was born. They now have more than 15 people studying the Bible every Sunday!!!
Lindell-Detweiler’s
and us on the drive
south from Francistown.
♦
Selebi Phikwe and Palapye On our way to Francistown we
stopped by Palapye and swung by Selebi Phikwe to talk with leaders who
are interested in starting Bible Studies in their communities. It is
exciting to know that people are sincerely interested in studying the
Bible.
♦ Visit with Steve Wiebe-Johnson Mennonite USA Network Africa Director. Steve flew in for a few days in March for an annual administrative visit. We spent a lot of time talking about transition details as well as reflecting on our ministry and future ministry possibilities.
♦ Saying Good Bye Sundays are busy days. Glyn continues to preach half time at our English Speaking congregationG West. After church finishes we have been going to an AIC church for a “one last time” visit. It has been very humbling to listen to the kind works of the pastors and church members and be brought into the centre of the circle to be prayed for. On March 29 we worshipped with the local Brethren in Christ church for one last time. It is exciting to see how that church has grown in six years.
♦ Easter Services We spent Maundy Thursday and Good Friday with the Spiritual Healing Church in Matsiloje. (Near Francistown) What an honour to be with the 3,000 plus worshippers who came to Matsiloje to remember Christ’s suffering and death and celebrate the resurrection. We were able to spend some time fellowshipping and eating with the Prophet and his wife as well as other church leaders. We returned to Gaborone on Saturday and joined the G-West congregation on Easter morning. Glyn brought the message concluding a series that he has been preaching there on the Gospel of
Mark.
♦ Visit with Phil, Christine, Nathan, Annika
and Lydia Lindell-Detweiler friends and mission colleagues
(Mennonite Church USA
Network) from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The Lindell-Detweiler’s
met us in Francistown and travelled back to Gaborone with us.
How good it was to visit with this family one last time in this part of
the world. We will miss working in ministry with them. We braiied
(barbequed) a turkey for our Easter dinner and enjoyed eating outdoors
- not something we expect we will be able to do next Easter!
♦ Visit with Steve Wiebe-Johnson Mennonite USA Network Africa Director. Steve flew in for a few days in March for an annual administrative visit. We spent a lot of time talking about transition details as well as reflecting on our ministry and future ministry possibilities.
♦ Selling, sorting and more selling Need I say more?
Multi national Party
at Gaborone Game park. Batswana,
Canadians, Americans, French, Danish, Germans.
Family:
Selling and sorting may be the two words that best describe our family activity for the past couple of months. Maeyken commented that our house felt like a store as people came and went. As hard as it is to move it always feels good
to get rid of the clutter in one’s life.
Adriaena is thriving in her last year at Thornhill. She is very disappointed that she won’t be able to finish the year out with her classmates. Meanwhile we have been encouraging her to make the best of the time that she has. She had a HUGE birthday party on the 20th of March. 13 of her friends were here and 11 stayed overnight. We had great fun serving them a mystery meal for supper. (Items were given mystery names and people selected three courses based on what they thought the items might be.) At school she was given the honour of being voted by her peers to be the Vice Captain of her house. Notwane won the school inter house swimming gala spirit award so she even got the thrill of being able to accept the cup along with the Captain. At that same gala she tied with another girl her age for the top swimmer of her age group. It was a great way to complete her swimming career at Thornhill.
School life for Maeyken isn’t quite as exciting. But she manages to spice her weekends up a bit to make up for it! Maeyken’s last day at Westwood was April 9th. Her class is preparing for big exams in July so it doesn’t make sense for her to return for two weeks in May. She has picked up some individual French tutoring which will continue on into May and will do some voluntary work for her parents and for a friend who teaches at a local school. From April 9 to 24 she will be in Durban for two weeks with one of her best friends who moved down there in January.
I (Susan) was part of a abstract art class for six weeks. I felt totally out of my element but throughly enjoyed the challenge. I am also realizing how much I will miss the international community here in
Gaborone. For the past couple of years I have been meeting regularly with ladies for whom English is not their first language. It has been such a joy to get to know them and watch as their English improved.
Please Pray for...
...The Bopaganang Basha Youth Centre. It appears that there are some administrative issues with the agency that is funding part of their work. Please pray that they will be able to clear these issues up and that they will be able to develop a transparency for their work that allows for better accountability. Pray for Network worker Melanie Quinn as she walks along side the leaders of the Centre.
... us as we travel and as friends travel to say good bye.
... New and Potential Bible Studies. Thank God for the new studies in Old Naledi and Thamaga. Continue to pray that other locations will be able to organize themselves and begin studies. Pray especially that the current Batswana leaders will feel confident enough to mentor and help the new leaders as they begin classes.
... Transition Details. There are many things that need to be looked after as we leave Botswana. We have found renters for both houses and someone to help look after administrative details. We still have a lot of work to do to get the office and administrative side of life in order to hand over to the next people.
... Moving Details. We feel in a good space in terms of our organization of selling and packing. But we still have some major things to sell - the biggest one being our car. In addition surprises are a part of everyday life. So sometimes when you think you’ve got everything figured out you discover that you really don’t.
... Good Goodbyes Pray for all four of us as we say good bye to friends, ministry partners and colleagues.
Contact us
Mail us at:
Box 33, Gaborone,
Botswana
Phone us in Botswana:
267-390-5554
(Just remember that we are 6 hours earlier than Ontario!)
Skype at: susanglyn
Email us at:
Our web site: which includes pictures and previous newsletters:
There have been some issues with our blog since the web site was relocated. We are still working on it and you should be able to check it out soon at:
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