Update

Moruti James reported today that the electrician was onsite working on the power at the church and they expect the mechanic to pick up the van today to work on transmission.

He states their prayer service will focus on Nehemiah 1:5-11. Be sure to continue praying for Old Naledi and Botswana every Tuesday around 11am EDT. God is Good!

Kealeboga (Thank you!)

Mareko

Back Home

Here's some pictures from Mareko and Nancy. We should have some video up soon and will also add Clay's pictures as a link soon. Glad to be back home and looking forward to the next trip back to Botswana. Thank you God!

Old Naledi Photos 2009

On the plane and heading to GSP. Clay and Scott fly on to Columbia later. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Videos and pictures later!

We are on the ground in ATL. Thank you God!!!

Last day in Old Naledi

We leave Gabs tomorrow at lunch. We have so much to share about this
week and look forward to sharing the vision! Please pray for safe and
comfortable travel! See you soon.

Clay, Scott, Joel, Nancy, Jason and Mareko

New book shelves

They now have two and we placed an order for 3000 Pulas worth of
children's books thanks to our vacation bible school kids!

Gakuto

We traveled to the remote village of Gakuto today. There is a church
building there; but, no current pastor. The last young pastor failed
morally and the church planters now face major obstacles on finding a
replacement suitable for the situation he created. Please pray for
Gakuto (pronounced "Ha Koo Toe"). We also visited the chief of the
village and his family for prayer and consultation. The chief's
mother is a christian and shared her testimony with us. We then went
to the primary school to visit the head master and to pray over the
school. The church must have a presence there in Gakuto because many
folks from Gaborone are moving out there and they expect the village
to grow 10x in the next ten years. We can't get behind there because
the vaccum will be filed by another force if not the church. Prayer is
critical!

We also went out to some other remote rural churches, including one
started by David Livingstone and the London Missionary Society in
1907. That was a true inspiration and a major piece of Christian
hertitage. We prayed for a terminally ill man and his family- 11
people packed into the hut to pray for him.

We joined back up with the group in Old Naledi for the youth service
(young adults). Joel and Jason gave their testimonies and Pastor Clay
even preached from the floor for illustrative purposes, they got a
kick out of that!

We ended the night at a Brazillain steakhouse, it was an embarrassment
of riches compared to the feeding station.

Tomorrow is our last full day. We are procuring shelves and desks for
the library and going to a bookstore to place book orders for the
children's library. We hope to have the wiring complete for the church
tomorrow if all goes as promised.

Clay and Mark got authentic cowbells in the village of Molepolelei
today. It reminds us of hearing the cow herds in the Khalahari on
Monday.

I will have incredible photos from today online once we get home. Know
you are missed! We send our Love. Goodnight from Gaborone.

via iPhone

Wednesday

Today was a full work day. I think we made about 5 or 6 runs into town
for hardware and supplies. We restored the water lines and gas lines
for the feeding station- it took most of the day. The kids had a meal
but it was mostly corned beef from a can ( well, Nancy said that
wasn't like the corned beef we know and I agree) and a piece of bread.
We also got an electrical contractor to come out to the church- well,
we had to go get him with the van. We hope to have full power to the
church before we leave.

We also helped with Awanas tonight with Joel stepping up and leading
the bible story. We made almost 100 cross necklaces for the kids
before they went out into the setting sun. We have some much to be
thankful for with our kids' programs back home. Supplies seem optional
here!

Tomorrow the team is going to work on the electricity and assist the
feeding station. Clay, Scott and Mark are going back out towards the
Khalahari to visit a remote village and look at the outreach programs
we are being lead to start there. Please pray that we have safe travel
and comfort. Pray for electricity at the church and for the library
work we are doing.
We send our thanks and hellos to all back home. We hope you like the
pictures, many more to follow.

In His Steps, Mareko

via iPhone

Plumbing done Freedom style!!!

Story time before feeding station

Kids at Awanas

Joel teaching story of Jonah

Awanas bible story with Joel and Moruti James translating.

Making cross necklaces for kids

AWANAs Old Naledi

Plumbing TIA style

This took some tinkering!!!

The new church

Amazing sight!!!!

Church grounds

Dumela from the kids

TIA

This is Africa. We learned yesterday that we can never plan life and
that God is always in control. We set out for Khatsu game park very
early yesterday and TIA kicked in...
Random thoughts about the trip....

1. You never take a combi church van (Toyota van with very low
clearance) off the beaten path. Please know right now this was not our
idea and we went with Moruti James and Matada, we were not cowboying
it! We didn't find out until later that they had not seen this part
of Botswana before- they have family where the pavement ends, but have
little experience past that...

2. The beaten path can also include more dirt roads than most of can
imagine here. We drove for 2 hours after the pavement ended.

3. The Khalahari desert is a rough,rough place. But, people do call it
home and so do more donkeys than I have ever seen! That also appears
to be the preferred mode of transportation.

4. God wanted us to see and meet the bushmen. We did and they helped
us without hesitation. You would have to pick up a Natl Geographic to
see these images- most refuse to allow pictures. I never would imagine
a hut made out of old beer (cardboard milk cartons) cartons- African
recycling!

5. The bushmen make a great bow and arrow set- not too sure what they
kill with it, but it's not a toy! Their bead necklace skills using
porcupine quills are also very exceptional. No "made in china"
stickers here.

6. China is here too, they are financing the road construction that we
went through.

7. When you rent a land rover from the game park, check the petro
level first!!! We made it to the first watering hole in the park about
the time we made the executive group decision that we didn't want to
spend the night in the bush with over 300 lions in the area. So, no
lions yesterday. We are all very thankful for that even if we wanted
to see them when we left!

8. That long dirt road gets even longer and more difficult when
pulling a broken-down church van. We towed it on dirt road for 2 1/2
hrs. Jason is now known as Mater (see Cars movie) for his driving and
towing skills. It took almost 6 hrs to get back to Old Naledi.

9. Gaborone never looked as good as it did at 0100 am last night when
we rolled (literally) into town.

10. Despite the circumstances of our adventure yesterday, it was an
advenutre and our team is much closer because of it.

We are starting late today (see above); but, should be working on
electricity for the church building and getting the water lines fixed
at the feeding station. Vandals broke in last Saturday and stole all
of the copper tubing for the gas and water, that is heartbreaking, but
we can fix it. God can make it right! Pray for the team to find extra
strength and endurance today.

I could write volumes about yesterday; but, not on a phone keyboard.
Know we are all good, tired, thankful beyond measure, excited,
challenged and ready for more TIA!!!!

Mareko

via iPhone