The last week and a half... Orientation

Orientation. Wow what can I say about this last week? It has been such a wonderful time. There are 14 HandsOn students that will be serving in Sub Sahara Africa. Most of us met in the Washington Dulles airport when our plane to South Africa was delayed over 3 hours. We spent the first two days on mainly team building activities to help us realize and see how important our partners and fellow HandsOn students are to us. We went to a local supermarket and were given just a little bit of pula, the Botswana money, and had to as partners buy our lunch. We rode the public transport, called Kombis which are basically 15 passenger vans, to different places in Gaborone such as an outdoor market.  The majority of this week, especially the first few days, were about bringing home the HandsOn values of being God-centered, Trusting, having a servant heart, being a team player, loyal, and humble, having integrity, and initiative. These values are so good to be in the front of anyone’s mind and heart but here in the field it has been so essential. This weekend we really had an interesting experience. We spent two nights at a national’s house. Emily and I stayed with the parents of a young man the missionary here is helping grow in Christ. The family is not Christians. They are a part of the Zion Christian Church. The home stay was really great. They taught us to make papa, the staple food, fat cakes which are basically fried bread, kind of like mdazies, sour sorghum porridge, and cooked vegetables. We helped clean the house, outside kitchen, and wash dishes without running water. They took us to their lands were we helped plant a few seeds. There was a lot of time spent just sitting under the shade of trees. Staying with the family was great. They were so welcoming. They called us their daughters and even gave us Setswana names. Mine was Lorato which means love and Emily was Mpho which means gift. The hardest part that I really felt your prayers and really needed them was they took us to their church with them. There was a lot of craziness going on. There were “prophets” getting up and taking people out to the back of the church structure in a circle of stone wall all during the service. Then one of the “prophets” wanted to talk to Emily and me. I had been uncomfortable the entire time but that was when it really got bad. People became more and more crying out, jerking and passing out. At this point Emily and I both felt like we didn’t know what to do and had been praying constantly but we ended up getting up a going out of the church. Thank you so very much for your prayers. We are now back in Gaborone at a nicer lodge that has air conditioning and internet! We are taking time to debrief and spend time in spiritual retreat and time together to get ready for our projects. That’s all I have for now so until next time!