Kgale Hill

Climbing Kgale Hill is definitely a highlight of the trip for me. A bunch of the UB (University of Botswana) students joined us for the afternoon. Throughout the project, students from BotsCru ( the Campus Crusade group on UB's campus) joined us. I honestly can't imagine not having the UB students involved in the project. I am so grateful to get to know them and to have their help and guidance along the way.

It took about an hour to climb to the top. Our team split up into smaller groups each going at their each desired pace. As we climbed up the rocky trails, it was so cool to see the nature that covered the hill. Small flowers occasionally graced the branches of bushes or would pop from behind high brown grass. Leaves on trees that are not like leaves in the US, but made me think of fern leaves. The bright blue Botswana sky  was peppered with clouds that never seemed to be able to hide the sun.

When we reached the top, the entire city of Gaborone and the surrounding area sat at the foot of Kgale Hill. Mountains danced off over the horizon.  The view left me at a loss for words. All I could think off was the vast amount of land and creation I could see. All the space from the sky down to the ground and the expanse of what my eyes could see, was still like an ant in respect to how big God is. He formed and molded the mountains running along horizon. He created the people, the goats, the cows, the monkeys, and the ants that roamed in this area. And even though God is a huge dude, He cares enough about you and me to care about us and work in and through our lives.

After taking the view in for a little while, we all gathered and prayed for the city, for UB, for what God was going to do in the coming weeks and for the children and people of Old Naledi. We sang a few worship songs and the UB students led us in a few songs. We took a group picture and then headed back down to the combis wiating for us. The sun was starting to set and it soon would be dangerous to be on Kgale Hill. When we got to the bottom, one of the combis would not start. As our director and Blondie, the guy who drove the second combi, tried to jump start it, we prayed that it would start, but if not that God would be given the glory of whatever was to happen next. After many attempts and about  twenty minutes later, the combi started. I was really convicted that my first response to situations is not to turn to God and pray about it. It has continued to stick with me even here at home.


All in all, Kgale Hill was awesome.

Dumela!!!

I am safe and sound here at home! I apoligize that this blog didn't work out as I thought it would. I am going to try to post about some of the experiences I had while I was in Botswana. This is a post I wrote after the first week. For some reason it would not post while I was there.

One week ago I was just about to leave for Botswana. Now I have a full week under my belt of going from Washington DC, Senegal, South Africa and finally Botswana. There is so much to share and a limited time to share it in. It might be a little scatter brained as I write this. It's been a crazy week and it's 10:51pm here. We have been working with students here at the University of Botswana and trying to pick up as much Setswana (the native language) as we can, such as 'dumela' (do-mel-ah) is the greeting used to literally every person you pass by, talk to  and see anywhere you go. 

We have visited the feeding station for one day this week. It was so heart-breaking to see the poverty as we drove through the village. But the children are wonderful and have hearts overflowing with joy.  Yesterday, we walked through the village and prayed with the different people we met. 

Today we climbed Kgale(kah-lee) Hill, which is like a mountain. It took an hour to hike one way from the bottom to the top. The view from the top was absolutely breath-taking and you could see the entire city. God has been doing a lot in my heart about who he has made me to be and to not put limits on Him or on myself. I love my team and am excited to see what God is going to do in the next few weeks!  Miss and love you all back home!