Everything is going well. We had a great service last night. Today, we have a march from downtown Maun to the Tent (about a 45 minute walk).  There is a worldwide organization called Reach For Life that promotes abstinence from Pre-marital sex… Love Botswana has helped promote this and has helped organize abstinence clubs in all the schools.  The march today involves the youth in these clubs.  We get to ride in the Landcruiser… they are going to decorate it this morning at 10.  We are happy about riding as its been over a 110 degrees here in the sun!

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Excerpt from Christi’s Journal:

Last night we had quite a bit of excitement.  About 11:00 we got a call from Sarah that the men were out in the field directly in front of your swimming pool fighting a wild fire so she asked if Ron would join them and if we would all pray.  Ron said it was really a big fire less than half a kilometer from the back fence, and that it was moving very fast and looked like it stretched from horizon to horizon.  One of the missionaries said he used the radios to call the Maun 911 Neighborhood Watch and at least 20 responded straight away.  Ron said they really knew what they were doing.  They created a fire break and the fire was out by midnight.  But in the short term we were all really praying.  We even went over and woke up all the women and children on the mission campus. Everyone was up and praying and on the alert.  The fact that there was very little wind and it was blowing in the opposite direction saved the day or it could have been a very different outcome.  Just today we heard that the Nata Safari Lodge, 3 hours from where we live, was burned to the ground. It is huge and quite a loss to this area. This was as a result of a similar bush fire.

Excerpt from Christi’s Journal:

Miss Pat, Jerry Lackey’s mom, killed a snake on Sunday in the Children’s Church tent.  Some of the children were screaming as there was a snake under one child’s chair!  One of the young men said he was going to kill it but Miss Pat was so fast she beat him to it and grabbed a big rock and crushed its head.  She said it was not a real big snake but she thinks it was a kind that paralyzes you. After killing it, she grabbed it by the tail and held it up triumphantly with a big smile on her face!  Anyway, Miss Pat just took it all in stride and then came in to the big church and read a very nice poem she had written for one of the visiting teams.

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On Saturday, we took Linda’s place at the local school near the graveyard. The Abstinence Club was having a Choir Competition to raise awareness about HIV and AIDs. Ron spoke to them and the choirs sang. It was a very enjoyable event to participate in. There were lots of interesting signs painted on the walls on the outside of the public school — several of them were about abstaining from pre-marital sex.

The tents that house the Children’s Ministry at the All Nations Village Church have been sent away for repair.  Consequently it was a beautiful picture to see a very large group of young people in brightly colored clothes gathered under a big tree for their classes. We’ve had a wonderful team of children’s workers from Resurrection Life Church, Grand Rapids Michigan who have been working with the children the past two Sundays.