Forgiveness on a Playground

Today I was working in the school with some of the younger kids. As we took them out to the playground, a young boy named agu came up to tattle on another girl, mnpoh, because she was throwing sand at him.

As Agu explained to his teacher what happened, she called the little girl over.
Mnpoh came over and Mrs. Lucy said to her, throwing sand is not nice, you need to apologize to agu, and act right to everyone.

What happened next was like a reminder to me.
Mnpoh grabbed Agu and wrapped her arms around him and apologized. Agu said it's ok Mnpoh we are friends, they hugged, and walked off hand and hand.

As you all know I am reading through Matthew. This morning I paid particular attention to two parts, God calling us to be as little children, and then the parable of the master forgiving the debt of his servant. How ironic is that then i had a reminder on a playground with children?

If you don't remember the story i'll give a paraphrase: A servant owed his master much money, he begged forgiveness, and the master forgave the debt. The slave then went and beat up another slave that owed him money. When the master was told how the first slave acted, he confronted him and cast him away.

The parable is telling us that we have been forgiven all our debts and if we do not forgive, we as well will be cast out.

After the scene I realized how the two connect. We are to be like children because children love deeply, they forgive quickly. We miss a concept as we grow up. The whole part about how we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Then we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We struggle with that. I included.

See real love is only seen by God, He is love. Real love is complete forgiveness, as we are forgiven. Real love is complete redemption, as we are redeemed. Real love is patient, kind, long suffering, etc. (1 cor. 13) To take any one piece out of that love then you are not loving with the love that God instructs us to love with.

If we do not love our neighbors the same way we love ourselves we are not fulfilling it. How come children understand, but we do not?

I know how i love myself. I love myself in that I want to be forgiven for all of my mistakes, I love myself in that I want favor, I want understanding, I want patience, I want encouragement, I want comfort, I want those things.
I love myself in that way and that means I must love others in that way. I must forgive them, be patient with them, try to understand them, redeem them, give them favor, give them encouragement, give them comfort.

I pray for help. I pray that God will remind me to love others how I love myself. I pray that when wounded, I will wrap my arms around the other person and forgive them, because I have a savior who forgave me of all my debts, He forgave me of my blaspheme, of my idolatry, of my filthiness, He forgave me of it all, and He still loves me, He still encourages me, He still takes my burdens, He still blesses me, He still gives me favor, He still calls me friend.

May I learn to be like a child, may I learn to love like Jesus!

Be Blessed,
J. Tate

Sing over me

Today I was in the baby house care giving for an orphan, baby ola saho, who was adopted by the ministry. We call her baby oli. Baby oli has been very sick for 2 days. Baby oli was very upset crying and crying because of her aches and pains. Mrs. Brenda, basically baby oli's mom, came in and swept her up and began to sing. She sang:

I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Oli my baby girl I love you I love you I love you. You are blessed (that's what ola saho means) my baby. I love you I love you I love you.

Screaming baby Oli calmed down in her arms. A few minutes later I found myself repeating the melody she sang over Baby oli. I love you I love you I love you and tears filled my eyes (as they do now) as I remembered a verse.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

As Ms. Brenda rejoiced and vocalized her love for her child with passionate singing, so does my God sing over me.

It was humbling as the tears fell down my cheeks to be reminded that as Brenda loves that baby, so much more does my Father God love me. He rejoices over me with singing. It's not because of what I do. It's not because I was a youth minister or because i'm in Africa, it's not because of what I don't do, because I don't swear or don't get drunk. It's simply because He loves me. He loves me for who I am.

Just as Brenda will sing over Oli all her life. Just as my parents have loved me my whole life. My parents have seen the good and the bad of Jessika, the giving and the greedy, the angry and the happy, the disobedient and the obedient, Yet my parents love me. Not because what I have done or not done, but because I am their child, because of who I am, because I am theirs.

And so it will be for every child of God, He will sing with joy over you. He loves you. Can I tell you today that if you were able to physically and naturally hear His voice right now in this moment it would not be correction and it would not be praise, it would not be agenda, it would not be do's and don'ts no He'd simply sing over you.

I love you I love you I love you. Jessika (Your name) I love you I love you I love you. Daughter (or son) I love you I love you I love you.

I hope this blesses your heart today as this simple lesson and reminder blessed mine. Your God wants you. He wants your heart. Take the time to just sit with him, take the time to enjoy His presence as He will enjoy yours. We do not serve a God who stays a million miles away, who creates you and then walks away. Jesus promised in John 14:18 that He would not leave us as orphans! And He fulfills that promise everyday. He is able to meet us and to take care of us, He sings over us, He walks with us.

I serve a good God, a good Dad.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate

P.s: if you enjoyed this blog please check out this song on the subject by my friend Jennifer Lynn Martin titled "songs of love".
She also has a cd that she sells, if you're interested ;).

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=5245029775&subj=500124775

Cultural day

First let me give you an update on the things to come.

I will shadow the baby house or orphanage tomorrow which i am excited about. Friday I will teach a bible study to 8th and 9th graders and then friday night is fire by night the youth service. I'm not too sure about the weekend other than this Sunday I will be in children's church with 250 kids.

Today for cultural day we met with Z, a social worker for LBOM, she gave us background on Botswana and then we headed out. We went to where the Khosi or chief of the local tribe is. The Khosi we were supposed to meet had a family member die and was not in the office, another khosi was doing a hearing and they were about to give public lashings. Yes they still do that in Bots. In fact if we had shown up in pants rather than skirts our leader (or Z since we were her guests) would have gotten public lashings.

After that we went to the Maun museum. It was a neat little museum.
Then we went with Z to look for a woman in one of her cases after driving around Maun and seeing many new areas of the villages we never found the woman and decided to go get lunch.
At lunch we ate traditional dishes! A caterpiller, papas (they look like potatoes but they aren't), and some other stuff i dont remember the name of right now haha.
After lunch we headed to the delta and had a guide take us in a mokoro (canoe looking thing) through the delta. We took pictures of water lillies and got terrified when he told us a hippo lived in that particular area. After swimming and some fun, it was time to come back for our photography lesson.

Our guide told us that he would take us out on a personal safari. Lions, elephants, giraffes, hippo, monkeys, zebras, are all common around here, but he said he can show us cheetahs!!! So we're trying to check out a chance to do that with him.
Cultural day was a blast. Today i felt like i was more on vacation than really a mission trip and normally that would bother me, but today it didn't. I think i needed the day to relax and just enjoy this culture, and enjoy the amazingness of God's creation.

So far my time here has been spectacular for me as an individual i feel like i'm learning so much more about my own walk with Christ. I'm starting to see God's working in me and not just through me or for me. I'm seeing what it means to simply be God's friend. To enjoy Him. It sounds foundational it sound simple, but while i'm here in another country, striving to serve the missionaries here, striving to be a witness, to evangelize, to disciple, I forget about simply enjoying God as my friend. How lucky are we that He calls us friend? How privelaged that He wants us. If I never step foot on a mission field, if I never evangelized, if I didn't do the things that I am assigned to do, it wouldn't mean He would love me less. His love for me is not conditional on me or my actions. He just loves me. He just enjoys me. I can just be with Him and enjoy fellowship. Check out Psalm 27:4.

Be Blessed,
J. Tate

An update

domelolang!
That spelling is probably incorrect, but it says HELLO! We've been without internet for a few days and SO MUCH has happened. First let me tell you this morning at church we sang a song in Setswana that while I was in Rwanda I learned in Kenyrwandan SO i sang in kenyrwandan and danced to the song and hope I will learn it in Setswana before I leave. That was very comforting and exciting for me this morning!!!

First let's go ahead and praise the Lord for salvations that came through Friday night's youth service. Many came and I personally was able to share the gospel message with three and pray with them. So Hallelujah!
I absolutely loved the youth service. I danced with the kids talked w/ them and had a blast and cannot wait to become more involved. The youth pastor has said if we are his intern we will teach many times and if we're not his intern he may ask us to teach anyway! I am not expecting to be the youth intern because there is another placement I think I will be more interested in and of better use, but it also works closely with the youth. So I am excited to help out, to teach, to disciple, and enjoy getting to know these youth.

Last night we went over to Pastor Jerry and Mrs. Jana's house and had a great dinner, discussing the passions of our heart, ministry, etc. laughing and really enjoying ourselves. I've already fallen in love with their kids 2 kids here: Mason (12) and Mapula (adopted 6). They have two older boys who are in the states one in Dallas at DBU and the other in oklahoma at ORU. On the plot we also have a foster child Somakaling. She is deaf and was left in the hospital until she was 9 years old because they have no where to put her. She is teaching me sign!!!

I've been sunburned and worked hard, sweated and been tired, but I am loving it. I'm really looking forward to this week! Tomorrow I shadow the Physical education department at the school and the teacher got saved today! I can't wait to spend time with him talking about Jesus! Also on wednesday we have a culture day. We're going to meet with a chief of a tribe and learn more about Bots, in the afternoon on Wed. I am going with Somakaling to her therapy appointments in town. I've had a little training in play therapy and so Mrs. Jana wants me to go learn more to see if I can help out with some of it. I'll be able to use what i've learned in counseling while working at the women's shelter. My hope is that I'll get picked to do the Mercy Ministries track of the internship and so 5 days a week I'll be working doing counseling, prevention, visiting schools, and working with youth. We'll see!!

Let me do a quick run through of what the week held: I successfully learned to drive the stallion and have more driving lessons to come. Had a carpentry lesson and several cooking lessons. Met most of the missionaries around the plot. Got the results to my personality and spiritual gifts tests (I'll talk more about that when I get to meet with Ms. Linda to get more in detail on me specifically). I had a blast dancing, praying, and worshiping with Ms. Val she is a 43 year old intern who just graduated from CFNI. We are on week 2 of A Heart Ablaze study by John Bevere. Had 3 thunder storms that were intense!
New Pictures added: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047299&id=1533360025&l=e33d104e45
Excited for this week to start.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate

A small word from Matthew

I felt an urging yesterday to read through Matthew straight through again, so I went ahead and got up early today so that I can spend extra time to read. What I find about Jesus is something you all already know. To be a follower of Jesus meant a high price to pay. I read the calling of the disciples and it says they IMMEDIATELY stopped what they were doing and followed Him. There was no deliberation time, but what if I get hungry, but what about my family, but what if people persecute me, but what if He asks too much of me, the what ifs aren’t there. Now we can debate and say they were thinking them, but obviously their thinking didn’t affect their actions because they IMMEDIATELY left.

They chose to follow Jesus unconditionally. Sometimes I wonder if they knew just what they were getting into. Have you noticed all of them at some point throughout the gospel looked pretty stupid, I’d say it more this way, Jesus told them how it was, He set them in their place. Yet still they followed this man who taught everything backwards to what they understood. We’ve become so accustomed to the church terms, so much of what He said is not so “shocking” to us, but I challenge you to take some time. Read some of what Jesus said. Gees if I heard someone say those things today I’d think they were INSANE! To be my disciple you must drink of my blood and eat of my body. Take up your cross and follow me. A man saying He is the son of God. Those things are ludicrous.
Then think about the lessons He came to teach the people. It’s not adultery just because you do the act, its adultery even if you lust at another. You will not just be held guilty in court if you murder, but even if you become angry with your brother (isn’t that convicting?). Jesus in all of chapter 5 is giving life shaking instructions and truths and then He ends with “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”.

I wonder if we give enough attention to the level of purity and righteousness we’re called to.

As part of our internship we’re going through A Heart Ablaze by John Bevere and it is an amazing series. In the last lesson he talked about our responsibility to flee from sin. I loved it. I’m a big believer in personal responsibility. The Word says to work out your salvation, it says (You) flee from sexual immorality; (You) live above reproach! Etc. God is not going to come down and slap your hand to make you stop sinning. In Romans 12:2 it says do not be conformed to this world but be TRANSFORMED by a renewed mind. We are to ask and pursue a renewed mind by pursuing righteousness and righteous thinking. We are to think on things holy and acceptable. I don’t see in scripture where God stops us from sinning. We have the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and it is our responsibility to flee from it.
As I read the words of Jesus throughout Matthew He taught people what sin was and it was their job to stop. Even after healings He says “Go and sin no more”. Jesus called all those He came in contact with to a higher lifestyle and in that culture even an insane lifestyle. He wasn’t telling the Pharisees they were right, he wasn’t praising the saducees, but he was calling us to a higher living. One of faith and righteousness joined together.
I’m not saying that we in and of ourselves are able to leave a life of sin, I’m not saying we can earn salvation, I’m not saying that. I am saying we have been given the ability by the blood of Jesus Christ, the working of the Holy Spirit, and God’s sanctification plan to step up and flee sin. To step up and strive for the lifestyle that Jesus called His followers to.

In the pieces of my spiritual gift summary that I got to read and talked about my gifts of exhortation and prophecy together and that I am a person who desires to speak to individuals about their life and how they can flee from sin and draw closer to God. I didn’t need a spiritual gift test to know that about myself. My desire for everyone I come in contact with is to be real with them and they be real with me, so that us as a body of Christ can push forward diving deeper into the presence of God and being the righteous bride that Jesus Christ deserves when He comes back to get us.

Let’s push harder toward the goal, let’s focus on this Jesus who came and turned the world upside down, let’s be the bride He paid for.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate

A thebe for my thoughts!

A thebe is the coin currency here in Bots, Pula are the bills. As we went and visited what they call old mall and new mall today, or old town and new town I had many thoughts go through my head and decided I would share them.

On our way into town we passed little houses that family's live in that barely fit a bed. We left our house that has 2 bedrooms, kitchen, livng area, loft. We passed rich areas and we passed poor areas. As we came into town there were those wearing dress clothes and those wearing rags. The point is there were all walks of life.
I thought about Rwanda. While we were in Kigali there were plenty of huge nice houses and many areas of slums where family's lived in rooms the size of a closet.
I thought about Lubbock. There are tons of large houses and yet we had a youth group in areas where family's with 12 people would pack into a one room trailer.

I'm not saying that the poverty levels in these countries are equal, but I'm saying it's everywhere. Yet for some reason when Americans come to Africa we take pictures of the slums/the poor/hurting/the dirty of Africa. Why do we do that?

How come the discovery channel covers the tribal people and all we as Americans think of when we think of Africa is AIDS/poverty and the negative of this magnificent land.

Today in town there were parts that were for htose of lower income and those for highter income, much like lubbock. Those you find shopping in Market street are different than those you find shopping in the local united or wal-mart.
I'm not real sure what I mean, but I wish we could see this continent as what it really is. Beautiful. The people here are so nice, beautfiul, loving, considerate, hospitable, the landscape is amazing. The animals we'd never see in America. Giraffes and Zebras roaming freely.

Many of you reading this are probably thinking then why the heck did you take a mission trip there? Let me think about that. This country doesn't need Jesus any more than well, me. See I believe every human being is equal in their need for the Savior, for Jesus Christ. Rich or poor, sick or well, there is a reality of heaven and hell. Those who have faith in Jesus Christ will go to heaven and those who do not will go to hell. In America there is a church on every corner, that is not true in Africa. Children walk for miles to make it to the church here in maun Botswana! CHILDREN, BY THEMSELVES! They're hungry for God. They walk.

The Bible calls all of us to a life of missions, find the way God has called you to serve, financially, locally, globally, etc. We all were given the great commission.
I came to Bots, because I felt God's calling to come. As far as poverty Bots is by far not near as bad as other countries here in Africa. However, still as Americans we're so much richer.

At the grocery store today we spent around 400 pula. Our weekly budget is 40 pula a piece and we all put ours together to buy groceries. 40 pula is around $5 a week. As we spent our 40 pula we had a full cart, and there was no one around us buying that much food. To spend 400 pula for one week here is unheard of! Yet this country is doing well as majority financially.

However, we sat in a meeting today with the youth pastor. He was asking for our help over the next 3 months. Working for the youth is an optional ministry for us as interns. He runs around 200 youth.

68% of girls 15-19 in this area have AIDS.
1 in 3 people in Bots have AIDS.

It's rampant. Those numbers are staggering. Why? Well we could say lack of availability of condoms. The government spent 2 billion dollars on condoms. We could say lack of education, all the schools in the area are in abstinence programs.
The truth is these kids need Jesus.

I'll be honest and open. I am not a virgin because I was educated, I have not stayed pure to please my parents, I didn't not have sex because I was too embarrassed to buy condoms or couldn't find them, no, I have stayed pure because I fell madly in love with Jesus. I became concerned with the life that God had planned for me and part of that plan in His Word He says to save myself for marriage, for my husband.
So what do these youth need, what does this nation need? Jesus.
There's not enough money or enough programs to fix the problems in this nation or in my own.

Perhaps it is why I'm not only burdened to go and serve in other countries but I am also burdened for Americans. For those who sit in pews and don't know our Savior and those who don't ever darken the door of a church.

The point is I love to serve people. I love to be able to meet the needs of people. To bring food, to pray for healing, to give medicines, to counsel, to teach, to give water, to paint, to build, to do whatever it is people need. In America or overseas. But the greatest joy of my heart is to make disciples. To share the gospel and then continue to help people in their walk with the Lord.

I'm not sure all of this really goes together at all. Maybe a mixture of jumbled thoughts. Over the next 4 months I'm sure i'll have pictures of sad things, of children, of houses, of things that may bring tears. But I want to share the beauty of Africa too. The children of God, the animals, the landscape, the fun, the things that have made this continent such a loved part of my life.

Well, i'm now out of time to share all about today, so maybe if I get more of a chance later I'll blog again!
Tomorrow I learn to drive a standard on the right side of a car, pray for me and those in the back seat

Be Blessed,
J. Tate

Pictures

Hey friends,
Today we went walking around the plot. LBOM has a lot of land! We saw the other houses and the school houses and offices. The buildings were beautiful. I haven't had a chance to take a lot of pictures of the plot or Bots yet. I went ahead and started an album, if you want to look at the pictures I have already posted click this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047299&id=1533360025&l=e33d104e45
even if you don't have a facebook account you can view the album at that link. I'll add pictures when able and I'll continue to update and let you know when they're posted!!
Tomorrow we go into town, CAN'T WAIIT!
j.tate

First UPDATE

Hey friends,
Well the internet has been down for these first few days and will most likely be spotty throughout my time here, but I will do my best to keep in touch.

I’ll say this, if you ever fly overseas, fly delta. The 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Jo’burg was not that bad at all. You have your own little touch screen in front of you that has tons of movies, tv shows, games, etc. Unlike other flights where you have a choice of two movies and you can only watch them while they are showing them. So, in other words the flight wasn’t that bad, I watched a few movies, slept, and had some good personal time. There are 5 other interns with me. 4 of them are from Christ for the Nations Institute and are doing this internship to complete their degree in missions.

Our first stop was in Johannesburg South Africa. As soon as I got off the plane I had the familiar smell of Africa. We stayed at an amazing guest house and had a great host from Greece. He grew up in Athens and then moved to Tanzania, he returned to Greece, and has now retired in Jo’burg. I enjoyed talking to him about his life and views. He told a great joke!!

What do you call a person who speaks two languages?... bilingual
What do you call a person who speaks one language?...

I’ll give you the answer at the end of the blog
After a night in Jo’burg it was on to Maun, Botswana.
The first thing I will say is it is HOT. HOT. HOT. I have certainly learned to drink a lot of water, I’d say I’m drinking more water here than I drink sweet tea and coffee put together back home haha. I am glad I cut out the sweet tea and cut down on the coffee before I left, because so far I’ve had NO CAFFEINE HEADACHES!! Praise the Lord. I have been utterly exhausted and am ready for a full nights sleep, jet lag has hit. Our internship director Ashley said she is going to keep us busy all day so that we’ll sleep at night.

We are blessed to have a little house to stay in. There is not air conditioning, but there is running water, electricity, and internet which we’re told goes out often. Still I feel so blessed that I can take a shower everyday (short, but still!!) and unlike Rwanda I don’t have to go to an internet café and pay for internet that is slower than Christmas. They told us our internet here is slow, but one girl was able to get a signal yesterday and it’s definitely not slow compared to the internet café or even dial up back home. The whole plot that LBOM is on including the missionary houses reminds me of a big camp ground. All bush and trees and dirt roads cut out that lead to everything . So far I have not seen a snake, LOTS OF BUGS, but my grandmother prayed over me as she dropped me off at the airport that the snakes would be afraid of me, please join me in that continual prayer! I don’t mind roughing it, sleeping on the ground in the dirt, w/o showers, I’d do it all if it meant I never saw a snake!!!  However I feel rather safe when one of the dogs is around. There are 4 dogs on the plot. One of them is named Livingston, he is 11 years old, battered scarred, limps around, has a cancer tumor, but dang he is a fighter. Livingston has been bitten by many varieties of snakes but we’re told he’s still the best snake killer. Ashley our internship director has seen spitting cobras and puff adders. Ahhhh!

We went to the Lackey’s church this morning and I did enjoy it. There wasn’t near as much dancing as I expected from the other African churches I’ve been to, but it was still great. Half of worship was in Setswana and half was in English, which was a delight!!! Chruch is held in a large what we would call “revival tent”. They have around 200 kids that come to the children’s church which is held outside in various tents. The kids here are used to white people from South Africa so they don’t just circle around you like in Rwanda, I missed that. They still come up to you and want to talk and hold your hand and such, which of course I love. I love picking the children up, praying over them, talking to them, making them laugh!!! Church started at 8:30 and ended at 10:30 which compared to Rwanda 5 hour church services was great, I mean we even got out quicker than at Cornerstone haha!!! We’ll have opportunities to help out in church services by prayer, discipleship, kids ministry etc. and Sunday afternoons are supposed to be our Sabbath! Which means no work, but it doesn’t mean we won’t be busy.

This afternoon we’re taking spiritual gift tests and personality test, which I can’t wait to do! I’ve already had a chat with Mrs. Lackey (One of the owners of LBOM) who said that after looking at my resume’ they were hoping I’d want to help out in the women’s shelter!! Which was exactly what I wanted to do!! Linda the head of the shelter is an LPC and they constantly need help counseling women and children! I thoroughly enjoy teaching and ministering, but if I can’t do that I’d definitely want to counsel and disciple. We’re going to have so many opportunities to do ministry while here and I can’t wait to get involved. I’m definitely excited to be helping with Fire by Night the Friday night youth service, Saturday morning prison ministry. We’ll be shadowing different ministries over the next two weeks while we figure out where we’ll best fit in and be able to help. After the shadowing we’ll work with that ministry from 8-1 everyday. Then in the afternoons we have an intern bible study, Setswana classes, cooking classes, stick driving classes, other ministry opportunities, etc. In other words we’ll be kept busy. There’s so much more going on, but it’s probably best if I just update as things happen rather than trying to foreshadow the future. I know we have a bush trip coming up and we’ll be learning more about acclimating to the culture. We’ll be cooking all of our own meals which means going into town and buying groceries etc. I am ready to interact with those off the base more and just be more involved.

Well I’m sure you’re getting weary from reading so I’ll end this, more to come of course.
As always Be blessed,
J. Tate
The answer to the joke is: An American

TODAY

Hey friends and family!!
Today is the day! I feel like i've been waiting months for this moment, but in reality it's only been about a month and a half since I knew I was going! I fly out this afternoon at 1:20 for Atlanta have a slight lay over and then on to Johannesburg South Africa. One night in Jo'burg and then fly in to Botswana. Once there I will be 8 hours ahead of yal! I will update as soon as I am given the opportunity over there.
I am very thankful for all of you who have kept me in your prayers, given financially, encouraged me, etc. Your support and love is extremely appreciated.

As I wrap this up I ask that you continue to pray for me on this journey that the Lord is sending me on, but also, please pray for Haiti.

Be Blessed,
J. Tate

Email: jessinbotswana@hotmail.com
Skype: j-tate

It's coming...

Well it is less than two weeks before I leave for Botswana. I am trying to get the final preparations done this week!! This will be the blog that I update while in Botswana and I can't wait to share with you all the journey the Lord is sending me on!