{"id":768,"date":"2020-09-30T09:34:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T07:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=768"},"modified":"2020-09-30T09:34:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T07:34:28","slug":"visit-to-mababe-motopi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=768","title":{"rendered":"Visit to Mababe & Motopi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ref Hendrik du Plessis\u00a0 D\u2019Kar Reformed Church Botswana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

15–21 September 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our way to Mababe (367km) we had a flat tyre. Fortunately\nwe had a spare wheel. The road is very bad and I think a sharp stone pierced\nit. While Frits and I were struggling with the exchange of the tyre, a man\nnamed Boro showed up who came to our rescue and helped with the exchange of the\ntyre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the road to Mababe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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`<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boro who stopped and helped us<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anyone knows\nhow discouraged you can be when you notice you have a flat tyre. With a plank\nwe were able to lift the jack off the ground. Here Boro holds it in his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally we\narrived in Mababe. Idea <\/strong>on the left\nside was our host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Idea our host on the left with Hendrik en elder Frits.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nnext day we went to Mokgotlho Lodge<\/strong>\nwhich belongs to Hannes Pretorius. He asked us to bring Bibles for his workers.\nThey start every morning with prayer and so also when they go off duty at\nnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hannes Pretorius staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The wildernis of the Mababe area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mababe <\/strong>is wilderness at its\nbest. Buffaloes and hippos graze around the yard like cattle at night. One\nnight we encountered five hippos outside the yard. One of them was a calf.\nThroughout the night, the roar of lions and the hyenas’ familiar cries are the\nsounds that carry you through the night. On Saturday morning around half past\none I woke up to a huge noise. When I looked through the window of my tent, an\nelephant was grazing on the mopane tree about a meter away from me. At first I\nthought it was a giraffe. Fortunately, they do not like it when you flash with\na torch in their eyes and he retreated very dissapointed. Elephants are a\ncommon sight like impalas in the Kruger National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nafternoon<\/strong> we had a Bible study in Mababe. The woman in\nthe picture read the Bible verses very diligently. The Bible study dealt with\nMatthew 7: 24-27 where the Lord Jesus points out the difference between two\nbuildings that have been built. The one on sand and the other one on rock, and\nthe water currents and the wind that then came against those buildings and how\nthe fall of the one built on sand was great. Initially, there was no difference\nbetween the two buildings. They could stand there just as gracefully. The sun\nis shining today and there is nothing for me to worry about. This is how many\npeople live from day to day and do not think that his life will one day be\ntested by a storm. We do not know how and what the storm will be and then the\nfoundation will be decisive whether your house will stand or not. Blessed are\nyou then if you have built on Christ the Rock. The last storm is going to be\ndeath, and if you have not put all your hope in Christ, the fall will be great.\nIt was in brief what our Bible study and discussion was about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The women in the blue dress read out of the bible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our\nnext day’s<\/strong> planning was to reach out to the people of Khwai<\/strong> village. Khwai is 37 kilometers\nfrom Mababe. Khwai is at “Third Bridge” for those who know the area,\nclose to the Moremi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Gospel preached told to the locals in Khwai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Khwai locals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In\nKhwai, we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with different people. The\nmugs pictured above are beer mugs. They sell traditional beer to make a living.\nOn a previous occasion, this was also the point where we started. There between\nthe beer drinkers you sometimes have to answer the most interesting questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Idea <\/strong>with his children.\ngrandchildren and friends who accompanied us to Khwai. We stand here at the\nbridge just in front of Khwai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our host Idea and family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\nmorning<\/strong> we left for Motopi<\/strong>. The day before, it was Dorette’s birthday. She turned by\nthe Lord’s grace this year 76 and Thys 86. They are doing well. She is still\nactively involved in Tswana classes she offers in Maun. She is overwhelmed by\npeople who are interested in Tswana, especially those who want to become\nBotswana citizens. Now they are looking for a place to rent in Maun. Then she\ndoes not have to drive to Maun twice a week or even more for the classes. On\nweekends they can then go to Motopi for the service on Sundays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dorette and Thys in Motopi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Closing remarks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a previous\nreport, I mentioned a plot of land we acquired in Mababe. It is a fairly large\nyard. We decided not to fence it, but to rather plant corner posts to demarcate\nthe yard. In fact, it does not help to fence the yard. Most of the plots in\nMababe’s wire fences are trampled by the elephants. We are in need of a small\nbuilding where we can stay and offer Bible studies. Elder Frits remarked: \u201cYou\nknow Hendrik, it is not good to always stay in Idea\u2019s yard. The people, friend\nand foe of Idea are going to start associating our church with him. There are\npeople who may not have the courage to visit us while our tents are on his\nyard.\u201d We talked about it for a long time. At the same time, the building must\nalso be able to accommodate some of our people from South Africa and elsewhere\nwho would like to spend a night or two on their way to the north or perhaps\nleave Bibles for us there or whatever study material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Mababe<\/strong> and Khwai<\/strong>, there is also Sankoyo<\/strong>\nwe want to serve. These are our future plans. In fact, the Boro that helped us\nwith the tyre, comes from Sankoyo.  Our\nprayers are that the Lord will also open doors for us there as far as the\nGospel is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your brother in\nChrist,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hendrik du Plessis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ref Hendrik du Plessis\u00a0 D\u2019Kar Reformed Church Botswana 15–21 September 2020 On our way to Mababe (367km) we had a flat tyre. Fortunately we had a spare wheel. The road<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}