Feature Fridays: Life Changing Mission Experiences; Every Nation Botswana Mission 2016

By: Grace Nonde

So my best friend Mwaba asked me: “What would you say was the difference between the Kenya Mission trip you went on last year and the Botswana Mission trip this year?” 
My answer: “I was able to hear God’s voice much more clearly this time around.”

Let’s rewind a little…
     Last year I went on my first International Mission trip to Kenya. The destination was Kenyatta University in Kahawa-Sukari, Nairobi. 
The way this happened was all God ordained. But that is a whole other story of miracles on it's own and you can contact me if you would like to know more. However, long story short is that  during the Kenya Mission trip last year I encountered God in a way I had never before. The supernatural was so real during the entire week we were there. We got to see many salvations, miracles such as blind eyes opened, spiritually orphaned children returned to their Heavenly Father and a definite change in the atmosphere of Kenyatta University where many Bible Study/Connect groups have been started to incorporate the students we reached out during our time there. 
Matthew 28:19- “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

     As a branch of the Every Nation Church we have a heart for the University campus as we believe that the leaders of tomorrow are found on these campuses. Basically, if we can reach these students while at University level where majority of their ideologies get shaped, we are reaching countrymen and leaders that we hope will be able to bring truth and light to their nations once in the working world. 
#ChangeTheCampus #ChangeTheWorld 

Now back to the Botswana Mission Trip…
Romans 8:19- “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed…” 
     So we got to Botswana on Saturday the 27th of August and we were hosted by a lovely family from the Every Nation church in Gaborone that graciously opened up their home to us for the week. We were a team of twelve (the twelve disciples lol) and this was one of the first ever student-led Mission trips. We were ministering on the University of Botswana campus for the entire week (Monday till Friday) and this basically involved engaging the students on campus, seeing where they are at with Christ and plugging them in to church family depending on how the conversations went. 
     The practical tools we used during this Mission trip were mostly the ‘God Test’ and ‘Treasure Hunting’. So the God Test is a booklet me use as Every Nation Church that comprises of 9 questions that basically get the person thinking more deeply about what they believe in and where they are at with Christ. After the first 8 questions are asked, the 9th says “would you like to hear what the Bible says about these questions?” This is where we now come in to relay truth according to what the word says and clear out any misconceptions or misunderstandings the person may have been having about the word of God. The second one which is ‘Treasure Hunting’ has now become my very favourite! In this, you allow the Holy Spirit of Christ to specifically lead you to the people that God wants you to speak to at that point in time. So basically how you could go about it is pray before you go out to minister to people and ask God to show you specific things about the people that He may want you to reach out to. This could be from a piece of clothing they may have on, to an injury they may have (e.g. a broken leg and moving around with crutches), or at times it may even just be a location to go to and God will basically take it from there. I love Treasure Hunting because it allows you to hear God’s voice much more clearly and increases your faith and the faith of the person you reach out to once you find them and show them that you had written down something about them even before you met them :D

     Over the duration of the Mission Trip at University of Botswana, God was so specific with me when it came to Treasure Hunting and the people He wanted me to reach out to. There was a day when I a friend of mine named Esther were praying before going out to speak to the students and God showed me the image of a girl in a blue dress, blonde curly hair and pink nail polish!!! Guys God was so specific even down to the colour of the nail polish! God had also told me her name would start with the letter ‘M’. So I wrote these things down and we went about walking around looking for students to speak to. So my friend Esther felt led to go to the University clinic. We went there and awkwardly stood outside the doors of the clinic as we were not allowed to enter the premises unless we were students of the University. A guard however eventually let us in and soon as we got in I saw a girl with blonde curly hair and a blue dress sitting in the waiting line. So I and Esther decided to sit in the row behind her and just wait for a little while. At this point she scratched her head and her nail polish colour was pink!!! Guys!!! At this point I’m getting the shivers in my spine because I’m super excited and I just feel like shouting #LOOKATGOD!!! So Esther approaches her and asks if we can speak with her. She eventually agrees and joins us in the back row. We ask for her name and it starts with an M!!! (I have left out the names of the people due to confidentiality). So at this point I’m overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness and we show her the little paper where we had written down all the details of the person God had wanted us to reach out to. So her faith gets stirred up as well as she is over-joyed at the fact that God just wanted to love on her. We start to ask her general questions about herself as I was unsure about what God specifically wanted me to say to her but while the conversation is going on I am asking God to give me a word of knowledge about her. Eventually God gives me the word abortion. So I then ask her if she has ever had an abortion and she literally breaks down as she is shocked at how we knew as she has never spoken to anyone about this and it is something that has been holding her back. So we basically just spoke life in to the situation, encouraged her and prayed with her and took her contact details to plug her in to a Connect group that meets weekly on campus. This was just one of many Treasure Hunting encounters where God was so specific about who He wanted me to reach out to and He would give me words of knowledge for these people along the way whilst engaging in conversation with them. 
Each and every member of the Bots Mission Team can testify that this was definitely a life-changing experience for them! Many got to operate in gifts of the Spirit that they had never operated in before, the Holy Spirit used us to cast out demons, we were able to minster to people and help them out of their bondage and most importantly we were able to bring lost souls back to their Heavenly Father. We are all so grateful that we had the privilege to go and join God on His Mission and we have no doubt that we have started a multiplier effect.
So why am I so eager to share my story?! Because the word of God says in Revelations 12: 11- “And they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”
All I can say is GOD IS AMAZING!!! And He is ALWAYS at work! Let us walk in faith and obedience to Him, always