Dear friends,
As we approach the third Sunday in Advent, the Sunday of Joy, we are joyful for the continuing prayer, support, and encouragement you offer as we partner together in mission to the Bakgalagari. We have been in Gaborone the last two weeks taking our remaining vacation time. It has been a very important time of reflecting, assessing, and picturing life long term in Kang. By the time we return there next week, we will have lived there three months but will have been away from there for a total of one month when we take all the business trips and this vacation put together. Those times away have been important for us as we continue to immerse ourselves in what it really looks and feels like to live in a rural village in the Kgalagari Desert.
One important thing we have realized on this trip is that we simply are not getting enough nutrition out of the food we have available to us on a daily basis in Kang. Fresh fruits and vegetables are notably absent from the selection of goods available there. These things can be grown with some effort, but the majority of the people don't because they don't have the resources to do it, OR their resources are invested in herding and not agriculture.
We noticed our first week on our vacation in Gaborone that we are able to think more clearly and assess problems with much more creative thinking then when we are in the situation in Kang. A big difference is the availability of food with better nutritional value here. Because we cannot always be making the 500km round trip required to get to a bigger town to get fruits and veggies, we have decided to try our hand at raising some of these things ourselves. We have purchased soil, simple equipment and soon plants to raise tomatoes, herbs, avocados, grapefruit, oranges, and some leafy veggies. Please pray for wisdom and success in this venture.
Our biggest needs remain related to setting up our household so that we are able to focus on ministry functions. We need to install a water storage tank to give us a reserve if the village water supply has interruptions (which it all too unfortunately does). We need to install screens on the windows so that we can leave them open at night to cool down the house so we can sleep. We need to find someone to install a water heater that we recently purchased so we can bathe and do dishes without having to boil water on a campfire or on the stove (which adds more heat to the house). We are not trying to create a posh existence by any means, but if we are clean, have slept well, and have water we can be much more effective in the ministry tasks and just as a family in our interactions with each other.
We ask you to commit these things to prayer. If you are so led, we also ask you to consider a gift to LBT to our household setup fund. We need about $3500 yet to complete the things I mentioned along with a couple other improvements to better enable us to do ministry. A gift of any size is helpful and much appreciated. For more info on how to give please see the 'Partner With Us' tab on our website www.rudowskes.com.
Looking ahead, God willing, Rich will be participating in a workshop in January to help train translators to work with us on the project. Please pray for the candidates that we have identified to partner with us in this important aspect of our ministry: Esther Batshomi, a deaconess in the Lutheran church; Golekanye Reichelt, a prominent local businesswoman in the village of Hukuntsi, and Rev. Molemelo Molemele from one of the African Independent churches. This is a good diverse group of folks 1 man, two women, speakers from the major dialects of Shekgalagari, and representing both the mainline (european based) denominations and African based denominations. Pray for the three of them and me as we meet in December, and again in early Janaury for a period of relationship building and preparation for the workshop as well as for the workshop in January.
Lastly, we ask you to pray for our children. They are missing home this Christmas season, the newness and novelty of being in Botswana has worn off, and they (like us) are coming to terms with the prospect of life long term in the village. They are infinitely creative and have many opportunities to learn and explore but they are also American children and miss some of the entertainment and engagement offered by going to parks, malls, and the like. Pray that none of us will be discouraged but be always mindful of the blessing we have been given to be Jesus's ambassadors in this place. It is only grounded in Him, who once walked this earth in circumstances fairly similar to the ones we live in, that we are able to live and serve and love. Hoping this note finds you all well - God's blessings to you this Christmas and into the New Year.
Much love - Rich, Maya, and the Crew