How God's patience impacted one sister's family in Botswana, Southern Africa

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How God's patience impacted one sister's family in Botswana, Southern Africa

Justin Renton • January 5, 2020

If you are wondering if God is working through you to impact the lives of others, then the conversion story of Goabaone "Frog" Kgosisejo will inspire you to persevere in your evangelism. This story is from the Botswana International Church of Christ, Southern Africa.

In 1998, Goabaone or "Frog" as she's best-known, was a young and enterprising 17-year-old, who in her wildest dreams never thought going to church or surrendering her life to serve God, was on the cards.

INSET: Frog and Mama Dinnie

To earn some pocket money, Frog spent her spare time plaiting people's hair. One of her customers, was high school principal, Rosalind Ntseane, best-known as Mama Dinnie. Like the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26, Mama Dinnie used to travel a long distance, 80 km (49 miles) from her village Kanye, to the church in the capital of Gaborone. She regularly brought people to church with her - one of them was Frog.

Frog, in turn, invited two of her friends to come along. They all did the Word study that day, "just to please Mama Dinnie".

One of Frog's favourite scriptures is this one, which she feels came true in her life: "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:11 (NIV)

So did Frog become a disciple? Not immediately. In fact, in her quest for the exciting things that life offers, she quickly lost touch with Mama Dinnie. She was not ready to continue the Bible studies or to become a church girl. She wanted to "experience" life.

Many years later, while working as a teacher in a village called Mahalapye, about 200 km (124 miles) from Gaborone, she read A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and it challenged her to find a church where she could worship God. She yearned for the atmosphere she experienced at a young age at Mama Dinnie's church. She remembered how she was attracted by the way the worship was orderly and the welcoming, friendly people she had met.

So Frog searched through her documents for a contact of anyone connected to the Botswana ICOC, to no avail. And then she remembered that one of her former university classmates might be able to help.

"I felt strongly that it was my time to get saved so I asked this woman for some contacts and she gave me two", Frog says.

She drove 200 km (124 miles) to Gaborone to attend church and started studying the Bible immediately. But the road to her conversion was quite rocky as she had a lot to give up. One Sunday morning shortly after her baptism, she felt ready to quit her new life. She could not go on. She phoned her discipling partner and informed her of her decision, but Seadimano Oefile patiently walked her through her fears and encouraged her to hold on to the cross.

INSET: Frog (left) and her sister Lebo

That willingness to persevere paid off for Frog in an amazing way. "After my baptism I made it a habit to invite my friends and family to church activities and they loved it. My mom and all my sisters visited and so did my nieces and nephews. Some of my sisters, though they are not members, even have close friends in the church.

"In 2016, my sister Lebo and her daughter Rati, made a decision to study the Bible. Interestingly, at this time, I was going through another tough phase in my walk with God. I was angry at God, so I just handed them to the sisters to study the Bible with them. My niece, Rati, got baptised in Nov 2016 and my sister, Lebo, in 2017," she shares.

INSET: Frog and her son Larona

Frog is thankful that Mama Dinnie did not give up on her. "Mama Dinnie has told me several times how she'd been praying for me and I've seen how God has been working behind the scenes," she said.

So let us persevere in making God known to people around us. Your labour in the Lord is not in vain. Take encouragement from 1 Timothy 2:3-4 that says "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."(NIV)

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