Salvation
· News is coming in on a daily basis of students giving their lives to the Lord. This is being done in groups and individually.
· Brandy, our US volunteer led a girl to the Lord. Her comment: “My trip has been worth it for this.”
· In Shoshong, the Scripture Union held their own outreach last week end, with the FTN volunteers and they have made a request for 50 extra Bibles.
· In Letlhakane, the team believe they are starting to see the harvest. People’s hearts are being opened and even a teacher has asked for counselling.
· There has been similar feedback from Moeng.
· The Rally Teams are also reaping a harvest. At the Gabane taxi rank, 30 people gave their lives to the Lord after an open air rally.

· In Mochudi, which is normally considered a tough school, the Rally team reported their best rally ever with 187 giving their lives to the Lord and responding to the pledge to sexual purity.
· As far as possible follow up Bible Studies are being done with the students.
· Please pray for the team in Palapye. They have reported that students are signing up for sexual purity. They are sharing the gospel one on one with every student that comes forward but the response to the salvation message is extremely slow
WHEW!!!
· This is the sentiment of many reports. The pace is increasing and there is more and more pressure on the volunteers. As they are winning the confidence of students, so the demand to counsel increases. Some of the cases that they are counselling require a counsellor with a PhD and years of experience!
· There is also more and more demand to be doing programs in the SU, PACT and Abstinence Clubs.
· The most common comment that accompanies the “Whew!” is “By the grace of God we keep going and He gives us the strength and the wisdom.”
· In Kang the volunteers have already counselled 32 students concerning sexual relationships.
· Please pray for ongoing grace, strength and wisdom as these young, brave people walk in territory where most would fear to tread.
PROUD LEADERS
· Pastor Norman has just made a trip to Francistown and David is currently doing a round the country trip. They have both proudly given feedback from the schools they have visited. Staff and principals alike have raved about the volunteers- how well they know their subject, how well they teach, how well they are conducting themselves. They are very excited about Face The Nation. Teachers are sitting in on lessons to learn and observe.
GOODHOPE
· This is a school near Lobatse that had a shaky opening at the beginning of the year.
· We decided not to send volunteers there because they were just getting going themselves.
· On a courtesy visit they begged us to send in volunteers and had already organised accommodation for the volunteers.
· In Moeding the volunteers do not have a full teaching schedule and so these volunteers are working in both schools.
· We have put out an appeal for old clothes, blankets and schools bags to be donated to this community, as it is very poor. Donations are coming in at a steady rate. Thank you!
· The deputy principal welcomed the volunteers and said, “You couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.”
· They had their first day of teaching today.
EXAM TIMETABLES
· Many schools are cutting the teaching programme short because of changes to the exam timetable.
· This is very frustrating for the volunteers and is putting them under a lot of pressure to condense 5 lessons into 4 or even 3.
· Some schools are also cancelling or trying to postpone rallies for the same reason. This is making life a challenge for the rally teams.
PLEASE PRAY
The harvest field is enormous and ripe but the labourers are few. Pray for our labourers. Pray for their continued protection.

Yours in Face The Nation Gail Wingreen

Director of Face The Nation
Modise Mokgwathise +267 7160 9596
mokgwathise@facethenation.org

Office Administrator
Tirelo Miano +267 7220 6530
tirelo@facethenation.org

Director of School of Discipleship
Gail Wingreen +267 7415 7366

Office E-mail: news@facethenation.org
Postal Address : Face The Nation , P.O Box 1992, Gaborone, Botswana

Office phone: +267 316 4286

Intro
The population of Botswana is being ravaged by the effects of HIV/AIDS and whereas several campaigns have been carried out to curb the spread of this disease, infection rates continue to rise. We believe that through the Christian faith, the situation can be turned around as people find through faith, the moral strength to change their life styles. The Face The Nation (F.T.N) program of the Open Baptist Church, Gaborone (O.B.C), Botswana, is a Christian response to this national disaster.

Our Goals and Strategy
Our vision is to recruit and train available Christian students from the University of Botswana (U.B) who go to the senior secondary schools as volunteers during the university’s long winter break (May to August). These students have to be convinced about and live a life style of sexual purity. They are to assist in the fight against HIV/AIDS through a program geared largely toward behavioral change and sexual purity (abstinence). They are deployed in schools in teams to teach life skills in the classrooms;help with sporting and other extra curricular activities; work closely with the Scripture Union (S.U) groups in the schools; build relationships with the students and most importantly to live Christ on the school campuses.

Our Target Group
Our target group is the senior secondary school students (ages 16 -20) because we believe that “Lore lo ojwa lo sale metsi”, a Setswana saying that means the best time to teach something to a child is when they are still young, which is also in line with Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” We also feel that this age group will relate better to any message on HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancies if it came from an age group closer to their own.

· Okavango School in Maun (private school) has only 2 days of Guidance and Counselling lessons. The volunteers from this school are helping out on the other 3 days at Maun Senior Secondary School (SSS) on the other days. This is a double shift school and therefore demanding on the volunteers.
· In Kang the volunteers were asked to write an article about the purpose of their visit for a paper.
· In Shashe Hill (Tonata), Moeding College and Mater Spei (Francistown) extra lessons are being taught during study time.
· Volunteers are finding Pam Stenzel’s book “Sex has a Price tag” an excellent resource
· The grandmother of a volunteer in Moeng has passed away.
· Scripture Union Clubs and Abstinence Clubs around the country are being revived.
· The SU Club at Naledi SSS (Gaborone) meets every day for prayer
· The SU Club in Selebi-Phikwe is taking up the challenge of supporting those who gave their lives to the Lord or pledged to a life of sexual purity at the rally in their school.
· Volunteers at St Joseph’s College (Gaborone) are coaching basketball and helping in the Poetry Club
· At Naledi SSS (Gaborone) volunteers are helping with fund raising ideas for the Red Cross Club , to support those less fortunate than themselves and working in the Edu –Confidence Club- a peer mentoring club to build confidence in others
· Due to teaching taking a while to get started in some schools, lessons 1 & 2 are being condensed into 1 lesson.

These were the words that a rally volunteer heard on her cell from a student that she counselled at FTN in 2007, in Selebi-Phikwe. She has maintained contact with this student all year. This student’s mother had just passed away and suicide was the best option available to her in her moment of anguish. Much prayer and maintaining contact with her throughout the day averted the crisis. A volunteer in Selebi-Phikwe was put in contact with her. She was able to spend time with her over the week end and then get her connected with some support through the school on Monday morning. Please pray for the volunteers as they walk this road with this young girl.

Welcome to Face The nation. This is our first post.