Praying for School

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, May 14.

By Gorata as told to Andrew McChesney

I

was born into a Seventh-day Adventist home in the African country of Botswana.

My father was a church elder, but my mother refused to go to worship services. She didn’t believe in God. So, I went to church with my father, two older brothers, and older sister.

When I was in the third grade, my father left his job with Botswana Railways and decided to become a politician. He also stopped attending church — and that meant we all stopped attending church.

After a while, Mother began to realize that life without God was meaningless, and she wanted to go to church. Some Christians came to our house offering books for sale, and Mother took us to their church on Sunday.

During my vacation before eighth grade, an Adventist literature evangelist showed up at our door with books for sale. My mother was interested, and she bought three books by Ellen White. The visitor invited her to visit his church on Sabbath, and we started attending after that. Soon Mother was baptized.

By that point I was in the eighth grade and thinking about high school. Mother began to pray and fast because she wanted me to go to Eastern Gate Academy, an Adventist boarding school in Francistown, about a 2 ½-hour drive from our home. But Father refused. He said he didn’t have the money to pay for the tuition.

Mother didn’t lose hope, and she kept on praying. I prayed with her. She woke me early in the mornings, and we prayed together. We also prayed during evening devotions.

But my father didn’t change his mind. I began ninth grade at a government boarding school in another city. Being at that school was difficult. Some students drank alcohol and used drugs. The teachers didn’t seem to care whether we did our homework.

After two years at the school, I decided that I had had enough. I begged Father to allow me to go to the Adventist school.

“No,” he said.

That night I cried and prayed. I asked the Lord to help me because I really wanted to go to Eastern Gate Academy.

“Please help me to go to the Adventist school if it is Your will,” I prayed.

The next day, I spoke with my mother. She opened her Bible and read Psalms 30:5, which says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (NKJV).

That verse gave me hope. I kept praying.

Two months later, as vacation was ending, I asked my father again if I could attend the Adventist school.

Father was silent for a moment. I wondered what he would say.

“Fine,” he said. “You can go.”

I thanked the Lord! From this experience, I learned that the Lord is always listening. Everything happens according to His plan when we have faith and obey Him. Now my whole family has joined the Adventist Church, except my father. Please pray for him, for us, and for the school. ⎭

Eastern Gate Academy shares a campus with Eastern Gate Primary School, which opened in 2017 with the help of a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering collected in 2015. Thank you for your mission offerings that support schools worldwide.