Background

In July 1994 Sid and Karen and their three boys moved to Maun, Botswana from the capital city Gaborone. Initially they rented a little house on the Thamalakane River.  Sid had already scouted out the land in previous months with friend and colleague Clark Logan and had found a nice piece of land that was for sale.  This property was in the centre of the village and they felt that it was a very suitable location to be able to start a gospel outreach and Sunday school work.

Shortly after arriving in the village the sale of the land went through and they were able to start building their own house. During the week the whole family would head into the work site.  Sid decided that if he built the house himself it would keep the cost down.  Despite never having built a house or building with concrete before he was able to keep a work force of twenty five men busy and met the building challenges head on.  Working long days he was able to complete the shell within ten weeks. The family moved in and they continued building while they were living in the house.  

During this time of building many children came into the yard to watch what was going on and to check out the new white kids that moved onto the block.  The new white kids had shiny new Tonka trucks that were a major attraction. These groups of neighbourhood children became the nucleus of the Sunday school work.

Each weekend they would hold a Sunday school class under the shade of the tree in their back yard.  Also, when they first moved up to Maun there were two young ladies boarding at the high school. These young women were new converts of Dan Nguluka, a commended evangelist from Zambia who had seen them saved while they were attending a public school in the village of Seronga.  Also, a missionary from  Wales was marrying a local believer, whose family was from Maun.  They moved up to Maun to marry and work. There was now a small group of believers to help in the small Sunday school.  In addition to the children’s work each week a gospel meeting was held and the Lord blessed in the salvation of souls. 

In April of 1995 the little company of believers started to break bread as an assembly.  They continued meeting in the home of the Halsband’s but eventually out grew the facilities so on a portion of their plot they built a traditional African structure in which to meet.  It was made of gum poles, reed walls, thatched roof and a sand floor.  The devil attacked the work and was successful in destroying the testimony of several prominent members of the little assembly.  In time the Lord strengthened what remained and started to bless again.  Eventually it became apparent that for the assembly to really develop it would have to have its own building and piece of land.  The Lord opened the door for the assembly to buy a piece of land. The building that was on the Halsband’s plot was dismantled and rebuilt at the new location.

In 2005 the little assembly of 25 believers began to pray about building a modern brick building. During the next three years the Lord provided the resources for this new building.  At the national Easter Conference of 2008 the assembly opened its new facilities.