Yes and No

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. In the morning I received an email saying that the journal article I had submitted about my Master’s work had been accepted with minor revisions. This is very exciting as it is my first real journal article! It’s not a for sure thing yet, I have to make the corrections suggested by the reviewers and get them approved, but the editor said if I did this he would be happy to publish my paper so I feel encouraged. This is a big hurdle for me and was a nice confirmation that what I’m doing is okay.

Then in the afternoon I hit a problem. On Tuesday when I met with the official from the wildlife department he said that since my research assistant wasn’t a local I would have to submit a form to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism petitioning to add him to our research permit. Then Dr. Taolo could add him to the supplemental permit. This made me extend my time in Gaborone by two days but Dr. Taolo was pretty sure it would work out, so I submitted the form. Yesterday afternoon I got the response saying that my request was rejected. They wanted a local, not a foreigner. I sent them a response requesting a petition of the decision because while I understand their desire to have locals trained and hired, this situation arose because of an unexpected cancellation of my previous research assistant and my time constraints keep me from being able to mount a full search for a new assistant. As I was sending this, however, the internet went out and did not come back.

I’ll admit it was a bit confusing. In the morning I got a great Yes, affirming the work that I do, and then in the afternoon a No on what I’m trying to do this season. I believe that the Lord has a plan and is going to work this out; it’ll just be interesting to see how these things go. He has a plan and a purpose in all this.

This morning, as soon as I could get to an internet connection I send off my request for the petition to the authorities and have yet to receive a response. At the same time, I need to be ready in case they still say no so I emailed contacts at the Okavango Research Institute in Maun to ask if they knew of any locals who might be available on short notice to serve as a research assistant. One, Lin Cassidy, who got her PhD at the University of Florida, just responded proposing a young man who might work. I sent him an email and will call him shortly. We’ll see how this all works. I’m trying to trust the Lord but I’ll admit there’s a bit of stress as I have a plane ticket for tomorrow but no guarantee that my permit will be ready by then. I’d really rather not push back my flight again, Gabs is expensive and as it is I’ll be pressed to get all the data I need in the time I have left. We’ll see.

On top of all that, something interesting has been happening. I’ve had four different people come up to me in the last two days, requesting food, oil, bus fares, and prayer for a job. While I have definitely had people come ask me for help in the past, it’s never been this many in this short a time. It makes me wonder if the Lord is trying to tell me something, or if there’s something else I’m supposed to see or do. I came here to study elephants but perhaps my being here is supposed to have a larger impact than that. I’m really not sure. I guess we’ll see what comes of all this. The Lord is in control, I just hope I’m paying enough attention to see His purpose in these various things that are going on.