First Bible School Planning - Gakuto

We had a great meeting in Gakuto today. Tonya and I along with our summer intern, Chelsea, looked over the church to make account of what we would need to do while a team from Aiken, SC is here to do a VBS. Gonna be a busy week of hard work and seeing true needs being met. We need to paint, hang some screen to prevent birds from roosting in the church, repair some broken windows, hang some doors and replace broken locks. Not to mention we have some serious yard work to do. Chelsea commented when she saw the thorns, she thought again about the crown of thorns Jesus wore. These things look like sharp tooth picks heavily covering branches from every direction. The great part is we will work along side the people there and another church here in Gaborone for their first mission trip.

Another wonderful part of this trip, we will work with the primary school there to encourage and help the teachers. With the strike, this is great timing. We met with teachers and they were happy to hear we are bringing a team in 3 weeks to help the children and church in Gakuto. Their faces were filled with brilliance when we said we are bringing a teacher to provide a workshop for them who specializes in reading. The teachers were literally dancing when they asked if we could bring them each a Bible since they did not own one and we said yes, of course. They asked if we could help them with supplies they have difficulty receiving. This list includes Glue bottles, glue sticks, skinny and fat markers, pens (red, blue, and black), water color paints, teaching aids (specifically phonic posters, charts, etc.), colored pencils, pencils, paint brushes, rulers, board games (Scrabble), puzzles, whistles, and tennis balls. The teams along with us here will work hard to get this list complete. The headmaster even said "that these kids needed God to know the right way. It will change Gakuto with hope."

The Lord has big things in store, moving in amazing ways and has a BIG VBS in store. The teachers said today that there are 300 kids enrolled at the school and think every kid will want to come because there has never been anything like this in the village. We were expected half that number. This church has no running water or electricity and limited toilets. It's going to be a great experience!

Please continue to pray over our preparations, the teams travel and our week together with them in Gakuto. The VBS will start 13 June. Pray also for the kids, the church in Naledi who has their first mission trip with us and for the church where we are working at that only has twenty regular members. What a might God we serve.


The Shipes & Chelsea