With Thankful Hearts

Hard to believe it's almost been a month since we last posted. Let me start by saying Thank YOU for praying and Thank you GOD for answering!! So many things are happening and we definitely feel and appreciate your prayers.

A week ago Scott was able to return to Gakuto to the Saturday children's program the pastor started after the Millbrook Team served there in June. He was so blessed to see 73 kids there playing, praising, and studying God's Word. He was happy to see that someone in the community had donated cookies and drinks for the kids. Gakuto Baptist continues to have over 100 in attendance on Sunday mornings for worship. We thank God for this and for the eternal investment that Millbrook Baptist Church made and continues to make in that community. We are also extremely encouraged to see the church step up on their own to try to raise funds for repairs to their outdoor toilets and to have money for some youth activities. Seeing a church becoming a producer instead of only being a consumer is a big deal and a huge "next step".

This past weekend Scott and I were invited (from the Pastor's Conference in August) to lead a Children's Sunday School training at AFM (Apostolic Faith Mission). We were told to expect around 17 people. There were 27 leaders there, half of which were brand new. Praising God for rising up leaders to reach and teach the next generation and for encouraging and equipping those who faithfully serve already. At the end of the day they asked the new people who felt ready to step up and help out and everyone raised their hands. Go God!!

On Sunday we were invited to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. They were celebrating Children's Day. We were blessed to see all of the kids sing, present memory verses, and do skits of Bible Stories. The highlight for us was the message from the pastor who spoke on the importance of Children's Ministry. God once again affirmed our call to train and disciple leaders for Children.

We are in the final days of planning and preparations for our trip to Masunga next week. We will lead a 3 day Children's Ministry Conference. We are thankful for God's provision of help with our kids. Vivian, Kez and Mercy will be staying with the boys, taking them to and from school, cooking and "holding down the fort". An answered prayer for sure!!

I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I share what God is doing in the Bible Study in Gakuto. We have just finished up our first study called "Your life in Christ" by Campus Crusade for Christ. This week are starting a new study by LifeWay called "10 lies about God ~ and the truths that shatter them". I have a hard time putting into words what transpires during our meetings other saying the Holy Spirit is present and active. I am thankful for their sharing from the heart and for the way we are being bound together as sisters in Christ. This week the kids that go to the government schools are not in session so I invited the ladies to our house for a time of fellowship. They still have to work even if the kids aren't there but they thought they could get special permission to leave to come to my house for a meeting. I checked with all of them yesterday and they all said they were coming. When they arrived today they shared with me that they had to take a day of leave in order to come but they were so happy to get to come it was worth it to them. We had an awesome time of sharing, eating, praying, singing, and praising some more. This photo was taken today!

We are thankful for answered prayers regarding Hunter. In January he will return to Sumter, SC to live with our dear friends Mark & Karla Hafner. He will go back to Sumter High School for his last semester where he will get to take 4 college courses and do an internship at Alice Drive Baptist Church. He is thrilled to get to return to his youth group and get a chance to serve with them before he starts college next fall. We are so grateful for the way God worked this out and we give Him the Glory. As hard as it will be to leave another child 8000+ miles away we know with complete confidence and peace this is His will and provision for Hunter. Did you catch that I said leave another child? That's right we are coming home for the holidays!! We are thankful to get this opportunity to be with friends, family, and all of our kids for Christmas. We will return to Botswana on January 10th and ramp up for a new year of ministry.

Please continue to pray. Pray for the church of Gakuto and for Pastor Adam as he serves there. Pray that God would bless their fund raising efforts and that repairs and ministry expenses would be provided. Also, pray for the conference in Masunga to be fruitful and that many new leaders will find a passion to serve the Children of Botswana. Pray for our boys and their caregivers to have a safe and uneventful week. Pray for the new Bible Study I am starting with my friends in Gakuto. Pray that God would continue to reveal Himself in a real and mighty way. Pray that any lies that might be believed about God would be shattered. Pray that He would continue to bind our hearts together as trustworthy friends and sisters in Christ. Continue to pray for Hunter and our whole family as face yet another transition. Please pray for the Hafner family as they prepare to be parents to a teenage son - after all these years of only daughters. Please continue to pray for our wisdom and discernment in our future ministry plans. Scott is meeting with the Dutch Reformed Church tomorrow about the possibility of leading training for them. Our hearts desire is to be where He wants us to be. Join us in praising Him for all He has done and is continuing to do in Botswana. We love you all. ~ Tonya

Planning in the North

This week I had the joy of heading back up north with Jeff Sukup to the Masunga area of Botswana to finalize the venue and plans for a Childrens' Leadership Conference and Pastors' Conference. There are 43 surrounding villages in the Northeast district. This area has been impacted heavily from the civil workers strike, hoof and mouth disease (the government destroyed 70% of the livestock, their main source of income) and poverty. They have requested Open Baptist Church come to the Northeast District and equip church leaders and children's workers.

"Call to Africa" is a group from the US - led by Ken Gaylean- who will hold a football(soccer) clinic and tournament representing 8 schools in the area. Each night while they are there they will hold 4 crusades in different villages throughout the area. Sounds like a lot of work, it is. Very limited housing available and no restaurants make it difficult to have a large group in the village. There will be 16 people required to do this work. We were concerned how this was going to happen in 5 weeks. We prayed for God to provide discernment and guidance as we met with people to find the location and housing. God provided in a mighty way - He always does!

We met a lady who pastors a church and owns a shopping plaza. She will offer her church and building next door at no cost. Her sons owns a catering business and will handle feeding 86 people each day. She will handle chairs and tables. She is friends with people who own a lodge and are working a good rate for us. Go God! The only other issue we had was someone to lead praise and worship for the week. This same pastor told us she had a woman who just spoke to her the day before telling her God wanted her to be in Masunga for a revival and teaching and she would be ready when the time came. Once again God provided. We spoke with her and everything is all set. The greatest challenges were getting taken care of and we now have to wait on the results. Amazing.

All of the schools were excited and felt they were able to participate in the football clinic and tournament. Because of the strike, the students have not played organized football in many months. From our visits we were able to find the 4 locations for the crusade and are waiting for confirmation on the approval. It was like God had been at work before we arrived. Once the faithful arrived to do the work, everything started falling in place.

I had the opportunity to travel to Zimbabwe and visit some pastors and one particular who attended the children's conference early last month. The Zimbabwe pastors were saying they felt God was getting ready heal Zimbabwe. I was blessed to see a young man take everything we taught and put it to work. He made sure his volunteers were born again (not asked here for children workers), trained his leaders and conducted a VBS using a curriculum we provided. He normally has 10 kids. There were 76 jumping, shouting, singing, bible verse memorizing children his first day. The senior pastor said when Bryan returned, "That boy was on fire. I could not hold him back." The pastor is going to use the children's VBS to teach the adults on Sunday morning. Unheard of in Zimbabwe, children's teaching in a church service. He thanked us for the work we did in Gaborone. He said it was going to change his village. Just so happens a new housing development is just about to be completed and bring a large number of families to the area. His church is 3 km away. This is a village in the middle of farm land. Go God! Call to Africa will be holding a crusade for the church at the new housing development. The pastor was so excited. Here is a photo:

At the end of the trip, I was able to meet with more people who attended the conference. Again, life changing and well equipped were words we heard over and over again. They are using the material we provided and were amazed at how well the children responded to scripture memorization and story time. One teacher was a graduate in child development who expressed she never was taught to teach with such passion and excitement as we had shared with her in training. She is now teaching at day care center because of the training she received. We also were able to provide some children at the school with food from OBC and clothes. Here is a photo of some of the children:

I am awe struck and blessed to serve such an amazing God. Please pray for the children's leadership conference in Masunga - 4 Oct to 9 Oct. Pray that lives will be changed and leaders will be transformed. We only have capacity for 20 children's leaders and 50 pastors. I have 2 already signed up from Zimbabwe who will travel there to attend. Pray for the energy needed to make this happen. Pray for our children as we leave them with someone in Gaborone so we can lead the conference. Pray for a land that needs healing and the people who need to be transformed. I heard this testimony from many-"The only thing that kept the country together was the church and God growing the church spiritually".

Finally, the boys start school on Monday. Pray for their getting back in the swing of things after being out for 4 weeks. Thank you for reading our blog and supporting us with your love, prayers and financial support.

Scott Shipes