First Fruits

I wanted to blog today to express my gratitude for what God has done. We shared in November that we were leading our first leader training session at Naledi Baptist Fellowship. We had 5 weeks of 2 hours training sessions. During training we were able to share with the group the importance of prayer, planning, preparation and passion. We helped the leaders define their mission for their Children's ministry and introduced them to a new curriculum (They didn't have any curriculum prior to this). They were very excited about the encouragement, our investement into them and the new Bible lessons.

Scott and I have been back the NBF to check on their progress and to see if we could help coach or encourage them in their efforts to establish and improve their Children's Ministry. We have spent the last 2 Sundays in Old Naledi observing and are excited and grateful for what God has accomplished. It is exciting to see the leaders take what we have taught and watch them put it into action. This is what God called me and Scott to Botswana to do. To establish sustainable Children's ministry by training and equipping Children's Leaders. To see it in actions is one of those times that make me say, "Go God"!!!

Here are a few pictures from the Sunday School at Naledi Baptist Fellowship

Please continue to pray for NBF's Children's Ministry. Pray that God would continue to raise up leaders with a heart for Children. Please pray for us as we seek to reach out to other churches. Pray that God would lead us exactly where He wants us to serve. Please pray that we would find a way to have Bible lessons translated into Setswana so it would be available for all Children's leaders.

We thank God for all of you and are grateful for your love, prayers, and support. ~ Tonya

To Be Held

I wanted to share a moment and thought I experienced yesterday. Megan Lyons and Kaitlin Watkins are here with us as interns for a few weeks. They are working in Old Naledi at the Thlamelo Feeding Station while they are here. One child stood out for Megan and I wanted to share her story from my perspective.

One little girl wearing matching clothing was there who stood out from all the children. Her name is Thoto and she was away from all of the activity. She seemed content to distance herself and not get into the swinging,hugging, play with long blond hair and getting picked up into the air and brought back down again. Megan asked her if she wanted her to pick her up. Her smile turned to a confused face and not understanding what Megan meant. The little ones know Setswana way better than English so we thought it was a language problem. When Megan picked her up, she looked at me with bewilderment. "This child does not know how to be held. She is setting here, loose on me side, looking away from me." I began my teaching moment.

Most of the Botswana children are not held and loved on the way American children are back home. If they are held it is by and older sibling when they are very young. After they can "fend" for themselves they are on their own. The "love language" expressed here is you have clothes, you are fed and you are clean. That is more than a majority of them recieve here in the villages. Being held by an adult in a loving and kind way is very awkward for most of the children in the villages. Megan was in shock and could not put her down again. After 15 minutes of being held, Thoto began to hold onto Megan and smile. They later began to exchange silly facial expressions back and forth. Megan had to finally put her down to teach the bible lesson (which she did a great job). Thoto then did something different. Instead of being away from the other children, she joined them and sat with them to her the story. We met her later at the church in the afternoon and she stayed close to us and the other the rest of the time we were there.

The difference of just being held and loved can change a persons life or attitude. How often we ignore and neglect this powerful gift God has given us. We are made in the image of God to hold and nurture those around us. Oddly enough, Jesus himself did this and the disciples complained. It was not the "church work" the envisioned He should be doing. Jesus held them close and looked in their eyes to let the children know He loved them. He also gave the disciples a lesson in the process.

I pray we will learn to share the love of Jesus with all the children around us, not just the ones who jump in our laps but the Thoto's who are standing aside waiting to feel what it means to be held with the love of Jesus. The work of Jesus is sharing His love not always about being busy in the work.

God's Blessings to you all.

Scott Shipes

What a difference a year makes

I just realized when I signed into blogger that I started this blog a year ago. Hard to believe it's been that long. Wow, what a difference a year can make. So many changes - so many challenges - so many miracles. When I think in terms of a year - it's a little over whelming. One year ago Scott took that incredible leap of faith and left his 25 year career in engineering. One year ago we would look at each other say, "Only God knows how this is going to happen, but we are trusting Him with all of it." One year ago my kids began to anticipate and count down their "lasts". Last high school football games, last Christmas in this house, last "Big Weekend". One year ago I began to dream of what life would be like in Botswana and wondered many times how it would all work out. To think that all of these things have come to pass and we have actually celebrated our First Christmas in Botswana blows my mind.

Since I am reflecting on this past year I have decided to reflect month to month.

Jan 2010 - Ringing in the New Year with my family at Garden City. Cherishing the times we would have together knowing that the end was in sight. Scott and I celebrating 20 years of marriage and being in awe of what God had done in our lives and what He had in store for us this year. Scott leaving his job - and this being the most difficult thing he had ever faced. I remember his internal struggle and how I prayed for him because I could see from the outside the fierce spiritual battle going on.

Feb 2010 - Scott joining the staff at Alice Drive Baptist Church. We had to learn to share an office, a desk and a computer...an interesting adjustment to say the least. We learned very quickly how our strengths and weaknesses worked together. Scott and I attended the Close Connections Board meeting in Atlanta GA where we were prayed over and commissioned by that group. Scott was Ordained on February 14th at Alice Drive Baptist Church. The service was one of the most memorable of my life. We were blessed to have so many of our friends in the ministry to take part in the service and we were blessed again to be prayed over, showered with love and supported by so many friends and family. It was a night I will never forget.

March 2010 - We were part of our first ever missions conference as missionaries...overwhelming and amazing thanks to Millbrook Baptist and the Stan Harmon Sunday School Class. It was such a blessing to be prayed over and by friends and family. I remember through tears or joy and love my Daddy blessing us and releasing us to God's care. I was so grateful to have the love, prayers, physical and spiritual blessings that weekend held. The kids enjoyed being a part of "Big Weekend" and came off of that weekend begging to be able to come back to Sumter next year for it. Matt Papa led worship at Big Weekend - I remember standing in the Worship Center, tears flowing, with our hands lifted high as he sang "Free at last I surrender all that I am with open hands" - incredible God moment. March also allowed me to travel to Winston-Salem to be with my sister Lea on the 2nd anniversary of sweet baby Wills death. I cherished our time together over dinner and we did some 40th Birthday shopping for her too.

April 2010 - I think this month could have been described as "cramming it in". Celebrating my 44th Birthday with my closest friends, my mom and dad's surprise visit and red velvet cake, a beautiful bracelet from my man! We crammed in several conferences to try to take in as much training as possible. We went to the Board Meeting of "Churches Together" and were prayed over and blessed by them. We spent several days at the Orange Conference and learned more than we could possibly remember about Children's Ministry. We had a great visit with our friends the Keeltys and were reminded by God that He was making this move happen by working in the hearts of His people. Chandler turned 14 and we were reminded while processing God's Call to Botswana, of how God had used Chandler's healing as part of His redemption story in mine and Scott's life.

May 2010 - Makenzie finished her first year of college and came home to spend the summer with us. The boys finished up their school years and said their goodbyes to lots of friends. Parker turned 11 and accepted the reality of going to middle school in a foreign country. I am still grateful for the way our boys took the move. All of them were always in agreement with us and never argued or begged not to follow us. None of them questioned God or His call on our lives.

June 2010 - We took our annual trip to Edisto Beach for the "Peals Family Beach Blast". It was bittersweet knowing that our family wouldn't be there next time (at least for a few years anyway). Our house in Sumter had been on the market(an incredibly poor housing market) since September 2009 and we finally got an offer and a sale. It was hard not to fret over selling the house but all I could do was trust. Hunter celebrated his sweet 16 while at Edisto and enjoyed a chartered fishing trip with his Daddy, Papaw, Uncle Mike and brothers Chandler and Parker. Did I mention that Hunter grew probably 6 - 8 inches this year and is a whooping 6ft 4in tall? We shipped our Suburban and some basic household goods to Botswana. Joshua and Joseph turned 5 and Scott celebrated his 48th Birthday.

July 2010 - We sold, gave away, packed up all of our earthy belongings. We said goodbye to the house we had called home for 6 years. We did our last VBS at Alice Drive Baptist Church - we lived in the Church that week...memories we will never forget. Lea and her kids came and camped out with us at ADBC. I wouldn't change that week for anything. Makenzie and Tyler starting talking and hanging out together. We camped in NC for the 4th of July and made some fun memories with Felicia, Lea and families. We joined Mike and Becky Chennault and girls for a long weekend in the Smoky Mountains. What a great time of "family reunion" we had. I feel like God used Mike and Becky in our lives as the ones that went ahead of us. He used them to show me that leaving home (the USA) was possible. We were blessed to have farewell parties in Aiken with wonderful friends - but saying goodbye as usual was the hardest part.

August 2010 - We were commissioned by Alice Drive Baptist Church to be Missionaries to the Children of Botswana. We had to say goodbye to our church family and some very close friends. We moved Makenzie back into her dorm at CSU and spent some precious time with only her and said our goodbyes. We spent time with Scott's family and my family the last week and we packed our suitcases and eventually boarded the plane that brought us to our new home. It was the hardest thing leaving my girl weeping at the gate, but we were very grateful she was in Tyler's capable arms. We were greeted and hosted in Botswana by the Sukups who took excellent care of us for the first 3 weeks here.

September 2010 - We moved into our new home and got settled into school. We went through lots of emotions and adjustments. We hit the ground running, planning, meeting new people, networking and hosting teams.

October 2010 - We continued to adjust to life in a new country. We depended on one another. We were happy to share our home with Matt and Seth from Campus Crusade. Scott and I traveled to Mosojane and left with a promise to return in December. We hosted a "Vision" cast (conference) at our home and learned so much about the difference of our world view versus African world view. Tyler asked Makenzie to Marry him and of course she said YES!! We were and still are thrilled for both of them.

November 2010 - We held our first training of Children's leaders at Naledi Baptist Fellowship. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Botswana - different, but special in it's own way. The boys finished up their first term of school and we anxiously anticipated the arrival of Makenzie to Botswana.

December 2010 - Scott traveled and was guest pastor at a youth conference. The boys and I decorated our Christmas Tree and hung the stockings while it was 100+ degrees in Botswana. We struggled with things not feeling like Christmas. We were overjoyed the day our "sissy" finally arrived in Botswana. We loved every minute of our time with Mak. We held a fabulous week of VBS in Mosojane. We celebrated Christmas "Botswana" Style. (Opened gifts and spent the afternoon in the pool) - Christmas dinner was steak on the grill. We had a Birthday Party for Makenzie and the whole family was there via skype. We were jealous of the family and friends getting snow for Christmas but made the best of it here and worked on our tans.

Jan 2011- we rang in the New Year with Fireworks and Smores in the Bush. We said goodbye to Makenzie as she headed back to Charleston for school. The boys started a new school year. Hard for me to comprehend where the time goes. Josh and Joe started Kindergarten, Parker 6th grade, Chandler 9th grade and Hunter 12th grade. We welcomed Megan and Kaitlin. We have begun our search for a new home to rent. We are preparing for a Children's ministry conference in Zambia, another trip north, 4 teams and 4 KidsCamps this summer, a trip home in April and our Daughter's Wedding in May.

And so life goes!! We thank God for His incredible provision, for the ways He worked to bring us to Botswana. We thank Him for the people in our lives that love, encourage, pray for and support us. We Praise Him for all He is doing in and through us and Give Him all the Glory.

~Tonya

Joy off the Island in Gaborone

I had to post update for all who sent me messages of encouragement and prayers. Since Sunday, my mind has been so clear of myself and focused on being joyful about who and what God has placed in my life. I began to understand what "Culture Shock"is to travelers. It is not seeing "they have no shoes" or "they eat one meal a day". The shock is I have made a commitment to live my life differently in a different country for the glory of God and not my own comfort and it is emotionally and spiritually demanding. Tonya talked about that a while back. Deep down, my thoughts and heart want me to be comfortable how I would like the world to be around us. Christ tells us this can not happen. As long as we are in the world we will be rejected and mistreated. This is how the world treated Him. Why would it treat us any differently? It will not and will never treat us the way we think we should be treated. The works to its benefit and glory and nothing else.

I read "My Utmost for His Highest" (thank you Millbrook Baptist Choir) daily yesterday and became so overwhelmed with this thought. "Jesus does not tell us all we need to know all at once." He reveals things to us as we experience them so we can understand them at that given time. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters, warts and all. My character is flawed and ignorant thinking my experiences are about me! Jesus reveals that this body has been harboring load of junk long before His grace began to work in me 13 years ago. I never really had the courage to get real, look inside and see what was going on in there. I saw a lot of me and my feelings and little of the love of Jesus.

I never understood conceit was stealing my joy. God understood this and needed me to see it. Why was I thinking I was more worthy of someone else just because I am an American missionary answering God's call? God will keep sending what ever my way until He gets me alone to understand His plan. Until I look inforward at my flawed and ignorant ways, there is an element of pride or conceit. Joy as God designed me to experience can not be understand. He can take me through the disappointment of wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. It there He will reveal His inordinate affection.

"My primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever". It is my true calling and why I was created. Everyone was created to serve and give praise to our creator and perfecter of our faith through our words, thoughts and actions. When I do this, I can experience the presence of God as my heavenly Father and live in a joyful, intimate relationship with Him and His children. All His children He created, not just the Christians. My conceit prevented me from relating to His children. Understanding no man is an island unto himself in God's plan.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Praise, our boys started school this week and it has gone well so far. Just 2 days but a good 2 days. Noticed things that would normally drive me crazy are good and laughing because God is dealing with them and not me. It is nice.

Pray for our new visitors for a few weeks, Megan Lyons and Kaitlin Watkins. Dealing with lost luggage and delayed flights. Sharing joy with them!

Scott

I will say it Again: Rejoice

We brought in the New Year shooting fireworks in the bush. The boys shooting fireworks were joyful and had no care or worry they could blow us or themselves up. A 16 shot firework fell over and starting shooting bombs at the car and all of us, the boys scattered and dad reacted quickly and kicked it back up right. Fireworks and Shipes usually mean a lot of excitement. But I digress.

In today's blog, I want to share an honest moment with my friends and family. While I was preparing for the VBS I struggled with the theme of JOY. How do you explain to children the joy of Christmas and explain something I was not feeling myself. My family realized this Joy I was working hard to teach the children of Mosojane was not showing up "down in my heart". Hunter repeatedly sung this song to me all month to make a point he was not seeing any Joy in me. At this point Joy has not been my choice for over a month. I was having a hard time finding out why and trying to find out what was happening in my life to make this choice difficult. To put it mildly, I was struggling.

Could it have been something in my past I had never dealt with? I was blaming crazy combi drivers in Botswana, people not understanding my questions. I wondered if we were accomplishing what God had planned for us. I blamed people breaking in lines everywhere, people running stop signs in front of me. I struggled with explaining to children God's love when they have never been told they were loved by their own family. My final frustration came in having to find another house after only 4 months of living here. I've had a number of things going through my mind and I was not willing to share it with anyone, thinking I could get it together - I am a man, we fix and control things, right? Lack of sleep and loosing my patience over too small of stuff was the fruit of my struggle and thinking I could do this alone didn't help. I was working harder and harder to seek God's guidance only to realize how I am really telling Him how frustrated things are for me. Finally, Last night I had to break down and tell Tonya how I felt and was at the end of my rope wrangling with why I cannot find joy. I hurts not to be able to put your finger on why you are frustrated.

Then God provided me the very verse I was sharing with the children in Mosojane at church this morning. Phillipians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice." We saw a video of Francis Chan talking about Joy. This pastor always gets to root of our problems in the simplest ways. He used the illustration of a bag of Cheetos stating it had 0 Grams of trans fat. Turn the bag around and read the fine print, it has trans fat, just less than a gram. God provided an amazing reminder for me today. Like the Cheetos bag, I have been trying to tell the world I am a Christian - with this label on front of the package. Truth is lately, I have not been letting God be God in my life. I have been hanging on to everything as if I have control and thinking I was suppose to be some agent of God with power in these matters around me. He is the One and only One in control. I am suppose to be joyful that He is in control with my life and everything around me. How I act in my circumstances is to reveal why I am different than the world. I am different because a God in heaven loved me so much to send His Son to die for my sins so I can let Him be Lord of my life. If I have truly given Him my life, then I have to let Him have it. My circumstances in life are for His glory. How I respond reveals Jesus to others. If little children do not know love, then the least I can do is show it to them and let my children see that is real. I had no problem showing the little children love but my joy was gone at home. Verse 5, "Let your gentleness be evident to all". I was living a lie; not being real to everyone and everything around me - including those in my own home. The love of Jesus Christ is so important to share with the world around us. Reading on in Phillipians, we are not to be anxious about anything. I was doing exactly the opposite, I was anxious about everything. It kept me from the peace of God that transcends all understanding, thus my mind and heart were not guarded in Jesus Christ but my problems were all I could see. The truth is they are God's issues I was thinking about. Because I was wrong in my thinking, it robbed me, my family and those around me of JOY. Today, I choose joy and put away self-centeredness and being counterproductive in my thoughts. Today, I was able to rejoice in the Lord and I can say it again, REJOICE. He is in charge and I always should rejoice in the path that got me here and the path that is leading me forward, no matter what gets in the way. Today, I have peace that should have been there all along. Lesson learned - Let God be God and be joyful. How do I feel, happy from Joy. Thank you for letting me share a valuable lesson learned. I pray that might help some of you choose joy everyday.

Please continue to pray for me and my family as we serve the Children of Botswana.

Scott Shipes