I can not explain how this week went emotionally crazy but it got into a tailspin. We found ourselves having a struggle to get out of it. Before we knew it we were getting on each other's nerves and snapping at each other. Adding to the mix, it is hot and humid. It almost rained 3 times this week. Going so long without rain has a depressing impact on you. We had rainbows but no rain. The heat and humidity is heavy on you. Then humidity left and it was dry. Your lips, skin and hair dries out fast. You wait on relief but it does not come. My favorite topic, traffic comes into the picture. It gets insane with running traffic lights and turning 2 lanes into 5 back to 2. Tonya tells me when I talk about the traffic, it is just the symptom of my frustration dealing with the culture. All I can tell you it is nuts. Here is my view every morning to show what it looks like.
Then you find yourself avoiding connections with people because it usually involves someone trying to get something from you for their benefit. It is the most different kind of stress we have ever experienced. Our emotions are conflicting with what we do and why we are here versus everyone wanting a piece of you and what you have. Most of the times there is gratefulness but usually it is "I know they could have done more." It eats on you.
To help, I play songs sung by children here in Africa praising a God who provides and keeps on doing great things. I tell myself to pray for those who do not know how to behave or drive. Most important, I pray for God to always keep putting situations before me to share and connect with those He loves and that I never stop seeing them. In all the madness while shopping I noticed a little boy who was crying loud and hard. He had gotten separated from his mother. He was walking around crying and no one assisted him. He was the age of my twins and I thought it would kill me to know no one would help them. I talked with the boy, his name is David. I walked with him to find a policeman to radio around for his mother. Of course, he looked at me like why are you walking around with this crying boy. UGH! I begged him to radio the other security people to make them aware of the situation. The mother was frantically talking with one of the security people on the other side of the mall and they were reunited. I am grateful my heart was not hardened to prevent me from seeing a little guy who needed someone who cared. This also changed my "stinking thinking" I was having for the week. I said to myself, don't focus on the Red Sea, focus on the path God prepared before me. I am glad I can see the paths, I pray for focus to stay on it.
An exciting weekend was planned for Chandler and his friends. We held a missionary kids prom on Friday night. Tonya and the other moms planned a progressive dinner between four missionary families' houses. The kids had a lot of laughs and fun. It gave me a reminder we can bring focus to our family and it is healthy for all of us to be intentional about us sometimes. Hard to see Chandler taller than me now by two inches and looking sharp. He is growing up. This means per Tonya, "He is looking way better than his daddy. You should be proud." I think it was a compliment? We took photos at Grand Palm Hotel down the road from the house because it is the only place with green grass and trees and of course a fountain.
We watched with excitement, as Alice Drive Baptist Church's "Big Weekend" for the student ministry bagged, boxed and shipped over 285,000 meals to feed children here in Botswana. This go to feed orphans and vulnerable children in several locations here in Botswana. Great job! We also got to see our Hunter in the middle of the mix with a fashionable hairnet and working hard.
This Sunday I preached at Desert Streams Fellowship and led a discipleship class to encourage discipleship. This is their first start at training leaders to lead discipleship,and so glad to be part of it. The best part of the service was watching Parker lead worship for the first time. He felt convicted several Sundays ago that he was not using his gifts for God. Without asking us, he went to the pastor asked could he be on the worship team, he wanted to use his gifts for God. A twelve year old looked like David to me this Sunday. When it was time for church to start, he was the only one there (typical in Africa to arrive 15 to 23 minutes late). I asked what did he want to do, his reply, "I am prepared. If God wants me to do it alone, I can do it alone." The others did finally show up but he was up there ready to sing, with or without them. Parker did a wonderful job and sang from his heart.
Our daughter, Makenzie got into a wreck and damaged her car pretty bad Friday night. She was unharmed but a bit rattled by it all. Hate the helpless feeling of being so far away and depending on others to handle it with her. Thanks to her husband Tyler and Tonya's sister Lea, they took care of her when we can't be there in person.
This past week we celebrated the crazy with the cool and with the courageous. Loved how the week shaped up and the learning process along the way. We had one other surprise Friday night. A missionary family that left Botswana to work in Greece shared with me this week about our "third culture kids". They reminded me that our family will be different and impacted by what we are doing. They will never be the same. They will look at the world around them differently and see opportunities to be doers and not seers in the world. Our kids will be "world changers" and expecting to do something about the things happening around them. I pray this God's plan for them. Pray as we continue to make preparations for training in the north-east. Thank you for your support and taking time to read a long blog, sorry.
Scott and Tonya Shipes
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