The Shumaker Family's Blog

On my trip to Mali, we ate what some would call “street meat”.  I guess you could say that I have an addiction.  I love the stuff.  The other photo is of an African Waffle House.

A few posts back, we wrote about Konate and his niece Awa.  He is on fire for the Lord.  I have seen him grow in the last few months in tremendous ways.  He is hungry for God.  God called him to preach a few months back, but we had a very interesting  and complex situation.  He was customarily married to a young lady before coming to our church.  That means that he paid the dowry and whatever else was necessary.  Most Burkinabes are married this way.  Very few do church weddings or regulate it with the government.  Konate wanted to have a church wedding and regulate it with the government before he lived with her.  I think that is very commendable.

Here is where the situation gets complex.  She wasn’t saved.  She lives with an aunt who isn’t the nicest in the world.  She won’t allow her to come to our church until she leaves their house.  I did have an opportunity to present the Gospel to her.  She said she knew that she would go to heaven when she died because she had a dream where she saw the tomb of Jesus (I haven’t seen that in the Bible).  I couldn’t get her to realize that she couldn’t trust in dreams and in her church but had to put her faith in Jesus.  I went through 7 weeks of marriage counseling with them, hoping that she would be saved, but again nothing.

Even though they hadn’t married legally according to the law, if Konate would break it off, they would view him as divorced (and he wouldn’t be qualified to preach).  It was a situation that greatly bothered me.  I have prayed for months and God has answered our prayers.  She came to see us Sunday afternoon and said that she was ready to be saved.  She prayed and trusted Jesus as her only way to heaven.  God is GOOD!!!!!!!

They finally did a scan of Eveline’s neck.  She has a fracture.  From what I understand it isn’t all that big, but it seems to have damaged some nerves.  She has a little movement in her left arm but none in her hand.  She is able to move her leg some, but her foot really isn’t working all that well.  Continue to pray for her.  She said that she knows that it is because of prayer that she can move some.

The hospital released her this afternoon.  She is home.  Thanks so much for your prayers.  Eveline appreciates them also.  I will try to find somebody who can do therapy.  I don’t know what it will cost or where we can find a good therapist, but I don’t know how I can let a sister be crippled and not do anything.

I want to thank all who have prayed for Eveline.  I was coming back on Friday from another city and stopped in to see how she was doing.  Honestly, I don’t like going to the hospital here.  I really don’t like it in the states either, (who does?) but here is crazy.  When you walk down the hall, there are people laying everywhere.

When we got to her room my thoughts were, she doesn’t look that great to me.  She had neck brace on and was laying on the bed.   Have you ever been a situation where you wanted to help but don’t know how?  That is what I felt like.  I am amazed for her love for the Lord.  When she saw me walk in, she smiled really big.  She looked up at me and said, “If I stay paralyzed, I can still sing because God is good.”  What a weak faith I have.  I went to minister and encourage our sister but she ministered and encouraged me.  What a joy it is to learn from these great people.  If I would have never came to the mission field, I wouldn’t have had the chance to know this wonderful woman.  I must say, thank you Lord.

I left the money last week for a brain scan, but the doctors keep putting it off.  Now, they are saying she needs a neck scan as well to check the damage. This may be true, but they are in no rush to get any of this done. They are saying they can do both scans tomorrow, but we will see.  We are not sure really what, if anything they can do here if they find problems. Please pray for the medical personnel to be honest about what is needed and to have the wisdom to treat our sister.  Her accident happened a week and one day ago with some improvement but really no more answers than we had in the beginning.

I got back from Mali last night.  I had a wonderful trip.  My heart was greatly touched by the great need.  Mali is over 92% Muslim.  I had the opportunity to be with some wonderful men of God.  In spite of the darkness, God is doing great things.

While I was in Mali.  Eveline, a member of our church, was hit by a car.  Her 4 year daughter, Diane, was trying to cross the road.  She realized what was happening and ran and knocked Diane out of the way.  Unfortunately, Eveline didn’t make it out of the way.  She was hit hard.  Half of her body was paralyzed.  She is getting some feeling back but not all.  We are paying for some medicine and  a CAT scan to see if the doctors can find any damage.  Please pray for her.  She is a wonderful Christian woman.  2009 hasn’t started well for her.  Two months ago, her 6 month old daughter died in her sleep.  Her husband’s bike was also stolen last week.  I know that a bike doesn’t sound like much, but a bike to most Burkinabes would be like we just got our car stolen.  We visited her today in the hospital and she seems to be in good spirits.  Please lift her up in prayer.

Below: Eveline (front right wearing black) singing a solo in the ladies group at our church’s anniversary Sunday, only a few weeks after she lost her baby.

You would certainly feel like you were in the middle of nowhere if you could visit the village of Roungou. I’m so glad that God knows where Roungou is and that he knows everyone there by name! He loves them and He cares.  I’m glad He allowed us to start the work there a few years ago and that he has now provided a man and the means to preach to the people there on a more regular basis.

Salif has gotten off to a wonderful start in the work.  As you may know, he travels out on the weekends to hold services there.  Just this past weekend, he had an evangelism campaign on Saturday night with three professions of faith. Then, twenty new visitors showed up for the Sunday morning services.   In total, eight people are expressing an interest in a baptism course followed up by believer’s baptism.  How exciting to see that, not only can God use our lives, but he can and will use the lives of those serving out of our church.

One of the most exciting parts of the ministry is watching God use the people we are training.  Konate is one of the young men attending Bible Institute classes, and he invited his niece Awa to come to church with him.  She was hesitant to come at first, but he finally convinced her to do so.  Once she started coming she was faithful to every service.  Not too long ago, she began to ask another church worker about salvation.  She received good counsel and went home with verses marked in her Bible to read and think about.  A little later, at the close of a Sunday morning service, she came forward and was ready to accept the Lord as her Savior.  My wife was able to talk to her and make sure she understood everything, but the seed had already been planted by Konate and watered by others in the church.  Amazing how God works!  We are so excited to have Awa (the tribal translation of the name “Eve”) in our church family. She has such a sweet spirit and has already shown a willingness to help and serve.

For those of you who pray for this ministry or support it in any way, Awa is your “fruit,” not just our brother Konate’s. There are so many more like her whose lives are being touched and changed. May God help us to do more and to be like our brother who cared enough to bring a relative even though she showed little interest in church.

Above: Brother Konate and his niece, Awa.

Sunday night we had the commissioning service for Salif.  I am not sure if all of you know his testimony but God has done great things in his life.

He was born into a Muslim family.  His father was the village Imam (muslim leader of a mosque).  Normally, an Imam chooses one of his children to follow in his footsteps.  Salif won this honored position.  He was sent off to Mali as a young child to learn how to read Arabic and study the Koran.  Before I met him, he even lead a mosque in a village.  I met him in 2002.  In 2004, he put his faith in Jesus.  He came to me one day a little while later and said, “Pastor can you help me to read?  I want to learn how to read the Bible.”  He started helping with the children.  Then, he began translating for me.  Then, he led singing.  Next, he began to teach adults; and, now, he is leading our village work.   Who knows what he will do next, but God is using his life.

We weren’t yet ready to have an ordination service for Salif because he hasn’t finished all of his studies, so we had a commissioning service.  It was a wonderful service.  God has blessed our young church.  We support two other missionaries, but now God has given us one of our own.

I am very proud of Salif.  He started out as a night guard at our house.  He quickly became our friend.  Then, he became a brother in Christ.  His is now like one of our own family.  I am very proud of my son, Salif.

Below: We were praying over Salif.

Below:  The men that I am training with a few other leaders.  Salif is wearing the t-shirt.

Below:  Isaac and Meredith enjoyed the snacks after the servic.  Drinking beesap (tastes like kool-aid but made with a flower) out of a baggie can make a mess.

The brick mason is here.  He is working on finishing up the bottom floor for us.  I have decided to finish the basic structure  of the building and leave the rest of it for the church to finish in its time.  I will finish the office, as I want to use it but the other doors and windows will be left for the church to finish.  We need about $1000 to finish the flooring.  After this we will be able to advance to the 2nd floor.

I am traveling to Mali for the week.  I will be back next Monday.  The mason will continue to work while I am gone. Please pray that God would provide for us to be able to finish out the bottom floor when I get back.  It would be a great achievement.  Thanks for all you do.

This Sunday night we will be having a commissioning service for Salif.  Our church has sent Salif out to ministry to our village work called Roungou.  It will be an exciting time.  I want the church to realize that what we are doing is important.  I also want us to honor the commitment that Salif has given.  God has given us a man from our church that we are sending out.  What an exciting time Sunday will be.