The Shumaker Family's Blog

Isaac was born into this world 3 years ago today.  He has been such a joy to us.  The name Isaac means “laughter,” and I believe it fits him well.  He always make us laugh and keeps things interesting.  His favorite song is “Jesus loves me.”  I appreciate the children that God has given to Rebecca and I.  They are a true blessing to us.  I wanted to post a few pictures from his party yesterday.  We had it a day early because of Sunday being so busy.

This morning we had our second Sunday school.  We had a wonderful crowd for only our second week.  We had a total of 73.  I actually wasn’t there this morning as I was preaching at our other work, but from what I have heard, it went very well.  I am amazed at how things are coming together in the ministry.  To often we hold the ball.  Once, a good friend told me, “You are a ball hog.”  Nobody likes a ball hog, do they?  It is wonderful to see others begin to succeed.  Success isn’t based on what I can do or what I can achieve; it is based on what those that I train will do.  If they are a success, I will be a success.

We had a time to share testimonies of how God blessed us in the last year because we gave to missions.

One young man named Albert who is on fire for the Lord, said, “I didn’t know what the purpose of my money was before I came to this church and started tithing and giving to missions.  Now I have a reason to make money and that is to give to the work of God.”

Another member named Bibata, who is a widow with three children, (She doesn’t have a good job and  is extremely poor.) said, “It is a blessing to give to missions.  Sometimes I think that I can’t afford to give and when I don’t I am very unhappy, but when I give I never lack.  It is a great joy to give.”  She reminds me of the widow in the Bible who gave her two mites.  I watch her give and I shake my head.  I think, “How can she give and eat?”  Funny thing, I guess it’s not really funny, but she is one of the happiest people that I know.  News Flash — “Money doesn’t buy happiness, obedience to the Word and Will of God does.”

We are going to be starting Sunday School this Sunday at Water of Life Baptist Church (Cissin).  My normal routine on Sunday is to preach at Tingandogo and also at Cissin. Because of that, I was unable to do Sunday School, but God has raised up some young men that are capable of teaching the classes.  I will go to Tingandogo every other week instead of every week.  We have some men who will begin taking care of the church services at Tingandogo.  It is exciting to see God using young men that you have had a chance to win to the Lord, and now they are preaching the Word and being used of God.  There is no better feeling than that.  I love to fish, but that is better than a 6 pound bass.

I woke up this morning thinking about how great it is to be saved, to be a child of God and to have our sins forgiven.  It is an amazing privilege to be able to have a relationship with a holy God.

The other thing that I am thankful for is the privilege to serve Him.  It isn’t a privilege that I deserve but one that He has given me.  So many people say that we make a sacrifice by being on the mission field, but I don’t look at it that way.  God has called us to do the most important thing on this earth and that is to take the Gospel to a lost and dying world.  Sure we might not be able to go to Cracker Barrel,  the mall, an amusement park,  fishing or hunting (which I would really like to do), or take our children to Grandmas for the day but we are privileged to see the hand of God work.  There are things that God has let us experience that most people in the states have never had the opportunity to experience.  Who else  gets to sit on the back of a crocodile, get charged by elephants, sleep in a mud hut, eat termites, caterpillars, and rat (they are really not that bad),  learn a new culture,  see some of the poorest people in the world give what they can’t really afford to give, see people trust Christ, see lives change, and see God do so many other amazing things?

I  know that thanksgiving was last week but the Bible tell us to be thankful in all things.

We finished Sunday with our 2nd missions Conference at Water of Life Baptist Church.  We had a wonderful attendance each night of about 40-50.  Last year, we faithfully supported 2 different missionaries at $20 per month.  Our average mission offering was about $50 a month.  I know that doesn’t sound like much, but from a country as poor as we live in, it is good.  The members have pledged to give about $90 a month this coming year.  Our people were extremely touched by the fact that Pastor Samuel (the missions conference speaker from Ghana) has faced many hardships but continues to be faithful to God and to missions.

My wife told the children the story of Thanksgiving.  Later in the day, Meredith asked a couple of times, “Are the Indians coming to eat lunch with us today?”

I wanted to write and wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.  We count it a great blessing to have friends and family like you.

We did celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal, but I suppose the rest of the day wasn’t a usual Thanksgiving day.

I taught for a few hours this morning at the Bible College.

Then we had our lunch.  Rebecca cooked chicken instead of turkey.  Turkey is more than double the price. So here we eat chicken and pretend that it gobbles.  We had 6 Africans with us.  What  a blessing to be able to share our Thanksgiving with them.  We are away from our family, but God has allowed us to create a new family here.  We all shared what we were thankful for.  All of them were thankful that they were saved and that God has allowed us to work together.

We had a kids club about 5 miles from the house.  We had about 45 kids and to my surprise, four mothers came also.  We were wanting to start a church there in the near future, but we might have to start even sooner than we had thought.

Tonight, we continued our missions conference.  Last night was great.  Tonight was also wonderful.  Last year, our church gave $650 to missions.  That might not sound like a lot to you but for people that make about $1 a day, that is amazing.  God is really using the messages and I believe that the best is yet to come.

Last night for youth meeting, we had a young man by the name of Konate preach.  He did a wonderful job.  This morning another young man by the name of Talibala preached at Tingandogo.  He did a great job.  Tonight, I let three other young men preach(Simon, Salif, and Mamadou).  They all did great.  I am thrilled with the progress of these young men.  I have no idea what God has in store for them in the future, but they are each doing wonderfully.  I feel that it is impossilbe to explain the joy that is in your heart, when a young man that you have had the priveldge to train, preaches a wonderful message.  A slam dunk doesn’t even come close.

We had a missions conference in our church at Tingandogo last week.  This is the first church that we started here in Burkina Faso.  We have never had a missions conference here.  God has moved in marvelous ways.  I preached on Thursday and Friday night.  Saturday night we had an Ivorian pastor preach.  His name is Pastor Ake.  He is a tremendous blessing.  His church in the Ivory Coast fully supports him.  They also send over $250 a month in missions.  This is extremely odd in West Africa.  In Ivory Coast, I know of about 30 churches and only about 5 support missions.

Saturday night was one of the most moving services that I have ever been in here in Africa.  God really moved.  Our faith promise will be about $25 a month.  That is great considering the size of the church and also their finances.  We will be starting a Missions Conference at Water of life Baptist Church next week.  We hope to increase what we are giving.