The Shumaker Family's Blog

The national missionary that we support in Mali(Francis) has had  some very interesting things happen to him.  One young lady about 16 years of age, accepted Christ.  She comes from a very dedicated Muslim family.  When she made this decision, her father became enraged.  He was wanting to kill her.  Francis hid this young lady in his home.  He talked with the authorities and they agreed that he should keep her and that they would back him up, if needed.  Please pray for this young lady.  I am not sure of her name but God knows.

I am a little late in writing a new blog.  I should probably say, a lot late.  A week and a half ago, I let Salif preach at Tingandogo on Sunday morning.  If only you could have known Salif in 2002, when I first met him.  He didn’t speak much French, didn’t know how to read and was a very closed Muslim.  To see where God has brought him is an absolute miracle.  God is still in the life changing business.  He probably preached one of the best messages that any of my young men have ever preached.  He did a superb job.  I was shocked, to be honest.

At our church at Cissin, Water of life Baptist Church, we had a baptism.  I had the great privilege of baptizing 5 people.  We baptized a former Muslim lady.  Her husband is Muslim but doesn’t have a problem with her coming to our church.  That is very strange.  That is very abnormal here.  We haven’t had anybody physically hurt by accepting Christ as their Saviour but we have had many attacked verbally and unfortunaltely to the point where some have given in.  We had no salvation decisions but we did have about 7 visitors and I am sure there were some that were lost.

I made a little video for our give a child a chance program.  We have been helping children with school since 2005.  A member of our church, Bado, started this organization.  We gave over $5,000 this year to help children.  My mother has been very active in this.  She has been a great blessing.  We are now wanting to build a school.  I needed to make a video to present to somebody and I thought maybe you would like to see it.  It isn’t the best video as I did it rather quickly but here it is:

We had wonderful services yesterday.  God continues to grow His work.  Last night be had a sweet service.  We had a time of giving testimonies.  It is such a blessing to hear what God has done and is doing in the life of our church members.

Please continue to pray for our building construction.  We have advanced so much and I am so thankful.  We would like to get the bottom floor done soon.  We lack about $5,000 to do this.  Then we can move to the second floor.  May God richly bless you this week.

My health appears to be good. My blood pressure is way down.   Thanks for your prayers.  It is amazing at how bad you can be one week and then the next you feel great.  God is good.

We started holding classes on September 1st.  I have three full time students and another three which are part-time(that means that they are doing all the work but most of it is on their own).  The other missionary that is helping me to teach, Bro. John Cooley, has five men coming.

God has tremendously blessed us since starting.  I have one young man, named Mamadou that is excelling.  He is being and is going to be used greatly of the Lord.   He is a young man and he loves the Lord.

A worldly leader will look at how he can better his life and will be forced to make decisions based upon popular beliefs and desires but a true Biblical leader will follow the footsteps of Jesus, whether it betters his position or is popular.

I had a rough week last week.  It was due to high blood pressure.  I have been borderline high for a number of years but it has never went up to a dangerous level.  Last week we were going out to eat pizza and I told Rebecca that I had to go back home.  It was a pretty rough night.  My blood pressure was very high.  I am on some medicine and it appears to be helping some but I would like to ask for your prayers.  We aren’t sure why it went up so high.  I am having a cat scan tomorrow.  I will let you know the results.  Thanks for your prayers, they are greatly appreciated.

I have become a peanut farmer.  Salif and Simon, two members of our church, asked me if I wanted to farm with them this year.  Sure, why not.  While Jason Rishel was with us, he helped to plant the two acres.  Today, I went to pick up about half of the peanuts.  We are waiting for hopefully another rain.  If not, we will lose the other half.  I did this to be a help to Salif and Simon and to also show an example as we will give our tithe off of what God has given us.  Here are a few pictures.  The kids enjoyed helping also.

Looks like a Georgia redneck in Africa.  Yes, the back of the car is absolutely full.  We have no machinery, all done by hand.

I am just a week late in reporting this.  Last Sunday was youth day.  The youth here can range from 15-30 years old.  They lead the singing, played the piano, sang specials, and preached.  Sunday night they put together two wonderful skits.  They worked very hard on this day and I was quite pleased.  I really had nothing to do with the programming, even though I did review it, because I wanted it to be their day.  God has given us some extremely gifted and talented youth.  It seemed that we had a good number of adults when we began our church at Cissin.  Some are still here and some have left because they really don’t want to change but I am excited about the youth.  They listen and are willing to change to serve God.

Last night and tonight, we held evangelistic meetings at Tingandogo.  We had a wonderful group last night and tonight also.  Last night, we had three people come forward.  I realized that while I was talking about salvation, that the man that came forward seemed to know what I was talking about.  He told us that he was in an Assembly of God church when he was younger.  He converted to Islam about 20 years ago.  When we were announcing our meeting, he was coming out of the Mosque and heard our announcement over the loud speaker.  He felt that he needed to come.  He told us that some of his friends had come to the meeting also and they would be mad about his decision but he knew what he had to do.  He told us that he had, many times through the years, asked the Muslim leaders  many questions and they couldn’t answer them.  He bowed his head and received Jesus.  He said that he is married to a Muslim and didn’t know what would come about but that didn’t matter because he knows what is the truth and he must accept it.

We had two women come forward also.  The one told that she was a Muslim but knew that she wanted he sins forgiven.  The other is married to Muslim man but claimed nothing except that her parents were Christians.  I explained to her that I was saved and that my wife is saved but our children must decide for themselves.  Salvation is personal.   Both of the women, bowed their head and prayed to receive Jesus.