The Shumaker Family's Blog

I want to share with you an interesting experience. I rented some iron supports that hold the wood together as we make the support posts for our new church building. Sunday night a thief came in and stole 22 of them. I have no idea how this could happen as a family of 5 lives on our land, but they managed to get a lot of them as the family slept. I had to repay the man that I rented them $3 for each iron support. That is when I found out that it was really stupid of me to rent them. I thought they cost $10 or more to buy. So I decided it wasn’t good to continue to rent them but it would be good for me to buy some iron supports for our current construction and future work. This afternoon when I showed up at the land, the man we rented the iron supports from wanted their money. We are supposed to pay for the days that they are in use. Each support is needed for two days each time they do the posts. So I expected to pay only for two days but he told me that I owed 4 days. I almost became unglued at that moment. I know that you are more spiritual than this carnal missionary, but I couldn’t take it. Here’s what happened. The carpenter put on the supports Saturday, (why I don’t know) but we hadn’t yet put the cement in the posts, so they were doing nothing but say, “Come steal me,” and you already know what happened to that. Now I am being told that I was supposed to pay for Sat. and Sun. when they weren’t being used and then he wanted me to pay for rent for the iron supports that were stolen. Do you get that? 22 iron supports were stolen and I had already paid him back for them, but he still wanted me to pay the rent for those that were stolen. Plus he wants me to pay for 4 days of usage with the other 67 when they were only being used for 2 days. I don’t know what it was but I couldn’t take it. I told him that I had to leave before I made a total fool of myself.

Maybe culture shock never leaves or maybe it isn’t always culture shock but human shock. I am shocked at the way men live but should I expect an unregenerated man to walk with integrity and character? Then my father-in-law had to ask me what I would have done if I was one of them. Honestly, I would have tried to take the white man for everything he had. No, actually many people here are good and honest. The Lord taught me that I needed to bite my tongue. I need to do it more often. As a leader, I have learned that sometimes you have to take the blame and the bad end of the stick. I know that my flesh hates that, but for the furtherance of the Gospel it is necessary.

As I have stated, my father-in-law is here with us. Bro. Land and a few of us went to our village work in Roungou last Friday. We sometimes go on Friday to be able to have a night teaching and a Saturday morning teaching. I used to sleep under the stars, but we slept in the church this time. The trip went great and we are really beginning to see who is serious. Our crowd has actually went down since our building was completed. I would have thought that I would have been terribly disappointed by that, but we are seeing who are the really faithful ones. This is necessary for us to be able to train them for the different aspects of ministry.

The highlight of my trip was a story that came from Vieux. Vieux, which means “old man” in French, is a huge blessing to us. By the way, here in Africa it is a honor to call a man an old man. It is not disrespectful. He is a car mechanic and also a chauffeur. When we arrived in Burkina Faso I was introduced to Vieux, and he asked us to go to his village. He told me that he had asked missionary after missionary but they all said it was too far or they were too busy. He told me that he knew Jesus but he doesn’t know how to read or preach and has a desire for his family to hear the truth. I felt burdened to at least go and preach to them, so this is how the work in Roungou began. We have been there a little over two years, and God has blessed. We have baptized close to 50 and seen many saved. I really think that this work will grow and be used to reach many of the surrounding villages.

While we were approaching the village I asked Vieux, “What made you leave the village, when most people never did?” He told me that when he first saw a bike he wanted one for himself. So he decided the only way to get a bike would be to leave the village, find a job, buy the bike and then come back to the village. Vieux left the village and arrived at the first town and didn’t find work, so he came to Ouagadougou. He found work but most importantly he found God or should I say that God found him. He trusted Jesus in 1982. He moved around a lot, but in Dec of 2004 I met him. That is when he asked me to come to start the work in his village. This came to pass all because of a bike. Thank God for a desire to have a bike.

Below is a picture of Tim Land and Vieux.  This was taken in the village and where Vieuxs family lives.

I am not sure what is going on between my internet and my computer but I have been having difficulty.  The internet got to where it was working and then my laptop wouldn’t work.  For the moment, we have fixed them both and they are are working.  I will try to catch up on what is going on.  Thanks for your prayers, your love and your support.

My wife took Marie Paul to the doctor while I taught Bible class. Turns out that the doctor thinks that Marie Paul had Tuberculosis of the spine which will make your spine very weak as it gradually starts to “eat up” the back bones. She was at school almost a year ago when a boy hit her and she fell up against a desk. The doctor thinks she broke something in her back and a vertebrae began to bulge out. This vertebrae is almost completely eaten up and the rest of the spine it trying to push together. I don’t really know how this little girl has managed to walk and live like this. They say she can only walk a little bit without hurting and getting tired. She loves to come to church and sing loud with a big smile on her face. The doctor is supposed to get back to us about what to do after he consults with a specialist. I am not sure if we can honestly do much, and if we do it might be expensive. One thing we can do is pray. Please pray for Marie Paul.

After Church on Sunday I was asked if I could come and talk with a faithful member of our church. She told me that her younger brother was given a wife(thats what they call it) but he wanted to do a church wedding. The brother has come to church but not really faithfully. I am not sure about his spiritual life. I was told that he is a former Jehovah’s Witness. His fiance or wife or whatever you call her was there today. She was a member of a church but couldn’t tell us if she died she would go to heaven. We talked with her for about 30 min. I never push anybody to make a decision. I tell them the truth and leave them with the decision. I believe if they are ready you won’t have to force them or beg them to trust Christ. Anyhow, she said she was ready and bowed her head and trusted Christ. I have no idea what we will do with the marriage situation, but I praise the Lord for her salvation.

Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned what God did on Sunday. Both churches were well attended. We had about 90 at Tingandogo and 80 at Cissin. My mother-in-law, Carol Land, taught the children in the morning and my father-in-law, Tim Land, gave his testimony and a charge to the church Sunday night.

We have a young girl at our church named Marie Paul. She is 10 years old. She is so sweet and so is her family. I found out, a few weeks back, that they had sent her to the village because of a problem with her back. They were trying to treat her with “natural” medicine and herbs. I know that some of this works, but lots of it doesn’t.  Due to the fact that a simple X-ray can cost more than 1-2 months of their salary they often opt out of it. I took her to a missionary doctor today. When we saw the condition of her back it made me want to cry for her. I am not sure if it is a bone or a disc, but there is one spot poking way out of the normal curvature of the spine. We had x-rays done and will go back to the doctor tomorrow with the results. I certainly hope there is something we can do, but I am not really sure. Probably she needs surgery, and that could be expensive.  There is even a good chance that they don’t do that type of surgery here. Please pray for her.  The problem started a little over a year ago and has gotten worse as it wasn’t treated correctly.  We only recently found out about the problem.

Many times the physical problems here really touch my heart. I help where I can, even though it isn’t enough. I have had a strong desire to have a health clinic here. Many people here have asked me how can they listen to the Gospel when they are sick and hungry. I know that somebody doesn’t have to be healthy and have a full belly to accept the Lord, but I do think when we find ways to reach out to their needs, it will sometimes open their heart to the message of Christ that we want to give. I am no doctor or nurse but I do feel that we can at least find a means to treat simple problems (malaria, typhoid fever, worms, amoebas, etc.) Many people die here because they wait too long to get treated. If you know of anybody who would be interested in this type of mission work, please let me know.

As I was thinking about the many physical problems here in Burkina Faso due to the lack of good doctors and good medicine, I began to think about the many spiritual problems due to the lack of good pastors, good missionaries, and good churches. There is such a great need in the spiritual sickness of man that can only be filled by Jesus. Does Ouagadougou need another church? No, there are lots. Does Ouagadougou need a church that preaches the truth? Yes, we need many. It is my goal to be able to have at least 40 churches here in the capital alone. We have 2, just 38 more to go. Malaria is the biggest physical killer in the world, but it pales in comparison to the spiritual sickness killing people everywhere.

I mentioned a few posts ago about the support posts going up. We have now completed 20 support posts and have about that many left to do. It is exciting for the building to be moving up. When you see only the floor and foundation it seems like it will be a long time before we can use the building but with the posts going up, it seems like we will be able to use the building soon. I thought you might like a picture to see the progress.

The construction work here isn’t easy. As you can see they are filling the support posts with cement, one bucket at a time. The Lord is blessing and we are seeing great progress.

We do not yet have all the support to finish the building but we praise the Lord for all that He has already given and we will work until the money runs out. God Bless everybody and have a great day.

We seem to be having more problems with out internet connection. I am not sure what is going on but that is the joys of living here in Africa. We had a visitor one time who couldn’t believe that the power went off without a reason. It acutally is pretty good here in Ouaga but when we were in Togo, our power could be off for over half the day and in the Ivory Coast there were times we were without water for days.

Last night was a great night. We continued our discipleship course. We had 14 men come and my wife was able to teach 8 women. The people have been very faithful and we are very proud of them. I wasn’t sure how many we would have since most of these people are already faithful Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. Most of them had memorized the Bible verses that I gave them.

I am also completing a Bible Institute course with 4 men. We had just a little bit to finish. We are teaching on the end times. Jesus is coming soon!

In my last post I talked about the Muslim holiday on Friday. We decided that we would take my in-laws and the kids to the President’s animal park as nothing else was open in town. It is neat park, unlike the normal zoo. I wasn’t shocked at the animals but by what I saw on the way to the park.

I knew the Muslims would be praying all over the city in the morning. I guess as we have Christmas and Easter Christians that the Muslims have Ramadan Muslims. Each Mosque was full of people inside and outside praying. In the middle of town, there is an open area that is called ” The Place of the Revolution. ” There are many different things that go on there during the year, but most of the time it is empty. I have seen “healing crusades” with over 5,000 people that only took up a small portion of this area. What I saw on Friday made my heart turn. I wasn’t really ready to see what I saw. The whole area was covered with Muslims praying. I am not sure how many were in this one area (remember there were great numbers of people praying at every other mosque in the city) but I think that I can honestly say that there was easily more that 10,000 there. They had just finished praying and were walking home. Tim Land, my father-in-law had his camera and attempted to get a few pictures. Here is one, but I am sure that this will never be able to show you the magnitude of the crowd we saw. My heart is broken because this great multitude (as Jesus said) is like sheep having no shepherd. They need the truth. Through all of their fasting this past month, the didn’t gain favor with God as they thought. The only way to gain favor is through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the Life and no body can go to the Father but by Him.

We haven’t been able to use the internet the last few days. I am not sure what is going on, but hopefully the problems are worked out. I will try to catch you up on a few things.

1. My in-laws came in on Wednesday night. Tim and Carol Land have been great in-laws, and it is good to have them here for about 3 weeks.

2. We had some problems with our land at Cissin. I didn’t mention it before but it seems that we have worked everything out. We talked with the mayor, and she told us to change a few things on the paperwork, and she would pass it. This is a major praise.

3. I was picking my children up from pre-school on Thursday. The teacher told me that she didn’t know if they were having school or not on Friday. I said (in a nice way of course) what do you mean? She told me that there could be a holiday tomorrow or maybe it would be Saturday. I was thinking what kind of holiday could this be if they didn’t even know what day it was suppose to be? Turns out that the Muslim month of fasting was coming to an end, either on Friday or Saturday depending on the moon’s appearance or lack thereof.