The Shumaker Family's Blog

We had a great day yesterday. We had wonderful preaching in the morning for the pastors. I am not sure exactly what happened at every location last night. We are preaching in three different locations. I preached at one and we had about 250-300 people. I know that over 20 adults trusted Christ. I wasn’t at our church last night but they said that we had over 250. About 12 adults and several children came forward at the end. The other location had a good number who accepted Jesus. We are thrilled about what God is doing and how He is moving.

I have to run but wanted to give one testimony from last night. We had a few Muslims trust Christ. One young lady said that she was a Muslim but never had peace. Last night she found peace. An African pastor who dealt with her asked her if she was afraid. She told him how can I be afraid when I have peace in my heart. She said I will be there tomorrow and be faithful to church always. God is moving and blessing. Please pray that the hand of God will move on our services.

I am not sure what is wrong with our blog.  I wrote this Wed. evening and it didn’t get published.  Anyhow here it is.

We were able to start our conference today. We started with the pastors’ meeting this morning. We had two messages, singing, and we prayed together.

This evening we had three different meetings. We had over 200 in two locations and 120 in another location. According to reports from all three locations, we had over 40 decisions for Christ. God has truly blessed.

This was supposed to go out the other day but it didn’t.  Here it is.

I have to admit that I am very tired. We had two weeks of great weather for here. For several days, it wasn’t too hot but for the last week it has really picked up. After preaching I was worn out and even felt a little sick to my stomach. Please pray that God would give me great strength to get through this week. We have tons and tons of stuff to prepare for the conference. I have a great friend that works in Morocco who will be coming to help preach. I am excited about that.

We did have a great day today. We had over 50 adults at Cissin again(I didn’t get a count for the kids). I am truly amazed at the great attendance. Once the new building is usable, it will be a great help.

There is a pastor here from Togo. He is going to be starting a new church here in Ouaga along with 3 other pastors. I have been helping them get settled in. Pastor Daniel gave me a compliment that I wasn’t expecting but made my heart fill with joy. He told me that he never has known another missionary like me and my wife. That was a little shocking and I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about so I asked him, what do you mean. He said that he lives in Lome and there are many American missionaries that he has known. He said I wasn’t typical because I was like an African instead of an American. He told me that I eat what they eat, sleep in their houses, they sleep in my house, they eat at my table, etc. He told me this wasn’t normal from what he has seen. Well, in my view point it is normal. How do I minister to these people if I don’t become what they are and accept them for who they are? It is true that we are not exactly the same but I am not any better than they are. They are not a lesser people, I think they are just less fortunate. They are not stupid as people have told me, you should see what they do and how smart they are.  The Lord loves them and has given me a love for them.

Yesterday morning we started pouring the floor. God has blessed in tremendous ways. I have been extremely busy trying to get ready for the conference next week, the construction and also Give a Child a Chance. We will be giving a bunch of kids their school supplies and paying for some of them to go to school. It is so sad to see people who want so badly to have an education but struggle to get one.  We can’t do a whole lot but God has helped us to do a little.  Read about it at: http://theharvest.net/Give-a-Child-a-Chance.php

I have written about Omar before. He has been saved about a year. He comes from a devout Muslim family. His sister, Mamata has been with us for a few years now. She has been faithful, even under much persecution. It is not physical, but much mental and verbal attacks. A few months back, Omar stopped being faithful, which was very unusual. We realized it was because of family and friends that he stopped coming to church and activities. I made a huge effort to be closer to him and to include him more than ever before. It seemed to work for awhile and then the same thing happened again. He missed our discipleship times and missed church. Mamata told my wife that he won’t even talk to her about it. He is getting great pressure, and he is cracking. He called me tonight. He told me he has missed because he was trying to find work for school(that could only be some of it). He wants to talk with me soon. I don’t think he has all the money to go to school and it could be because his family doesn’t want to send him because of his decision to follow Jesus. Please pray for him, He needs it.

Upon getting sick last weekend I began thinking about my trip to Babo. When we arrived we greeted everybody and immediately they wanted us to drink Zoum-Comb. This is a drink made of millet. Even though this is supposed to be rich in vitamins I could also imagine the germs. With about 50 flies swarming around the bowl and a cup shared by everybody (by the looks of it, I am sure it is never washed), I was offered to drink after about 6 of them already drank. You ask, what did you do, well I drank it. Then we were offered tea. This is not Lipton, it is very strong, and again we all shared the same cup. I am not a germ freak or anything and if I was, I would never have gone out there in the first place, but I do try to keep myself healthy if at all possible. We ate food together. Many times when we eat, we just eat out of one common bowl. One bowl and lots of hands. (And the Africans believe the time to wash their hands is after they eat, not before. When they do wash, it’s not usually with soap.) Finger-licking good. During the night I tried to sleep but with all of the mosquitoes flying around my head it was a little hard. I have had malaria at least 10 times now, as well as amoebas and worms countless times.

People ask me why I would subject myself to these situations, sicknesses and germs. I have always felt that I am no better than these people. They are not a lesser or inferior people as some people think or have stated to me before. They are intelligent, loving and some of the most generous people that I have ever met. The reason why I do this is because I want them to feel that I love them but most importantly Jesus loves them. They have told me before, when we had a group of young Americans here, why do you love us, hold our children, hug us when we are dirty and unclean. I can only say it is because Jesus loved me and accepted me when I was dirty and unclean, and He has given me a love for them. So bring on the malaria, amoebas and worms so that I can win some to Christ.

I was told a month ago by some of the Burkinbes, “You are different than other missionaries.” I asked, “Why do you say that?” “You eat our food and like it, you drink what we drink and you will live with us,” they replied. I am not trying to say that I am anything special because I am not. I am just trying to share with you what a difference a little love and compassion can make. They know that we are not on the same level but when they see that I accept them for who they are, they are more likely to realize that God will accept them for who they are also.

I have two prayer requests.  First being for my pastor, Bro. Billy Goolesby.  I love my pastor dearly.  I have great respect for him as I believe that he a great man of God and the best pastor.  He has been faithful for many years to preach the Word.  God used him to change my life.  A few years back he had to have major heart surgery.  It took him a long time to recover from this.  From what I understand, a week or so ago he was eating breakfast with a member from our church and he passed out and vomitted.  They thought he had a heart attack.  They called 911 and took him to the hospital and for a few day ran tests and then said nothing was wrong.  Please say a special prayer for him today.

Also a supporting pastor of mine, Bro. Danny Mundy lost his son.  A number of years ago he lost his wife.  His son, Daniel, was at Pensacola.  The son was with a few friends swimming but only in waist deep water.  He cried for help and fell over.  His friends got him out, they were only 5 feet from him and the lifeguards couldn’t get his heart going again.  I know that this is hard on Bro. Mundy and his daughter who is also at Pensacola.   Please lift up Bro. Mundy and his daughter.

My health is much better today. Thanks again for your prayers. Today was a great day. I asked Emile (the law student) to give an encouraging message today to our people. The reason why I did this is because Emile will be leaving us to go to Geneva. God worked miracles for him to be able to continue his studies there. That is why I am sad. I can truly say that it had to be God who opened these doors for him because he comes from a family that still lives in a mud hut and there was no way possible for him to go if God didn’t provide many open doors. I told him all along that if God opens the door be happy, and if he closes the door be happy. I have never seen a young man grow as fast as Emile did in the last 4 months or so. He got addicted to the Word. He made me work hard too at knowing the Word because he doesn’t take the attitude, “that’s the way my pastor does it”
or “that is what Baptists believe.”  He wants to know the truth.  “Iron sharpeneth iron.”  He started the youth program and did a great job. He was working on translation work and doing a good job. Even with all the craziness going on in preparing to leave, he didn’t want to leave one of his translation jobs undone. He came over last night late to finish it. This shows his character. Truthfully I wanted to tell him just quit school and work with me but I know that God has big plans for him.

Emile did give a message today. He actually cut lose and preached. What an amazing first message. I have heard many first messages in my time, but I have never heard a better one in Africa or America than I did today. God blessed in both churches today. We had about 85 at Tingandogo and 90 at Cissin today. We had two saved today. One of the ones saved was our iron man. He is attaching all of our iron for the church. He had been telling us that he was coming for a few weeks and today he came and gave his life to Jesus. The work of God is amazing. I am truly doing the best thing in life and I don’t deserve it but i love it!

Thanks for your prayers. Last night was a little difficult but this morning I felt a little better. I was feeling good until about 8:00 tonight. Now I am feeling a little bad again but I don’t think it will be like last night. I am going to try to go to service in the morning. Please pray for me, that God would give me my health back. My wife always gets very worried when I get sick and I suppose she has great reason. I have almost died once here. She asks me, “How many times can you get this before it affects you seriously?” That is a good question that I can’t answer. I am just trying to stay faithful to the call that God has put on my life and if that means sickness, well, I will just have to endure it. I need to study tonight but I feel like going to bed. We love you all and thanks for your encouragement and prayers. They are very appreciated.