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I just wanted to give you an update on our local tribal warfare.  I’m happy to say that the bloodshed has ended. The attacking village finally gave up as too many of their men were wounded and unable to cross “enemy territory” to get medical attention.  They apologized to the authorities and the enemy villages.  Our hospital only saw four of the victims, who are all doing well.  My fear remains for those who have not received a tetanus shot; that once all is peaceful in their villages that they willcome down with tetanus.  I pray every day for their protection from that horrible disease.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. – Audrey

Shanksteps – Birme’s update #99

Often we are not privileged to see the outcome of hours of prayer, but once in awhile God allows us to see a sneak peek of what I imagine it will be like in Heaven when we meet the people who have influenced us, and those we’ve touched as well.  I was given such a gift this week.  Let me back up several months to the beginning. For those of you who follow our Shanksteps, you may remember this story.Birme, a young girl from a nearby village came to the hospital last fall with a 5-day history of headache and neck pain.  She was diagnosed with meningitis (the first of the season) and started on a long course of antibiotics.  During much of her stay she remained in a coma and had several days of severe convulsions.  When she finally did come out of the coma she was paralyzed on one side and was unable to talk.  Her paralysis finally resolved but as of December when I left Cameroun to go the US,she had not yet uttered a word.  Many of us at the hospital prayed for and with her many times throughout the day. Interestingly, every time we tried to talk to her of God’s love (even in English) she ran away and refused to come near us.  We spent a lot of time talking with her parents about God’s love and forgiveness. We had four Student Missionaries from the US visiting at the time from Chad.  Just before we left, all of us Americans and many of the hospital workers prayed with Birme: for healing- physical and spiritual – for her and her whole family.Although Birme’s family brought her into the hospital for medical healing, they believed that her illness was of a more spiritual nature.  For those of you who don’t believe much in the “spirit world”, this will just come across as a weird story.  For those of you who truly believe that there is a war raging between God and Satan, please read this and pray, HARD!  I assure you, living in a land where the Devil can and does work openly; I have no doubt that we are involved in spiritual warfare.  Hereis her story, and the beliefs of her people, the Mafa. In Birm’s case, she is unlucky enough to have a grandfather (father’s father) who is a sorcerer, an old one at that.  As the story goes, her grandfather is becoming more and more feeble and is afraid of dying.  Every year, for the past three years, he has sacrificed (in the spirit world) one of his grandchildren in order to “buy” more life.  Consequently, in the “real” world, each of these children has gotten sick and died.  This year it’s Birm’s turn.  To make matters worse, her mother’s brother”knows” what has been going on, and has threatened that if Birm dies, he will kill everyone in the grandfather’s family.  This 13-year-old girl IS a spiritual battleground.To give you a better idea of the Mafa ideas, and how one can “buy” life, you need to understand their basic spiritual beliefs.  I’ll give you the short version.  The Mafa believe in what is called a second or middle heaven.  Some Mafa Christians call this The Devil’s Heaven.  In this heaven is a grand market.  At the market, you can find almost anything you want, from special pieces of clothing, to knowledge, to longevity.  You can also buy spells to harm or kill people.  Only a sorcerer can go tothis market, however many people here are considered sorcerers.  (My opinion is that a sorcerer here is just one who has access or is open to this spiritual world.) Apparently Birme’s grandfather goes to this Devil’s Heaven to buy longevity, but the spell only lasts for a year.  His payment each year, for the past three years, has been the lives of his grandchildren.  This year Birme was the sacrificial grandchild.The follow-up to the story is this:I paid her hospital bill and released her from the hospital right after we all prayed with her.  I wish I could tell you that she was healed instantaneously, but God works in different ways than we would hope.  She returned home, to the home where her grandfather lives.  Within weeks of her discharge, her speech returned and she was completely normal.  Both of her parents started going to church again with the knowledge that God’s love conquers all.  Her father had once been a Christian but longago left the church to follow the spirit world.  Now he is a believer in God’s power and grace. Birme and her mother visited me several days ago as a testimony of God’s love.  If God can use me to save just one soul, it’s all worth it.In His Grasp, Audrey