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shanksteps of faith #70

A young man is looking for a good woman as a life mate. He wants a wife. Throughout high-school he “dates” various girls. Then in college he decides that one of his high-school sweethearts was the one for him. They get married. A few years later they are unhappy and get a divorce. This scenario of falling “in love” then falling away from “love” seems much to common in the US. It shows how vastly different our way of “love” is from Gods way, and how meaningless marriage has become. It seems
like a church and government sanctioned live in arrangement as long as it benefits both parties. This type of relationship is quite different from the Bible’s view of lifelong marriage, as well as Jesus’ relation to the “church”.
Here in our part of Cameroon you can obtain a wife by various different means.
1- Your parents may talk to someone else’s parents and decide that you would be good for each other. Often it’s the son’s parents who look for a daughter for him. They might inform him of this and ask his opinion of different girls or they might just arrange with her parents without his knowledge. They might arrange this and then just bring her home one-day and they’re married! Marriage here is mostly in the direct biblical sense. Once you’ve slept with each other your married! There are almost
no wedding services or other party with respect to marriage. Our cook was a late teenager when his older brother decided he was old enough and wasn’t finding a wife for himself. So the older brother went out and found what he considered a good wife and brought her home and gave her to the younger brother, and the rest is history.
2- Another way you may get a wife is by spending time with various girls and choosing the one who you like the most. Then you can contact the girl’s parents and arrange a dowry and take her home. You may pay the dowry in advance or have it as a debt to pay off over time.
3- I recently heard of another unique way of getting a wife. One of our near retirement nurses found his wife this way. He was getting “older” and had not found a wife for himself yet. One day he went to the market and found a girl he knew was single and was interested in and just “grabbed her, and took her home!” He had not shown previous interest with her. The next day when her father found out what had happened, he chewed out this guy. The guy listened, and then when the father had run out
of words to say they talked over the dowry. Incidentally, he has been happily married for over 30 years.
4- Some get theirs in a similar way by going to the “bili bili” (millet wine) market and just grabbing a drunken woman and taking her home. So she might have just changed husbands. If so the new husband may have to pay off the old husband.

I guess there are many different ways to get a wife in my culture also. But it does seem that some other cultures have more success staying married than the American culture does. Are you married? If so I hope you are working on your marriage and not letting work or children or church responsibilities draw your family apart. God designed our families to be a learning area for eternity. Learning to love, learning to adapt, learning to put others first, learning what God’s love for us, His children,
is like. Hopefully these are attributes that are being cultivated in your family. Pray for us that our family will better represent God’s ideal for a family.
In His Service, Shanks

Shanksteps #68

August 13, 07
…We rejoyce in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces persererance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given to us. Romans 5:3-5 NIV

Rejoyce in our sufferings? We havent really suffered but I sure was anxious while on our flight into N’Djamina, Chad. We flew back to Cameroon via Chad. In the airplane I started thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Our luggage not arrive, the customs in the airport seize our bags, our taxi driver not there to pick us up. Police in N’Djamina stopping our vehicle and demanding money or they would confiscate our things. Us having difficulty crossing the border with police, customs,
immigration with our expired ID cards that still after two years havent come in yet. Then once we are in country there is still the police, customs… to stop us on the road and demand various things. Added to all this is the fact that this year we are bringing back more things for us than the hospital! I feel very guilty about that. We are very blessed that there were many donations made which will be able to be used to advance Gods work here, and treat “His” children. But extra baggage mostly
ours!

As I sat on the plane with sufferings (worries) I have two choices. One is to turn to God, the other to turn to my abilities and self. I turn to God because self doesnt work very well and God always does! I pray for forgiveness for my poor choices in packing and that He give me peace and endurance to whatever lies ahead. I feel peace temporarly till I start worring again and then ask God to take the worries from me. He does and I sleep somewhat uncomfortably for a few hours.

We arrived in Chad. The taxi man was there to meet us. He “discussed” with the customs officials a long time. They wanted to open our bags. He didn’t want them to because this would cause more problems with them, and we were only transiting through chad and they didn’t need to evaluate our bags. He ended up going away with them to another room. I found out later that he paid them $12 to let us just go. They were happy and we walked out.

We slept well despite the 6 hour time change at a christian mission guest rooms. Today we came down into Cameroon without many problems. We arrived in Koza tonight. I feel tired but my body is not ready for sleep. I thank God that He not only allows sufferings but that He continued with perserverance, character, hope, and will turn into love. Pray for us as we continue here in cameroon that we would love the people as God loves them and that His love would fill us and pour out to them. Shanks

Shanksteps #69

How long has her foot been like this? I bend down to examine a 6-year-old child’s leg. She had just come into the clinic, being brought from another village near by. One of the people from Koza had heard about her finally and told the parents to bring her in. She had apparently fallen about two months ago. She had pain above her left ankle that persisted. Then she developed a sore at the spot. Next something poked out. She was able to walk but with pain. Now about a month later she was
brought into the hospital. As I examine her leg I see a white hard piece sticking out of the skin about 2 inches above the ankle that appears sharp. It is her fibula (the smaller bone of the lower leg). It was fractured and has worked its way out of the skin. I want her to stay in the hospital and undergo surgery to remove the infected piece. She didn’t come with her father, so they wouldn’t stay. As she leaves I send up a prayer that her father will bring her back and not attempt any local
measures that could make her loose her leg.

Another similar patient is in the hospital. She had a significant foot injury that has essentially healed but her 5th metatarsal (the bone at the base of the smallest toe) is sticking out the top of her foot. Fortunately she is in the hospital and when they came in Dr. Ortiz, our replacement while we were in the US, prepared them for surgery. On the x-ray I was able to also see that the two adjacent bones are also infected. So she will need a more extensive surgery than I had hoped. So we are
planning on doing this the coming week.

I also have a 21 year old that has a huge rectal mass with partial obstruction. So I will be getting right into things. We are still suffering from jet lag a few days after arriving. Please pray for us as we start back in with a couple difficult things to start out with.

While we were in the US we received some donations for the hospital and also for the patient-aid fund for those with less income than the others. I want to thank you all on behalf of the people of Koza and the hospital for your generosity and compassion for their needs. We will always use the funds given in the way that they were donated to be used. Thank you so much. It is a huge blessing both to the hospital and the community for the less fortunate. Thank you.

In His Service, Shank’s

Shanksteps #67 vacation itinerary

Just wanted to let all of our friends know that
starting June 19th, we will be in the US for our
2-month vacation. Most of it will be spent with
family, but I will send our itinerary so that if any
of you will be nearby, possibly we could get together.

June 19-27 Summersville, WV (Campmeeting)
June 27-28 Washington, DC
June 28-July 4 W Hartford, CT
July 4 Boston, MA
July 5-7 Portland,ME
(CampmeetingJuly5)
July 8-12 W Hartford, CT
July 13-23 San Francisco, CA
July 24-30 W Hartford, CT
July 30-31 Washington, DC
Aug 1-5 or 6 Louisville, KY (ASI)
Aug 6-13 Summersville, WV
Aug 13 leave for Cameroun

We have just arrived back in the US and are very happy
to be on “OUR” soil.

Shanksteps

Is it true that missionaries eat little children?
About 2 months ago I was sitting with a 15-year-old
girl outside of the pediatrics ward. She was trying
desperately to teach me the Mafa language. She would
tell me the name of a body part, show me on her body
and I would attempt to repeat the word. This brought
many laughs among those listening but it was great
fun. When I discharged her from the hospital, I made
her promise that she would come back to visit me. One
Sunday afternoon she showed up on our doorstep to
visit. Greg answered the door and came in saying that
there was a young girl who would only talk with me.
When I went outside I realized immediately that it was
Tukaye. She looked frightened to death. Now, many of
the children here are fearful of white people. I have
never had anyone tell me why this is exactly; I have
just always assumed that it was because they had never
seen one before. But Tukaye and I had been friends
and she wasn’t afraid of me when she was in the
hospital. So I asked her why she was so fearful. She
told me that when she told her father that she was
coming to visit me, he told her that we (as white
people) would hold her captive, prepare her, and eat
her. He told her that he knows of some in several of
the bigger cities in Cameroun who were eaten by the
white people. Now, I can understand being fearful of
being taken away (the slave trade is still present in
hearts and minds of some here), but I have no idea
what would cause someone to believe that white people
eat black people. It really broke my heart for her,
and endeared her more to me as she braved her life to
come and visit.
When people ask me what percent of the population
here are Christian/Muslum etc, I answer that about one
third are Christian, one third are Muslim, and one
hundred percent are animist/traditional tribal. Even
for those who profess only Christianity or Islam, the
traditional beliefs are still very alive in every
aspect of their world. It is hard to find anyone
without some kind of charm (Gri-gri) around his neck
or waist. When Tukaye came, she brought for me a
handmade Mafa-god idol to protect our house. We are
supposed to place it somewhere in our house or yard to
fight off the bad spirits that bring disease and
strife to a family. If the father of the house
believes that there are problems within his family, he
is to pour bili-bili (homemade millet wine) into this
statue, drink it with his family, sacrifice a chicken
over the top of it, then eat the chicken. After the
ritual is complete, he is to consult the spirits as to
whether the Mafa god has been appeased. I have asked
God to remove any connection this statue may have with
the spirit world, and I keep it to remind me of
Tukaye, and the great need there is in this village to
bring the good news of God’s love to the people here.
Please pray that the hope of Christ can release these
people from their bondage. Audrey