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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

Shanksteps #98 The nurse called me to see someone in the ER.  The note said he had an arrow sticking out the side of his neck.  I see an old man (approx. 65 years old) pulling out on the arrow lodged in his neck.  He is pulling it out as they feel if he leaves it the barb will continue working its way deeper and deeper.  He is conscious and talks with a little hoarseness in his speech.  We went to the operating room where I explored his neck. The arrows path took it through the saliva gland under his jaw, thenpiercing his voice box with the barb caught in his larynx musculature (voice box muscles).  I free up the barb and pull out another 1.5 inches of metal, rusty with years of nonuse.  Air bubbles up through the blood collecting there.  His larynx was pierced through and through.  After leaving a drain and closing over the hole, I finish that surgery.In the past the story goes that two brothers were living in the valley.  One decided to move into the mountain beside the valley.  In doing this he gave his brother the right to cultivate his land in the valley if at the end of each year he gave a portion of the crops to him.  Thus the villages of Mauvmi and Oupi were created separate.  For many years at the end of the growing season the Mauvmi people have given the Oupi grains and animals for their yearly debt.  Two years ago the Oupi people didn’tdistribute the goods evenly and so discontent arrived in that they didn’t receive their share.  So last year they were going to fight.  The local authorities were able to calm everyone down and a war was avoided.  Now this year they decided to claim their land and work it themselves.  So both villages are claiming this land as theirs.  So they organized a village war.  The Oupi have had problems with other villages in the past so others are joining in too.  The men would go with their bows and arrowsand stones and fight against the other men.  Oupi had a distinct advantage of being on the mountain.  Stones and boulders made it difficult for Mauvmi to attack.  But some harm was done and some houses burned and some clubbed and stabbed.  None arrived at the hospital for the first three days of fighting.  Apparently for the Oupi to arrive here the hospital is to go through hostile territory.  So they aren’t coming.The second casualty was the next day.  He had an arrow lodged in his back that came out on his way to the hospital.  Listening to his lungs he had a pneumothorax (a collapsed lung) but was breathing well.  He had a 6mm hole in his back on the right side.  I decided to watch him but he wanted to leave.  He refused anti-tetanus serum and when the guards were changing he snuck out of the hospital.Last night I was called to see a man with an arrow in his leg.  He had been shot in the front of the leg in the medial aspect.  Fortunately for him the vessels were missed and I was able to take it out within a few minutes of anesthesia.I heard that yesterday they decided to prolong the war for 10 more days.  They are now fighting on a battlefield.  It’s edges are marked, with two sides opposing.  The women and children are staying at home.  But may venture into the other village to steal goats, sheep, sacs of millet, or other things.  The men enter the fight by selection.  They use some magic spells to know who should enter and won’t get shot.  Apparently there is a large crowd around the perimeter just watching the war go on.When the deputy or chief of the village go near they try to shoot at them too.  I’m not sure why more hasn’t been done by the government to stop it.  They have been there some, but when they turn their backs they are right back at it.We hope all this will stop soon.  Fortunately its only localized to their area.  Greg

Shanksteps #97- War GamesHave you ever played Laser Tag?  How about Capture the Flag? War Games? Paintball? Cowboys and Indians?  You know, games where you hide behind bushes and rocks and shoot at your friends…Just 3 miles from here, several villages are playing their own war games, however they are using real bows and poisoned-tip arrows.  I know you are saying, “But this is 2008, how can this be?”  I assure you that this is the real deal.  Greg has already pulled barbed arrows out of a chest, neck, abdomen and thigh.  Most of the “warriors” refuse to come into the hospital because it would mean that they miss out on the war. Apparently the initial two villages have been enemies for years. They lasthad tribal warfare in the 1980s.  Now again, the village farther up the mountain attacked the village toward the bottom. Why are they fighting? The fight started over a field.  One village said that it was their right to plant it this year, the other refused.  As fields mean food, and food means money, it is an understandable fight. However this one has gotten out of hand. The chief of the upper village (Wopi) is recruiting all men from the village to fight. When the police or army comes to stopthe fighting, the chief tells his men to shoot at the authorities.  So far, the fighting villagers are much braver than our feeble military.  A couple of days ago they started burning down houses as well.The interesting thing to me is that there is an accepted “playing field”. This area doesn’t contain any houses.  Only certain men are chosen to fight or “participate” as they call it.  The surrounding villages have all come to watch.  It is almost as if it is all a game – although people are getting hurt and dying (and I’m sure more will die of tetanus).  At first, the war was “scheduled” to last for 4 days. Now they keep postponing the end.  We are now on day 6, with 10 more “scheduled”.The men that have come into the hospital are begging to go home to re-enter the war.  Two have already done so.  The first man came in with a hole in his chest causing collapse of his lung.  He refused most treatment (including tetanus vaccine) and fled the hospital without paying his bill.  (He recently told our guard that he plans to pay the hospital when the war is over, he was just anxious to get back to the fighting).  The next man to come in came in with a barbed arrow in his neck through hislarynx.  Greg removed the arrow and repaired the damage.  He is also trying to leave to go back and fight.  The third guy came in with an arrow sticking out of his abdomen.  Greg was able to remove it without opening his abdomen.  He had no internal damage and did well after watching him for several days.  He left the hospital today, begging to go back to the fight.  The fourth guy came in with a barbed arrow sticking out of his thigh. This was removed and he is still being treated.  There have beenmany others hurt who have refused treatment.  I don’t know what the death toll is now, but it is mostly due to overwhelming infection of the arrow entry site.When we hear of all that is happening in the world, we are reminded again that we are in the beginning of the “time of the end” where “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars” (Matt 24:6).  Please pray for the fighting to end and that these peoples hearts will be changed by the love of God.In His Grip, Audrey and the Shanks