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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

Shanksteps # 65

May 17, 2007
Have you wondered what your donated money does at our hospital in Koza? Well recently your money saved the life of a man that would have otherwise died! We recently received the lab equipment that was purchased with donations. A man from world wide labs came and installed the equipment and trained our lab techs to use the equipment. WE can now do electrolytes, liver enzymes. Oh what a blessing that is! I cant order them every day like in the US but if I really need them they are there.
We had a gentleman come in this last week with electrical burns. He has been walking to the dispensary where he works and saw a downed line and people were ducking under it (about 5 feet off the ground) and continuing on their way. So he did the same. Unfortunately for him the power company did a test to see wether the system was functioning properly sending power out. With the downed line, the electricity caught him in the back of the neck and exited both feet from knees down. They brought
him to the hospital in a puspus. (a two wheeled, push cart) Fortunately the current had not sent him into an arrythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). Over the next few days he did well. We hydrated him possible myoglobinuria (myoglobin in the urine). And did some of our new tests on him. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, lactate, chloride. All these were nearly normal. A few days later he started having involuntary contractions of his hands. These resolved spontaneously. He then had them again with
his jaw contracted too. I repeated Magnesium and potassium and these were both were low and Mag was very low. I had received some Magnesium IV from my father when they visited. After receiving this his level was normal and all symptoms were gone. Had this happened before the lab equipment was here I wouldn’t have been able to find out what was wrong and he would have declined and passed away. So I just want to thank all of you for your generosity. It is making a huge difference, for us and
for patients like this, YOU SAVED HIS LIFE! He is healing well now. He did not have any of the possible limb threatening complications. We that you also for your prayers. Please continue to pray for him.
Another piece of news is that we had visitors recently. Gary Roberts and family visited. They are new missionaries to our area of the globe with Gospel Ministries International. We enjoyed having them here. We are working with the community to reopen the Koza airstrip. We hope his mission may be able to work closely with us in the future. Please keep them in your prayers also as they start the difficult task of opening new mission work here in West Africa.
We look forward to our time back in the USA. We will be leaving mid-June and returning the beginning of August. Seems like a long time. But with all the traveling to see relatives, it went very fast last time. Please pray for us as we leave around midnight on June 18th (6PM EST) to head home. We pray God continues to bless you in your various activities and that He is honored in all that you do. In His Service, Shank’s

Shanksteps # 64
Thank you for all your prayers, a replacement was found for us while we are on vacation. We will be coming to the US June 19th and leaving mid August. Our travel plans include West Virginia, Connecticut, Maine, San Francisco, CT, WV and ASI in Louisville, KY. I also want to thank those of you who have helped our hospital financially. We have purchased a new lab system that will be installed here at the end of the month. This will enable us to perform more variety of tests without constantly
loosing the materials before expiring. We have also purchased a new refrigerator and some battery backup for the lab equipment and tests. Also we are building a roof over our worship/meeting area at the hospital. This will allow us to meet whether sunshine or rain. We are also still using money to purchase medications in bulk in Yaounde to increase our profit and stay ahead on medications without being behind. We have just placed an order with donations that we expect will last the hospital
through August when our vacation is finished. We thank you all for your generosity. Without it we would still be struggling to survive and have minimal medications available. I hope someday that we are in such a position to reduce our prices for medications to make them more affordable to the population we serve. Please continue to pray for wisdom as we lead out in His hospital.
In His Service, Shanks

PS: Im interested in current emails, addresses and phone numbers for all friends and family. I will help us stay in touch better. Please send me a short note to let me know what your current info is as I know its frequently changing for many of you. thanks.