CAR update

Last week, 5 members of our Gamboula team returned to the Cameroon/Central African Republic border. They met with several leaders from Gamboula that crossed the border to report on the situation in town. The reports were good. They said Gamboula was peaceful and even encouraged the group to cross the border to visit, which they did. The team reported that everything looked and felt normal despite a few new government officials from the Seleka group that apparently were very cordial and professional. The highest official is a 31 year old gentleman that has the respect of Seleka and the community. A lot of the peace in Gamboula has been credited to him. All of the workers from the women selling produce on the side of the road to the nurses and shop owners have returned to their jobs. Schools have also resumed. It appears that Gamboula has remained relatively unscathed during the rebellion. We also learned that the looting of our houses was not as bad as first thought. Apparently some of our neighbors video taped the looting and others wrote down names of those looting. Some teenagers even tackled some looters and recovered items. Days later, some of our neighbors went to the houses of those they knew were involved and recovered even more items. Our silverware was found in the Garden of Eden! Until we return and see for us we will not really know the extent of what was taken. Our team was warmly welcomed and many asked for us all to return. Over all the trip was a great success. It was healing, meaningful, and a wonderful chance to encourage our friends. We also learned that our house helps' daughter had a baby girl that they named "Lori" now all 3 Shinars have a name-sake in Africa! 

The state of Gamboula is remarkable considering the rest of the country is still in unrest with continued looting, violence, and instability. Just 2 hours north of Gamboula, anarchy remains. Hospitals and schools are not functioning in the capital and poachers are killing elephants for ivory in the parts of the country. We pray that peace remains in Gamboula and spreads throughout CAR.

As for us, we will return home on Tuesday for a few months for rest and healing. We pray that we will be able to return to Gamboula. We are also praying about other options in Cameroon if we are unable. We would appreciate your prayers for easy travel and that we will be healthy- all of us have been sick today! Please also pray for our friends in CAR and for the country that is so dear to our hearts.

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No place like home

Since ending our vacation in Kribi, we have been staying in Yaounde- the capital of Cameroon. Josh has been helping out at the Rainforest International School (a school for missionary kids, expat children, and some local kids as well). He has been using his geeky giftings in their IT department. He has also managed to find a way to serve God through swing dancing. He is assisting the gym teaching with the dancing module. He has been having a blast.

Charlie and I have been hanging out. We live next to a family with 3 small children that Charlotte adores. Every morning she says, “Go play friends!” And they have! There are 3 playgrounds close to us that we frequent and Wycliffe Associates has an amazing library for Mks- there is even a story time. We have also been learning to live “the African city life” of on and off water and electricity. And I have been learning how to survive a 2 year old whose favorite phrase is “no way!”

We get news everyday from CAR- some good, but most not so great. It looks like Gamboula is relatively safe and quiet now, but Bangui the capital is still a mess. Our hopes of a quick return have been dashed. We are hoping that things will turn around in a few months.

In the meantime, we have received wise council that the best thing for us to do now is to return to the States for a short time of rest and recuperation during which we will continue to pray for CAR, but also any other open doors through which God may lead. We will visit family and friends for a month in Georgia and another in Arizona before returning to Cameroon in August. (We are leaving Cameroon May 14).

We still feel God calling us to Africa and continue to have a heart for our Fulani brothers and sisters. This brief time home does not reflect a change in our calling, desire, or mission. We just feel we need to regroup, repair, and restrategize!

We appreciate your ongoing prayers for our family as we travel and also for our friends in CAR.

Post vacay

You know when you return home from vacation and all you want to do is sleep in your bed?! Oh how I wish we could craw into our bed! Ugh I am tired of living out of a suitcase. Vacation is over and our paradise bubble has popped. We are now in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. This is a bittersweet situation. We are thankful for a place to stay and there are many positives here- big, fun stores for shopping, high speed internet, playgrounds for Charlie, and friends. But, both Josh and I are not so in love with the “big city.” It is loud, ugly, crowded, and power and water go off all of the time! Yesterday the power went off and on and then off for almost 24 hours. It is back on, but the water is off- can't win.

Please pray for us as we wait and seek what the Lord has in store for us. We are anxious to “do something” and don't want to sit around, but at the same time we want to be patient and wait for the Lord's timing. Josh is excited about several possible opportunities and I am kind of feeling blah about everything. I would appreciate prayers for daily renewals of God's peace.

P.S. If you want to see pics from our trip to Kribi, go here- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200973296311793.1073741825.1148034892&type=1&l=45c614225e

Empty

“I went away full, but the Lord brought me back empty.” (Ruth 1:21)

Sorry for the silence lately. This has been a crazy disorienting time for us. If you haven't heard, the Central African Republic government has been overthrown by rebels. There is now a new president in power.

Last Sunday, all the missionaries in Gamboula left our homes in a hurry. For months, rumors and news about rebels had come to us, but we thought news was all that would reach us- we were confident that the skirmish would never reach our area since we are so far from the capital. None the less, Josh and I decided that it would be wise for us to leave the country on Sunday. We were already planning to go to Cameroon for vacation and a conference with the Evangelical Covenant Church so we decided to leave a little bit earlier. The rest of the missionaries were planning on staying put in Gamboula- that was until we learned that rebels were in fact in our town. We all left on Sunday in a hurry. I will spare you all of the details, but tell you that there was a lot of nail biting and praying along the way. God delivered us safely to Cameroon after many miracles!

For the last week and a half we have been staying in paradise- Kribi, Cameroon. It is a beautiful tropical beach town. We have stayed in lovely hotels (some even with air conditioning!) and eating yummy seafood. All of this has helped to buffer the loss and confusion we are feeling right now- or at least numb it some.

Right now we are at the missionary conference. We are studying missions in the book of Ruth. Verse 21 of Ch.1 spoke to me because it echoes what I am feeling now. Naomi left full, but came back empty.

When we started this journey, we sold almost everything we had- cars, clothes, furniture, on and on. I'll be honest, I am sinful and there was a mourning of the loss of our things. We left for Africa with 9 suitcases. A week before we evacuated, we finally received the container that was sent from the States in December. We had Christmas is March! We were giddy over candles and lotions that smelled so nice, yummy candy and other goodies that were so rare and precious. Because we packed for a beach vacation with the intent on returning afterward, we left most of our things behind. Thirty minutes after we left the mission station, our house was looted- to what extent we do not know, but we do know that some of our things are gone and there is a great chance that everything will also be taken. Now we have 4 suitcases to our name.

While the loss of things has been hard for me (not so much for Josh because he has always had little need of “things”), an even greater loss has been the loss of a ministry. We were just getting to a place where we knew the language, had friends and were making strides in our ministries. Gamboula felt like home. We will stay in Kribi for 2 more weeks, but after that we do not know what we will do. We pray that we can return to CAR quickly, but that scenario is looking unlikely. Right now it feels like we do not have a home or a purpose. We are refugees and jobless. We will probably stay in Yaounde (the capital of Cameroon) for a while and help out where we can while we wait- may at the international school. If it looks like we will not be able to reenter CAR for a while, we will search for other ministry options in Cameroon or neighboring countries.

The most devastating loss is the people we left behind. As our convoy of trucks fled the country, flocks of people lined the streets and waved goodbye. They are our friends, colleagues, and ministry partners. Our hearts breaks over the unrest in their country and their unknown future. I also mourn the loss of opportunity to share the love of Christ with those that are truly lost.

So right now, I feel like Naomi that said, Do not call me Pleasant (the meaning of Naomi), call me Mara- bitter. I am bitter, raw, sad, empty, confused, disillusioned, and disoriented. I came to Africa full, but now I feel empty. But that is what I love about the Bible, there are books like Ruth and Lamentations that say it is alright to feel that way. Our God understands. He is not threatened by our asking of why.

If you know the story of Ruth, you know that Naomi is not left empty handed. Her redeemer fills her until overflowing. I cling to this. I pray for this. I wait for this- not only for me, but for my friends and neighbors in CAR.

Update on Hamadou

A few days ago, Aleta and I visited Hamadou and his mother again in the hospital. We brought some more formula and a thermos so that she can boil the water and keep it clean and not have to make a fire in the middle of the night.

To our delight, we learn that Hamadou (or Hama-dude or the Dude as I have been calling him) weighed 2.1lkg (4.62 lbs)! He has almost doubled in size. He is also nursing really well and his mother's milk is a little more productive.

Thank you for prayers for this little guy! And keep them coming as they return home soon!

Where we live

Since we moved to Gamboula 6 months ago, I wanted to post pictures of our house. Until recently, our internet was painfully too slow to do so and then when we got our high speed internet I couldn't pull myself away from Pinterest long enough to do so (just joking, kind of).

So here is your virtual tour of our house (tour of the mission to come soon- stay tuned!):

Our house-





The view from our porch-







The living room-





Our bedroom-



Charlie's bedroom





The dining room-




The kitchen

The almost son

Yesterday, I almost brought a son home! His name is Hammadou. He was born premature weighing about 2 lbs. Yesterday, Aleta and I met him and his mother. He is now 1 month old and still weighs around 2 lbs.- just skin and bone. The mother has limited milk supply which means she has to supplement with formula. This is an extremely difficult task. First, she has to buy it. A can is about $5. While that seems like nothing to us- that is 2 1/2 days wage (that is if you have a good paying job). The mother will have to find a store that sells it which might be difficult since they are nomadic and away from their village now. When she wants to make it, she has to build a fire and then boil water- yes, even in the middle of the night. Then she has to mix the formula to feed and afterwards wash the only bottle she has. Perhaps it is the difficulty of the process that has led to her only feeding the baby once a day, or maybe it was lack of knowledge since she speaks Fufulde and the nursing staff does not or maybe the lack of feedings is due to the fact that the Fulani are resigned to fate- whatever God wills will be done so there is no point worrying about it, after all she has already lost 2 babies.
Aleta and I went into full nurse educator mode! We stressed how important it was for her to feed him every 2 hours and to try to nurse as well. We got discouraged when we thought she had gone to prepare a bottle only to find her washing clothes instead. I was determined to help this baby- even if that meant taking him home with me, and in fact the baby's great aunt asked us to take him and care for him. At one point I was alone with him, trying to warm him under lamps. I sang "He has the whole world in His hands" to him. And He does- the little bitty babies as well. We prayed over him and his mother and then we gave more education and more support to his mother. Aleta went and checked on them last night and the mom was nursing Hammadou and she had also fed him 3 other times!
This morning we went to see mom and baby and to bring some warm clothes for him. One of my concerns was if he was urinating enough- if he was then he was getting enough food. To my delight, he was soaking wet when we arrived and his mom was making a bottle for him! While he has a lot of weight to put on still, I believe he and his mom are moving in the right direction. Please keep baby Hammadou and his mother in your prayers!