Shraders in Zambia - Welcome to Poisonwood, Stephen- Part 3

[Gobsmacked]

Sorry if this appears twice. Having internet problems.

Fuel prices in zambia summer 2014 are roughly £1.00 per gallon.

Not sure what that is on dollars.

Equates to roughly 1.70 in Zambian kwacha.

Did john manage to gather enough money to pay import duties on troopie? How?

He surely didn't take the whole family into lusaka, he wouldn't have had

Much space for hitchhikers. The bundles carried by the charcoal makers are quite large.

[happy atheist]

Can someone remind me what the Troopie is? I know it's a car---but what kind?

Also---what does iirc mean? It's a term that comes up frequently here and I cannot figure out what it means! Probably something super obvious.

iirc = if I recall correctly

[scc12]

Yes I thought he already had a massive printer that was to be shipped to Zambia on the container? wtheck?

[slickcat79]

Sorry if this appears twice. Having internet problems.

Fuel prices in zambia summer 2014 are roughly £1.00 per gallon.

Not sure what that is on dollars.

Equates to roughly 1.70 in Zambian kwacha.

Did john manage to gather enough money to pay import duties on troopie? How?

He surely didn't take the whole family into lusaka, he wouldn't have had

Much space for hitchhikers. The bundles carried by the charcoal makers are quite large.

I have no idea how John got the money for the fees on the troopie, except that he is remarkably successful at grifting. It makes me vaguely sick to think about how much real, tangible good that money could have done if it wasn't being used to buy John a new vehicle.

The family trip to Lusaka and the thing with the hitchhikers were two separate trips. They put the bundles on the roof rack.

[Savoring Samsara]

Sorry if this appears twice. Having internet problems.

Fuel prices in zambia summer 2014 are roughly £1.00 per gallon.

Not sure what that is on dollars.

Equates to roughly 1.70 in Zambian kwacha.

Did john manage to gather enough money to pay import duties on troopie? How?

He surely didn't take the whole family into lusaka, he wouldn't have had

Much space for hitchhikers. The bundles carried by the charcoal makers are quite large.

Exchange rate right now is about $1.65 = £1.

[Gobsmacked]

Johns fathers church has sent a blessing barrel to stop john from squandering any more of their money I suspect.

John could buy tools etc from Lusaka quite easily.

Hopefully the barrel includes some Christmas gifts for Esther and the children also. :?

[lilith]

Johns fathers church has sent a blessing barrel to stop john from squandering any more of their money I suspect.

John could buy tools etc from Lusaka quite easily.

Hopefully the barrel includes some Christmas gifts for Esther and the children also. :?

God, it reminds me of Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter, when the train finally got through with the Christmas treats from the church back east.

Except John hasn't been forced west in his quest to support his growing family, he's chosen to go to Africa as part of his never ending quest to have others support them.

[Joan of Snarc]

"Blessing barrel." Fundie lingo never fails to make me :lol:

Awaiting a blessing barrel could be a post count title.

[slickcat79]

Kapolo John and the Saga of Roderick

John was able to buy some internet time and thus make another update. They enjoyed the Lord's Day. Arcade preached for the first time and they were joined by 9 "precious Africans"!

Then we learn more about Roderick's back story. Apparently Roderick's father was poisoned and killed by a jealous family member who wanted the family's house :shock: (like sand through the hourglass...) Roderick had to care for his father for some time until he passed away, and then lost his job soon after.

Roderick and his family were truly "widow and fatherless in their affliction" (James 1:27) so John gave them a bag of cornmeal(?) for making n'shima and a couple of other things, but there was NO WAY he could continue to provide for the family from his own limited resources (says the guy with the brand-new troopie). Geez, the bible says GOD will provide, not John, and he grifted his own money fair and square. Can't expect him to give it to the impoverished "precious Africans" or anything :roll:

Roderick told John that he was probably going to have to move to Lusaka where his uncle lives so that he could find a better job and help support his family. Since that would totes ruin 3 months worth of John's conversion efforts, he talked Roderick out of leaving. Seriously, he convinced the guy to stay because their bible study is more important than the family having food to eat.

THEN...Roderick's former employer called and offered him his old job back. Seriously the LORD! John even received a "testimony" from Roderick's mother about how her son used to go drinking and clubbing and live a "raucous life of sin" but now he is a Good Christian Boy™ Roderick has been sharing the Word with his mother, and helping to get his cousin involved in bible study as well. And all is right in John's world. AMEN.

[thoughtful]

[Palimpsest]

John reposted this article on his FB:

paulchappell.com/2014/08/28/10-ways-to-be-a-blessing-to-your-missionaries/

Shorter version:

1. Pray for them

2. Send money

3. Send gifts

4. Send them things they specifically ask for

5. STFU and don't bother them about anything else, and especially don't ask them if they're actually doing anything useful

I like your short version!

Actually, I don't disagree with all of it and there are some fascinating clues in it to the basic dysfunction inherent in the current system for sending these IFB "missionaries" into the field. Also, I wonder whether John linked to it because he is feeling a little pressure. He's hardly done anything except spend money since he got to Zambia so people may be getting a little impatient with him.

Don’t ever miss a month of support. Ever. For any reason. Unless you are okay with randomly not being paid and having no way to know when it will happen or any means to make up the difference.

The fact that Paul Chappell needs to say this at all is very interesting. If a church makes a commitment to send a fool like John to Africa with his family to live "by faith alone" then they should bloody well follow through with the $$ commitment for the sake of the kids. How many churches fail to follow through with commitments to support IFB "missionaries" like John? Enquiring minds want to know.

Refrain from sending a ministry questionnaire to missionaries on the field if at all possible. It’s much better to ask the tough questions before you start supporting a missionary.

First sentence = don't hold "missionaries" accountable. Bull crap. I agree with the second sentence but I doubt the leg-humpers do ask the tough questions if Shrader is an example of an IFB "missionary." For the love of little fishes ask the tough questions and also set up a proper reporting system for the "missionaries" you donate $$ to in advance of sending them and their children into the field!

If you feel there is a change of philosophy that has taken place on the field that concerns you, you might address it with their home pastor before burdening them on the field. Often these random questionnaire letters will come to a missionary serving in a lonely part of Africa and make the missionary feel his integrity is being questioned.

Oh, please. It could be that some people's integrity should be questioned (whatever did happen to the plane, John?) but by all means hold the pastor of the Sending Church's feet to the fire first! Changes in philosophy can be discussed and funding withdrawn gradually. However, if someone goes right off the rails and things get really dangerous*, then I'd hope the original naïve funders would feel a moral obligation to put massive pressure on the sending church to pull them right out of the field. Fast. :roll:

As to the gifts and responding to specific requests, I don't want to quibble much. It's amazing how you crave odd comfort and food items when living in foreign countries. It's much easier to find UK foods in the US these days, but 30 years ago my family and friends would bring over multiple packages of McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits, Ribena, Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles and Cadbury Flakes for me when they visited. It's illegal for travelers to bring meat and cheese through customs (you need an import license for that) or I would definitely have added real English bacon and multiple English cheeses to the list. American cheeses are horrible!

So for the sake of the kids, I hope Esther is asking leg-humpers to send Kraft Cheese Dinners, Cream of Crap soup, Velveeta, and Pillsbury cake mixes. Toys for John, not so much.

* Yeah, I know we consider that John is already endangering his (probably) unvaccinated children, but he is such a bull in a china shop he could end up getting into really hot water.

ETA. Quotes above are from paulchappell.com/2014/08/28/10-ways-to-be-a-blessing-to-your-missionaries. My bolding.

[Palimpsest]

I wouldn't put number (2) beyond many missionaries, but (2) requires some planning ahead, which I don't think John is capable of.

Number 2 would actually be (legally) fraud, plain and simple. I would put fraud beyond most real missionaries. Fake "missionary" John is another question. He's fairly brilliant at putting positive spins on things that go wrong but would he out-right lie about the plane? My personal jury is still out on that.

I'm going with # 3. The plane existed but has either been stolen, chopped up for spare parts in the last year, or is no longer in flyable (flightworthy?) condition.

[salex]

If you can access their facebook, you can see (and hear) the accordion in action.

Also, apparently so far all the people he's converted to Christianity have been or are currently Christian-- just not the right kind of Christian...

[Ellimenopy]

Number 2 would actually be (legally) fraud, plain and simple. I would put fraud beyond most real missionaries. Fake "missionary" John is another question. He's fairly brilliant at putting positive spins on things that go wrong but would he out-right lie about the plane? My personal jury is still out on that.

I'm going with # 3. The plane existed but has either been stolen, chopped up for spare parts in the last year, or is no longer in flyable (flightworthy?) condition.

I think the heuristic of "don't attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity" applies here. I think John's incompetence has been well-established, and is dangerous on its own. I think Number 2 is giving him too much credit. He can't plan ahead to even get a shelter for his family before he gets to a foreign country. I see no reason to believe that he's intelligent enough to wholly concoct a blatant lie and maintain it for months. It's far more plausible to me that something's just happened to it and he wants everyone to forget it. So I'm throwing in with Number 3 as well.

[Firiel]

I think the heuristic of "don't attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity" applies here. I think John's incompetence has been well-established, and is dangerous on its own. I think Number 2 is giving him too much credit. He can't plan ahead to even get a shelter for his family before he gets to a foreign country. I see no reason to believe that he's intelligent enough to wholly concoct a blatant lie and maintain it for months. It's far more plausible to me that something's just happened to it and he wants everyone to forget it. So I'm throwing in with Number 3 as well.

Knowing what I know about light aircraft, it probably needs to be maintained and he's realized he can't keep up with such maintenance and/or can't find or afford someone to do it for him.

[formergothardite]

I really don't think John would completely lie about the plane. I think he made a fool of himself and the plane is a heap of unusable junk and he is hoping people will just forget that it ever happened.

[scc12]

I think the plane existed as he seemed very exuberant about the flying lessons and such,from what I gather.

[Coco]

wow that troopie just screams, "i am being a MISSIONARY!" :roll:

good grief why not do what he could in America where he was and send support to indigenous Christians. oh, yeah -- wrong kind of Christian. :doh:

[salex]

wow that troopie just screams, "i am being a MISSIONARY!" :roll:

good grief why not do what he could in America where he was and send support to indigenous Christians. oh, yeah -- wrong kind of Christian. :doh:

I guess he didn't notice the Seventh Day Adventists around say, Katy, Texas that he could have been saving. Or the vast array of non-independent Baptists that roam Texas, or Oklahoma or any of the other US states. Much cheaper to do this same work in the USA.

[Coco]

I guess he didn't notice the Seventh Day Adventists around say, Katy, Texas that he could have been saving. Or the vast array of non-independent Baptists that roam Texas, or Oklahoma or any of the other US states. Much cheaper to do this same work in the USA.

exactly :lol: he could have one Adventist convert and happier, safer wife and kids.

[uber frau]

Yes, but much harder to get other ppl to pay for it.

And missionaries in the good old US of A can't expect to raise their standard of living simply by being missionaries.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Yes, but much harder to get other ppl to pay for it.

And missionaries in the good old US of A can't expect to raise their standard of living simply by being missionaries.

Abroad he gets the "glory"....to get that here he'd have to live in a former crack-house in a severely blighted area of, say, Detroit or Oakland..... Not happening.

[Gobsmacked]

Perhaps his sending and supporting churches have realised that the plane is going to cost just too much to use. Maintenance, fuel prices and the cost of landing at the various air strips etc.

Even if the plane is still in one piece and fly able ( I doubt it).

The cheaper option would be to just leave it be or try to sell it?

Also the various churches may have advised him not to fly as it is too dangerous given his complete lack of experience . If he did and the worst happened, Esther and the children would all have to be flown back home

Quickly. Even more expense . :?

[countressrascal]

He posted on FaceBook or as he calls it "FlakeBook" they had 25 souls for their service and meal or as the native call "Food for Jesus". They still have not found a local to do a church planting. Enoch took a video of the service. By the way it is public.

[Curious]

He posted on FaceBook or as he calls it "FlakeBook" they had 25 souls for their service and meal or as the native call "Food for Jesus". They still have not found a local to do a church planting. Enoch took a video of the service. By the way it is public.

Is that counting Esther and the kids (and John, himself?). So they had 14?