John Shrader 21: Nine Years in Zambia and Still Failing

[gustava]

The Mears are nuts.

[Gobsmacked]

16 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

I thought I remembered Wade posting about John finding them a house, so I went back and looked. It's way back in Chapter 4. They head out for Zambia in early June. Can't wait to see how this goes, and whether their container arrives in one piece. Do we remember, did John ship all his stuff over in a container?

 

Didn’t John find somewhere to live quite quickly after landing in Zambia with a pregnant wife, a passel of children, suitcases tied with garden ties and not much else?  The hill house? The one owned by the batty woman who never finished the alterations to the house? 
Methinks that somehow there will be a problem with the house……………..,

[formergothardite]

11 minutes ago, Gobsmacked said:

Didn’t John find somewhere to live quite quickly after landing in Zambia with a pregnant wife, a passel of children, suitcases tied with garden ties and not much else?  The hill house? The one owned by the batty woman who never finished the alterations to the house? 
Methinks that somehow there will be a problem with the house……………..,

I had forgotten about this lady! The people of Zambia should write a book about their interactions with John. It would be absolutely fascinating and I would totally buy it. The stories they could tell about the self-absorbed white man who showed up expecting to be worshipped! 

Edited March 26, 2023 by formergothardite

[Xan]

I don't think John had enough possessions for a shipping container.  Wasn't the Zambia move shortly after the whole family had been living in a pop-up camper in someone's back yard?

Mostly, I'm surprised that John has lasted this long.  He's a particular kind of crazy.  If it wasn't for Daddy Rick's money propping him up, he'd have been out of there long ago.  I still don't think Wade Mears can save him.  I'm back to the "send him home and get him psychiatric help" line of thought.

The local people who have to deal with him surely have a lot of stories to tell.  You just know that they make fun of him behind his back.  (They probably make fun of him directly but, since John can't be bothered to learn another language, he wouldn't understand.)

[postscript]

I thought John did have a container. It took far longer to get to the than they expected and when they opened it, their keyboard was damaged. But I could be wrong. Or John could have been dramatizing. 

Was the landlady who rented the, the hill house the one John thought was possessed by Satan?  I may be mixing up my John vs. Satan battles. 

[Gobsmacked]

45 minutes ago, postscript said:

I thought John did have a container. It took far longer to get to the than they expected and when they opened it, their keyboard was damaged. But I could be wrong. Or John could have been dramatizing. 

Was the landlady who rented the, the hill house the one John thought was possessed by Satan?  I may be mixing up my John vs. Satan battles. 

Yes. She’s the one. Did he then move into a house next door to the Mosque. He hated the call to prayer but we all thought it sounds beautiful. His current house has lots of bookshelves I think. 

The worst photo of John so far was him standing by a grave side with his huge hat on, bible under his arm looking up to the sky. He definitely looked unhinged in that pic. 

[Xan]

1 hour ago, Gobsmacked said:

The worst photo of John so far was him standing by a grave side with his huge hat on, bible under his arm looking up to the sky. He definitely looked unhinged in that pic. 

This is as close as I can find in my photos.

Spoiler

At this same funeral, John breaks out the old accordion for some God-honoring, scripturally accurate, funereal polka.

Spoiler

 

[apandaaries]

This is normally the time John takes to bed with back pain. But his surgery appears to have been fairly successful. What excuse do you suppose he uses now?

[gustava]

12 hours ago, apandaaries said:

This is normally the time John takes to bed with back pain. But his surgery appears to have been fairly successful. What excuse do you suppose he uses now?

Migraine caused by Satan?

[Xan]

I'm wondering if John has hit the depressive part of his manic-depressive cycle.  He hasn't posted in ten days and the last posts were pity party stuff.   We still don't know how his recent sermon inspired "resistance" because he failed to follow up with any information.  He has said that the devil is stirring up trouble in the ministry so that's how John knows that he's on the right path.  

Wade Mears isn't there yet.  There are no new vehicles or pieces of equipment on the way.  It doesn't appear that there are any new church plants close by and he hasn't talked about any new sponsoring churches.  We've heard nothing about any land or buildings being approved by the local authorities.  I think John is in a slump and, as @apandaaries points out, he can't use his back this time.  I'd say he'd use an sickness or condition with Esther or the children but John can only see to the tip of his own nose.  I think he's going to be felled by some illness and take to his bed.  He can't get out of these slumps until enough people have sufficiently prayed over him.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Xan

[Ozlsn]

Wonder how the Mears will react to discovering John's cycles. 

[Gobsmacked]

On 3/26/2023 at 1:58 PM, gustava said:

The Mears are nuts.

If they aren’t yet they will be after a few months of Johns company. 

[apandaaries]

Quick query: does John have any long term friends? He is sycophantically respectful of his father; his mother is barely mentioned; Esther seems committed to submitting, so things sort of work there. 
But my thought is that John is incapable of respecting anyone as an equal. He seems pathologically incapable of treating others as distinct human beings with their own thoughts and desires. 
I also wonder if Rick’s potential retirement is as poorly planned as John’s. Neither seems talented with money, and all the kids/adults have been stunted with poor educations. What could their long term plans be? Or is it just to rely on god?

[Xan]

9 minutes ago, apandaaries said:

I also wonder if Rick’s potential retirement is as poorly planned as John’s. Neither seems talented with money, and all the kids/adults have been stunted with poor educations. What could their long term plans be? Or is it just to rely on god?

I don't think Rick plans to totally retire.  What he's done is install a regular pastor to do the work and give the sermons and he still keeps his hand on everything.  My guess is that he will stay on and control the money until he keels over.  He's not a crazy as John and he understands that he and John need the income.

As to John -- I think you have him described correctly.  I don't think he regards anyone as his equal.  He defers to his dad but mostly he seems to think he's just about a step below Jesus.  He's the only one who has the true interpretation of the scriptures.  He alone holds the keys to a person's salvation.  He is the one planting a church in Africa that will save the continent.  

What I'd love to see is a group of Zambians loading him and his printing stuff up and marching him out of the country.  As an American, I am embarrassed that he's over there playing at great white savior.  Zambia was fine before he got there and it will be fine after he leaves.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Xan

[FeministShrew]

I can picture Wade Mears standing over John's bed, yelling "Get up, son! Are you a man or a little cry baby? Stop goldbricking!" like a drill sergeant, while John cowers under the covers.

[apandaaries]

Comment hidden.

Spoiler

So a very good friend of mine volunteered in Zambia before. She was finished with med school and awaiting residency. She volunteered at an orphanage with HIV+ youth and ran medical clinics for about a month (pardon my lack solid details; this was about a decade ago). 
She still has friends there. She visited Ireland last summer to see a friend she’d made in Zambia. She’s not in constant contact, but she still knows people with whom she shares mutual affection.

Then there’s John, who quarrels with everyone and can’t maintain civility to save his life. 

I just really hope John’s shiny adventure in sub Saharan Africa comes to an end soon. 

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, apandaaries said:

But my thought is that John is incapable of respecting anyone as an equal. He seems pathologically incapable of treating others as distinct human beings with their own thoughts and desires. 

John has no concept of people in any ways other than how they relate to him. They're props to be converted, or to ask for money from, or to make his life better, or to glorify his fertility/worship his teachings, but not independent humans with thoughts and emotions and lives who exist entirely outside of him.  He makes initial connections but can't maintain longer term relationships where the other person has a choice to walk away because of his need to be always right, but also because he needs to have the other person abjectly apologise to him and promise to always follow his guidance.

Most adults can tolerate the first to a point, but it wears very quickly over the longer term - and everyone wants to be respected, which John doesn't do.

If the Mears haven't left yet now would be a good time for them to actually google John, get some more info on why the original Team Zambia split, get the low down on why John can't hold a job, and find out just how successful John's Church actually is(n't). I really hope there are people with personal knowledge of John coming up to them and saying something like "I really respect your call to mission in Zambia, but just to let you know John can be a bit moody. Oh and don't disagree with him about anything, ever, or you'll be apologising for the next 6 months..."

[apandaaries]

John posted a pic of himself with his late sister. HE wasn’t able to be there when she passed and HE has to miss out on visiting her grave with his family.

No mention of her daughter, nor of her widower husband. John remains on-brand.

[Xan]

I figure he's still peeved that no one sent him free airline tickets so he could attend the funeral.  "I was the only one of our family not able to be there at her side."

For the record, she was battling pancreatic cancer.  If it was important to John that he be there, he should have tried to save up the money and get there sooner.  John -- always the victim.

ETA:  I think John is cycling into depression again.  He, once again, seems to be recounting old grievances.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Xan

[Xan]

Latest posts from John.

He does the usual Easter Resurrection Sunday sort of post.

Spoiler

He re-posts something that Alatheia wrote.  There's a sweet picture of Esther with the newest baby.  He looks small but we have no idea when the photo was taken.

Spoiler

Finally, he posts something that Timothy Shrader put on his own Facebook page.  I think that page is new.  It's another attempt of John's to explain why his work in Zambia is so important.  Apparently, it's because the heathens in America already have exposure to religious materials so we can sink or swim on our own.  John had to go to Africa or those souls might perish!  Oh my...  He has totally embraced the White Savior role, hasn't he?

Spoiler

 

[NoneIsEnough]

Alatheia's post was cute. Althouhg I had to chuckle that she said she has siblings "in plentiful supply".  

Do we know who Timothy Shrader is? John's brother? I only know of his brother Jace, although i know he has others, I just don't know their names. And I know he isn't going to share anything from Jace. 

[snickerz]

Timothy is his 2nd son. He'll be 18 in August.

[Howl]

Interesting quotation from Jim Ellliot, who promptly got himself killed by indigenous people who didn't appreciate god bothering nincompoops.  

John would love to be considered a martyr without the inconvenience and messy agony of actual martyrdom. 

[Xan]

Well, John feels that he's lost the respect of other fundies because he produces so few results therefore his ego is wounded.  For John, that's almost as good as real martyrdom.

Anyone with good sense would hear the Jim Elliott story and decide to keep their asses in their own countries.  John, alas, has no sense at all.

[NoneIsEnough]

6 hours ago, snickerz said:

Timothy is his 2nd son. He'll be 18 in August.

Ha! I totally forgot they had a TImothy. I knew Enoch and Nehemiah, but forgot about Timothy. Oops, sorry Tim! 

I just realized they are opposite the Rodrigues family. 9 boys, 4 girls (same as the Hill family). That's 3 families with 9 & 4.