John & Esther Shrader 22: Now with An Enforcer!

[NoneIsEnough]

John makes his first update in a month and a half, only to not say much of anything.

Quote

Greetings dear friends,

To those who pray for us, thank you so much from the depths of our hearts.

We have had a VERY busy month, I look forward to sharing some of it with you, as we had our first Supporting Pastor come and visit our ministry here in 10 years, not counting our Sending Pastor.

The Lord has been working...

Thank you for praying...

We are still diligently serving...

(even though I am now rarely posting)

Love and thanks to each and every one who is lifting our family and ministry here in Zambia to the Throne of Grace,

Bro. John for Esther and "the fourteen"

Kafue, Zamora

 

[gustava]

11 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

Zamora

What is Zamora?

[Xan]

I'm confused.  Is John going through a depressive episode?  Usually he can't keep his mouth shut about all his wonderful, Biblical works in Kafue.  Did the helpers become more popular than John?  Is Esther too busy with the newest baby to baby John as well?  Is he about to come down with some injury or malady that will require money and travel and prayers from everyone?

[Giraffe]

4 hours ago, Xan said:

I'm confused.  Is John going through a depressive episode?  Usually he can't keep his mouth shut about all his wonderful, Biblical works in Kafue.  Did the helpers become more popular than John?  Is Esther too busy with the newest baby to baby John as well?  Is he about to come down with some injury or malady that will require money and travel and prayers from everyone?

I'm sure it's a resounding yes ti all of the above. With all of his blabber mouthing he certainly hasn't shared anything about the Mears' that make me think they're working together as a cohesive unit. 

[NoneIsEnough]

4 hours ago, gustava said:

What is Zamora?

I think he meant Zambia and must have made a typo. Or his phone auto corrected it. Or it's something he made up in his mind.

Who knows!

[Bassett Lady]

I have been to Zamora! Zamora is the capital of Zamora province in the Castile and León region of northwest Spain. Its city center lies on the north bank of the Douro River.

 

[TacoBellKimmy]

5 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

I think he meant Zambia and must have made a typo. Or his phone auto corrected it. Or it's something he made up in his mind.

Who knows!

Maybe it rhymed with his latest poem? 😁

[marmalade]

That's POME to you! 😂

[GreenBeans]

8 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

I think he meant Zambia and must have made a typo. Or his phone auto corrected it. Or it's something he made up in his mind.

Who knows!

Covfefe!

[Ozlsn]

The Mears have put up a new prayer letter.

Spoiler

 

Quick question: is it mandatory in this subculture to include a photo of you in local dress in the header? If so we need more missionaries to come to the remote highlands of PNG (not really, but the header photos would be... interesting).

Dot point summary of letter:

* it starts off with "Dear Beloved Faithful Churches, Pastors & Precious Prayer Partners,". Apparently it's catching.

* From the header they're still with John, also they refer to working with the Shrader clan as a "blessing" which is... not what my first thought would have been.

* June 7th is their one year anniversary, for real?

* Their daughter visited and did some tourist stuff.

* One of the supporting church pastors and family visited and did some tourist stuff. I hope the place they rented had a guest room or two, at this rate they'll get a stream of people coming through.

* supporting church pastor also went with them to hand out free toilet paper, as well as preaching in John's church. Apparently this pastor has been called to be a missionary somewhere else in the world (hopefully Indiana)

* Wade got organised and did some facility upgrades (installed fans, fixed leaks, replaced breaker boxes), which... how long has John been ignoring these? "Everything electric has now been upgraded and is working as it should. So very grateful that I have been able to work these issues so Brother John could focus on the ministry. " I am probably reading that sentence more passively-aggressively than it's intended, but the subtext for me is "bloody hell John's useless at this stuff."

* Vicky and one of the local ladies, Choolwe, have been crocheting toys for the kids who say their verses. Wade specifies that they have been crocheting dolls and then somewhat unfortunately follows a couple of sentences later with "Choolwe... has been helping Vicky by crocheting the balls for the boys". I'll see myself to the prayer closet.

 

 

[Xan]

4 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

* Vicky and one of the local ladies, Choolwe, have been crocheting toys for the kids who say their verses.

From the prayer letter, it appears that Vicky is choosing to make the dolls with her own skin coloring.  It might be more  thoughtful to give the little girls dolls that look like themselves.

I guess John thought all he had to do was show up in Africa and the locals would handle all the adult stuff in sheer appreciation for his preaching.  I wonder how he feels about Wade managing all the repairs that he's let go.  I'd like to think he's grateful but we all know that John is basically just walking ego.

[gustava]

49 minutes ago, Xan said:

John is basically just walking ego.

Except when he is confined to his bed, smitten with pain.🫥

[Giraffe]

2 hours ago, Xan said:

 I wonder how he feels about Wade managing all the repairs that he's let go.  I'd like to think he's grateful but we all know that John is basically just walking ego.

I was thinking this too but decided John wouldn't see it as a reflection on him. John would see it as a reflection on the people who aren't coming to help him out. It's not John's fault, it's the fault of the nonexistent followers. Because John will never concede he's the reason things fall apart. 

[gustava]

Apparently, Zambia has declared a state of emergency because of severe drought and food shortages.  I predict John's services will see higher attendance because he has food.

[Ozlsn]

11 hours ago, gustava said:

Apparently, Zambia has declared a state of emergency because of severe drought and food shortages.  I predict John's services will see higher attendance because he has food.

If he has food. He may start finding it more difficult as well.

I do wonder though - given he's a foreign national doing a non-essential job whether they will advise him to leave.

[Giraffe]

24 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

If he has food. He may start finding it more difficult as well.

I do wonder though - given he's a foreign national doing a non-essential job whether they will advise him to leave.

"Advise him to leave" is not the same as forcing him/them to leave. He'll only leave if Zambia forcibly evicts him. Otherwise he'll just chalk it up to persecution and dig his heals in even further.