Esther Shrader (Anna Duggar's sister) living in a pop up

[michelle_notduggar]

Maybe he was counting a miscarriage (8 here, 1 in heaven)? His bio says he has 7 children. Esther seems to be the Keller in the worst financial position right now (since Suze lives with Rebekah in an actual home), and also the most fertile. :(

[Buzzard]

I admit I'm jumping in on the last 6 pages or so of this thread and not reading the whole thing, but what "church" are they affiliated with for their missionary work? I see that they have a name, but not really a larger organization behind them.

How is it that Davilla live in Gothard housing, flies to Australia to spread the word, judges bible bees, waterskis in a suit... all on Gothard's dime yet they dont seem to have the money to feed themselves, let alone a village. Wouldnt it make more sense to hook up with your brother in law? Oh wait, Gothard doesnt actually "preach"... he just sells shit...

[formergothardite]

Did she really just call the people of Zambia her "harvest field" in that video? Those are people, individual people, not a field.

[NurseNell]

I admit I'm jumping in on the last 6 pages or so of this thread and not reading the whole thing, but what "church" are they affiliated with for their missionary work? I see that they have a name, but not really a larger organization behind them.

How is it that Davilla live in Gothard housing, flies to Australia to spread the word, judges bible bees, waterskis in a suit... all on Gothard's dime yet they dont seem to have the money to feed themselves, let alone a village. Wouldnt it make more sense to hook up with your brother in law? Oh wait, Gothard doesnt actually "preach"... he just sells shit...

The Shraders are independent Baptist, KJV all the way. They have small churches pledging them monthly amount of money to support the mission in Africa. They are up to 7 or 8 churches who've pledged up to $100 each per month.

I have a good friend who grew up in Pakistan, her parents were ELCA Lutheran missionaries. Her mother ran a clinic for40 years, no doctor, just she and a midwife. Carol has talked about what a hard life it was. They never had new clothes, they were Lutherans in a Muslim world. She has no idea about the U.S. culture of the time: movies, TV, music, etc. She feels out of place here and she felt that way in Pakistan. She loved the Pakastanis and had some great experiences but overall it was tough. Her parents were liberal, nothing in the lest fundie, but it was still a very hard life. She decided she would never be a missionary long term. She and her husband and kids have done short mission trips but they raised their kids here. Her daughter and SIL do plan to spend a few years in Africa as a physician and nurse practitioner but want to be back here when they have kids.

My own opinion on the Shraders are they are negligent parents. Living in a pop up trailer and then moving to the bush in Africa is not a responsible way to raise your kids.

[SisiL78]

Did she really just call the people of Zambia her "harvest field" in that video? Those are people, individual people, not a field.

Of course they are not people. They are heathens and the Schraders seem them as sub-human. They just feel that even sub-humans should start believing in Jebus, maybe then they will become more human or something. Its disgusting. They won't do anything but prey on the weak and easily influenced in order to meet some weird need to spread "the word". John is an egotist who wants to feel important and this is his route to enlarging his sense of self importance. He couldn't feel important as an assistant pastor nor as a used car salesman. You can't be important working for someone else and leading a mundane life centered around giving your children a good life. No, John and Esther will elevate themselves and puff out their chests at their "accomplishments" while making their children suffer. Their kids might be better off in Zambia than in a camper van. At least they'll be in one place and maybe get to mix with the local children. But, they will be complete outsiders there and eventually the trip to Zambia will end and they'll be back in the US living in poverty with transient parents who choose to be in poverty when there are other options available.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Theyre like the Sparkly Lauren of the fundie world....

[Tangy Bee]

How did they scrap up the funds to move out of the country in the first place?? It almost broke me to just move across town.

[Buzzard]

How did they scrap up the funds to move out of the country in the first place?? It almost broke me to just move across town.

Next time you need to move, just go to churches and say that you are doing so in teh nayme of jebus and see if they'll chip in. Everything sounds better if you're doing what you want but say youre doing it in HIS name!

[Tangy Bee]

Ha ha. Thanks Buzzard! I'll try that next time. I wonder is that how they got the money to leave. Our church is good about collecting food & clothes. Not sure if they are willing to just pull out money to go globe hopping in HIS name. Ha ha

[SPHASH]

Next time you need to move, just go to churches and say that you are doing so in teh nayme of jebus and see if they'll chip in. Everything sounds better if you're doing what you want but say youre doing it in HIS name!

When I moved from southern Minnesota to NW Minnesota a month ago it was 450 miles and over $1400-530 for the U-Haul, $150 for gas, $600 for the apt deposit, I dropped off the U-haul in the town I moved to, then $82 one way Amtrak ticket to get my car in my old city, then $40 gas for that trip. Luckily I can itemize these on my taxes.

[Justme]

It's very dangerous to be near the Mexican border. Drug lords pertect their truff..

[Carla Bruni]

Catholic missionaries tend to preach less and do practical things like build hospitals, take care of the sick, teach skills.

^^ Jumping in here to say that the above is true sometimes, but certainly not all of the time, and we see the effects of that firsthand in modern-day francophone Africa, which was led to where it is today in no small part "thanks" to Catholic missionaries of yore. Even today, when you have a community ravaged by AIDS and an economy struggling with high fertility/fistula/infant mortality rates (typically all three combined), prancing around preaching abstinence over condom use just might not be the best solution... and by "not the best solution", I mean to say "the very definition of criminal negligence".

I reeeeeeally hate dipshits who show up in Africa to proselytize. :evil:

[NurseNell]

How did they scrap up the funds to move out of the country in the first place?? It almost broke me to just move across town.

They haven't left yet. They went on a 2 week visit a few months ago.

[xReems]

Looks like Esther has gone into labor-I wonder if they'll be having a home birth or using the ER to give birth. Also, it appears that John's non-fundie secular sister has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer...so sad :( and after giving birth to a girl too! I wish her well.

Hey prayer partners! Looks like my sweet Esther is going to have little Sophia Joy today! Would really appreciate your prayers. Also, just found out my sister (11 mo. younger than I) has pancreatic cancer. She just had her first baby, a little girl. Please lift her to the Throne of Grace. Thank you dear friends. Knowing God personally and being able to get a hold of Him in prayer is so vitally important in these days. Are you born again through Christ? Do you "know" that for sure (I John 5:13)? Are you right with God so that your prayers have power with God (Psalm 34:15; 66:18; James 5:16-18; I Peter 3:12)?

[ILoveJellybeans]

Sophia Joy is such a cute name.

Its a shame that she will not have a proper home to go to after her birth, as her parents are still not making any effort to find work and get a real house where she can grow up in.

Its so sad that John's sister has cancer, I hope she gets better so she can see her baby grow up :(

[Guest]

That is horrible, pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease. But does it strike anyone else as odd that those two things were in the same post? Like the soon to be birth of his eighth child isn't enough to even deserve its own post?

Maybe I'm over exaggerating, but that poor girl. She won't get anything of her own her whole life, she'll probably always just be #8, and she won't even get a real home or parents who practice financial responsibility. When it comes to fundies, the most important thing in your life before you start popping out your own blessings is being born, and poor Sophia doesn't even get that moment in the limelight.

[Guest]

Status update. Labor stalled and so in a holding pattern for now. Guess daddy got excited and jumped the gun! (Esther did think it was real labor too though...oh well). Thanks for all the prayer, please keep it up. Esther is ready for this baby to come!

Looks like she's not having the baby yet. Although her due date was sometime this week, so it should be soon.

Poor baby. Probably wants to stay in there as long as possible. It's roomier than the home she'll be coming out to...

[slickcat79]

That is horrible, pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease. But does it strike anyone else as odd that those two things were in the same post? Like the soon to be birth of his eighth child isn't enough to even deserve its own post?

Maybe I'm over exaggerating, but that poor girl. She won't get anything of her own her whole life, she'll probably always just be #8, and she won't even get a real home or parents who practice financial responsibility. When it comes to fundies, the most important thing in your life before you start popping out your own blessings is being born, and poor Sophia doesn't even get that moment in the limelight.

It strikes me as odd that he can't even post about the upcoming birth of his child and his sister's medical problems without prosyletizing. The whole paragraph sounds awkward and is so ridiculously off-putting.

Looks like she's not having the baby yet. Although her due date was sometime this week, so it should be soon.

Poor baby. Probably wants to stay in there as long as possible. It's roomier than the home she'll be coming out to...

Well, I guess she can't blame the radiation from Japan this time :?

[Bethella]

Still no baby, at least they appear to be getting decent medical care (although I suspect they wouldn't be getting all the tests if they weren't free)

Ok guys. Been crazy busy! Praise the Lord, in the midst of all this, looks like we have three more churches taking us on this month. (11 last month!). Even through Esther had to stay and rest, we had a great meeting with a precious church yesterday and they took us on! No further progress on the labor. Our midwife shared some crazy stories with us about similar situations. Esther is continuing antibiotics for the infection. Second blood test showed reduction of the infection, God is good! They were concerned about Sophia, so we had a non stress test today. Basically 45 min of monitoring the baby's heart rate and graphing it, also testing response to stimulation. Sophia did great and all is well there. Praise the Lord that the place that gave the test decided not to charge us since we are missionaries! Esther is getting good rest as I am caring for the children and letting her get better and rest. Thanks for continued prayer. Should be getting a baby soon! Love y'all.

[anjulibai]

What does he mean by churches taking them on? Does that mean the churches are simple giving them some charity

[Bethella]

What does he mean by churches taking them on? Does that mean the churches are simple giving them some charity

The Shrader family is currently living in a pop-up camper while trying to get enough money to be missionaries to Zambia. The church taking them on means that the church has committed to giving them money (typically a fixed amount per month) to support them and their missionary work. When they have enough money they will theoretically decamp to Zambia along with their soon to be 8 children (or however many they have at that point).

[gustava]

The Shrader family is currently living in a pop-up camper while trying to get enough money to be missionaries to Zambia. The church taking them on means that the church has committed to giving them money (typically a fixed amount per month) to support them and their missionary work. When they have enough money they will theoretically decamp to Zambia along with their soon to be 8 children (or however many they have at that point).

Are we sure they're still in the camper? At times, charitable folks have found them places to live.

[pixydust]

Are we sure they're still in the camper? At times, charitable folks have found them places to live.

I think that they are in a small house right now,maybe 3 bedrooms.

[Bethella]

I think that they are in a small house right now,maybe 3 bedrooms.

Oops, my bad. :oops:

[TinyDancer87]

It's very dangerous to be near the Mexican border. Drug lords pertect their truff..

Not entirely true. I live in Laredo and it's totally safe here. El Paso is one of the safest cities in the United States. Does that mean, though, that I'll cross over into Mexico? Hell no... I'd get shot. The U.S. side is totally safe, the Mexican side is not.

The one exception is Zapata, Texas... the lake there has pirates and can be pretty dangerous.

Where are they moving?