Christmas without snow, maybe - but not without Hope
Amazing but true. We are without snow on the ground here. It has been kinda muggy with an overall drab-gray most days since Christmas break began. The temps are up for this time of year, too, in the high 30's to middle 40's. It is practically a heat wave as we begin the winter months. Of course, the weather can change in a moment because we don't know which way it will decide to blow next.
Just about every one of us has been hit by the winter bug. Coughing, sneezing, fever, sound familiar to you? We know we aren't the only ones who are going through it. Being sick has a way of making things look somewhat worse at times, too. When I am ill I find it one of the best times to look for ways to remember God's goodness, otherwise the glum appears to be the 'forever norm'.
This year we have again seen the care for our family, friends, and fellow classmates that God alone could provide. We know He has chosen to use people to bring about the bearing out of that care, so we give the Lord thanks for using many folks to remind us of His intimate involvement in life's circumstances.
We have gone through this year seeing our training fill us with an even greater desire to see the unreached hear the powerful proclamation of God's Word, the truth of His redemption plan. Our hearts are filled with wonder and awe that God, Who created and sustains all things, would decide to take our family to be a part of His incredible gospel 'delivery system' and use us all somewhere - so that the unbelieving might be believing because they finally get to hear His message. We thank the Lord that your, calls, prayers and correspondence have been a part of encouraging us to persevere and complete this portion of our preparation to get to that place.
With only a few hours left before we retell the First Christmas testimonies, the Shafers together wish every one of you a holiday you will treasure. May the focus of your attention be drawn, as ours continues to be drawn, to the One, Jesus Christ, Who has been given to us, for us. May the memories of God's supply, the gift of the ages, give you a heart full of reasons to rejoice. May the Holy Spirit's ministry to you, meet you right where you are and show you God, for all He is. May your home be filled with a greater understanding of God's desire for all people to know Him. May you celebrate that this year, there are individuals who are commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ for the very first time - because someone took the time the tell them of God's gift of Hope to the world.
Well perhaps we'll celebrate this Christmas without snow, but because of the coming of the Christ child, we will not celebrate without hope. Merry Christmas!
"And the Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope. God is the one who makes us patient and cheerful. I pray that he will help you live at peace with each other, as you follow Christ. Then all of you together will praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6 CEV)"
Roland (for the Shafers)
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
December is here...
The kids were in the town Christmas parade two weekends ago. It was cold but we are thankful it was not raining like it had been for several days prior. We did get some snow over the last two weeks (about 5") so the parade had that Christmas feel to it. The kids got to finish by receiving a candy treat bag from 'Santa' and a photo op :-).
We've celebrate Moriah's birthday. She is seven years old now. We all are happy with her since she celebrated her 2nd spiritual birthday, too. Cousin Jennifer will be almost three times older than her cousin Moriah, but not quite. Happy birthday Jenny, we love you! Grandma Deanie we love you and hope your birthday is wonderful and that your heart is filled with joy. Cousin Nick happy BIG 6TH birthday! We all love you, hope you have a great day and get to eat your favorite birthday meal!
The kids were in the town Christmas parade two weekends ago. It was cold but we are thankful it was not raining like it had been for several days prior. We did get some snow over the last two weeks (about 5") so the parade had that Christmas feel to it. The kids got to finish by receiving a candy treat bag from 'Santa' and a photo op :-).
We are excited this month to be celebrating some very special birthdays. First, of course, is the Lord Jesus'. How wonderful for us to remember the birth of the One who "came not to be served but to serve and give HIS life a RANSOM for MANY" Mark 10:45 says. 1Ti 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave 
Himself--a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time." Jesus' birth was perfectly timed, laid out on God's timetable as we can see in Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5; "(4) But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. The birth of God's Son
We've celebrate Moriah's birthday. She is seven years old now. We all are happy with her since she celebrated her 2nd spiritual birthday, too. Cousin Jennifer will be almost three times older than her cousin Moriah, but not quite. Happy birthday Jenny, we love you! Grandma Deanie we love you and hope your birthday is wonderful and that your heart is filled with joy. Cousin Nick happy BIG 6TH birthday! We all love you, hope you have a great day and get to eat your favorite birthday meal!
Jinni, RJ, Myself and a classmate, Julie Arnold, had the privilege of presenting a 
Christmas drama at three churches over the past two Sundays. What a joy to share the hope and reconciliation available to everyone, no matter how bad they think their life is or the wrongs done in the past, through Jesus Christ - God's own Son. Our prayer has been that lives would be able to see that God understands our hurts and weaknesses. He is fully aware of the guilt and shame we rightly feel because of sin in our histories. He took drastic and incredibly miraculous measures - sacrificing His only Son in our place - to ensure we might have a right relationship with Him.
We are now just a few days away from our Christmas break. Classes end this Friday afternoon and lots of folks will be heading away to be with family during this holiday season. We will be staying up in Canada this year. Our travel plans will be limited to celebrating with the members of our local church and those who will be remaining on campus through the break.
As we draw nearer to Christmas day our family is reminded of the many folks who have been praying for us to get through this semester of training. Thank you, all of you, for your part in our lives and your ministry to us. We thank our Father for you and continue to pray your lives will be enriched daily as your grow in your relationship with our God. We pray your homes will be filled with laughter and the making of fond memories as you all celebrate together the anniversary of the coming of the King! Enjoy your holiday, vacations to those who will have them, and Merry Christmas to you all from each one of us.
"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; dominion will rest on his shoulders, and he will be given the name Pele-Yo'etz El Gibbor Avi-'Ad Sar-Shalom [Wonder of a Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace], in order to extend the dominion and perpetuate the peace of the throne and kingdom of David, to secure it and sustain it through justice and righteousness henceforth and forever. The zeal of ADONAI-Tzva'ot will accomplish this. (Isa 9:6-7 CJB)"
Roland (for the family)
Scripture quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. www.messianicjewish.net/jntp. Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources. www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
New prayer requests...
Time to get to eye clinic and have Elijah's eyes checked-he defintely needs glasses.
Moriah's spacer has moved so her teeth are bothering her
Jinni's right ankle totally heal from 6 week old 'severe sprain'.
RJ's science project come together and Spanish would go well.
Kees' stress test properly interpreted by doctors.
Mumsy Shafer continue to recover in her Nursing Care facility.
All-weather tires, waiting for sale prices.
Time to get to eye clinic and have Elijah's eyes checked-he defintely needs glasses.
Moriah's spacer has moved so her teeth are bothering her
Jinni's right ankle totally heal from 6 week old 'severe sprain'.
RJ's science project come together and Spanish would go well.
Kees' stress test properly interpreted by doctors.
Mumsy Shafer continue to recover in her Nursing Care facility.
All-weather tires, waiting for sale prices.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
"Comprehension +1"
We have completed our 1st week of Culture and Language Acquisition practicum. It has been great. Some of the things we've learned about the Dutch culture, from Kees, are helping us understand why some of the words and phrases he's teaching us are used the way they are. Kees has been just wonderful. His willingness to learn something new has been a definite motivator for me, Roland. Each 2 hour session brings excitement knowing we will spend time with our new friend. So far he has taught us over 200 nouns, adjectives, and verbs combined. This week we are scheduled to learn more verbs and nouns, plus we're going to add numbers and adjectives, too. He has also taught us more than 15 necessary, practical expressions. One we've used frequently (you might even guess), "Vat is dit?" Another is "Dankje vell!" Think you can figure those out? You may have an ability to learn language if you can.
We are so blessed to start each session with a word of prayer. Kees has even taken some time and provided some scripture reading from a couple of Dutch Bibles (pronounced the same). Jinni and I don't understand all of what's being read but we're able to pick out some words already. God has amazed us with what we have learned in just a few days about His faithfulness in creating languages which communicate culture. We are so thankful that He has taken the time to make sure His message will be clear in them all. God communicates and He desires that everyone has the chance to hear His message for themselves.
Quite a bit of our time is spent using our computer to 'file' all the day's data. We must transfer our recorded sessions from our digital voice recorder to our laptop PC first. After thevoice recordings are on the computer we begin the processing work. The recordings must be edited before they are filed with the CLAware application. The end result is an embedded sound file with phonetically transcribed text with which we do our review. Once the review information is complete the CLAware application allows us to file our phonetics into a lexicon. The lexicon is a dictionary, sort of, that associates the phonetic rendition of the data to a rough translation provided by Kees. All tolled we have spent anywhere between 4 and 9 hours - depending on the recording quality - completing the processing tasks. It all pays off because we have clean audio files to use in our review stage of the whole program.
We thank the Lord for the software, the recorder, the laptop, the CLA practicum program, and Kees! We also know we are being prayed with and for, which makes us ever so much more grateful for this experience. God, in His faithfulness, has brought folks alongside to ensure we will complete this stage of preparation - seeing Him as our Sufficient One.
Thank you for your participation and partnership with us while we train, so that every nation and language will hear the GOOD NEWS...
Roland (for the Shafers)
2 Cor 4-5
We have completed our 1st week of Culture and Language Acquisition practicum. It has been great. Some of the things we've learned about the Dutch culture, from Kees, are helping us understand why some of the words and phrases he's teaching us are used the way they are. Kees has been just wonderful. His willingness to learn something new has been a definite motivator for me, Roland. Each 2 hour session brings excitement knowing we will spend time with our new friend. So far he has taught us over 200 nouns, adjectives, and verbs combined. This week we are scheduled to learn more verbs and nouns, plus we're going to add numbers and adjectives, too. He has also taught us more than 15 necessary, practical expressions. One we've used frequently (you might even guess), "Vat is dit?" Another is "Dankje vell!" Think you can figure those out? You may have an ability to learn language if you can.
We are so blessed to start each session with a word of prayer. Kees has even taken some time and provided some scripture reading from a couple of Dutch Bibles (pronounced the same). Jinni and I don't understand all of what's being read but we're able to pick out some words already. God has amazed us with what we have learned in just a few days about His faithfulness in creating languages which communicate culture. We are so thankful that He has taken the time to make sure His message will be clear in them all. God communicates and He desires that everyone has the chance to hear His message for themselves.
Quite a bit of our time is spent using our computer to 'file' all the day's data. We must transfer our recorded sessions from our digital voice recorder to our laptop PC first. After thevoice recordings are on the computer we begin the processing work. The recordings must be edited before they are filed with the CLAware application. The end result is an embedded sound file with phonetically transcribed text with which we do our review. Once the review information is complete the CLAware application allows us to file our phonetics into a lexicon. The lexicon is a dictionary, sort of, that associates the phonetic rendition of the data to a rough translation provided by Kees. All tolled we have spent anywhere between 4 and 9 hours - depending on the recording quality - completing the processing tasks. It all pays off because we have clean audio files to use in our review stage of the whole program.
We thank the Lord for the software, the recorder, the laptop, the CLA practicum program, and Kees! We also know we are being prayed with and for, which makes us ever so much more grateful for this experience. God, in His faithfulness, has brought folks alongside to ensure we will complete this stage of preparation - seeing Him as our Sufficient One.
Thank you for your participation and partnership with us while we train, so that every nation and language will hear the GOOD NEWS...
Roland (for the Shafers)
2 Cor 4-5
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Culture and Language Acquisition
(6 weeks of Practical Techniques)
Jinni and I are currently in our first few days of the most challenging period of this semester. It is called CLA Practicum. We are assigned a bi-lingual Language helper, a first generation speaker, from another country and culture. This precious person will spend the next 6 weeks with us (two hours a session), working with the CLA method of learning a culture and language. Our assigned a language helper is from the Nederlands. We have already spent some time setting up our meeting time, gathering a few culture related photographs.
Our first session has come and gone. We have had two hours with Kees (pronounced Kase). He is a wonderfully friendly guy from Haarlem. He recognized some of the photos we had chosen for our first session. That was a fun time as he explained what the picture contained. He is, by self admission, more than willing to help us and maybe even a little too willing to talk more than we might need :-). We spent several minutes getting to know him which will continue over our time together.
Lots of parts to this program are intended to give us as close to a National Culture Language Acquisition program as possible. Some of the things we have to work through is managing the four primary facets of the CLA method (Plan, Practice, Process, and Participate), organizing our daily routing around the C/L sessions and Culture events required in the course, and arranging for the care of our kids while we are immersed in the practicum. We praise the Lord for the members of our culture teams, they too have to partner with us in ensuring
we all make it through this time so we are partnered to work together.
Please pray for us as we have more than this next six weeks of classes on our plates. Elijah has been invited to be a participant in a spelling bee. RJ, Jinni, me, and a fellow classmate are performing 12/3 and 12/10, a Christmas program, I have the privilege of leading the worship services at the church we're attending (Rock Mills Fellowship Baptist Church), Jinni gets to lead the praise music time for our Monday morning Devotional time on campus this month, and I get to do the same 12/17 at Rock Mills.
Of course our kids must not be shorted during all of this either.
Thank you for your partnership in prayer with us as we draw this semester to a close with this busy, busy ministry schedule. We are excited and we realize it will be stressful. What a privilege to know that we have been given this opportunity to see our Lord in a mighty way and better grasp that He walks with us through every twist and turn and circumstance. We are thankful that we have the honor to pray with you, too. Until next time, or as the Dutch might say it, "Tot Zeens".
until the unreached have heard...
Roland (for the family)
'For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.'
(2Co 4:5-7)
(6 weeks of Practical Techniques)
Jinni and I are currently in our first few days of the most challenging period of this semester. It is called CLA Practicum. We are assigned a bi-lingual Language helper, a first generation speaker, from another country and culture. This precious person will spend the next 6 weeks with us (two hours a session), working with the CLA method of learning a culture and language. Our assigned a language helper is from the Nederlands. We have already spent some time setting up our meeting time, gathering a few culture related photographs.
Our first session has come and gone. We have had two hours with Kees (pronounced Kase). He is a wonderfully friendly guy from Haarlem. He recognized some of the photos we had chosen for our first session. That was a fun time as he explained what the picture contained. He is, by self admission, more than willing to help us and maybe even a little too willing to talk more than we might need :-). We spent several minutes getting to know him which will continue over our time together.Lots of parts to this program are intended to give us as close to a National Culture Language Acquisition program as possible. Some of the things we have to work through is managing the four primary facets of the CLA method (Plan, Practice, Process, and Participate), organizing our daily routing around the C/L sessions and Culture events required in the course, and arranging for the care of our kids while we are immersed in the practicum. We praise the Lord for the members of our culture teams, they too have to partner with us in ensuring
we all make it through this time so we are partnered to work together.Please pray for us as we have more than this next six weeks of classes on our plates. Elijah has been invited to be a participant in a spelling bee. RJ, Jinni, me, and a fellow classmate are performing 12/3 and 12/10, a Christmas program, I have the privilege of leading the worship services at the church we're attending (Rock Mills Fellowship Baptist Church), Jinni gets to lead the praise music time for our Monday morning Devotional time on campus this month, and I get to do the same 12/17 at Rock Mills.
Of course our kids must not be shorted during all of this either.Thank you for your partnership in prayer with us as we draw this semester to a close with this busy, busy ministry schedule. We are excited and we realize it will be stressful. What a privilege to know that we have been given this opportunity to see our Lord in a mighty way and better grasp that He walks with us through every twist and turn and circumstance. We are thankful that we have the honor to pray with you, too. Until next time, or as the Dutch might say it, "Tot Zeens".
until the unreached have heard...
Roland (for the family)
'For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.'
(2Co 4:5-7)
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Feeling busy? Yes we know the feeling. We are in the CLA training mode now, having just finished the first stage of phonetics and grammar. Learning another language may seem impossible to some, but when God mixed up all the languages, He kept them sensical to the ones speaking them. Does that make sense? They DO break down, you can notice patterns, it is NOT impossible. A little hard and frustrating maybe, but if everything was easy, we wouldn't need God would we? Hmmm.
So now it's CLA...Culture and Language Acquistion. We are discovering that if you really want to learn another language, it is imperative to try to understand and learn the culture...which of course you do by getting to know the people. Hence, all the focus on relationships! For example, some missionaries in Africa really wanted to get to know the Kenyan people. So what would YOU do? Invite them for dinner maybe? SOunds good to me. Everyone loves to be invited over.....well do they? What is the goal here? Friendship, right? Well, the way Kenya people make friends is, they show up at your doorstep. "Hi, we're here!" Awkward? To you maybe. How willing our we to step out of our comfort zone to get to know people? To experience something different. To find out what makes people who are different than us tick?
Yesterday, all the first and second year aldies and staff went on an "outing" to Barrie. Check out a map if you don't know where that is...I don't either. We went to a glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golf place first and then to a mall and dinner. Here are some highlights.
So now it's CLA...Culture and Language Acquistion. We are discovering that if you really want to learn another language, it is imperative to try to understand and learn the culture...which of course you do by getting to know the people. Hence, all the focus on relationships! For example, some missionaries in Africa really wanted to get to know the Kenyan people. So what would YOU do? Invite them for dinner maybe? SOunds good to me. Everyone loves to be invited over.....well do they? What is the goal here? Friendship, right? Well, the way Kenya people make friends is, they show up at your doorstep. "Hi, we're here!" Awkward? To you maybe. How willing our we to step out of our comfort zone to get to know people? To experience something different. To find out what makes people who are different than us tick?
Yesterday, all the first and second year aldies and staff went on an "outing" to Barrie. Check out a map if you don't know where that is...I don't either. We went to a glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golf place first and then to a mall and dinner. Here are some highlights.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
A little slide show from the past few days...
It has been brought to my attention, by my precious Dad, that there could be some problems with this post. Apologies if you have come into some trouble with this post. I was trying to save some $$ and found this free tool on the web. Unfortunately there are no REAL protections from going to this site, if you are an adult, and the application source site has some 'raunchy looking' slide shows. Please forgive my lack of researching this! I have removed this from our blog for this reason.
Please delete your previously received emails as they will still have links to this site. - I pray you'll understand.
Roland
It has been brought to my attention, by my precious Dad, that there could be some problems with this post. Apologies if you have come into some trouble with this post. I was trying to save some $$ and found this free tool on the web. Unfortunately there are no REAL protections from going to this site, if you are an adult, and the application source site has some 'raunchy looking' slide shows. Please forgive my lack of researching this! I have removed this from our blog for this reason.
Please delete your previously received emails as they will still have links to this site. - I pray you'll understand.
Roland
Snow's Coming - Praise the LORD!
This weekend we just got a small taste of the coming of Winter. We had a few light flurries, some stuck to our van for a little while, and then we had some rain mixed with snow and sleet to wash things all away again. Just a little taste of the winter that is coming.
To be sure, the staff here continues to let us know that it is really "too early" for this to be anything like winter. They have not, however, said anything about it being an easier winter or a shorter winter than last year.
So it may be that winter WILL arrive early and stay just as late as it usually does.
What a comfort to know that God will continue to be with us through the entire time. Facing a winter without God is hardly imaginable to me anymore. It has only been a short time of developing this relationship with the God, but it continues to bless me daily. Since I came to trust what God has made plain in the Scriptures, my life has been a journey of amazement and encouragement, even when times have been difficult. So I would not dream of facing a winter without God again, ever!
One of the passages in the Bible that reminds me of how knowing God is a blessing, comes from the first letter written by Peter. In chapter five the Apostle writes to encourage those who believe as he says 'casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you 1Peter 5:7' - reminding them that God is the one who will raise up someone who is humbled in His company and HE CARES DEEPLY for everyone. The companionship with the Almighty, a privilege of every believer, is a blessing I do not take lightly especially because He cares for me.
The coming of winter reminds me of the wonder which lies ahead, the account of the miraculous, a witness of the depth of God's caring, the testimony of truest humility ever expressed in humanity...The Birth of the Christ. Winter's approach is the catalyst for me to once again to reflect, with amazement, on what God has done to ensure I would know Him...WOW!
Snow's coming - - -> PRAISE THE LORD!
Roland(for the family)
2 Corinthians 4-5
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
We surprised Roland on his 50th, Thursday September 14th.
/>His lungs are still good!
And so are his lips!!! :-)
The kids enjoyed the cake and ice cream of course.
Susan and her friends Rilyn & Ciara.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Time for some new glass... and the second week of class
This week has been a wild one. Started out two Sunday afternoons ago.When we arrived home and everyone had gotten their things into the house (except Elijah) the van door was closed so
hard (by Elijah) that the rear passenger window shattered into what seemed to be about a million pieces and shards! I couldn't see Elijah's face when it happened but I'll bet it was TOTAL SHOCK. When the glass came tumbling down onto the ground (Elijah was not cut at all) it sounded as if a huge bag of water was poured out right beside the van. What does a father say to his child whom he had warned at church not more than an hour earlier - "Elijah are you all right?" (of course :-|)
I was shocked myself. How in the world could our brand new van have something this huge broken already? I cleaned out as much glass as I could before it started to sprinkle and headed into the house. Next day was Labor Day, no classes. Praise the Lord I was able to get the van down to the campus garage where there is a power vacuum. A fellow student (bless you Ace Glidewell) helped me get to rest of the window out and design a plywood window to hold us over until we could get the thing repaired.
Second week of classes has been going really well. Lots of new phonetics to learn. If I could plug in some of the strange fonts we've seen used I would try and show you some of what we've been
studying. Some things you already know, we now have phonetic names for them. For instance, say the letter 'T'. It so happens that it is phonetically a 'voiceless' 'stop'. here is a look at the chart we use for our reference -->
One of the men from the saturday morning mens' Bible study and prayer meeting I attend (at Rock Mills) took me out to a nearby town auto salvage and purchased the replacement glass for our van! Praise the Lord, and Elijah gets to see God provide on his behalf. That replacement glass cost almost $230! Elijah gratefully wrote a thank you note for more than just the glass I'm sure. Wouldn't you know it, the guy who helped me (remember Ace) take out the broken stuff was available to help me put the new one in place (that is the picture at the top of the post).
We are pressing forward with studies this coming week. It will get more difficult as we continue on. Thank you for your prayers for us and our children, we can't express our gratitude - really - knowing God has many folks lifting us to Him. We thank God every time we remember you and your partnership with us while we're in preparation.
You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and we have too! Together we trust God with your lives and ours as He accomplishes all He's begun.
Resting in Christ our Lord,
Roland (for the shafer family)
2 Cor 4-5
This week has been a wild one. Started out two Sunday afternoons ago.When we arrived home and everyone had gotten their things into the house (except Elijah) the van door was closed so
hard (by Elijah) that the rear passenger window shattered into what seemed to be about a million pieces and shards! I couldn't see Elijah's face when it happened but I'll bet it was TOTAL SHOCK. When the glass came tumbling down onto the ground (Elijah was not cut at all) it sounded as if a huge bag of water was poured out right beside the van. What does a father say to his child whom he had warned at church not more than an hour earlier - "Elijah are you all right?" (of course :-|)I was shocked myself. How in the world could our brand new van have something this huge broken already? I cleaned out as much glass as I could before it started to sprinkle and headed into the house. Next day was Labor Day, no classes. Praise the Lord I was able to get the van down to the campus garage where there is a power vacuum. A fellow student (bless you Ace Glidewell) helped me get to rest of the window out and design a plywood window to hold us over until we could get the thing repaired.
Second week of classes has been going really well. Lots of new phonetics to learn. If I could plug in some of the strange fonts we've seen used I would try and show you some of what we've been
studying. Some things you already know, we now have phonetic names for them. For instance, say the letter 'T'. It so happens that it is phonetically a 'voiceless' 'stop'. here is a look at the chart we use for our reference -->One of the men from the saturday morning mens' Bible study and prayer meeting I attend (at Rock Mills) took me out to a nearby town auto salvage and purchased the replacement glass for our van! Praise the Lord, and Elijah gets to see God provide on his behalf. That replacement glass cost almost $230! Elijah gratefully wrote a thank you note for more than just the glass I'm sure. Wouldn't you know it, the guy who helped me (remember Ace) take out the broken stuff was available to help me put the new one in place (that is the picture at the top of the post).
We are pressing forward with studies this coming week. It will get more difficult as we continue on. Thank you for your prayers for us and our children, we can't express our gratitude - really - knowing God has many folks lifting us to Him. We thank God every time we remember you and your partnership with us while we're in preparation.
You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and we have too! Together we trust God with your lives and ours as He accomplishes all He's begun.
Resting in Christ our Lord,
Roland (for the shafer family)
2 Cor 4-5
Saturday, September 02, 2006
First Week of classes and...
We have just finished our first week of classes. The kids have been doing excellent making their transitions. All of us have had a great time getting reacquainted with our previous classmates, while the kids have the joy of meeting a few new ones.
The first week of Culture and Language Acquisition (henceforth CLA) has been quite a bit more informative about what we'll actually be working through.
The past three days we've had the "Overview of the CLA program", "Calendar" for this semester, and the "Introduction to Phonetics" modules. Starting next Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday, we begin the Phonetics classes with daily assignments.
So far we have been exposed to the mechanics of the speech mechanism God has so marvelously designed. It is very inspiring to reflect on the fact that God invented speech and it works flawlessly. There are various ways that speech is produced but each one is incredible in its foundation, communication with others. Relationships require communication and God has ensured that relationships can be established and deepened with communication.
Phonetics is simplified by this definition: studying speech and the mechanics of producing it. We have been introduced to "Sammy" (see above image) the cross-section diagram of the speech apparatus. We will be referring to this diagram through the next four weeks as a visual aid in training our own personal speech apparatus to produce utterances we've never produced before intentionally (for most of us).
Our biggest challenge through this time is to remain focused on the purpose for this section of training, and all of it for that matter, the Word of God might be presented to men, women, and young people who have never had the opportunity before. God is taking us through this preparation for His glory and that He would be worshipped among the nations. We are thankful for this reminder of keeping this in our focus.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we spend the next four weeks in this arduous beginning phase of CLA. We thank God for every rememberance of you, too, and thank God for the opportunity to pray with you.
Roland (for the Shafers)
We have just finished our first week of classes. The kids have been doing excellent making their transitions. All of us have had a great time getting reacquainted with our previous classmates, while the kids have the joy of meeting a few new ones.
The first week of Culture and Language Acquisition (henceforth CLA) has been quite a bit more informative about what we'll actually be working through.
The past three days we've had the "Overview of the CLA program", "Calendar" for this semester, and the "Introduction to Phonetics" modules. Starting next Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday, we begin the Phonetics classes with daily assignments.
So far we have been exposed to the mechanics of the speech mechanism God has so marvelously designed. It is very inspiring to reflect on the fact that God invented speech and it works flawlessly. There are various ways that speech is produced but each one is incredible in its foundation, communication with others. Relationships require communication and God has ensured that relationships can be established and deepened with communication.
Phonetics is simplified by this definition: studying speech and the mechanics of producing it. We have been introduced to "Sammy" (see above image) the cross-section diagram of the speech apparatus. We will be referring to this diagram through the next four weeks as a visual aid in training our own personal speech apparatus to produce utterances we've never produced before intentionally (for most of us).
Our biggest challenge through this time is to remain focused on the purpose for this section of training, and all of it for that matter, the Word of God might be presented to men, women, and young people who have never had the opportunity before. God is taking us through this preparation for His glory and that He would be worshipped among the nations. We are thankful for this reminder of keeping this in our focus.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we spend the next four weeks in this arduous beginning phase of CLA. We thank God for every rememberance of you, too, and thank God for the opportunity to pray with you.
Roland (for the Shafers)
Sunday, August 27, 2006
School starts tomorrow...
Well tomorrow is Susan's BIG DAY. She will be in Kindergarden starting tomorrow. She is ever
so excited. I bet she'll be up at the crack of dawn, dressed and hungry, lathering at the chance to get to school for the first time.
Moriah was the same last year. She was up early and couldn't wait until she had her first day in school. When she got home at days end she was so happy she had gone. Next morning when it was time to get out of bed for school she said to her Mom, "Do we have to do it again?!" That will be etched in our family album of quoteable quotes for years to come.
The boys are ready to head back to classes, too. They have had a few days with their friends since being home. It has been a nice break for them. RJ will be starting grade 10, Elijah grade 5. There will be some new classmates for all three of our returning kids. Some will be children of new adult 1st year students and others will be children of missionaries in for their furlough.
Jinni and I will start our new classes after orientation tomorrow morning. We will take the children to their first day orientation, then ours begins at 845. Culture and Language Acquisition training. It is the hardest year of training we will be going through. We will be pushed to our weakest points many times during this year - something that will benefit us incredibly.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we enter this final year. We are comforted with the knowledge that the body of Christ is united with us before the Throne of Grace. We thankfully remember you in our prayers, too.
resting in Him,
Roland (for the family)
2 Cor 4
Well tomorrow is Susan's BIG DAY. She will be in Kindergarden starting tomorrow. She is ever
so excited. I bet she'll be up at the crack of dawn, dressed and hungry, lathering at the chance to get to school for the first time.Moriah was the same last year. She was up early and couldn't wait until she had her first day in school. When she got home at days end she was so happy she had gone. Next morning when it was time to get out of bed for school she said to her Mom, "Do we have to do it again?!" That will be etched in our family album of quoteable quotes for years to come.
The boys are ready to head back to classes, too. They have had a few days with their friends since being home. It has been a nice break for them. RJ will be starting grade 10, Elijah grade 5. There will be some new classmates for all three of our returning kids. Some will be children of new adult 1st year students and others will be children of missionaries in for their furlough.
Jinni and I will start our new classes after orientation tomorrow morning. We will take the children to their first day orientation, then ours begins at 845. Culture and Language Acquisition training. It is the hardest year of training we will be going through. We will be pushed to our weakest points many times during this year - something that will benefit us incredibly.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we enter this final year. We are comforted with the knowledge that the body of Christ is united with us before the Throne of Grace. We thankfully remember you in our prayers, too.
resting in Him,
Roland (for the family)
2 Cor 4
Monday, August 21, 2006
Van Update - We're back in Canada
"Don't make any quick decisions, something might be in the works." That's what I was told Wednesday afternoon about 3PM. Around half an hour later something was in the works.
Those who have been able to follow the story know our 1989 Chevy Astro, which the Lord allowed to faithfully serve us for almost seven years, was moving slowly to its death. The exhaust valve that was 'sticking' continued to worsen so we were sure it was not up to the return trip to Canada.
We were praying for the Lord to direct us to a replacement and I was on the track of one Wednesday about lunch time. I thought I had found it in Statesville, NC. - the thing that was nice about that was Jinni would be able to see it/buy it maybe on her way home from North Carolina where she was visiting her sister. I called her cell phone and found out she was not at her sister's house but about 35 miles away from where the van was sitting! She was able to check it out within the hour of my call. She said it was very nice. The ebay dealer selling it agreed she could come by the next day and drive it away for $3000. So we thought we had the one.
My boss, for my summer job listened as I was speaking to the seller on the phone. When I hung up he said, "Don't make any quick decisions, something might be in the works." Half an hour later I was called in to a conference and told if I could come up with $2500, We would be able to buy a 2002 Windstar from a friend of the company's AND other people would raise the additional $2000, to cover the remainder of the selling price.
Needless to say when I called Jinni and told her we were in shock at what we were being told. We were going to have to buy the other van with borrowed money or our credit card (yeah right) anyway. We knew the Lord was going to have to provide for us to get this kind of money, so we continued to pray for wisdom and patience.
Well I had been given $1000 earlier in the week which would go toward the purchase of a 'new to us' van so I knew it would only be $1500 to come up with. Jinni called me back within the hour and told me her Aunt was giving her a $1000 check that night. We had $2000 before 5PM! less than two hours after we began to trust the Lord for the finances. Just before the day was through I was told the total cost for the van would be nearer 5000 than 4500 and could I come up with the other $500.
Next morning I took a friend to the airport and he 'gave me a tip' for driving him there (in his car). I didn't look at the check he handed me I just bid him farewell and headed into work. When I got in the office - about 8:15 - I pulled out the check and it was for $500! our 2500 was in less than 24 hours later. I got a call around 9AM from another precious brother in Christ who said his family wanted to give us $500 or if we needed, more, to make sure we came up to our 3000. Not even 10AM and The Lord provided all we needed. So I went to tell the guys what the Lord had done.
The news I got was even more sweet! the group of folks who were banding together had collected more that $2600 so we wouldn't need the remaining 500 after all!
I went to the lot, I waited until I was told it would be okay, to pick up the van! I signed the checks over to the lot manager, he gave me lots of paperwork, a temporary license, AND THE KEY!! I drove back to the office with a 2003, Ford Windstar - tow hitch included. WOW Lord, You sure know how to surprise a family.
What a blessing we have experienced, God has used many people to provide this van for us. We know some of those who had a part, but others will remain anonymous to us. Every one of the folks who gave have encouraged us so much. Thank you Lord for every single one and each family that You have used in our lives with this experience.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Vehicle Update
Well the old van is definitely struggling to retain life. It is still getting me to work (3.5 miles) and back each day, but it is sounding rougher and running rougher each time I start it up. Our friends have provided a van for Jinni and the children to visit North Carolina this week. Thank you Dedrick Family!!
I have looked at a couple of vans. One was very low-priced (2500.00 + fees) but had no seats in it, it has a NEW transmission and 147,000 miles on the current engine. Another had about 126,000 and was a more expensive (3400.00 + fees) complete package. We do need to be able to add towing ability if it is not already on the van. Neither of these specimens had a towing setup included.
We really are not in a position to buy a thing. The repair costs for our current van would be better invested in a newer used vehicle. We know many of you are praying with us so I am sharing our current status.
Thank you for your continued prayer for our family,
Roland (for the Shafers)
2 Cor 4-5
http://6given2jesus.org
Thursday, August 10, 2006
The Kids Recent Activities
Our children have been enjoying themselves very much this break. They too have been visiting with old friends at the swimming pool and making new friends during Mom's swimming lessons.
A few days ago they got a chance to do some horseback riding.
I'm not sure if all of them rode on the horse there because it seems the golf cart was popular, too! The tractor looked to be a hit as well...
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Ten Days and counting down...
The time has certainly whizzed by for us. In just 10 days we will be heading back up to Ontario Canada to begin our final year at the Missions Training Centre there.
We have all been very busy working, swimming, and enjoying the company of friends.
As you think about our return trip, please pray with us. Our Astro van, seems to be gradually dying daily. The starter, you might remember, went out on us as we were leaving Canada a few weks ago. Well now it seems that an exhaust valve is going on the fritz and the engine is running quite rough. One of our dear friends is trying to see if he can get us an engine repair for a reasonable cost - if the poor thing can hold out until then. Jinni is praying for the Lord to deliver something "new" to us.
So we seek the Lord's provision and wisdom while we wait on Him.
Thank you for partnering with us before the throne of our Lord. We know that whatever we ask according to His will He hears us, and we are so glad He has commited Himself to that on our behalf.confidently praying,
Roland (for the family)
2 Cor 4 & 5
Monday, July 31, 2006
New Family photo and Summer update
Sunday, July 30, we had the opportunity to be a part of our church's pictorial directory. We are grateful to have been in town during this important event in our church family's growth. It was fun catching up with some others who were scheduled the same day as we were. Here's one of the photos we picked to save. I think this is the one that will be printed, too.
Our summer is very busy. Jinni has been teaching swimming again so her mornings are tied up meeting and teaching little ones confidence in the water. We thank the Lord for providing a pool at our precious friends, the Thompsons. Their hospitality has been part of why the swimming lessons have gone so well. Of course while mom is teaching others our family of kids has free run of the pool (as long as they aren't interferring) so they are enjoying the Thompson's ministry, too!
God continues to provide for our housing needs in His incredibly perfect timing. This week we are house-sitting for some dear friends and the kids love the fact that there is a dog they can play with. Susan got to feed it first, and told us all the dog's name is 'Oreo'. Last night she made sure she said "Goodnight Oreo" before she went to bed.
Next week we will be house-sitting once again. Not sure if there will be any animals to care for, but if there are the kids will have their fill of them.
Sunday, July 30, we had the opportunity to be a part of our church's pictorial directory. We are grateful to have been in town during this important event in our church family's growth. It was fun catching up with some others who were scheduled the same day as we were. Here's one of the photos we picked to save. I think this is the one that will be printed, too.
Our summer is very busy. Jinni has been teaching swimming again so her mornings are tied up meeting and teaching little ones confidence in the water. We thank the Lord for providing a pool at our precious friends, the Thompsons. Their hospitality has been part of why the swimming lessons have gone so well. Of course while mom is teaching others our family of kids has free run of the pool (as long as they aren't interferring) so they are enjoying the Thompson's ministry, too!
God continues to provide for our housing needs in His incredibly perfect timing. This week we are house-sitting for some dear friends and the kids love the fact that there is a dog they can play with. Susan got to feed it first, and told us all the dog's name is 'Oreo'. Last night she made sure she said "Goodnight Oreo" before she went to bed.
Next week we will be house-sitting once again. Not sure if there will be any animals to care for, but if there are the kids will have their fill of them.
Monday, July 24, 2006
We've Arrived safely
Our trip from Durham, Ontario, Canada has come to its end here in Knoxville, TN - our home.
Thank you, Dad. The Lord used your providing a rebuilt starter to get us here with no further trouble. You were a real blessing to us and we appreciate it.
Rock Mills Fellowship Baptist Church, in Ontario, we thank God for you all, too. Your financial encouragement has been a blessing and enabled us to take this much needed trip. We will have some adventures to share with you when we return after our vacation, so be ready :-)
We are so glad to be here in Knoxville. We have already had the joy of celebrating the Lord together with our home church, West Park Baptist. It is exciting to see how the Lord has grown our church family and to reunite with friends we have not seen for several months. We have been wlecomed as if we have never left and it is soooo sweet to be loved this deeply. Thank you, Lord, and West Park for your part in encouraging us again.
More to come and photos will join future posts, to be sure.
Roland (for the family)
2 Corinthians 5:11-19
Our trip from Durham, Ontario, Canada has come to its end here in Knoxville, TN - our home.
Thank you, Dad. The Lord used your providing a rebuilt starter to get us here with no further trouble. You were a real blessing to us and we appreciate it.
Rock Mills Fellowship Baptist Church, in Ontario, we thank God for you all, too. Your financial encouragement has been a blessing and enabled us to take this much needed trip. We will have some adventures to share with you when we return after our vacation, so be ready :-)
We are so glad to be here in Knoxville. We have already had the joy of celebrating the Lord together with our home church, West Park Baptist. It is exciting to see how the Lord has grown our church family and to reunite with friends we have not seen for several months. We have been wlecomed as if we have never left and it is soooo sweet to be loved this deeply. Thank you, Lord, and West Park for your part in encouraging us again.
More to come and photos will join future posts, to be sure.
Roland (for the family)
2 Corinthians 5:11-19
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
SusansVictoryDance
Canada Day, July 1st, was a fun time for everyone in Jungle Camp. One of the games which brought Susan joy was the log dueling. She was victorious over her dad, and had the dance to show for it!
The Jumper
While participating in the Ladies' hike this training semester, Jinni and two staff members prepare to jump into the COLD Georgian Bay [June 2006]
Monday, July 17, 2006
More Jungle Camp pics...
Hair Cutting Class, lessons were provided by two NTMC Staff wives. They were very good teachers, with some good pupils.
Jinni cutting my hair and Melissa Mattingly cutting RJ's Hair [above right] Jinni cutting my hair (Close up) [above left] 
The girls at the breakfast table - one of those c-c-cold m-m-mornings we h-h-had... :-)
Jinni before I had my haircutting lesson ...
Jinni after I had my hair cutting lesson.
Hair Cutting Class, lessons were provided by two NTMC Staff wives. They were very good teachers, with some good pupils.
Jinni cutting my hair and Melissa Mattingly cutting RJ's Hair [above right] Jinni cutting my hair (Close up) [above left] 
The girls at the breakfast table - one of those c-c-cold m-m-mornings we h-h-had... :-)
Jinni before I had my haircutting lesson ...
Jinni after I had my hair cutting lesson.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Home Again - The Lord is SO Faithful
We got home yesterday afternoon 07/14 around 2:30PM with full stomachs!
The staff had arranged a bar-b-q on campus at 1:00PM. 
It went off on schedule, every one of our neighbors had their homes
leveled and the trash was offsite.
I wanted to post a video, which will briefly show us pushing over our wall and roof supports, but I have to do it from another post. I have some stills here showing the family breaking apart our
stove/oven and some shots of the walls coming down.
Jungle Camp was a wonderful time for our family. We worked through communication troubles, learned new skills, experienced a mock tribal culture study, and had lots of free time with our neighbors.
The most wonderful thing about Jungle Camp was seeing God's hand of faithfulness throughout. Many days and nights of extreme weather, lots of falls, scratches and BUG BITES, all provided opportunity to turn to the Lord for His strength and endurance. We could not have made it through except for His sufficiency. We know many of you prayed for this time with us. We thank God for you and your commitment to our time with Him during this month.
As the Lord continues to direct us we appreciate your sticking with us prayerfully. Our summer will likely be a time of relaxing up here in Canada. Our finances continue to be an amazing story of God's goodness through His church. We thank the known and many anonymous givers who the Lord is using to provide for our missionary education and preparation for field service. God also knows who you are!!
As our schedule for the next training year solidifies we will post it to keep you current with us. More photos of Jungle Camp 2006 should follow as soon as possible...
Love and prayers,
Roland (for the Shafers)
We got home yesterday afternoon 07/14 around 2:30PM with full stomachs!
The staff had arranged a bar-b-q on campus at 1:00PM. 
It went off on schedule, every one of our neighbors had their homes
leveled and the trash was offsite.I wanted to post a video, which will briefly show us pushing over our wall and roof supports, but I have to do it from another post. I have some stills here showing the family breaking apart our
stove/oven and some shots of the walls coming down.Jungle Camp was a wonderful time for our family. We worked through communication troubles, learned new skills, experienced a mock tribal culture study, and had lots of free time with our neighbors.
The most wonderful thing about Jungle Camp was seeing God's hand of faithfulness throughout. Many days and nights of extreme weather, lots of falls, scratches and BUG BITES, all provided opportunity to turn to the Lord for His strength and endurance. We could not have made it through except for His sufficiency. We know many of you prayed for this time with us. We thank God for you and your commitment to our time with Him during this month.
As the Lord continues to direct us we appreciate your sticking with us prayerfully. Our summer will likely be a time of relaxing up here in Canada. Our finances continue to be an amazing story of God's goodness through His church. We thank the known and many anonymous givers who the Lord is using to provide for our missionary education and preparation for field service. God also knows who you are!!
As our schedule for the next training year solidifies we will post it to keep you current with us. More photos of Jungle Camp 2006 should follow as soon as possible...
Love and prayers,
Roland (for the Shafers)
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