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.

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

SusansVictoryDance

SusansVictoryDance

Watch the video

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

The Jumper

Watch the video

While participating in the Ladies' hike this training semester, Jinni and two staff members prepare to jump into the COLD Georgian Bay [June 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.

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)