Getting started

Dear Family and Friends, May 9,
2007

It's hard to believe that this time has come already,
but on Sunday we will start our very first church.
Emotions are running wild in our house – excitement,
stress, anticipation, joy, stress, a little anxiety as
we face the unknown, have I mentioned stress? There's
just a little of that. But all in all we are really
looking forward to it. So many years of working and
training, and now comes the real life application.

We are starting with a small group of adults, around 6
or 7, who have been coming faithfully to Dassasgo on
Mike's bus route. Now they will have a church within
walking distance of their home, and our poor car gets
a little rest from rambunctious children and pot holes
everywhere.

I will get to start a children's Sunday school class
right away as we already have about 8-10 kids who come
on our bus route. I'm looking forward to that, though
I too am feeling a whole buffet of emotions myself –
who'd a thunk? I'll be using a lady named Marceline as
my translator for at least the first few weeks. That
alone is a concern, as I'm not entirely convinced she
knows a whole lot of French or can understand my
"Franglais". We shall see.

Saturday we're going to pass out around 300 flyers
inviting people to our church and presenting a clear
message of salvation. Mike has spent several hours
putting it together with Douninoma, the guy who's
going with us to help us get this church going. He is
acting associate pastor; I guess you could call him.

Well, that's the ministry side of things. We have a
whole lot going on right now. We've got our carpenter
building benches for the adults, benches for the kids,
chalkboards, and we haven't even mentioned several
other projects to him. He too is feeling our stress.
We love to share. =)

The kids on the other hand take every day as it comes.
I've told them on several occasions that next Sunday
Mommy will be the teacher, and they'll get to hear the
stories in French, and learn memory verses in French.
So far, I get blank stares. Blake I think thinks the
whole learning Bible verses in French is pretty cool,
but beyond that the idea of going to Sunday school is
scary. Sunday school means a bunch of kids. He's not
too crazy about that, yet. But we'll see how it goes.
Aubrey doesn't say a whole lot on the matter. When I
read a Bible story or any story for that matter, I can
hold her attention for about the first four pages,
depending on how tired or cooperative she is feeling.
After that, well let's just say it should be
interesting for a while. Hopefully we'll all get into
the swing of things together, sooner rather than
later.

They are both getting so big. I wish you all could see
them grow. It's such a fun age. They both love to talk
so much. Blake loves to talk to family on his "cell
phone"; usually whatever he finds that can be used as
one. He's learning Bible verses, and loves to recite
them, usually once or twice a day these days. He's so
smart, we're so proud. He loves praying for everyone
he can think of. Usually he prays for his cousins who
are sick and had to go to the doctor today. I don't
know where he's getting his information, but he's
praying, nevertheless. He's praying faithfully for his
rescue pack that Nana is sending him, and that Aubrey
will be a good girl and "stop that crying". He loves
to sing, and usually switches "CD's" in the middle of
a song. One minute we're singing "ABC's" then "Joshua
fought the Battle of Jericho" before we get to P.
We're never bored or without entertainment. He's such
a cuddle bug, too. I love it. Aubrey doesn't care for
it too much when he drags her to the ground in a hug.

She on the other hand has way too much going on in her
world to pause for too many cuddles, but we take
advantage of them when we can get them. She does love
being held when she's tired, but usually finds us to
say "Hol me" when we're cooking or in the middle of a
project. C'est la vie. Her favorite expressions these
days are still "No", of course, "You like it?" usually
with an adorable swoop of the head, and "I don't like
it" usually for things she'll end up eating anyway.
She learned that expression from her brother,
unfortunately. She is short for her age, but carries
more personality than her little body can handle. She
is a very sociable girl. She'll go up to everyone
anywhere to shake their hands even if they are unaware
of her presence for the moment and are in a deep
conversation. It's really cute to watch her in action.
She loves booboos because she thinks she'll get
medicine for them. So she'll point really old booboos
out even if they've already faded away to get sympathy
and maybe a "bam bay" too. Potty training is wishful
thinking on our part, but we keep trying.
Unfortunately these recent days haven't lent us much
time to take her to the potty on a regular basis, so
we've kind of regressed, but it will come. We still
hold on to our high hopes. Aubrey on the other hand
could care less. 3 seconds on the potty and "I dum".
So, what can you do?

So, you can see, life is never boring around here.
Mike continues to plug away at school. He's doing
really well, and had the opportunity to preach a
message on what the cross does for us. A very clear
presentation of the gospel presented to Catholics,
Lutherans, and Muslims. It's funny how God can use a
homework assignment to share His message. I love that.

I finished my last class yesterday. Now I am
completely done with language school in French. I
finished going to school the first part of April, but
I had been taking some classes in the afternoons at
home. Now all of that is behind me, and it rather
terrifies me. But life goes on.

Life is a little on the crazy side these days for all
of us around here. We've only six weeks left with
Carissa here with us. It's hard to believe. She's come
to be such a part of the family. That's going to be
hard on her, when she goes back to her calm family in
IL. The poor girl has had to endure living with "the
Hillhouse charm" for a year now. Her poor family!
She's excited to get back, but has made some very good
friends here so isn't looking forward to leaving so
soon. We're going to miss her a lot, too, but hope
she'll come visit us in the future. Who knows what God
can do?

Well, I will let you go for now, but we want you to
know you are all loved and missed so much. It's hard
to believe a whole year has flown by. We're thankful
God has helped us adjust to life in Burkina, but we
still miss you all so much. Thanks for loving us so
much, for supporting us in the way that you do, and
for praying for our family and our ministry.

We love you,

Mike, Pam, Blake, and Aubrey Hillhouse

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