Ministry Update 7-22-07

Though Douninoma was unable to preach last week as planned, Mike allowed him to preach today in services. He did well and was able to preach to 10 adults. This worked out well for Mike, as he had a very busy week this past week. However, this coming week is his last week of language school. We can hardly wait for him to be finished with it. He will have a written test tomorrow and an oral test on Tuesday where he will have the opportunity to preach again to the professors. Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he will take some introductory courses in Moore. That will be good for both of us as there are so many people who insist on speaking it to the dumb Americans.
The kids must have seen our car back by the church as we had another large group of 87 children. They were well behaved for the most part despite the fact that all my helpers have now gone back to America. It’s just Benoi and I now. Today I even had the opportunity to teach a little in English. We talked about the Tower of Babel and how they all spoke the same language. So, I asked them in English if they could understand me. It was fun to watch their faces at that point. I’m sure it looked a little like my face does when they go off in Moore.
It was a good day all in all. It rained for a little while this afternoon and we are enjoying the benefits of cool air after the rain.

Fitting Right In

For those of you who have kept up with our blogs, know that our son has had some difficulty in adjusting to Burkina Faso. There are some days that he does very well and surprises us with how open he is with the Burkinabe. Today was just one of those days.
After the services were over, several of the kids went outside of the courtyard of the church to play in the street. They played keep away with a plastic back of some sort of bean looking thing in it. Blake hopped right in there and had the time of his life. When we saw him, his face was all lit up. He was having a blast playing with his “new friends”. We were both so very proud of him.

Discouraging Moments in Ministry

Our trip out to Boulwando fell on a Sunday. We planned this ahead of time, and had Douninoma prepare a message for the adults. I prepared a lesson for someone to read to the children as Benoi would have been translating into Moore for Douninoma.
However, when we returned, Douninoma came to our house on Monday looking extremely somber. He told Mike, despite his efforts to prepare the message and his normal weekly visits, there were only three adults in attendance – himself, Benoi, and Marceline, who we had asked to teach the children. And there were only 37 children in attendance. He was absolutely discouraged, as were we to learn this news. But we do recognize this as a growing pain for a new ministry and continue to pray for those in our ministry and those who are helping us serve.

Ministry in the Village

One of the things we wanted the girls to experience while they were here was village work. We ended up having more experiences than we thought we would. One Wednesday night at the end of June, we took them out to see John Cooley’s work in a village just outside of Ouagadougou. There is no electricity out there, so John runs two battery operated lights while he preaches. During the service, however, while the lights were still running, we saw the biggest spider I have seen yet in Burkina. The girls got to see it up close and personal as it landed on both of them on two different occasions during the service. I’ve never seen them move so fast! I’m just thankful it was them and not me. I know, I’m so kind. After the service, both were offered a position as wife to the chief. They both declined, despite the very large dowry of 3 cows and a pig offered. All was said in fun, for the parents who are getting a little nervous as you read this.
Then, after our trip to Bobo, Rebecca took the opportunity to go up to Babo, another village work of John and Tammy Cooley. She spent the night there and, of course, ate the food. However, she didn’t get much sleep as there were people constantly around and then they had to get up early to get their lesson in before everyone went out to the fields to work before the rains started. But that was one thing she told me she wanted to do – spend the night in a village.
Then on the Sunday before they returned to the States, we took them out to the first work Charlie and Mary Joyce started here in Burkina Faso, out in Boulwando. That was a fun morning. The people love to sing, and sang for over an hour. Ethel and I got to sing a song in English and French, and Mike preached. We had a wonderful time out there. The people are always so friendly and love to speak with us, though most of them speak little to no French. But we enjoyed the fellowship.

Another Look at Burkina

When you stay in one city too long, it’s easy to judge the entire state or country by that one city. We found we had done this, when we took a trip out to Western Burkina and discovered Burkina Faso really does have some beautiful areas in it. Ouaga holds a lot more conveniences than the rest of Burkina Faso, but it does not hold all the beauty.
Last week we took a trip out to Bobo, the second largest city in Burkina, and a village called Banfora to see the waterfalls and a lake that is home to numerous hippos. It is green out there – much greener than we had seen here in Ouaga and several degrees cooler.
The trip to the falls was beautiful and tiring. We all climbed the steep steps to get to the top and were rewarded with a beautiful view and a wonderful breeze. We took lots of pictures and Mike went over the edge of the waterfall to get video of it. Well at least it looked that way to me. There’s a lower ledge he climbed down to, while I stayed back with the kids. They really wanted to follow Daddy down, but I insisted they stay with me. I know I’m a big party pooper, but I’m Mommy! I can be.
After that, we went to Lake Tangrela, where Mike and Rebecca climbed into a very old boat to cross the lake to see the hippos. I was yet again a party pooper and made Blake and Aubrey stay back with me to watch from a distance. Ethel volunteered to help me watch out for my kids. It was a good thing we did because I spent most of the time dealing with upset tummies. The bug Blake caught at the beginning of that week had not yet let go of him. So, see, I had my reasons to be a party pooper. I’m excused. But we have wonderful memories of our time at the lake watching the cattle instead of the hippos, and watching Daddy in a boat. It all works out.

Plans Change

While Rebecca and Ethel were here, we wanted to use both of them to teach the children at church. Ethel was able to do that the Sunday after our Super Saturday and taught 137 children. Not bad for her first time to teach, huh? Rebecca on the other hand didn’t get to take her opportunity. She worked so hard in completing her lesson, then I in translating it. However, that Saturday night, my son woke up very ill. While I was caring for him, I heard Rebecca wake up with the same illness. The next day, Rebecca, the kids, and I stayed home dealing with nausea and fatigue. Poor Benoi got the message at 7:30 that morning to prepare a lesson to teach the kids. He was all alone with 90 + children until two ladies had mercy and went out of church to help calm them. I’m told all went well.

Le Super Samedi

Since my last blog, Carissa has rejoined her family in the States and seems to be adjusting back to life in the States pretty well. Aside from a few habits picked up here that are hard to let go, she is enjoying once again the luxuries of the US. Rebecca and Ethel are still with us and seem to be enjoying themselves. Both have received a couple of proposals of marriage, but our dowry price is too high.
One of the things we've had the girls busy doing was preparation and execution of our first Super Samedi. (Super Saturday) We held it on June 30 and took most of that week to prepare everything for it. I lost a few brain cells on Sunday before that and forgot to mention it to all the kids, and only got to mention it to a few. My husband thought I would surely have a small crowd for lack of publicity. I'm thankful now that I disregarded his thoughts on the count and planned for around two hundred kids. On that Saturday we had over 150 kids. That's all well and good when you have enough help. We did NOT! We called in reinforcements and two of the Bible Institute guys showed up to help us out.
All in all it was a great day. I introduced several new games to the kids, and learned that water balloons are too foreign a concept. I'll never do those again, at least not as long as I remember the chaos it created. The kids listened very well to my story on the Prodigal Son and even participated with me. I was quite impressed. After game time and lesson time were finished, I decided we would have a craft time. On Friday all day long, Rebecca and Ethel prepared enough playdough balls for a little over 200 kids. It paid off except for my poor smashed toes.