The Adventures of the Hillhouse Family

The Ultimate Payment

2008-10-14T15:05:00.001-05:00

At the end of August, we were able to start our building for our future feeding center with Manna International. Our church is so excited about the potential opportunities and blessings the center will bring. However, we never thought God would work so fast.

Our general contractor is a Burkinabe, but he hired five bricklayers from Togo to come up and build the building. During the time of construction, they were to “camp out” on our church grounds. I must admit, I was initially hesitant about the situation. However, it is normal in this culture, and it ended up working out ok. They even attended our church services during those five weeks.

On Wednesday, October 1st, after the evening service, they informed me that their part of the project was almost complete and they would be leaving in a couple of days. I thanked them for the good job they had done as well as their participation in our services while they were with us. We were going to miss them as they had become our friends. At the end of the conversation I mentioned that they had heard me preach several times and we had a few discussions about the Bible, but I would love to talk with them specifically about salvation if they would allow me to do so. To my surprise I received a call Thursday evening asking if I had time to come to the church and talk.

For an hour and a half we discussed their background and beliefs and how it compares to the truth of God’s Word. After explaining salvation, Mathieu (one of the bricklayers) told me he wanted to be saved. I wanted to make sure that he understood the implications of his decision. He was leaving his ancient animistic practices to follow Christ. He said he understood and he wanted to accept Christ. I was thrilled! I asked if there was anyone else who wanted to be saved. Immediately, the four other bricklayers raised their hands. PRAISE THE LORD!

These gentlemen came to Burkina to earn a little money. Little did they know that they would leave with something far more valuable than money - the ultimate payment - the gift of eternal life.

Jour D'Ami

2008-09-01T16:31:00.001-05:00

In the past, we’ve run a few other friend days, and it’s always exciting to see how many people will invite their friends to come and be a part of our service. We offer a prize to the person who brings the most people to church – A large 50 Kilo bag of rice.
Today was our 3rd Jour d’Ami. Mike had been announcing it for several weeks and reminding our people on visitation to bring their friends. The turn out today was beyond our expectations. There were 61 adults in service. We didn’t have enough benches in the church building, so we borrowed some from the children’s service. Even at that, there were several people sitting on some boards we have stacked to the sides for our construction project.
A lady by the name of Assitou won the prize. She brought 7 visitors who showed up on time, and another 2 who showed up after the announcements were read (the cut-off time for counting visitors).
After service was over, three women (two of them first-time visitors) asked Mike and Douninoma to pray with them – one for health, another for difficulties in her life. But the last one that he prayed with wanted to ask Christ in her heart. We had a meeting planned with her the night before, but her husband asked her to go to a wedding with him. So, when she asked Mike to talk after services, he thought it was to set up another time when she could come to our home and discuss our beliefs of the church and salvation. Her request however, was to accept salvation. She said she was ready to ask Christ to save her right then. Mike explained to her how she could come to Christ and she prayed to accept the gift of salvation.
What a great way to end an already exciting service! Mike preached on salvation. The message was so clear, and 61 adults walked away knowing exactly how to come to Christ. Some of those hearts have already turned to Christ, another one having done so that day. But the seed is planted in so many new hearts. Pray that we’ll have the opportunity to speak with those visitors in the near future, and to see them, too, accept Christ as their Savior.

Sunday School Campaign

2008-09-01T16:21:00.001-05:00

During the month of July, we ran a campaign for our children’s ministry. At the beginning of the month, the kids were given a list of 40 verses – some that we had already memorized. Each week, the kids were to come a little early to church to recite their verses to one of the teachers – word-for-word.
On August 3, we announced our winner. A young lady by the name of Mamounata had recited 20 verses throughout the month, word perfect. We brought her and all the other children into the church to present her with her prize. To help her and her family, her prize was some basic supplies that she would need for school – backpack, pencils, pens, notebooks, eraser, and some crayons and color pencils. When we handed her the prize, her face lit up. She is a very timid girl, so the smile she gave us was so very rewarding.
We focus on memorizing verses in our Sunday School. Most of the children who come to church do not have a Bible in their homes. The children love to memorize. It is one of the primary ways that they are taught at school. So, we have the opportunity to put Scriptures in their hands and encourage them to memorize it and keep it in their hearts.

Ministries of L’Eglise Baptiste de la Bonne Nouvelle

2008-07-01T10:37:00.001-05:00

It’s so fun to watch new Christians grow in their faith and to see the results of that growth. All but three of our members in our church are new Christians, newly baptized, and ready to serve. When we approached our people about starting a teachers training class, we had several people show interest in this new ministry. They want to be involved in their church. It’s fun to watch them taking ownership. In our first class, I asked them why they wanted to be involved – was it because they saw the missionary, me, acting like a crazy woman trying to teach and control 80+ kids each week with only one helper, or was it because they saw the need to instruct kids in the Word of God? Each one of them responded that they saw a need and felt that God wanted to use them to work in this ministry.
Since that first class, we’ve incorporated two helpers per week so they can become familiar with the way we’ve been doing things. This has been such a help, though recently our numbers have dropped considerably. But even at that, from what they’ve been involved with and seen, they’ve already been able to give us a few helpful hints.
Last Tuesday evening, we had 7 adults show up to our class, with two that weren’t able to make it. For a part of our training, we worked through the colors of the wordless book. We gave them a paper explaining the significance of each color and some verses to teach the meaning. We gave them each a color bead bracelet that Edgewood Baptist Church in Rock Island, IL had made for us. At the end, we had them practice leading each other to Christ. It was so exciting to listen to them share the gospel. Though it was just practice time, we believe that practice time will help them be more comfortable when they share with other people. We encouraged them to take it home and practice, even to share Christ with family members that are not saved. We look forward to hearing how that goes.
Douninoma approached us a few weeks ago about another ministry that several people in the church had expressed interest in – starting a choral group. We left that in his hands to get started and now each Sunday he and another man lead the choral practice after church. So many people stick around after church to learn new songs and how to correctly sing old ones. This new ministry has made a huge difference in the congregational singing on Sunday morning during service.
Our ladies Bible study is doing well. We’ve averaged six ladies/study, and they are becoming more and more involved in our study time – asking questions and making comments. We’re enjoying our time together and I’m growing closer to our ladies as a result.
God continues to bless our ministry there in Somgande (a neighborhood in Ouagadougou). It is certainly not without its problems and difficulties as any new ministry anywhere in the world, but God is working in the hearts of our people and burdening them to reach their families and friends.
Thank you again for your prayers for our ministry here in Burkina Faso. Please keep our people in your prayers as they grow and strive to do God’s will in their lives.

Anniversary Sunday

2008-07-01T10:36:00.000-05:00

I really struggle with remembering to put blogs up here. So please do forgive me and enjoy the story I’ll share.
Our anniversary Sunday was May 18th. We had planned to celebrate it on the 11th of May, but were quickly reminding that all the Catholic churches were holding their baptisms on that day. We decided to push our celebration to the following week, so that all of our members could be present.
So, early May 18th, four women showed up at our house to help me cook the riz gras we were making for everyone that day. We planned for around 75 adults and 125 kids. In the past, I would have considered for more children. However, in recent months, our numbers have dropped considerably. We’d only been averaging around 40 kids each week the weeks prior to the anniversary.
However, as we were cooking and packing the food, Mike called me from the church to tell me at 8:45 there were already around 140 kids at church. We had told them that we would have food. Note to self…..So, we filled every bag we owned to give to the kids. That totaled 198. At the end of service, we counted all the kids and discovered we had 221 kids in attendance. Where’d they all come from!!!! I have no idea. There were so many new faces in the group. I was happy to see them, but not prepared for them. We ended up telling them each to grab a friend and hold on to their hand and get in line. If there’s one thing I’m quickly learning here, when there’s food involved…..WATCH OUT! For the next 45 minutes, it was absolute MADNESS. The kids came to the gate without their friend, so they had to go back to where they’d left them and get back in line. After they’d made it through the gate with their friend, so many of them lied to say they hadn’t received any or ended up climbing back over our wall back into the courtyard to get back in line with a new friend. UGGHHHH! Live and learn.
I have to laugh at it all now. But I think the kids were frustrated too, because our numbers dropped again in the weeks that followed. I’m thankful to say they are picking up again. But we all learned some very valuable things that day, and I will hash out every bit of info gained before I even think about doing something like this again. But what can you say? Ca va aller. (It’ll be okay…..)

From Marabout to Christ

2008-05-27T18:38:00.000-05:00

Burkina Faso along with many other West African countries experience what one might call mixed religion. Because of the animistic culture, the doctrines of many religions have been altered to fit into a mold that will work in this culture. For those of you who are not familiar with animism, it can be defined as the belief that a spiritual force is in all living creatures and even in inanimate objects such as rocks or the wind. They use magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, etc., or anything that they believe will help to protect them from the evil spirits and placate the good spirits that are found everywhere in everything. Their religious leaders are what we would know as witchdoctors. One example of this doctrinal alteration is found in certain forms of Islam. They have their mosques and religious leaders, but many Burkinabe also consort with the “Marabout,” or Muslim witchdoctors.

Two weeks ago we celebrated our church’s one year anniversary. We had a great day with many visitors. One of these visitors was a man by the name of Mamadou. After the service, while everyone was eating, he came to me and said he wanted to be saved. Earlier in the week, he had listened to a message on the radio that Jesus was the only way to go to Heaven. That morning, he heard me speak from John 10 that Jesus is the door. Isn’t it amazing how the Holy Spirit works! We talked about salvation for more than thirty minutes. He confessed that he was a Muslim and relied heavily on the counsel of the Marabout. He was now ready to leave it all for Christ. As we bowed our heads to pray, he said, “WAIT, what should I do with all the ‘stuff’ from the Muslim witchdoctor?” I explained that first, he needed to repent and ask Christ to save him, then he needed to go home and get rid of it. Praise the Lord, he did! He told me he was going to go home and get rid of it immediately. I asked him about it last Sunday at church and he confirmed that everything was gone.

“A Picture is worth a thousand words”

2008-04-24T10:09:00.001-05:00

I can remember growing up hearing the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I saw the truthfulness of this saying last Friday evening. Four times a year we show a film at our church as a way of outreach. We have shown the Jesus Film twice. The last time we showed “Facing the Giants”. However, this past week we showed a film that the majority of our people had never seen, “The Passion of Christ.” Because of the literacy problem here in Burkina, we had one of the institute students give a commentary in Moore (the local tribal language) during the film.

God blessed and we had about 230-240 people in attendance. I was touched as I watched people young and old a like shed tears as the events surrounding Christ’s death unfolded before their eyes. I had the opportunity to preach and share the Gospel, explaining the necessity of the Christ's death. Unfortunately, no one responded during the invitation. However, I know God was working. We had several new visitors at church the following Sunday. Please pray that the Lord will continue to speak to hearts and we will see decisions for Him.

The Chase Is On!

2008-04-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

Life is never dull here in Burkina. However, this weekend we had something very interesting happen. Let me start with a little background information. Three weeks ago we had someone come to the church and steal the electrical wiring that was buried between the church building and the toilet on the back side of the property. It wasn’t much, but it cost about $50 to replace it. Last Saturday, our electrician came and reinstalled everything.

Once a month, we have a church wide visitation to hand out flyers and invite people to come. There were seven of us this week that left the church Saturday morning to make visits. When we returned about noon, one of the guys saw someone on our property. Yes - the thief had already returned to steal the cable again. My friend jumped out of the car yelling “thief”…“thief”. Two others followed suit and the chase was on. Laope and I started the pursuit in the car. (In case you have forgotten my physique, let’s just say I’m not the fastest runner in the world.) We made quite a commotion as we were off-roading through a field to try to cut him off. Although he outran the guys, he quickly learned that he was no match for the Nissan.

We have several thieves here in Burkina. However, they live a dangerous life-style. If they are caught, a mob usually takes the law into its own hands. He is taught a valuable lesson at the expense of several bruises. A mob quickly assembled Saturday. However, we told them that it was not our goal to hurt him. We preferred to deal with the situation by talking with his family. Even after we put this reluctant 17 year old in the car, one gentleman said to leave him and they would be happy to take care of it for us.

I’m thankful to say that everything was handled in a Godly manner that I feel God will bless. I’m also thankful that we drove up before he had the opportunity to tear anything up. One interesting note is that Wednesday evening one of our members asked for prayer that the thief would be caught. Apparently, he had been hitting several homes in the area. Who would have thought that God would answer her request in such a fashion?

Quit Talking While the Movie Is On

2008-03-15T16:40:00.003-05:00

Quit talking while the movie is on! I think everyone has either said or heard those words at least once in there life. However, I found myself encouraging the opposite counsel Friday evening.

I had the opportunity to show a film and preach for a young Burkinabe pastor here in Ouagadougou. I told him it was his choice of film and we would try to accommodate. He wanted to show “The Passion of the Christ”. This created a little problem. Only 20% of the people here are literate. For those who have seen the film, you know it is in Aramaic. How were we going to communicate this film and its message to them in Moore (their tribal tongue)? That is when we decided to have one of our Bible institute students, Paul, give a commentary in Moore at the same time that the movie was playing. We kept the volume up, but not as loud as Paul’s microphone. It worked GREAT! I wish I could say it was my idea, but that would be lying. It was actually the idea of another Missionary who did the same thing a few weeks ago.

I preached just before the end of the film. We invited those who wanted to know more about salvation to stay and talk afterwards. Praise the Lord! We had 6 people accept Christ as their Savior. Please pray that they will become faithful members of this new church.

New Siblings in Christ….New Struggles in Ministry

2008-03-13T16:38:00.001-05:00

What a great time we’re having here in Burkina Faso. Life is certainly not always easy and people don’t always do what you ask or expect them to do, but we have much to praise God for. In the past two weeks, we’ve seen an additional 4 souls saved. It’s been amazing to watch God work and be used by Him. Last week, a young man named Abel came to our home to discuss our beliefs as a church and salvation. While he was in the office with Mike, Douninoma, and Benoit hearing about salvation, the Lord opened the door for me to talk with Noellie, the young lady who helps me in our home. We have been praying for Noellie for over 1 ½ years to accept Christ. Though her family is Catholic, she has been coming faithfully with us to church and has heard the message of salvation so many times. Always before though, it was simply a good story. However, this day, the Lord really worked. Throughout the day, He had been more strongly burdening my heart for Noellie’s salvation. At the end of the day, I approached her just wanting to know where she was on realizing her need for a Savior. He apparently had been working in her heart, because she told me that she’s wanted to ask me some questions about salvation for a while now. She had just never felt that the timing was right. God gave me the opportunity right then to show her some Scriptures in the Bible just as Mike was leading Abel to the Lord. He joined Noellie and I just after Abel left our home, and for the next 30 minutes, Mike and I got to lead Noellie to the Lord. In the time that she’s worked in our home, Noellie has become our friend. But now she is our sister.
Our Christian family is growing. Praise the Lord! This past Tuesday, we saw two more young ladies come to know Him as their Savior. They are sisters, Helema and Natasha. Helema is in difficult situation in her life right now. Her family is upset with her because she is pregnant now by a man who they do not like. He is not stepping up to take responsibility, so she has had to rely on her family even more. She came to us to ask us how to pray for this. We not only had the opportunity to tell her how to pray but to introduce her to Whom she should pray. Both she and her sister accepted Christ that day.
Already this year, the Lord has given us seven new brothers and sisters in Christ in our church. It’s fun to watch how they grow in their new faith. However, in the area where our church is located, not everyone is so excited. Within a one mile radius, there are at least seven mosques that we know of. The Muslims in our area are not at all happy with what’s happening at our church. They are discouraging their families and friends to come to our church and forbidding their children to come. The number of children coming to church now has seriously dropped in the last 4 weeks. For the past two weeks, I’ve only had 36 children in attendance, whereas before, we were on average running over 75 per week. This is discouraging to hear and to see. But we know that God is in our ministry. Please pray for our church – L’Eglise Baptiste de la Bonne Nouvelle –, the new believers’ growth, and the opportunity to reach more people.

Give It Up Or Get Out!

2008-03-03T14:52:00.000-06:00

This past week I was reminded how fortunate I truly was to grow up in a Christian home with wonderful parents who love the Lord. Recently my wife wrote a blog about a young lady named Franceline who accepted Christ as her Savior in our home. I realize it has only been a couple of weeks, but I’m thrilled with her spirit of wanting to grow. She is so excited about Christ and has been so faithful. However, we have encountered a problem. Her mother is Muslim, and although Muslims in Burkina are not generally violent, they are opposed to what we are doing. Sunday morning before she left for church, her mother gave her an ultimatum. She either has to leave the church or leave her home.

As I talked with her Sunday evening after the prayer service, it was obvious that she is discouraged and scared. We are hoping her mother said these things out of frustration and that she is not serious. Please pray with us that the situation can be resolved. Pray that our attitudes and behavior will be such that it can bring honor to our Lord. Who knows, maybe God will use this as a door where we can see her mother accept Christ as her personal Savior.

“Do I Pray In French Or Moore?”

2008-02-27T15:49:00.000-06:00

Life is full of “firsts”, and this was a first for me. Tuesday afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with a young Muslim man. He has been attending our services for about 6 weeks now. He started coming because he was invited by a friend to our volleyball outreach. However, during the invitation this past Sunday we finally had a breakthrough with him. Ibriam raised his hand admitting his need for salvation. Unfortunately, he didn’t respond after the service.

Sunday evening, I had the opportunity to talk with him after volleyball. I invited Ibriam to the house to talk about the church and answer any questions he might have for me. My major goal, however, was to present the Good News of Jesus Christ. After about a 45 minute discussion of the Gospel, he told us he wanted to be saved. Praise the Lord! After explaining a few more things, it was time for him to pray. That is when this young Muslim who speaks limited French popped the question, “do I need to pray in French or Moore.” I found myself chuckling on the inside. I explained that God can hear any language and He also sees the heart.

What I loved about this question was Ibriam’s sincere desire to get it right, and he did. On February 26, 2008, this young man abandoned his ancient beliefs, repented, and accepted Christ as his personal Savior. Praise the Lord for one more who inherited the “vie éternelle” (everlasting life).

“That’s Why I Came…To Be Saved”

2008-02-27T15:47:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning, February 17th, we had our largest number of adults in attendance to date. Thirty people came to hear the first part of Mike’s vision casting message for 2008. We were thrilled to have so many adults come. In Mike’s message, he was able to incorporate the Gospel. At the end of services, a young lady, who had visited a few times, raised her hand that she needed salvation. Her name is Franceline. We invited her to come to our house Tuesday evening to get to know her and to share our beliefs, specifically about salvation.

The following Tuesday evening, she and a friend, another young lady in our church who accepted Christ three months ago, came with Douninoma and Benoit, the two students of the Bible Institute who help us in our church. In talking with Franceline, we learned that she has not been attending any church for some time and made the decision to visit our church without having been invited by someone from our church. Soon, we turned the topic to our beliefs and salvation. She listened intently as Mike spoke of how one is saved and Douninoma read from Scripture those verses. After Mike finished discussing salvation and how it is a free gift that each of us has the opportunity to accept or reject, he explained to her that it is her choice. We did not want her to feel as if we were forcing her into making a decision and said as much. She commented, “That’s why I came tonight, to be saved.” Oh, we were so excited! After we spent a few more minutes discussing the importance of sincerity in one’s heart, Franceline knelt down in our living room and prayed to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. What a great night for all of us! She is now our sister in Christ!

This same week, we had the opportunity to invite another visitor to our house. Ousman, a young man who started attending our church as a result of our volleyball outreach, came on Thursday afternoon to discuss our beliefs. That afternoon, he too accepted Christ as his Savior. What a great week! Two new siblings in Christ! They are both eager to grow spiritually. We ask that you keep them in your prayers on this new journey.

A Special Thank you

2008-02-11T09:44:00.000-06:00

Over the Christmas season, we received so many wonderful packages - filled with goodies for us and other items like crayons to be used as a part of our ministry. To all of you we wish to say a special thank you. You were a huge blessing to us! On December 23, we were able to share part of that blessing with the children in our ministry at L'Eglise Baptiste de la Bonne Nouvelle. We handed out packages of crayons, candy, and stickers to each child in attendance. We wanted to share with you just how happy you made these kids. God bless you all for your love for us and your sacrifice for our ministry here in Burkina Faso.

Into the Swing of Things

2008-02-11T09:17:00.001-06:00

This Christmas season was a real treat for us. Mike's
parents, Ermen and Melvey, had the opportunity to come
visit us here in Burkina. This was their first trip
here and we were all so very excited to see them. They
were able to spend just over two weeks with us, and we
got to show them all around Ouagadougou and even took
them to the game park at Nazinga. We had a wonderful
Christmas spending time with family. The kids were
spoiled, of course, and received so many fun new toys
for Christmas. But they spoiled us too. They brought
over Doritos and Oreos and several other goodies we
can't find here. Needless to say, we had to make a few
new years resolutions.

January was busy as well, getting back into the swing
of things. Mike started teaching again the second week
of January at the Institute, and life kicked back into
full swing here at the house as well. We started a new
ministry at church the first week of January –
volleyball. Each Sunday night at 5:00, we have
volleyball at our church. It's proven to be a great
tool to reach out to our neighbors, and already 4
people have come to visit our church as a result of
this ministry. Two of these young men have started
coming pretty faithfully now. These volleyball nights
have given our people more opportunities of fellowship
as well. They are developing friendships with each
other and with us. This has proven to be an exciting
ministry for our church!
At the end of January, we had another visitor – a
friend from our Internship church in Rock Island, IL.
We got to show him around, too, and involved him in
the ministry as well. The last Sunday he was here, he
taught the children's church. He taught in English, I
translated into French, and Benoit translated that
into Moore. The kids did so well listening to him. I
was pleasantly surprised how well they did,
considering we had 112 kids in attendance!

Now we're into February, and we are busy planning and
implementing new ministries in our young church. In
December we baptized 8 new believers, so now we're
eager to see them grow and get involved. Some of our
new ministries that we will implement this year are
Bible studies for men and ladies, teacher's meetings
and a second Sunday school class (much needed), more
outreach activities (film nights), more fellowship
activities (game nights)….just to name a few. We're
looking forward to see what God is going to do this
year in this church.

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Blake's birthday

2007-11-05T09:38:00.001-06:00

In posting pics of all the things that have happened this weekend, I was looking over our blog and realized that neither I nor Mike had blogged during September. Therefore, we didn't get Blake's pics posted on the blogger. So, I wanted to post a few of his pics too. He's grown up so much. It's hard to believe he made four on September 2. Time really does fly. Especially when there's two very young children keeping you entertained. Enjoy these pics for his special day as well.

HELP WANTED!

2007-11-05T09:32:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, November 4, we held our first service as the Good News (Gospel) Baptist Church on our own property. What an exciting time! Before we arrived at church, Mike was sure I wouldn’t have that many kids, because we hadn’t been able to tell all of them that we were moving out there. However, we found that he was quite wrong in his guess. As we passed by our land a little early on our way to pick up some ladies, I saw that we already had a very large group under the hangar. Later on when we finally counted how many kids came, we found we had 102 in attendance. It was NUTS! A lot of fun, but NUTS! Again, it’s just Benoit and I who teach these children. Hence, the title. But we had a good time. I shared with them the message of the wordless book, or in this case, the color bag. They loved it, and I got a chance to share what the Good News really is. Our church is located in a commercial zone between two large neighborhoods, very Muslim. So, it’s wonderful when God allows us to share with these children the message of Jesus Christ.
As for the adults, Mike had a great time with them as well. There were 28 in attendance, an all time high for our new church. We were thrilled to see two young ladies come on Sunday that had accepted Christ during our movie night Friday night. What a great day!

Happy Birthday to a special little girl!

2007-11-05T09:27:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, November 3, we celebrated Aubrey’s third birthday. It’s hard to believe my baby’s already three years old. Time sure does fly. These days, she’s quite the girly girl. She loves pink…..let me stress that again. She LOVES pink. We’re already having little wars in the mornings picking out her outfits. If I choose something that doesn’t have enough pink (you know, the entire outfit in pink), I hear about it. But it’s really fun. She loves her baby dolls, princesses and my little ponies. It’s fun to watch her play. We gave her some my little ponies for her birthday, and she loves to brush their hair out, then use those brushes to brush mommy’s hair. (Not the most comfortable tool, but hey, what can you say? It’s too cute!) We’ll throw her a real birthday party and invite over friends when Nana’s package arrives. I’ll post some pics of that at a later date. But for now enjoy our family party pics.

Movie Night Chez Nous (Our Place)

2007-11-05T08:25:00.000-06:00

Movie, popcorn, and peanuts, this is a good combination to bring people in. Last Friday we handed out around 375 invitations to a movie night at our new location and to come to church on Sunday. The purpose of the movie was two-fold. First, we wanted the people to come and get familiar with our new location and have the opportunity for them to get to know us. Secondly, we wanted to present the gospel. We showed “The Jesus Film” in Moore. This is the most dominant tribal language here in Ouagadougou.

The turn out was better than I anticipated. We had 208 people there for the movie. Also, two young ladies accepted Christ as there Savior. They even came back to church on Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Visit to Visitation

2007-10-09T14:39:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we had the privilege of having two visitors at church, one of which had come a couple of times in the past. The two young men came from different religious backgrounds. Antoine was a Catholic and Ishmael was Assembly of God. Both were friends of one of our bible students. Last Sunday after the service we had the chance to talk a few minutes. I invited them to come over to the house so we could visit and to explain a little more what we as Baptists believe. Today, we had that meeting. After about two hours of discussing different beliefs, answering questions, and eating peanuts, Ishmael spoke up and said that he wanted to be saved. After he prayed and asked to Lord Jesus to be his Savior, Antoine said he needed to be saved as well. PRAISE THE LORD! Please pray for these two new believers as they began their new life in Christ.

One Down, One To Go

2007-10-09T14:34:00.000-05:00

As of last Friday evening, phase one of our building project was complete. Praise the Lord! We are now advancing on to phase two. This phase includes two specific projects: the wall which will encompass our property and a small one room house for two of the students from the Bible Institute to live in. They started construction yesterday. Our desire is to be in our permanent location by the end of October. Please pray with us that the construction will be complete.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

2007-08-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

You might think a missionary who lives just south of the Sahara Desert would never say these words. Believe me, they rarely come out of my mouth. However, when we get a heavy rain on a Sunday morning, it means disaster for our church attendance. Why you may ask. First, we do not have a single member of our church who owns a car. Most of our people walk, ride their bikes, or ride their moped (small scooter). Therefore, they don’t have the protection from the rain that many of us who own automobiles are used to. Secondly, with Burkina being one of the poorest counties in the world, we don’t have the infrastructure that we are used to in the States. A lack of drainage systems means water all over the roads, which are mostly dirt. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let these images explain the rest.

Money Well Spent

2007-08-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

Above is a picture of our new church building. Pretty amazing what $9,000.00 will build you here in West Africa. JUST KIDDING. This morning I had the opportunity to build a hanger "village style" with some guys from the institute and my friend Missionary Randy Smith. What you are actually looking at is our guard shack. Although the rainy season is almost over, we still get a shower from time to time. This is simply a little hanger where he can get in out of the rain. I'm sure our guard will think that it was money well spent.

A Place of Our Own

2007-08-21T11:34:00.001-05:00

I grew up hearing the old saying, “home is where the heart is.” Although that is true, I can tell you from the personal experience of deputation that it is nice to have a permanent place of residence. The same is true for a church. We all understand the building is not the church, the people are. However, it is nice to have a permanent place to meet.

I am happy to tell you that we were able to buy a piece of property on the 28th of June. In fact, today we were able to start construction of a small brick building where our church will eventually meet. Place pray for the spiritual and physical growth of the new church plant as it is in its infant stages.

Another One Won for Christ

2007-08-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

This past week I found myself a little discouraged. It had been several weeks since we had seen anyone accept Christ as their personal Savior. In fact, I recently talked with a friend of mine concerning the way that they do their invitation. I’m always looking for biblical methods that God is using. However, I found out that my friend, like most of the other missionaries here in Burkina, do things pretty much the same as us.

This past Sunday, despite the method of invitation and despite the “not so great” French, the Holy Spirit spoke to a young woman’s heart. Abzeta and her little baby boy have been attending our services on and off from the beginning. However, this week she decided to invite Christ to be her Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord! Please pray for Abzeta as she begins her new walk in Christ.

Ministry Update 7-22-07

2007-07-23T05:02:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-23T04:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-23T04:51:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-22T16:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-06T07:16:00.000-05:00

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.

Ministry Update

2007-06-13T15:40:00.000-05:00

June 13, 2007

Already a month and a half into our new ministry…Time does fly. This past Sunday we had 22 adults, some visitors, and 76 children. It was a good day to be there. It was the first Sunday for Ethel and Rebecca to attend, and the kids especially enjoyed trying to pronounce Ethel’s name. It’s quite difficult for the Burkinabe. But they do try.
We invited all the adults to this Saturday’s fellowship activity. We’ll be watching a movie, snacking, and getting to know one another. It’s our first activity, and we’re excited to see the turn out. I’ll post more on that later.

Today I was finally able to get a picture of Awa (right) and Miriam (left), our first converts here in Ouagadougou. We look forward to seeing how they grow in their faith. Please pray with us for our new sisters in Christ.

hello friends, goodbye friend

2007-06-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

June 13, 2007

We have been looking forward to this visit for several months now, and it has finally arrived. Last Wednesday, my sister Ethel and a friend Rebecca from my home church in Gulfport came for a visit. They arrived at 2:30 in the morning (I guess we’ll take a visit at whatever time it comes). Since then we’ve been showing them around Ouagadougou and allowing them to experience some pretty interesting firsts. So far, they’ve survived all, and are picking up French quite well. We’re looking forward to the next five weeks with them.

In the meantime, we have to let Carissa go back to the States. She flies out next Monday, the 18th. We are all sad to see her go. Blake and Aubrey held a conversation with her today that made me smile. We told them that Nouni gets to go see her family next Monday. Blake reasonably assumed she would have to take a plane and told her he would take another one and catch up to hers. Aubrey chimed in, “I wanna go”. So they’re realizing a change is about to happen, and have picked up on some of it. But we’re not looking forward to Monday night when Carissa does actually board the plane without either one of them. None of us are looking forward to saying goodbye. She has become a member of our family, and will be sorely missed.

Another Big Day

2007-06-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

June 04, 2007
Yesterday was quite a day at church. The week before there were many Catholic baptisms in our area, so our numbers were considerably lower. But this week we had almost as many kids as we had the first Sunday – 79 with only 3 helpers including myself. But now some of the older girls are kicking in to help us hand things out, even sing some different songs. It’s really fun to watch them get involved.
But I learned another valuable candy lesson. The kids here do not like spearmint chewing gum. It was rather amusing to watch them all twist their faces trying to find an agreeable place in the chewing gum. They tried to enjoy, and I learned another lesson. C’est la vie.
The adult attendance was better than last week as well. They had 18 compared to 13 last week. Four of the adults came in late and were first time visitors. Assitu came as did her husband Issufu. Mike is teaching a series on "What does the Bible say about....". This week he preached on sin and repentance. We continue to pray that God will soften Issufu's heart and show him his need of a Savior.

The Angels of Heaven are singing

2007-06-02T17:22:00.001-05:00

May 30, 2007

Every missionary eagerly awaits their first opportunity to lead someone to the Lord in their language. It's the reason we're here – to share Christ.
On Tuesday evening we got our opportunity. Four people from our church and our two helpers came on Tuesday to discuss salvation. One of the ladies had made a profession in Dassasgo, but wasn't sure of her salvation. She brought her husband and sisters to come to our house and discuss it.
That evening was pretty interesting as Mike asked questions with the help of Douninoma translating into Moore and discussed from the Bible what salvation is and what it isn't. When he asked them what salvation was, they responded that it was following the
commandments of God. He discussed a little more, showing more verses. He then asked the same question. They responded it's going to church, praying, and following the commandments of God. He explained a little more; then he asked the same question. This went on for some time – each time he took them back to the Bible. At the end of his explanations, he left the room, and the group of people that had been quiet the entire evening started going off a mile a minute in
Moore. Douninoma continued to explain what had already been said. But now they felt more comfortable to talk and ask questions.
When Mike returned to the room, Awa, one of the sisters, told Mike she was ready to pray. She now understood that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ – not by following the commandments of God. Her prayer was so simple, in Moore, but so beautiful. Douninoma translated her prayer into French for us to understand. Mike and I both had tears in our eyes when she finished. Her younger sister Miriam then took her turn to pray. When she finished, she too had tears in her eyes.
It was a beautiful evening. Assitu, the young lady that had made a profession of faith, gained assurance of her salvation that evening.
The Angels of Heaven are singing to see two new believers and another gain assurance.
Assitu's husband, Issufu was not ready that evening to make that decision. Please pray with us for him that God will continue to work in his heart and draw Issufu to Himself.

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Candy Situation

2007-05-22T11:27:00.000-05:00

May 22, 2007

In my last blog, I informed you of our candy situation
at church – a small war really, the children versus
me. It was a real problem, and I had to find a
solution. Many people offered me advice on how to
handle this problem, and I am pleased to tell you …..
the situation is under control.
Well….for the moment, anyway.
This Sunday we had 62 children in attendance and 4
helpers. It was much calmer than last week as you can
well imagine. Before I handed them crayons, paper, and
especially candy, I told them if they beat me up they
won't get any candy. They were on their best behavior.
I was pleased.
Several of the kids from last week did not come back,
but we still had some new faces in the crowd. I'm
excited to see what will happen next week.
We studied our memory verse again and continued on in
our study on creation. These kids are very smart and
it's fun to watch their faces light up when they have
the answer to the question. Please keep them in your
prayers as some of them are going home to families
that do not believe in Jesus Christ or the Bible.

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First Service News!

2007-05-14T04:22:00.001-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,
May 14, 2007

Yesterday was our first church service in Somgande,
and WOW what a day! On Saturday, we handed out over
400 flyers introducing ourselves and inviting people
of the neighborhood to come to our first service. As
we were walking our group grew rapidly with several
children tagging along to join us. We had several
adults tell us they would come, and could only guess
how many would. Blake and Aubrey even got involved.
Blake did wonderfully with the people, shaking
everyone's hand and even holding some of the kids'
hands. I couldn't believe it! I was so proud. Both the
kids walked in the heat like troopers for about two
hours without complaining. Aubrey was her usual social
self, and tried to barge her way into every gate we
came to. We had to tell her we were playing "Follow
the Leader" and she wasn't the leader. That worked for
a minute.
All in all, we were very pleased with how quickly that
all got done. Then I worked with Marceline practicing
our lesson. We had a class of about 15 kids on
Saturday as we practiced.
I never would have imagined the outcome on Sunday.
Mike was hoping for a group of around 20 adults and
had 22 in the service. I hoped for around 50, planned
for 60-70 and had 84 that we counted. WOW! It was
amazing! When we arrived at 8:30, we already had a
group of 8 kids that had been there since 6:00 that
morning! I was overwhelmed. We played the name game,
and let me tell you, very few of these children have
simple names. So they all had a good time laughing at
me when I severely messed up their names. But by the
end we were getting along well.
But I did learn a hard lesson. Candy time was madness.
I think all of them at one point at least had their
feet on my toes. They attacked me! My workers and
other moms kicked in to help, and I could hardly even
pass the candy off to them without the kids pawing at
my hands. So, next week I'll try a different way of
handing out candy. We'll see what works best.
Blake and Aubrey did pretty well. Aubrey was still
very tired from the day before, and decided she wasn't
going to hang out with the kids. At one point, she
escaped from Carissa's attention and made it all the
way into the church service and up to Daddy to help
him preach before Carissa could get her. Blake did
pretty well. He sang with the kids and even tried the
memory verse in French a couple of times. I had him
help me hand out coloring papers, and the poor kid got
bombarded too. So, he did his best then gave the rest
of the papers to a bigger boy. But I was proud of him.
Aubrey helped hand out crayons, and we learned a
valuable lesson there as well. Like they attacked me
for candy, they attacked my poor little helper for
colors. But she held her calm, screaming "No" several
times. Poor thing. We tried and learned.
Well, I must let you go for now. I hope this finds you
all doing well. Thanks again for all your prayers for
us. Our week was interesting and rough as we watched
several, clever ways the Devil can attack and
discourage. But to God be all the glory for our
wonderful day yesterday. He is so good and powerful.
Thank you for all you do: your prayers, your love, and
the ways that you support our family and ministry here
in Burkina. We could not be here without you.

Love and miss you
Pam

PS - I will post pics on our website as soon as I can.
www.bbfi-africa.org/hillhouse

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Getting started

2007-05-11T11:33:00.001-05:00

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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Family and Ministry update

2007-05-10T09:23:00.001-05:00

Hello, Family and Friends,

Just wanted to give you an update on all that's
happening these days in Burkina for us.
We love you
Enjoy the read

Pam

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A Packed Load

2007-02-19T15:13:00.000-06:00

For the last couple of Sundays, Charlie and I have split up the "bus route" (however, we use our 4x4 vehicles). I have been picking up the people from the area we hope to start a church. This has actually worked out very well. I have had an opportunity to get to know some of our people a little better. I have also had the opportunity to talk to them about the new church plant(hopefully in May). This is already beginning to create excitement.

The first week we split the bus route was a special day. Bro. Konnerup, our missions director, we here. He was preaching that morning. I made two trips and picked up 19 people. The car was packed each time. This past Sunday I picked up 18 (5 adults and 13 kids). We are hoping to start with a good group in May.

An Encouraging Visit

2007-02-15T14:50:00.000-06:00

We had the privilege of having our Missions Director, Dr. Konnerup, here in Burkina for four days. Also, the director of Manna Worldwide, Bro. Bruce O'Neal, accompanied Bro. Konnerup. It was a great visit filled with encouragement and a lot of food (after all, we are Baptist and the one thing we do well is eat).

One of the most profitable aspects of the visit was talking with Bro. Bruce. We are planning on starting a Manna Feeding Center in the future. However, we weren't absolutely positive it would work here in the capital city. Secondly, we still needed to be approved by Manna. After much discussion and many questions, we are going to give it a go after we get our first church somewhat established. We are hoping to start sometime in early 2008. However, this is dependant on many factors. Pray that our first work will be at a stage that this will be possible. Seeing the poverty day in and day out makes us very excited to do something to meet some of the physical needs of these children.

He Keeps Them Coming

2007-02-05T08:57:00.000-06:00

For those of you who read our newsletter, you know that we had that opportunity to invite Ibraim to church. We met him while we were looking at some land. It is funny how God brings people into our lives when we are not expecting it. Well, he has been there four weeks in a row. Praise the Lord. However, it gets better. Two weeks ago he brought three young ladies from his family as visitors. Last week, one of the young ladies returned and he brought another guest. I was greatly encouraged.

We are looking at starting our first work in his neighborhood. We have a few contacts through Bro. Charlie’s ministry. Continue to pray that God will allow us to meet people from that area. We are hoping to start the new work in May.

Power Outages Reach Around the World

2007-01-23T07:42:00.000-06:00

If you live in the Midwest, you can relate to power outages. In your case, it is because of the ice. As you know, it is difficult to have a service in the evening when there is no power. The same is true here in Africa.

We also had to cancel services. No…no…no…not because of an ice storm here in Burkina (only in our dreams). Some of the houses and offices here in Burkina require that you pay for electricity in advance. Our church has that kind of account. Two Wednesday’s ago, while we were on our way to church, I received a call that the power went out. Isn’t that the way Satan works. It happened around 6:45, and our midweek service starts at 7:00. The evening wasn’t a complete lost. We were able to have a little bit of fellowship in the dark; and we had a time of prayer.

African Bumper Cars

2007-01-18T14:45:00.000-06:00

One of the hardest things to get used to here in Africa is the driving. In fact, one man who visited from the States said it was the most interesting thing he experienced here in Burkina. I think he is right. Traffic here is bizarre.

This morning Pam and I were driving to school. Traffic was crazy as usual, and no one wanted to wait their turn as usual. At one busy intersection an “impatient” woman decided she would pass about five cars on the left hand side of the road so she wouldn’t have to wait. However, she ran out of room and was headed straight for the oncoming traffic that was waiting for their light. She then decided she would make a hole and try to make the guy in front of me stop. She ended up hitting him with the passenger side of her car…YES that is right, she rammed him. His car was old and he didn’t seem to care, so he didn’t give an inch. It was a bizarre experience. I guess one could call it African bumper cars.

Situation in Ouagadougou - day 3

2006-12-22T18:34:00.000-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you all so very much for your prayers and
emails. God has been so good to us, and today we
learned that things should be getting back to business
as usual. We're so very thankful. Today we even got
out and about, but mostly enjoyed a relaxing, restful
day.
Thank you again for all your prayers. Not only in this
situation but all the times that you lift our names to
Heaven. God continues to bless and protect.
Merry Christmas to you all.
In His Care
Pam Hillhouse

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Situation in Ouagadougou, day 2

2006-12-21T17:30:00.000-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,
I'm writing this email at 11:20 P.M. after a fairly
quiet day. Praise the Lord. Today, tensions were high
and a curfew was issued. But while there were a few
gunshots heard, it was nothing compared to yesterday's
excitement. We are thrilled to write this.
Please pray for continued peace in Burkina. The latest
news we received from the embassy is that there
continues to be some struggles between the military
and police. But at the moment, all is quiet.
Thank you all for your prayers. So many have responded
to my first email that you have been praying. We
cannot thank you enough.
God Bless
Pam Hillhouse

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Small Differences

2006-09-07T16:10:00.000-05:00

I walked out of our gate this afternoon and had to watch where I stepped. There was evidence that the "garbage truck" had been here. Ok, we don't actually have a "garbage truck," we have a "garbage cart." You see, we hire a man who owns a donkey and cart to pick up our trash twice a week. I will leave the evidence I mentioned above to your imagination. This is just one small difference between our old life in the States and our new life here in Burkina.

Distractions

2006-08-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

In the churches we have been a part of, there are very few distractions to the message comparatively speaking. But when we first arrived in Burkina, there were several we just weren’t expecting.
The rain is one fine example. When the rains first started, the people were so excited to see it again after many long, hot, dusty months. The message and lessons had to be wrapped up quickly because the noise was LOUD. The roofs here are metal, and if you’ve ever been through a storm under a metal roof, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And the people were so distracted, thrilled it had finally arrived. I remember the first time it rained on a Sunday morning here. Children and adults all played in the rain. It was a fun time.
Another interesting distraction happened last Sunday in the middle of church. Just after the preaching began, our neighbors started to cut down a rather large dead tree with a chainsaw. The young man who was preaching has a quiet voice and did his best to keep up with the message. However, the noise continued almost until the end of the message.
These are just a few examples of some of the distractions we never would have thought about before coming to Burkina. But the longer we are here, the more they sound like the norm here. Dogs barking, children playing, donkeys crying, seemingly thousands of flies buzzing…. you know the usual. It’s all starting to become normal for us, too.

A Little Something Unexpected

2006-08-30T12:31:00.000-05:00

Before last Saturday, it had been almost seven years since I received my first, and I thought my last, proposal of marriage. However, things all changed last Saturday when I went to the marche (outdoor market) near my house.
Mary Joyce and I went to buy vegetables and fruits and got much more than we bargained for. As we were heading out of the marche and toward our vehicle, a lady stopped us trying to sell us some more. We kindly told her we had already bought everything we needed. She then asked Mary if I, the fat white girl, was her daughter. (I have found there are blunt people everywhere you go). Mary and even I had a good laugh over that. We went on to explain we are friends and work together. After this, a young Burkinabe man, who had evidently missed out on that entire conversation, asked Mary if he could marry me, her daughter. It was a shocker for the both of us. We quickly explained I was already taken, and walked quickly from the marche.
When I arrived home, I told Mike competition is steep here and he better work hard to keep me. We all have had several good laughs over this one, and hope you do to.

prayer update

2006-08-17T15:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family, and Prayer Partners,

What a crazy week we have gone through. Just over a
week ago, we discovered there were tumors in Jeffs
brain (Mikes brother). Weve gone from the
possibility of cancerous tumors, to cancer starting
elsewhere in the body, to the immediate possibility of
Jeff undergoing surgery. Thats a lot to take in one
weeks time. At this time, the tumors are not thought
to be cancerous, he does not have any other signs of
tumors any where else in his body, and the surgery has
been postponed for a time.
Earlier this morning, Jeff was released from the
hospital and allowed to go home for two weeks. The
swelling in Jeffs brain has been caused by a weak
vein not allowing blood flow to the right side of his
brain. The doctors originally thought the tumor was
wrapped around this vein. The doctors discovered this
weak vein during his angiogram on Monday. They
attempted to put a stint in the vein to open it up.
This was not successful in placing the stint, but in
stretching the vein some to allow it to function
better. This vein could have been the cause for a
future stroke or aneurism. It could have been
something he was born with, but was discovered in
dealing with the tumors. Isnt God good!
Now Jeff is on his way home, and will be able to stay
there for two weeks, before returning to the hospital
in St. Louis to discuss their next steps. The tumors
have to come out, but the swelling in the brain must
go down before that will become a reality. During the
time at home, he will see his eye doctor to keep an
eye on his optic nerves.
Thank you all again for your continued prayers and
your letters of encouragement. We have received an
amazing response from you and are deeply grateful.
They have been a source of great comfort to all of us
during this difficult time.

In Christ
Mike, Pam, Blake, and Aubrey Hillhouse

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Update on My Brother’s Health

2006-08-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

As many of you know through our email updates, this past week has been a very difficult one. Wednesday, while I was I church, I received a call that my brother was sick. They found two large tumors on the brain. This news was unexpected and shocking for the whole family, especially his wife and two little boys (ages 2 and 5). Friday we were told they thought it might be cancer, but it did not originate in the brain. Our hearts sunk! After several examinations they determined there was no sign of cancer anywhere else in the body. Praise the Lord!! The doctors are now thinking the tumors in the brain are non-cancerous as well. However, the large tumor is wrapped around the part of the brain that affects our mobility. The hospital in Springfield felt it best to transfer him to St. Louis, MO. He is now undergoing more tests. The surgery should take place this week some time.

The reason for this blog is two-fold. First, I want to thank all of you who have so diligently prayed. I believe God has answered our prayers and is in the process of performing a miracle. Secondly, he is not “out of the woods” yet. There is a possibility that Jeff could come out of the surgery paralyzed. Please continue to pray for my brother and our family. I am so thankful for so many wonderful friends who have prayed for our family and encouraged us through emails and calls.

THANK YOU!!!!

New Restaurant Experiences

2006-07-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

Once a week, Pam and I get together with Charlie and Mary Joyce. The purpose is three-fold: fellowship, help with the cultural adjustments, and FOOD (after all, we are Baptist). It has aided my wife and me greatly. This past week was a little different because humor was added in the mix.

We went to a restaurant where you sit outside at tables. These types of places are very normal here in Burkina. The setting was very nice. It was a nice restaurant. While we were waiting on our food to arrive and visiting, I noticed my wife get very startled and uneasy. As I turned to see what was going on, I saw a black rat walking by our table. Charlie and I had a big laugh at my wife’s expense (sorry honey). We found out later that many of the Burkinabe think they are “good eatin”. Although we are adjusting to the culture rather quickly, we are not to that point yet.

Petite Frustrations

2006-07-20T16:21:00.000-05:00

As much as I love Burkina, I miss some of the conveniences of the States. I thought I would give you an example of a recent issue. Before we left the US we bought a new dryer to pack in our container. Everyone said it wouldn’t be a problem to use here since all dryers are 220 volt. Well, that wasn’t the case for us.

When our container arrived, some of the guys from the Bible Institute helped us unload. One young man was an electrician. However, I think this was out of his league. When we tried to hook it up, we fried the motor and some sort of converter in the dryer. I hired a professional and asked if it could be fixed, if he could find parts, and if he needed me to order something from the States. He said it wouldn’t be a problem to fix it. However, electric dryers are not a common appliance in these parts. He worked on the dryer for one month…yes, I said one month. After several phone calls, he finally had it finished. The good new is that the dryer is working. The bad news is that none of the original switches work. They couldn’t figure out how to hook them up so they decided to install their own timer (looks like and egg timer). I also have three cords coming out of the back. One is for the motor that turns the drum (110 volt), one is for the heating coils (220 volt), and I’m not sure what the last one does.

I know that in time, I’ll look back on this and laugh. However, you better give me a couple of weeks before you mention it.

God Continues to Bless

2006-07-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

One of the toughest adjustments we’ve faced is the language barrier. It is a depressing and frustrating feeling when you want to communicate, but can’t. I think the people who work at the “Shoppette”, a small grocery store close to our house, always get a laugh when I come in for something. I might have won “Funniest Home Videos” when I tried to convey that I needed dog food. However, it’s not just the little things. Pam and I desperately want to talk with people about the Lord. Recently, God gave us the opportunity.

Last week, while I stepped out of the class for a few minutes, one of our teachers asked Pam when we baptize our children. However, she made us answer in French. The conversation was a lengthy one. Pam had the opportunity to talk to her about salvation and baptism. I made it back in time to deal with the issue of works, and how they are not a part of salvation. Our teacher is a Muslim. We have invited her to church, but I’m not sure she will come. Please keep her in prayer. Also pray that we have many more opportunities to share Christ.

I do have a praise. Last Sunday, Missionary Charlie Joyce asked me to preach and he translated. After the service, a young lady accepted Christ as her Savior.

How to strengthen your prayer life

2006-07-03T17:17:00.000-05:00

Recently, we had to tackle a task that I have been dreading for a while now. I had to teach Pam how to drive a standard. I keep telling her it has done wonders for my prayer life (only kidding ladies). Driving in Burkina is far different from the States. We get to share the roads with other vehicles, mopeds, bicycles, people and donkey pulled carts. It is quite an adventure to say the least. I have been so impressed with my wife. She has picked it up rather quickly. Yesterday she drove to church and today she drove back from school. Soon she will be chauffeuring me all over Ouagadougou.

A little rain to brighten our day

2006-07-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

In the States, we usually think it is the sun that brightens our day. During this time of the year, the opposite is true here in Burkina. The people get so excited when it rains. I have to confess, I’m right there with them. Anything that lowers the temperature is exciting. At church Sunday, it came a gully washer (for those of you not familiar with the term, it’s hick for it rained a lot). The people were thrilled. After the service the kids couldn’t help but play in it. What brightened our day was not the rain, but our son’s reaction to the rain. He has been so timid around the Burkinabe, however, not Sunday. He was right there in the middle of the action. He was allowing the some of the kids to even hold him. He had such a good time. As I watched him, I couldn’t help but smile for I knew it was another small step in Blake’s acclimation to the culture.

Home, Sweet, Home

2006-07-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

We have now been in our house for almost 5 weeks. I know this blog comes really late. But let me tell you, it’s been an adventure. The first 2 ½ weeks we lived with little to nothing in our little house. We had foam mattresses to sleep on, and some cooking supplies. It’s pretty amazing how little you can live with, and still survive. It sure made me miss the funniest things – like knives that don’t rust the first time you use them and most especially a can opener!

Our first night in the house was an adventure. Carissa (the Nunu – French for Nanny, but we call her Nuni) and I stayed up until 2:00AM cleaning our new home, then tried to settle in for the night. However, after we both cleaned up, we noticed the bathroom in the master bedroom had some major problems. The plumber had come earlier that day to do some repairs and replacements, but left all the pipes in that bathroom open. We didn’t realize that until all the water had puddled on our floor spreading from the bathroom into the bedroom. One of our foam mattresses became a giant sponge that night. So, we didn’t get to go to bed just yet. It was time to do more cleaning. We finally got to bed after 3:00AM and had to get up for class the next morning. What a memorable first night!

Our container finally arrived on June 17^th, and it was like Christmas come early. As I opened boxes and containers, the smells of home overwhelmed me. It was a nice day! The next two weeks were crazy busy for us, with all of our things having to be stuffed into our house and small dependent. WE DID IT! Our house now feels like home, and it doesn’t echo! That’s very nice with our two kids screaming at the top of their lungs. “Inside voice” doesn’t mean a whole lot to them right now.

So now it’s “Home, Sweet, Home”.

A Bon Experience

2006-06-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

Life in Burkina has been full of new and fun experiences. However, there is the occasionally one we could do without. Last week, the kids were sick so Pam decided to stay home with them. I was going to go on to language institute. However, instead of taking a taxi, I decided I would save the money and borrow Charlie Joyce’s mobylette.

Things turned down hill in a hurry. I made it about a ½ mile away from the house when it died. It ended up being out of gas so I had to push it a little ways to a gas station. I asked the attendant to fill it up. I didn’t realize they try to get all they can in the tank. The goal is accomplished by shaking the moped. As a result, gas started coming out the overflow. I didn’t realize he had shut the fuel switch off. I made it a few more blocks down the road and it died again. I finally figured out the problem.

Things went better for a couple of miles till I blew a tire. The good news is that there’s always someone to help just around the corner. I was able to get a new tire and tub and I made it the rest of the way. One added plus was that I provided a few laughs for all the teachers and students at the language institute.

Our Anniversary

2006-06-10T17:05:00.001-05:00

Today is our 6^th Anniversary. My how time has flown! It seems like yesterday I was walking down the aisle to see my weeping groom. He says it was allergies. I know better now. So, tonight we’ll venture out for our second date in Ouagadougou. Mike is doing really good at driving in this city. The printed map we have is of very little help, but Charlie has hand drawn several maps for us to help us get around. There are few street signs around. So, everything is by points of interest. But so far we’ve not gotten lost.

Our search continues for a vehicle. We’ve seen many, but still no vehicle to our name. Pray that we’ll get a good vehicle for a reasonable price. We’re looking now at one, and have made an offer, but we’ll see what happens with it. We’ll let you know.

Monday we start language school. I’m excited about that! I look forward to having a schedule, though I know my body will complain when I have to get up and leave the air conditioning. But I am eager to study the language so I can understand more of what everyone is saying. Today I attended the ladies Bible study, while Mike went to the men’s. I could understand some of what was said. But I’m eager to see how fast we will learn being immersed in French.

Friday marked our first day of rain here in Burkina Faso. It smelled so good. We’re looking forward to seeing how green Ouaga really gets. Charlie says it gets pretty green. We look forward to that!

Well I must go for now. I’ll write again soon.

Aurevoir

Home Sweet Home

2006-06-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

Monday was a profitable day, as we spoke with the landlord of the house we wanted to rent. We met at noon, and discussed details, then finally signed a contract. We have a house! I was so thrilled. We told Blake Monday night that we found his new house. He was so excited. For the past several months he’s been saying he “lost Blake’s house”. That’s pretty pitiful, and hard to swallow for us as parents. But we loved being able to tell him we found it, but now it has to be “cleaned”, so we can’t go in just yet.

We had to meet with her again on Tuesday to claim our keys to the house and pay her the deposit and two months rent. We also discussed some things we would like to have done to the place and she had no problem. Our laundry appliances will have to go in a separate building called a dependant, and immediately she told one of her guards to get water to that building for us. While we continued walking through we heard her in the back telling her guard to set up our clothes line. She’s already done so much to the house to make it a nice place to live, but she continues. We learned Tuesday night that no one had wanted to rent the place because the roof leaked (not an uncommon problem here). But on Wednesday, we saw the guys on the roof patching it up.

We’re so thankful things have worked out the way they have. God has really had His hand in all of this. We have seen so many answers to prayer already, and we know it’s because so many people are praying with us that God will work all these details out for us. It’s incredible to witness it. Thank you for your prayers.

Our first date in Ouagadougou

2006-06-10T16:59:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday morning, Mike and I went out for our first date in Burkina Faso. We went to the American Rec center and had waffles and an omelette for breakfast. (Sounds like we’re really suffering, huh?) Then we decided to go down to the Sony shop and discuss prices for some of the appliances we need to purchase there. Mike had his first time of driving in Ouagadougou, and did a very good job. It was nice to be able to get out on our own, but after we got through at the Sony shop, we decided to walk to the library. That’s when we were swamped. So many people wanting to sell you this or that. It was almost tiring saying “No France, only Anglai”. For those of you who know French, keep in mind, we don’t yet. One girl got pretty excited when she found out we weren’t French. She evidently likes Americans, and gave me a high five. It was pretty interesting. They’re very sweet people, and every one wanted to try their English out on us. Most of them speak us much English as we do French. But all in all it was a good date – a profitable one. We were able to barter the prices of our appliances down to less than what we budgeted, and we got a map of Ouagadougou that will help us to figure this place out.

The Journey Begins

2006-05-12T18:12:00.000-05:00

On May 9 we set out to begin our new lives and ministry in Burkina Faso. While the plane rides were long and uncomfortable, it did finally come to an end. We arrived in Burkina Faso around 8:00 P.M., and the heat hit us full force. We went through the process of having our papers checked rather speedily. All of our bags came in (highly unusual), and customs never even took a peep inside them. We couldn’t believe how quickly we were out of the airport.
On Thursday, Mike got up early to visit the Bible Institute. He then set up our bank account in Burkina and our post office box. We were told that the Post Office box is especially hard to get so quickly. We were fortunate. We even got a larger box!
Today, we went out again, and put my name on the checking account. So if I figure out the franc money system I can spend some money =) Then, we drove by a potential house for us. The first house we looked at was one Charlie had told us about prior to our arrival. We knew it would need a lot of work. We agreed with him when we saw it. However, the guard across the street showed us two other houses on the same street that were for rent. The second house we saw today, I fell in love with immediately! It was beautiful, and requires very little work before we can move in. We’ve already talked with the landlady on the phone and discussed a price that is lower than what we budgeted. We believe she agreed to that price. We’ll meet with her on Monday to discuss all the details.
We have been pleasantly surprised to see some of the things Burkina Faso has started getting since our last visit. They now have chocolate! Good American Snickers and Twix Bars. On top of that we can get cheddar cheese and a great assortment of juice boxes for the kids. How lovely is that! There’s even a bowling alley. I was a little skeptical, but it’s quite nice. It has 5 lanes, and looks like one we might see in the States.
The heat continues to be high. I’ve not sat down to convert it from Celsius to Fahrenheit, but suffice it to say – WE”RE HOT!!!!
Thanks for all your prayers and emails

A sigh of relief

2006-03-17T23:01:00.000-06:00

I am typing this blog from "Sunny California". Well, right now it's not so sunny and not so warm. But it's beautiful anyway. We arrived yesterday in L.A., and had so much fun in the notorious L.A. traffic. We took the 405 to 101, and 65 miles or so took us 2 1/2 hours. But it was breathtaking scenery. The kids did well on their first flight. Blake thought it was pretty neat to fly in the sky, and Aubrey didn't care either way.
But today we were able to go sight seeing and enjoy our first real day off in months. Our container is packed and on it's way to Africa. Our March newsletter shows some of the pictures of the event of packing the container. We had so many helping hands show up. We hired Daniel Pelton out of AR of Mighty Movers to pack our container for us. We all watched in amazement as slowly but surely 335 boxes and items were packed on the 20 ft. container. Praise the Lord!! Pray for our container that it will make it safely.
Well, gotta go.

Packing Pandemonium

2006-02-10T16:19:00.000-06:00

Two days ago, we learned that in order for our container to arrive around the same time we do, we have to ship it on or around March 9th. I knew it was coming soon, but I guess hearing the date has sent me into a bit of a frenzy. It's crunch time! And I feel so unprepared. Things are coming together, though. This time away from packing has been good in that I've had time to schedule appointments we all need, settle medical questions, and write out multiple lists of "things to do" and "things to get". Mike is a little worried as the "things to get" list continues to grow. So, we are both feeling "Packing Pandemonium".

Please pray for our sanity during this time. It is a precious commodity we're running short on these days. And pray for Mike's parents. They are about to undergo the craziest adventure of their lives - allowing us to move in with them the last few weeks we are in the US.

Blessings from unexpected places

2006-01-26T16:04:00.000-06:00

It's amazing how God uses the unexpected to bless our lives. This past weekend I received a call from my dad. He mentioned that a gentleman we used to work for in construction wanted to meet with me. He thought he wanted to help us financially with our ministry. WOW...what an unexpected surprise.

We had lunch Monday in Springfield. After talking about family, the mission field and old times, he got out his checkbook. Chuck and his wife handed me a check for $2,000.00. GOD IS GOOD! If you have been keeping up with us, you know we have been praying for money to help with set-up cost, tickets, shipping, etc. Isn't it amazing how God sends blessings from unexpected places.

Packing, Packing, Packing

2006-01-20T12:57:00.000-06:00

The question Pam and I have on our minds is how much stuff can we actually cram into a 20' container. The last few weeks we have had local meetings in MO. Therefore, that has allowed us to get a lot of this shopping and packing accomplished. However, there is still much to do. We are trying to condense things as much as possible. I even bought 60 vacuum bags a while back. But we are still not sure everything is going to fit.

Pray for Pam. She is starting to feel the pressure. We go back on the road this weekend. Pray that we can organize our time in such a way we can get everthing accomplished.

Good News for Christmas

2006-01-12T06:31:00.000-06:00

One of the greatest things that Pam and I could have
received for Christmas was a good report from our
daughters doctors appointments. Many of you will
remember all the complications concerning Aubreys
birth. One of which was a hole in the heart. Good
newsthe hole is gone! After many tests, the doctor
concluded that she is just fine. Praise the Lord!
Aubrey also had an appointment with the team of nurses
who monitor her development. There was some concern
about mental disabilities surrounding the birth.
After several tests, we were told that she is right on
track with the majority of her development, and she is
ahead of schedule in a few areas.

What a miracle. Thank you all for praying.

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One More Partner

2005-11-28T22:52:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is over and we are one the road again. This week we find ourselves in the great state of Texas. Sunday morning we had the opportunity to visit one of our supporting churches in Bowie. That evening we made our way up to Witchita Falls. After having a great time with another friendly church and presenting our burden, the church voted to take us on that evening. Although they won't be able to start the financial part till after the first of the year, we picked up some immediate prayer support. One more partner...God is good!