(From Steve, team leader – lightly edited)
Good evening to all from Burkina Faso. Kerry (the 3rd missionary working with our team in B.F.) has been with our student team in the village of Bouldie from yesterday afternoon to this afternoon. No direct news from the village today, but we are assuming and believing that everyone on the team is doing well. As far as their well-being is concerned, “no news is good news”. When David (local missionary) came back into Koudougou yesterday afternoon, he said that the team would be continuing the same type ministries today as they had already been doing—interacting with the people and looking for opportunities to do “servant evangelism”. This type of evangelism frequently helps open the door for the missionaries and Christians from the small local church to do follow-up and hopefully have a direct opportunity to explain the message of the Gospel.
Having finished my 2 seminar sessions yesterday with the 8 local pastors in the Koudougou region, this morning (Saturday) was a free morning for Barbara and me. David took us out to a lake with lots of crocodiles, which are considered “sacred” in the pagan, animistic religions in this region. They let us watch the workers feeding chickens to the crocodiles (the chickens were already dead). It was fascinating to see many of them swimming around the lake and then coming directly towards us as the workers approached the water with the chickens. A few of the crocs came up out of the water on the lakeshore. We have some good photos of the crocs, including some of Barbara and me “holding the tail” and “sitting down” on one—-I hasten to say that this one was considered “TAME”. It also gave us another opportunity to “prayer walk” as we prayed for God to open a door for the Gospel among those holding these pagan beliefs.
This afternoon Tami (local missionary) returned to Koudougou, having gone to Ouagadougou to pick up one young man who arrived for a 2-week volunteer ministry with them (this young man is a Southwest Airlines co-pilot, based in Houston). A Burkinabé Christian man also came to Koudougou with them, wanting to help with the evangelism efforts of our team during the next few days. Not long after Tami arrived back in Koudougou, David departed again for the village where our students are ministering. The Southwest pilot, the African Christian man and Barbara all went to the village with him. This would be Barbara’s only chance to be with the students in the village because she will be meeting with a group of ladies from the Baptist churches in the Koudougou region on Monday and Tuesday morning for a Prayer Walking ministry. She was looking forward to being with our students during their late-afternoon ministry activities, enjoying the evening meal with them, spending the night (sleeping on mats) with the team, worshiping with them in the small village church tomorrow morning, before returning to Koudougou tomorrow afternoon.
It was not possible for me to go to the village with the others today because I am scheduled to preach Sunday morning in the a.m. worship service of one of the Baptist churches in Koudougou (the church where we held the seminar with the 8 pastors on Thursday and Friday. The pastor of this church translated for me (from French into the Morai language) during the seminar and will do so again tomorrow for the worship service. Most of the pastors who were in the seminar and the majority of the members of this church do understand French, but there are enough who are weak enough in French that translation into their ethnic language is necessary. So, pray for me as I proclaim the Word in French through a translator tomorrow.
Tomorrow (Sunday), after worship and lunch in the village, everyone on our team (the 9 students, Barbara, David and Kerry) will all drive back into Koudougou for an afternoon/evening/night of R&R at the hotel. We know that the students are all looking forward to having a “bed” to sleep in, a bath under a real “shower”, a little shopping in the Koudougou market, a good restaurant meal, and a good night of sleep. We are looking forward to meeting with them and hearing about their village ministry experience and some of their stories—-I’m sure that there will be many, very interesting ones. The e-mail update that will be sent on Sunday evening will certainly include some tid-bits of what they share as we meet together.
On Monday morning, our team of 9 students will be taken back to the village of Bouldie, where they will then split up into 2 smaller teams (3 guys and 2 girls on one team and 2 & 2 on the other one). They will then go to 2 other villages (David with one team and Kerry with the other team) for continued servant evangelism for the next 3 days. I (Steve) will travel up to Bouldie with the team on Monday morning. After the team is split into 2 smaller teams and they arrive in their new villages, I will actually be able to visit and spend a little time with both teams in their new locations, before I return to Koudougou with Tami.
Well that’s about the summary of news from Burkina Faso for today. God is at work. Pray that all of us can be used in a way that will bring Glory and Honor to His Name.
Steve (for all of the team in Burkina Faso)
All the news sounds so good and exciting, We were thrilled to get to talk with Kelli and Keri- It by far is MY best and most FAVORITE Mother’s day present EVER. May the LORD continue to bless each one of you, keep you healthy and provide wisdom for His work there …. Much love and prayers to each one and can’t wait to see and hear all that is accomplished in HIS name…. Sonja, Shawn and Rylee Hearn