Greetings from Burkina Faso! Our most recent research trip took us to one of the most isolated regions of Burkina Faso. Isolated in the sense that what little progress and development the country has managed has not been spread there. In one village we visited, we were told that the nearest school was 50 kilometers (30+ miles) away. That may not seem all that far to you, but consider that to my knowledge there are no school buses in the country and certainly not in this region, and nearly all students would go on bicycle or on foot. Then also consider that the roads there are the worst I’ve seen. We left the pavement in Bobo and traveled about 300 miles without seeing it again. It is true that there are some decent dirt roads, but these were not them. Even the locals, without our biased American notions of development, complained continually to us about the roads. There are no electric lines or phone lines in the region (no cell service either). I noticed after driving off and on for about two days that we never encountered another vehicle (not including motos, bicycles, donkey carts, etc.). I had previously lived and traveled in West Africa for 2 years and never encountered so remote an area (with the possible exception being the desert around Timbuktu, Mali). At one point David and I were counting our blessings pondering how many thousands of people we had probably driven past who had never ridden in a vehicle. How many had never placed a phone call? Never been to a doctor or dentist? Never learned to read? More importantly, how many had never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The findings of our research are encouraging and discouraging at the same time. There are a number of churches even in this remote area. However, they are not reaching the local people, the Dogose (pronounced doh-goh-SAY). They are churches full of “visitors” or “strangers.” You may think of it like this, in the USA we have many immigrants, particularly in large urban areas. There you may often find Muslim mosques or Buddhist temples full of those immigrants without any Americans who are native to the area. Much of the region we visited would be considered Dogose territory. In their case, the “immigrants” are not people of different countries but of different people groups within Burkina. Still they speak a different language, have a different culture, and in many cases a different religion. Thus, most of the churches in Dogose territory consist of Mossi, Lobi, Bobo (a people group as well as a city), and other ethnic groups who have moved into the area. We only met one Dogose believer and he happens to be a pastor. Still, he has only one other Dogose believer in his church. He told us he only knows of a small number of Dogose believers. The four people groups we focused on, the Dogose (of whom there are two kinds), Khe, and Khisa (who we learned refer to themselves by different names), are nearly exclusively Muslim. Sadly the churches in the area are making almost no effort to engage them. They are in great need of our prayers and of faithful Christians to take the Gospel to them.
On this trip, David and I were blessed to be joined by a Burkinabé (the official term for a person from Burkina, pronounced Burkina-bay) pastor. He served as an assistant and translator. He also said that he had not seen anything like this area. He described it as a “forgotten” region. He himself, a Bobo by birth (no jokes please), is a missionary to another people group, the Tiefo. He sold his moto in order to purchase a house in a Tiefo village. (As a 40-year-old man, his only means of transportation now is a bicycle.) He was soon forced out of this house by gunpoint. He left the village for a while only to come back and settle in another part of town. He said the research trip was eye-opening for him in that he saw other pastors in much more remote and hostile areas than his. For example, one pastor we visited was chased from a village by 50+ men with swords/machetes. The situation in this area is very discouraging. Like this Burkinabé pastor, I got a better vision than ever of how hard some people have it, and in contrast, how blessed I am. Consider yourself. If you are reading this, first, you can read, second, you probably have access to electricity and telephone (or other form of internet connection), third you are likely a Believer or at least have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Know that so many people, not only in this region but around the world, have none of that. Even these few categories put you in a very small percentage of the world’s population. We must be thankful. Yet, we must not merely be thankful. We must also use our blessings/resources for the glory of God, not simply for our own pleasure and comfort.
So what’s next for me? Tomorrow, Thursday (March 30), Aaron Mills, a Journeyman based in Senegal who is a part of the larger “Engagement Team” and is doing the same kind of work, will fly in to Ouagadougou. From there, he and I will embark upon a trip to Ghana, south of Burkina. We will be researching four more people groups (Birifor, Vagla, Safaliba, and Kamara) in the northwest of the country. I look forward to meeting Aaron and working alongside him. I am also looking forward to speaking a familiar language since Ghana is English speaking. We will be in Ghana somewhere around 12 days before Aaron has to return to Senegal.
Here are some matters for prayer:
* Praise God for a safe, healthy, and successful research trip.
* Please pray for the same during our trip to Ghana (approx. Mar. 31 - Apr. 11). Since this will be a significantly longer trip than the previous two, please pray for endurance as well.
* Pray that God would send laborers to engage the Dogose, Khe, and Khisa with the Gospel and that many would accept it.
* May we all thank God for all the blessings he has given us and seek how He would have us use them for His glory.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. You are a blessing to me.
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