Kids and caterpillars

Everybody loves kiddy pics!

Yes fried caterpillars are considered a delicacy in parts of Burkina Faso. They had a decent flavor but the texture is hard to overcome - not to mention the thought of what you're eating.

We be jammin' - on our tin cans.

Burkina newsletter #19

Greetings from Burkina Faso! Sam and I had a good 10 days in Ghana to wrap up his time in West Africa. There we found some areas which were extremely evangelized: about 20 denominations in one town. We found other areas with only one denomination ministering among an entire people group: the Sisaala. The Sisaala are largely unreached by the Gospel. Pray that God will send more laborers into the harvest among them.

The past couple weeks I’ve been writing reports on the eight people groups we’ve recently researched, writing evaluations of our volunteers, paying bills, making arrangements in villages for our future volunteers, catching up on email and college basketball, and cleaning the dust out of my house – none of which make for a very thrilling newsletter. However it might be good information for those of you who might think my life is all waterfalls, road trips, and safaris. Now back to the good stuff.

On Monday we will welcome back Bartlett Baptist Church (Tenn.). They are our first “Engaging Church” and have adopted the Vigue people. You may remember that I spent several weeks among the Vigue from June-September with 3 different teams (the last being the first Bartlett team). This team will spend Feb. 21-28 with the Vigue. Besides continuing to build relationships and share the Gospel with individuals, we also hope to show the Jesus Film this time. We still know of no Christians among the Vigue, but we hope you will pray with us that that changes soon.

On March 2^nd the Bartlett team leaves and the next day a team from Compassion Church (Raleigh) arrives. They are coming on a vision trip to look into adopting a people group like Bartlett has done. We plan to expose them to several unreached groups in southwestern Burkina. One of the groups we are hoping to introduce them to is the Western Karaboro, who, like the Vigue, have no known Christians. I recently went to their main village called Tengrela to explain to their leaders that we have some strangers/volunteers who want to come spend some time in their village learning their language and sharing with them about God. This is usually simply a formality to give them a heads up. We are regularly welcomed with open arms. However on this occasion I was told by an elder that we can only come on one condition. It is their custom to make sacrifices whenever visitors are coming so that all will go well with them. On top of this he expected that we would provide the sheep and chicken for the sacrifices. I made it known that our beliefs would not allow us to contribute to their sacrifices. Even after another conversation with him, he did not back down from his condition. Still we plan to at least stop in to greet these people. Please pray “that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.” (Colossians 4:3)

Praise God for:

* Sam and his willingness to spend such a large chunk of time helping us with our research and ministry.

* the vision and willingness of Bartlett Baptist and Compassion Church to be a part of the Great Commission.

Please pray for:

* the Lord to send laborers into the harvest among the Sisaala people of Ghana.

* the Bartlett team’s time among the Vigue – that God will help us “to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19) and that He would bring salvation to the Vigue (Romans 10:1).

* God to guide Compassion Church in finding their place of service in West Africa.

* the Western Karaboro people – “that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.” (Colossians 4:3)

Thanks so much for your prayers for me and more importantly the unreached peoples of West Africa. The Lord is sending laborers and He will reap the harvest in due time. God bless!

Weird stuff

When kids don't have playstations, G.I. Joe's, or whatever's the hip toy . . . they make stuff up: like this soccer ball made of scraps of cloth and this decorative headband made of an empty medicine strip and a plastic string.

So we were in Ghana at a decent hotel and this is what we found on the menu. I was delighted and proud. Of course I ordered it. It was good but not quite like the Colonel's. 46,000 Cedis might sound a little steep, but that's about $5.

So this is not such a strange sight any more. It seems every time I go to the Nazinga game park (3 or 4 times now I'd guess) we get charged by an elephant. Yeah it was pretty close and gave us a good trumpet sound.

A tree growing up/out of/inside a wall. The wall happens to be part of an ancient fortress near Loropeni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loropeni)- one of Burkina's little tourist sites. Nobody know when the fortress was built.

Camels on a bridge in Burkina.

Things volunteers do for fun:

This is our Christmas feast, almost entirely prepared by Master Chef Meagan (who's in the headband and probably wishes I'd picked a more flattering photo). With the poorest of resources she proved to be incredibly resourceful. We were truly astounded and grateful.
This is what happens when the kids (like Troy here) step out of line. That's an elephant leg bone from the game park we got to visit. Yeah it's real and heavy. We saw live elephants too. Pics later.
This is a shot of all the vols I got to host through most of Dec/Jan. We were only all together for about 3 days while some were coming and some going. From left to right: Sam ("Judge"); Mark (just Mark); Stephen ("the question"); Paul ("Asteroid"); Meagan (the girl); Troy ("Fatback"); and me ("Chief").
This was not an uncommon thing for me to see in my rear view mirror. Lazy punks. Just jokes. It's more funny cause only Asteroid and I knew I took the picture.
Here we are trying to introduce the Africans to bobsledding. I know what you're think and yes Africans could fit 8 in a bobsled. Actually we were just helping a guy who was stuck in the sand. Or at least I was helping for a while before I stopped to take this pic.

Dogose/Komono religions

This is a pastor (standing on far right) and some church members having an impromptu praise session at our request. We were doing some research and video work in the Dogose village of Bawe. This is one of only two churches with a significant number of Dogose believers. There are no such churches among the Komono.
We witnessed the Muslim celebration of Tabaski in the Komono town of Mangodara. This is part of the five times per day Muslim prayer ritual. (See newsletter below for more details)
You can't tell but the small crowd of people huddled up are the guys helping the local iman sacrifice the ram for their celebration. Since this is a family show I didn't figure you needed any more detail.
Again this is part of the Muslim prayer ritual, supposed to be repeated five times per day.
This dirt pillar is a typical family fetish. A fetish is essentially a physical object which the animists believe has spiritual/supernatural powers. Some people have smaller fetishes which they keep inside but this one is for a whole family. We were told by the "owner" that they make sacrifices to it to ask for things like good rains and a good harvest at the beginning of planting season. They also make sacrifices of thanks whenever they get what they asked for. The feathers and dark blood streaks are from their most recent chicken sacrifice.

Burkina newsletter #18

Greetings from Burkina Faso! It’s been a few good weeks since I last wrote. The latest trio of volunteers (Meagan – Paul – Troy) has all returned home leaving Sam and I. Their first week we traveled some more among the Dogose and Komono groups taking video as we went. Meagan is going to produce a “virtual prayerwalk” on disk for those peoples. (I hope to tell you how you can get a hold of that when it is finished.) The Lord allowed us to see some remarkable but sad things during our time. At one point we encountered a man and his fetish while strolling through a village. A fetish is essentially a physical object which the animists believe has spiritual powers. In this case the fetish was a mound of dirt/mud with a clay pot on top and “secret stuff” inside. We could see dried chicken blood and feathers from their most recent sacrifice to the fetish. It was a sad, visible reminder of their often secret devotion to this sort of religion. (see Isaiah 44:9-20 on this issue)

We also were allowed to witness and video the Muslim holy day of Tabaski (know elsewhere as Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Kabir). This is their celebration of when God provided a ram instead of having Abraham sacrifice his son. This happened to fall on New Years Eve this year. The celebration as we witnessed it included a huge gathering for one of their regular morning prayer times (around 9 AM). Then there was apparently a little “preaching” (couldn’t understand what was being said). Afterwards the imam sacrificed a ram. Everyone was then free to go home and sacrifice their own ram. Sadly these people do not realize that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

After these travels among the Dogose/Komono Meagan left. The rest of us then completed some more research – this time on the Nuna and one of three types of Bwaba. I’m glad to say that the Bwaba are one of the most evangelized peoples that I’ve encountered. The Nuna also have many churches in their area though they still do not have a large percentage of Christians among them.

Sam and I a planning to wrap up his time here with a research trip to Ghana. Since they speak English there he will be doing much of the research himself – leaving me as the chauffeur.

Praise God for:
* health/safety/good fellowship throughout these volunteers’ time in Burkina.
* sending these student volunteers to serve with us in Burkina.

Please pray for:
* the Dogose and Komono people groups – that they would be freed from their slavery to fetishes and false religions.
* Meagan as she produces the virtual prayerwalk disk for the Komono/Dogose.
* the upcoming research trip Ghana.

As always thank you for your prayers and support. Happy 2007!

kerry spencer

Burkina newsletter #17

Seasons Greetings from Burkina Faso! First, some thoughts on Christmas: E.B. White wrote books about talking animals. He also said “To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.” I think he’s right; at least when I consider the American “wrappings.” As I mentioned last newsletter there are almost no wrappings here in Burkina Faso. There’s the occasional random sight of street vendors selling artificial Christmas trees and the local grocery store (run by Lebanese) decorated with Christmas lights. I recently was in downtown Bobo and was pestered by a little boy selling postcards. Just for fun I asked if he had any Christmas cards. He said “oh of course” and began thumbing through. He pulled out one with a girl carrying carrots on her head. He said “cause there are lots of carrots during Christmas time.” It’s true actually. He was funny and persistent so I bought the carrot-head-Christmas-card. So the point is there’s virtually no Christmas season here. And that’s OK because it challenges us as Christians to discover how important Jesus’ birth really is to us. We must remind ourselves about the story and make time to worship the Messiah. And we do. The challenges in America and Burkina are similar but different. Either way we have to give the celebration of Immanuel’s birth our attention and effort in order to make it meaningful. He is certainly worthy of that.

Well I suppose the gig is up by now. My supervisors, David and Tami, went home to surprise their family for Christmas (as well as take a couple short seminary courses and speak in some churches). They’ll be back here in February. That means I’m alone in assisting the volunteers we currently have here. Nonetheless Sam, Mark, Stephen, and I had a safe and beneficial time traveling among the Dogose/Komono peoples. I was reminded of how undeveloped and unreached the area is. I must say I have quite a burden for the people of that region. They need so much (roads/schools/health facilities/drinkable water), but most of all they need salvation in Jesus Christ. According to our research these people are around 0.003% Christian. Still on one occasion we managed to “run into” one of those Christians by stopping at a random little shop on the side of the road. It’s fun serving a sovereign Lord. Just after Christmas I’ll be going back to the region with Sam, Troy, Paul, and Meagan. One thing we’ll be doing differently is taking some video footage to produce a “virtual prayerwalk” (you may hear more about that later). Please join us in praying for the Dogose and Komono peoples that they would come to know the Jesus who “is the image of the invisible God”(Col. 1:15) and “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature”(Heb. 1:3).

For those wondering what I’ll be doing for Christmas: We plan to attend Christmas Eve services at a church in Ouaga. Then the Haber family (IMB missionaries in Bobo) have invited us (myself and our four volunteers) to celebrate with them. I look forward to the joyous day.

“Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78-79

Praise God:

* for Christian family to celebrate Christmas with while away from my family in Kentucky.

* the volunteers who God has sent during this time (Mark and Paul leaving on Saturday; Sam, Paul, Troy, and Meagan staying through Christmas and New Years).

* the birth of the Messiah.

Please pray for:

* the Dogose and Komono peoples – that God would open up to us a door for the word among them.

* me to be a good chauffeur, translator, teacher, leader, and servant for our volunteers.

Thanks so much for you continued prayers for me and the unreached peoples of West Africa. God bless and have a joyful Christmas!

Travels among Dogose and Komono

Here is our team who traveled/researched among the Komono/Dogose: Sam in front; then from left to right: Stephen – Pastor Denis – Mark. The guide is in back and those lumps in the water are our friends the hippos. This was a little tourist sight we were able to take in on our way.
This was part of the cotton harvest for one of the pastors we visited. We took a little time to pick some ourselves. I guess I can never again argue if someone calls me a “cotton picker.”
This is a picture I’ve been trying to get for a long time. Believe it or not this is a fairly regular sight on the highways. We simply call him “the chicken man.” Yes they’re alive. I wonder if this is how KFC transports their birds.
Just liked the sight of this young boy intently reading his Bible in church. He can play a mean beat on the djembe (drum) too.
We came upon this village and stopped to ask some questions. We were greeted by this touching scene. This is a believer from a nearby village who is teaching these kids (for no money) reading/writing/arithmetic since this village has no school and there is none nearby.

Burkina newsletter #16

Greetings from Burkina Faso! I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and an enjoyable time in Togo for our Re-new conference. I am blessed to have such a great missionary family: both in Bobo and scatter across West Africa.

I have often asked you to pray Luke 10:2 with us: “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” I praise God that He is answering that prayer. Recently we have been receiving messages seemingly every day from new people who are interested in serving among the unengaged peoples of Burkina Faso. We have already scheduled six groups for the first six months of 2007 and are still trying to make plans with several others (but there’s still room for you). God is calling and sending laborers and we are thankful.

That is not to mention the four college/seminary students who are coming this month. Due to the groups coming next year we have some work to do in preparing the way for them. That is largely what we will be doing this month and next. On the 11th we welcome two more volunteers: Mark (a buddy from seminary) and Stephen. They will join Sam and me in traveling/researching/ministering among four of the least evangelized people groups in Burkina Faso. These are four different, but related peoples in far southwestern Burkina who (for simplicity’s sake) we will call the Komono peoples. (I would refer you to Newsletter #4 if you want to read up again on the Komono – who I was calling the Dogose at the time.) According to our previous research these four micro-peoples total only about 35,000, and we know of only about 30 believers among them. We found them to be almost exclusively Muslim - of course with some traditional religion (animism) mixed in. Our purpose on this trip will be to learn more about the Komono peoples (as they are a very complex group of peoples) and to seek out where would be best for us to plug in volunteers for ministry among them. Of course, if the opportunity presents itself we would love to begin sharing the Gospel even on this trip. Please pray for that. As Paul requested: “praying at the same time for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ . . . that I may make it clearly in the way I ought to speak” (Col. 4:3-4)

The 20th – 23rd we will have a transition time with this group leaving on the 23rd and another group of two (or possibly three) arriving on the 20th. With this second group (Troy and Paul) we are planning to continue our work among the Komono and then begin preparing the way for some more work in a different area of the country. Of course, we will also be celebrating Christmas on the 25th. I hope those of you in the States have a very meaningful and joyful Christmas season. Here in Burkina Faso there is no Christmas “season,” only Christmas. Though this may seem a little sad in some respects it personally helps me to focus on the bare truths in the story of Immanuel.

While speaking of the Christmas season, I want to speak briefly to you Southern Baptists. It is this time of year that you give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Know that 100% of that offering goes directly to the IMB to support people like me (well, mostly people a lot better than me). I am deeply grateful for your gifts which make it possible for me to be here serving the Messiah. I am truly blessed through your generosity.

Praise God:

* a time of refreshing in Togo.
* that He is sending laborers into His harvest.
* the birth of our Messiah.

Please pray for:

* the Komono peoples – that God would open up to us a door for the word among them.
* us to make the best use of the volunteers who will join us in the coming days/weeks/months to reach the unreached.

Thanks so much for you continued prayers for me and the unreached peoples of West Africa. God bless and Merry Christmas!

Niger pics

Our guide to the desert (Sali) is doing his part to fight desertification.
This was the one time we got seriously stuck in the sand. After about 30 minutes of digging we were free and on our way. The gentleman with the automatic weapon was a military guy hitching a ride. It's hard to say no to a guy with a firearm.
Some say Niger has the last herd of giraffes in West Africa. Here's evidence.
Sali again posing
So Sam told Nehemiah (our guide/interpreter) that he'd like to ride a camel sometime. Next time we saw a guy on a camel, Nehemiah flagged him down. Up Sam went.

Buduma people

This is a group of Buduma men (known as tall people - compare to Sam [white guy] and Nehemiah just in front of him) who we had a good long visit with. They gave us a lot of information and were very open. They say they realize they are an unknown people and need help. They pleaded for us to get out the word about them. Despite to pressing needs of daily life, what they need most is the Gospel. We know of no Buduma Christians.
These are some Buduma houses. They are made of millet or sorghum stalks. This village, according to the GPS, is about 20 miles into Lake Chad. Obviously, since it's not underwater, Lake Chad is no longer there. It's shrunk drastically in recent years.
Some of the same Buduma men with Nehemiah (a Nigerien missionary and our guide/interpreter) on the far right.
Apparently all Buduma women wear nose-rings. The Buduma also do a lot of facial scarring as you can somewhat see on these two ladies.

Tal dessert

Who knew sand could be so beautiful and interesting? What a wonderful Creator!

Burkina newsletter #15

Greetings from Burkina Faso! I’ve been to the desert and back! It was a great African road trip (over 3000 miles roundtrip)! I really enjoyed Niger despite it being ranked (on the HDI) as the least developed nation in the world (a few spots below Burkina). Our trip was not without incident yet it was blessed and well planned by the Lord. In Ouagadougou and Niamey (the capitals of Burkina and Niger), the truck underwent some maintenance work causing us to be delayed a couple days in each country. However the delay was not a waste because we got to hang out with many in our mission family. Sam was also able to recover from a slight illness. From that point on we had no health problems and had almost perfectly uneventful travel (aside from getting stuck in the sand for half and hour, being taken to the police station after refusing to pay a bribe, and the A/C going out a few hours from our return to Ouaga – so maybe that’s a big “almost”).

One theme of the trip would be fellowship with, and hospitality from, our Christian family. Nearly everywhere we went on the trip we were met with open doors and delightful dinner tables. We were hardly roughing it as expected (we were well stocked with granola bars, tuna packs, and peanut butter). As best as I can count, we stayed the night with six different families (some multiple nights) and were fed 24 meals over about three and a half weeks. Still, I didn’t feel like a bum but more like a member of a large, generous family. I think I can now better relate to the instructions Jesus gave his 12 disciples as he sent them out as the first missionaries. He told them “that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt.” (Mark 6:8) In that situation I believe they were expected to rely on the hospitality of non-Christians. How much more should we expect Christian hospitality? In fact it was commanded: “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:1-2). Sam has commented that it seems wherever we go we seem to find great folks in the missionary community. It’s true. I’m very blessed to have the relationships I have here. I thank God for them and their hospitality.

As for the research portion of the trip, we investigated seven groups, but the three furthest east were the most striking. It was not terribly surprising to find that the people around Lake Chad are almost completely untouched by the Gospel. We learned of only 6 believers among the two Kanuri groups and 0 believers among the Buduma. The difficulties in taking the Gospel to this area are obvious. Just getting there much less living there is an enormous challenge. It is a 23-hour drive from the capital (with some stretches of terrible road) and the landscape is very dry and barren. Yet these people need the Gospel so desperately. I know God can equip His ministers even for such a difficult task as this. Let us pray that He will do just that.

The coming weeks will be fairly busy. First I’ve got to write up the reports on our research. Next week we plan to attend a Thanksgiving celebration for the whole missionary community in Bobo. Two days after that I will fly to Lomé, Togo for a 3-day conference. Soon after arriving back we expect to receive two volunteers on December 10th and then a couple more on the 20th. I thank God that it’s a good busy.

Praise God for:

* the heath, safety, and good information that God provided on our trip through Niger.
* the many hospitable families who took care of us and encouraged us on the trip.
* Sam (a fine traveling mate) and the other volunteers coming in December.

Please pray for:

* God to make a way for the Gospel to reach the peoples of the Lake Chad Basin.
* the conference in Togo to be beneficial and refreshing (the name of the conference is “Re-new”).
* our preparations for, and the coming of, the volunteers in December.

As always, thanks so much for you thoughts and prayers. I am encouraged by you despite the distance between us. Note: Amazingly we now have high-speed internet access in Bobo (Praise the Lord!). This means you will benefit by getting to see more pictures on the blog.

work and play

Rarely do I have anyone with me on research trips who is interested in taking my picture. Fortunately I had IMB journalist Jesse on the last trip. Here's a great pic of my back. In this pic I'm chatting with a pastor (in white) who we had to track down in his field.
You may wonder what I do for fun. Besides wrestling crocodiles and juggling farming tools, sometimes I try backflips off waterfalls. OK so I only tried it once, but when you get it right the first time, why show off. Unfortunately the Nigerian judged docked me half a point for too much spash.
Here was another guy we were taking research from. This time we're in a more traditional setting: a church. The guy nearest me is Abdoulaye, a frequent traveling buddy.

Burkina newsletter #14

Greetings from Burkina Faso! The 17th was a big day. We said goodbye to volunteer Ashley Jackson and welcomed Sam Gowin. These are a couple of interesting folks. Ashley is a 23-year-old banker/university student/pastor’s wife from Seattle who’s had a growing interest in missions. Sam is a 29-year-old former nuclear engineer and current lawyer who’s taking a few months off before seeking a new practice. They are an encouragement to me because they are further evidence that God is drawing individuals from all areas and walks of life into his service. I recently read that “God’s business is our vocation. Everything else is our avocation.” I wasn’t smart enough to know what an “avocation” was, so I looked it up. Turns out it’s basically a hobby. I like that thought. It actually came from James Brown (not the fancy dancer and entertainer) the sports talk show guy. I thank God for Ashley’s and Sam’s interest in spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the nations (Matthew 24:14). I thank God for their willingness to sacrifice (time/money/comfort/relationships) to join us in the task He has given us.

Among other adventures, Ashley joined us for a research trip to the Pana people, another micro-people of only about 7,500 people. The Pana are located on the border with Mali, about a 6-hour drive northeast from Bobo. We had an enjoyable visit among them and even found an entertaining English-speaking university student in the village of Oué (pronounced “way”). Sadly, there is almost no evangelical work among the Pana and we heard of fewer than a handful of believers among them. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to the Pana.

Sam will be broken into the research task by a little trip to the far side of Niger. We will leave Monday and will travel well over 2,000 miles round-trip. On our way we will research two groups in the east of Burkina (Zerma and Hausa), then two groups in the west of Niger (Mossi and Gourmantche), and we’ll finish with three groups around Lake Chad (Buduma and two kinds of Kanuri peoples). I’m told to expect sand dunes as we go further east toward Lake Chad. Sounds fun huh? Due to the distance we will travel it’s hard to estimate how long we will be gone but we expect the trip to take weeks instead of days (we definitely plan to be back by Thanksgiving). I look forward to the adventure. Though I’ve only recently met Sam I can tell we will do well together.

Sunday is the last day of Ramadan. Monday, the 24th, is one of the most important Muslim holidays of the year. There will be much feasting and celebration among the Muslims of Burkina Faso (more than half the population) and the world. Pray that even at this time God would bring doubts into the minds of many Muslims. Pray that He will draw many into a relationship with Him so they will truly have reason to celebrate.

Praise God for:

* the blessing that Ashley was, and Sam will be, to our team and our ministry.
* continued health, safety, and all around blessed times on our research trips.

Please pray for:

* the God’s guidance and protection on our research trip through Niger.
* God to send more laborers to the Pana and other unengaged people groups in Burkina and around the world.
* Muslims to be able to see the Way the Truth and the Life as their holy month comes to a close.

As always, thanks so much for you prayers and support. God bless!

Burkina newsletter #13

Greetings from Burkina Faso! First some business. If you are used to receiving these newsletter by email and didn’t, please let me know. I’ve recently remodeled my hard drive and lost my email list. If you didn’t know you could get these newsletters by email, and think that would be cool, just let me know. Thanks.

I recently had another successful research trip. This time we took a look at the Natioro and Blé peoples. They are two tiny ethnic groups (know as “micro-peoples”) of only about 4,000 and 1,500 people respectively. The Blé are only found in one village, conveniently named Blédougou (“dougou” means town or village in Jula and “Blé” means wheat in French, which is trivial because “Blé” means Blé in Jula). First of all, how amazing is it that there are such small groups of people distinct from all others with their own language and everything. That’s God for you. Anyway, Pastor Alphonse, a new traveling partner, and I were trying to find Blédougou. We stopped, as is our custom, and asked some locals on the side of the road (as Blédougou is not on a map, nor are there signs on the road). One fellow said he was a Blé from Blédougou and he could use a ride (as is often the case since approximately nobody in the village owns a vehicle unless you count bicycles). So we take Salia (Blé guy) with us down the typical terrible road. We had already spoken to the two pastors who had, just this year, started the first church in Blédougou. In chatting with Salia we find out that he is a Christian. In fact he was the first Blé to convert to Christianity (most other Blé are Muslims and Animists) and is now the “president” of the Blé Christians. What are the odds that we stop to ask directions at a random spot on the side of the road, still miles away from Blédougou, and we find the first of the Blé Christians (perhaps in all of history)? Normally, I’d say not too good. But knowing God to be the amusing and amazing God He is, I wasn’t too surprised, but I was amused. Since the Blé chief wasn’t home we just took some more info from Salia and had a good visit with his family. He listed off how many believers there were (about 40). He told us of the verbal abuse they take and how they just don’t listen to it. He pulled out his notebook where he had noted the first church service taking place on March 26th of this year. He showed us the wooden cross he’d made and stuck in the ground beside his hut so that “whoever comes by will know that there are Christians here.” We prayed for them and made our way home.

This was a touching visit for me. To our knowledge there were no Blé Christians until this man converted earlier this year. I was encouraged by the two pastors who have made numerous treks from their villages to come to Blédougou and share the Gospel with these people. I’m glad they beat us to it. I’m glad some of the Blé have accepted the Gospel and are excited about it. I’m glad that God is still working to gather the great multitude from every nation, tribe, peoples, and tongue (Revelation 7:9). I’m glad to know this fascinating God. I praise Him for all this.

Here’s what’s going on in the coming days. Ashley Jackson, short-term volunteer, arrived on Friday. She will be accompanying us on a research trip to the Pana people. The same day she leaves, October 17th, Sam Gowin arrives. Sam will be with us several months. He is coming primarily to travel with me on research trips. After some orientation and getting settled in Burkina, we will be leaving for Niger on a very long trip. I hope to write again before we leave and will explain more then.

Praise God for:

* divine appointments such as the one with Salia – the first Blé Christian.
* the work He is doing among the Blé, Natioro, and other “micro-peoples.”
* sending Ashley and Sam to serve with us.

Please pray for:

* God to raise up more pastors/churches, Burkinabé and others, to take the Gospel to the “micro-peoples” of West Africa.
* these Blé Christians to grow in their faith and for more Blé and Natioro to come to know Him.
* God to continue to bless us with successful research trips: health, safety, the acquisition of good information, etc.


As always, thanks so much for your prayers for me and the peoples of West Africa. God bless!

Sundry photos

OK. I’ll make a deal. Any church that comes over here and adopts an unreached people group gets one free picture in the Faso News. These are the “spies” from Bartlett Baptist (Memphis). Don’t worry they’re not Tennessee Volunteer fans. Oh and the dark complected couple in the middle are not part of the team. That’s Pastor Dénis and his wife Nema. He has been on a couple research trips with me. Great guy. This is Noufou, bicycle-parts-store-guy, from Karankasso-Vigue, who would like to become a Christian except for the worries about his Muslim family (mentioned in the last newsletter). Please continue to pray for him.
I decided no website about Burkina Faso could be complete without a picture of some tô and sauce. This is the standard meal for most everyone in the country (who’s not white). Tô is usually made of ground and boiled corn or millet. The sauce is usually made of stuff you probably aren’t familiar with and would prefer not to eat. But it’s growing on me.

My grandma recently requested a picture of Tami . . . so here it is. That’s her husband David with her. In case you haven’t been paying attention, they are my supervisors/colleagues/the ones who keep me well fed.

Burkina newsletter #12

Greetings from Burkina Faso! The main event since I last wrote was the vision trip for Bartlett Baptist Church (Memphis). Tami and I spent several days with them among the Vigue (where I also spent much of the summer). It rained every day as rainy season is still going strong in the area. We also helped them to travel among several other unreached groups. As a result, the team indicates that the church is ready to partner with us to reach the Vigue. This is a wonderful answer to our prayer that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into His harvest (Luke 10:2). Pastor Michael, who came on the trip, likened their group to Joshua, Caleb, and the spies who went into the Promised Land. They are going back to the congregation saying “If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us . . . the Lord is with us, do not fear them (Numbers 14:8-9). If the church accepts this challenge (which we expect they will) this means that their church will be praying for the Vigue, strategizing about how to reach the Vigue, regularly sending teams to minister among the Vigue, and recruiting others to join them in the task. We are truly excited about this partnership and look forward to seeing how God works among the Vigue.

More exciting news: Noufou is a 16-year-old Mossi (the dominant people group in Burkina) to whom we were able to share the Gospel and give a French Bible over the summer. During this past visit to Karankasso-Vigue I learned that he has been reading the Bible a lot. He told me that his “preference” is to become a Christian. After discussing this further, I learned that he does not yet feel able to make that decision because of fear of how his Muslim father and family will react. I tried to council and encourage him as best I could before we left. Sadly, this is a common obstacle here. Yet we should not be surprised. The parable of the sower talks about those “who when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy . . . then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17). Please pray with me that this is not the case with Noufou. Instead pray that he would “hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty and one hundred-fold” (Mark 4:20).

As for the coming days, we are doing some catch up on things like rest, email, paperwork, etc. I may be making a couple short excursions for follow up. In October we have two individual volunteers arriving. In late October and into November I will be taking a very intense research trip into Niger. Stay tuned for that.

Praise God for:
* Bartlett Baptist’s desire and commitment to reach the unreached, namely the Vigue.
* health and safety in recent weeks.

Please pray for:
* Noufou, that he will accept the Gospel and become a follower of Jesus despite the expected persecution.
* God to continue to work in the hearts of the Vigue and prepare them for the harvest.
* God’s guidance for us and Bartlett Baptist as we begin this partnership.

As always, thanks so much for your support and prayers. God bless!

She's a beaut!

First of all, don’t worry mom, I still have all my appendages. Second, yes it’s real. Third, yes it’s alive. Fourth, yes that is me saving a poor African’s life from a deadly crocodile.

This is me and the croc after I had established my dominance. That’s our “bait” in it’s mouth: chicken on a rope (sorry animal rights folks-they've gotta eat right?). Actually these are “sacred” crocs at a little tourist site. I know these are technically crocs and not gators, but could this be a prophecy of how the Wildcats will handle the Gators this football season.

Burkina newsletter #11

Greetings from Burkina Faso! The theme of the past few weeks has been, “Wow, nice road!” (much sarcasm intended) I’ve been on a few more research trips: to the Sambla, Southern Toussian, and Turka people groups. Each one has seemed to have at least one “road” that could vie for the “worst-road-I’ve-ever-been-on award.” Again I hesitate to call these passageways “roads” because much of what we’ve been doing is typically called “off-roading.” Nonetheless, these trips have been adventurous and successful. Part of the difficulty is that we are roughly at the peak of rainy season and since the majority of roads are dirt/mud/rock/sand they are ever-changing, almost always for the worse. Then there’s the fact that we’ve had to drive up a couple small, rocky mountains. We’ve also traversed a couple problematic bridges and even had to create one bridge. All this may sound fun, hazardous, or foolish to you. Yet this just illustrates the point that there are still many places in this world that are very difficult to get to. That means there are many people in this world who are still quite isolated from the outside world. And that means there are still many souls who have not heard the “Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), because so many have chosen to go down the easier path. If you are up for taking some tough, grueling roads for the sake of the Kingdom. We’ve got a job for you.

What has our research found? The Sambla people are only about 17,000, but most of their villages are within an hour of the big city, Bobo. Still we only found two small Sambla churches and a total of about 100 believers. The Turka number about 37,000 and are located around some of southwestern Burkina’s tourist sights. Many people, undoubtedly including many Christians, pass through Turka territory to visit these sights. Yet few have gone to take the Gospel to the Turka. We found only one Turka-speaking church and about 150 total believers. For time’s sake I will simply say that the Southern Toussian are in only slightly better condition. Unfortunately this is pretty much the norm for our findings. Will you pray? Will you send? Will you go? We’d love for you to partner with us.

Soon I will be on another research trip to the southeast of the country, this time among the Yanna. Soon after that we will welcome a team from Bartlett Baptist in Tennessee. They will be looking into partnering with us to reach one of these unreached groups such as the Vigue, Sambla, or Turka. This is an exciting possibility for our team and for the unreached peoples of Burkina Faso.

Praise God for:

*safe and successful travels despite the challenging conditions.
* churches like Bartlett Baptist that are seeking to reach the unreached in the difficult places.

Please pray for:

* God’s guidance for Bartlett Baptist concerning what they can do for His kingdom.
* God to send more workers among these unreached people groups.

As always, thanks so much for your interest in and prayers for God’s work here in West Africa. God bless!

Farming and stars

So this is me trying my hand at farming . . . oh wait, that's the next picture. I just wanted to show the folks there was more than one use for these hoes.
Now I can tell my kids (Lord willing), "When I was young, we used to have to break up the ground with a plow pulled by cows!" Yea, this is really how they work, if they are fortunate enough to have cows or able to rent them out. Otherwise, they use the little hoes seen above.
This is just a fun night picture taken thanks to the clever photography skills of Donald Page - master photographer and ultimate fighter.

Burkina newsletter #10

Greetings from Burkina Faso! Since I last wrote I’ve been on another research trip, attended our regional meeting in Togo – “Advance”, visited among the Marense and Sininkere, where the Woods served last term, and spent some time in Bobo recovering from the events of the summer. All has gone very well. “Advance” was a wonderful time of fellowship, relaxation, worship, and teaching. On both ends of the conference, I got to go to the beach, the second time because our flight home was delayed 24 hours – Praise the Lord! While in Togo the Lord also continued to drive home some lessons He’s been teaching me all summer. I would like to share some of that with you.

In summary I’ve been learning that participating in missions is not so much about what we can do for God but about what God can do through us. Thus our service is not so much dependent on our abilities but on our openness to God’s working through us. This means any of our excuses about our inadequacies and weaknesses are null and void. In fact, our shortcomings make us even more likely candidates for God’s work. The Bible tells us “consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (1 Cor. 1:26-27). In this way, we cannot boast and God gets the glory He deserves.

Even still, many of us ask the question “who am I to serve God in this way or that?” That’s not necessarily a bad question because it has been asked by some fairly reputable folks: Moses, David and Solomon among others. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (Moses – Exodus 3:11) “Who am I, O Lord God and what is my house that You have brought me this far?” (David – 1 Samuel 18:18) “Who am I that I should build a house for Him?” (Solomon – 2 Chronicles 2:6) We know of these men’s faults (Moses was a murderer. David had a man killed. Solomon allowed foreign women to lead him to worship foreign Gods.), yet we also know how God used them mightily in His master plan. He can work mightily through us as well.

I think another issue besides the “who am I” question is our belief that we need some miraculous, unmistakable “call” in order to attempt great things for God. I am convinced that He accepts volunteers. Isaiah 6:8 says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” This was a general call and Isaiah stepped up and volunteered. I see the Great Commission as our general call today. Who will volunteer? Another story of volunteerism is in 1 Samuel 14. Verse six says, “Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, ‘Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.’” We do not read that the Lord called Jonathan to fight this battle. Nor do we read that Jonathan decided he would go defeat the Philistines in his own strength. Instead we see that Jonathan put himself in a position where the Lord would have to fight for him or else he would be squashed. He trusted in the Lord’s strength to work for him. The two of them went up to the Philistines and in the rest of the story we see that the Lord won a great victory for Israel.

Now even if I understand that God can use even me, and that I can volunteer to serve Him, it is still wise to count the cost. Yet what cost can be too great when we consider what Jesus has done for us. And have we not been called to take up our cross just as Jesus did? Consider this quote by missionary pioneer David Livingstone: “Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? . . . Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these things are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.” May we all have this perspective.

This is a summary of what the Lord’s been feeding me with. I rejoice that we have God’s promise that He will always be with us (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5), but even more He will help us and fight for us (2 Chronicles 32:7-8). He will give us the words to say. He will give us strength (1 Peter 4:11). This is my story. This is why I can be here. I pray that you are allowing God to fight for you.

Here’s what’s coming up. Monday I will be taking another research trip, this time to the Sambla people (“Seeku” on the Burkina peoples map on the website if you’re keeping track at home). I will be joined by Abdoulaye Pafadnam, one of our translators during our summer ministry, and Jenny White, the summer volunteer who has stayed an extra month. After that we plan to make a couple more short excursions, one being a day trip to Karankasso-Vigue to warn them that we have will be bringing more volunteers. On the 14th we will welcome two two-week volunteers who are coming for a vision trip. A vision trip is a visit to see firsthand the country, the people, and the ministry possibilities to know how a person or a church can join in God’s work here. We have another group or two doing this in September. We are always open to more.

Praise God for:

* a wonderful time of refreshment at “Advance” in Togo.
* volunteers who continue to come serve with us.
* the fact that the Lord will work and fight for us in the ministry.

Please pray for:

* the upcoming research trip: safe travel, health, good info to be gathered.
* the upcoming volunteer teams to learn how they can be involved in God’s work here.
* God to continue to send laborers into the harvest (maybe you will pray about whether God would use you as His laborer here).