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