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).

Faces

These are just some of the faces of Burkina Faso that we encountered this summer.

Two Chiefs and a Son

On the right is the chief of Dakoro (a Senufo Senara village) who I go to share with during my short stay there. On your left, is his right hand man, I believe he was an uncle. [Photo courtesy of Donald Page, master photographer, janitor, and ultimate fighter.]
Here is a little language lesson with the chief of Karankasso-Vigue. The chief loves to share his language. He's a jolly, kind old man. Please continue to pray for him and his people. [Photo courtesy of Kelly Womack - I'll mess with Texas if I want to!]
This is Karim, one of the above chief's sons, who runs the little "convenient store" in the background. Here we are discussing something from the Jula New Testament in his hand. I know the picture looks posed, with the thumbs up and all, but it's not. [Photo courtesy of Emily Yoran - Go Wolfpack! Beat Duke and UNC!]

Burkina newsletter #9

Greetings from Burkina Faso! Our summer of ministry with volunteers is over. We thank God for their coming to this random country and serving with us. The second half of the summer, I accompanied a new team to Karankasso-Vigue. It was good to go back having already built some rapport with many people in the village. I told you earlier of three men we were able to share the Gospel with. We got to continue that process with one of them, Karim. This time out we also were strengthened by God to share with about four other individuals: Zinadine Zidane (a nickname some of you might be familiar with if you watched the World Cup), Noufou, Karim (another one), and the local pharmacist (who’s name I can neither spell nor pronounce). Back to Karim (the first one), we came to learn this time that he had once been the local Jula literacy instructor. Therefore, we asked if he would be interested in a Jula New Testament. He said he would so we gave him one. He read portions nearly every day we were there (his wife read some as well). Sometimes he would point out things and we would discuss them. Other times I would point out things to discuss (such as the “Romans Road”). He was and remains very interested and open to the Word. I thank God that His Word does not return to Him void, without accomplishing what He desires (Isaiah 55:11). Please continue to pray for Karim and these others that have heard the Gospel.

Another exciting development came on a visit to another Vigue village, Dogochoro. We only went there because a Baptist pastor who we know was born there and when he heard we were ministering in the area, he wanted to go visit (for the first time since he was 7 years old). He is not Vigue, but Lyele, one of the groups of outsiders who have settled on Vigue land. Nonetheless we got to visit with the Vigue chief of Dogochoro. There we were told that the village has no church or mosque, therefore the people know nothing. They said if we would come share with them they would gather the people to listen. They even considered arranging a meeting the next day or the following week, but decided it would be better to wait for another time. Therefore, we have an open door in this village, an answer to your prayers (Col. 4:3). Other good news: we have a church that is coming for a vision trip in September and one of the groups they will be looking into ministering among are the Vigue. While ministering to the Vigue our team quickly realized that more workers were needed among them. Therefore we started praying for that, as the Scripture instructs us to “beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2). We see this church coming as an answer to that prayer. I also expect to have opportunities to return and follow up on the work we have begun there.

I wish I could explain all that went on during the summer, but with the exception of four days, I spent all of my time with only two of the seven teams we sent out and was among one of the four people groups we worked with. Therefore, I have chosen to share only what I saw and experienced first hand. Know that God also worked through the other teams among the Tiefo, Lyele, and Senufo Senara. I feel we had a wonderful summer of ministry. The volunteers provided much refreshment and encouragement for me. I thank God for them and their service.

What now? Monday-Wednesday I have a short research trip planned to the Turka and Cerma people groups. I will be accompanied by Pastor Denis, who is a Burkinabe missionary to the Tiefo and has traveled with David and I once before. On Thursday I will leave for Togo (that’s a tiny country to our southeast) for our yearly West Africa missionary gathering called “Advance” (because retreats are for losers and wimps). Immediately after that trip, which will be about a week, the Woods and I will go up north for a few days to visit among the people groups they worked with before joining the Engagement team: the Sinikere and Marense. After that we will settle back into research mode while also hosting a few more volunteer teams throughout the fall.

Praise God for:

* the summer volunteers He sent and the ministry He empowered them to do.
* open doors for the Gospel and the ability and privilege to share His Word.
* the other laborers He is raising up to work in His harvest.

Please pray for:

* the Vigue who we have shared the Gospel with and ministered to (particularly Zinadine Zidane, Noufou (actually a Mossi guy), the pharmacist, and the two Karims).
* us to be able to walk through the open door in Dogochoro and to share the Gospel there.
* the volunteers as they reacclimate to their American culture, tell their stories, and consider their future ministry.
* “Advance” to be a refreshing and beneficial time for all the missionaries of West Africa.
* God to continue sending more laborers into His harvest.

As always thanks so much for your prayers and support. Coming soon to kerryspencer.blogspot.com: new summer pictures! God bless!

Burkina newsletter #8.5

Greetings from Burkina Faso! Here’s another quick update on our summer ministry. I mentioned last time that I was going to Dakoro to spend about four days with our team there. Easily the most significant happening during my time there (from my point of view anyway) was a meeting we had with the chief. He was very welcoming and gracious with us. He tried to encourage us by explaining how Islam and Christianity lead to the same place. Of course, I disagreed, but I was a bit hesitant about whether I should tell him what I thought, with him being the chief and all. I pondered and said a quick prayer. Then I had the opportunity to explain to him some of the differences between Christianity and Islam: namely, Jesus Christ being God rather than a mere prophet and salvation by grace and faith rather than works. I feel like he received the words well. He must not have been terribly offended since he showed up at church the next Sunday. The chief sitting through a church service is a very significant event. I thank God for this opportunity and the words He gave me. Please pray with me for the chief of Dakoro. Romans 10:1 – “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”

We are at the midpoint of our summer ministry. Last night we said goodbye to a group of seven volunteers and said hello to a group of four new volunteers. We are now orienting these newcomers and will be going out to villages again on Saturday. Two groups will continue to work with the Tiefo and Lyele people groups while I will take a new team to the Vigue people for another two weeks and a couple days. Please continue to pray for us and these unreached peoples.

Praise God for:

* the openness of the Dakoro chief and the opportunity to share with him.
* opening doors for the Word and giving us the opportunities to share.
* the volunteers God has sent to serve with us.

Please pray for:

* God to continue to open doors for the Word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ (Col. 4:3).
* God to work in the hearts of Seydou, Kareem, and Vali.
* patience, endurance, wisdom, guidance, and health for us and the volunteers.
* the volunteers who return to the States to be able to communicate what God has done in their lives and among these unreached people groups.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. God bless!

Burkina newsletter #8

Greetings from Burkina Faso! I just came in yesterday from the village of Karankasso-Vigue with the ISF sports ministry team and wanted to give you a quick update. They were a fine group and we had a very positive stay in the village. Although they were technically a sports ministry team, we did very little of that. Since it is the planting season, most of the young people (who are the ones we would play sports with) spent their days in the fields. However, the team was very flexible and joined the Vigue people in what they were doing: planting, plowing, cooking, pounding grain, drawing water from the well, watching the World Cup, etc. It was certainly a learning experience for all of us. We learned that the Vigue people are unbelievably hard workers as well as gracious and generous hosts. However, we also learned, as we had been told, that they are a people completely without the Gospel. We still know of no Christians among this group.

Last newsletter I requested you to pray that God would open a door for the Word so that we might speak forth the mystery of Christ (from Colossians 4:3). Thanks be to God, He answered that prayer and we were able to share the Gospel with a few men: Seydou, Kareem, and Vali. Each of them, along with all the Vigue, are Muslim. We were frequently reminded of this fact by the call to prayer which we heard throughout the day as we were staying with the chief’s family, a stone’s throw from the local mosque. Nonetheless, God used us to plant these seeds of the Gospel as well as others. We trust the Lord to cause these seeds to grow (1 Corinthians 3:6). Please pray for these men, two of whom I expect to meet again when I return to Karankasso-Vigue on June 24th for two more weeks of ministry. The third, Seydou was from another village, Diosso, but we first spoke to him while he was in our village. One day we took a short road trip to visit Diosso on their weekly market day. While there, we ran into Seydou who was just coming from his field as we were just turning around to head out of town. I was able to discuss things with him further as the others prayerwalked. We definitely saw this as a divine appointment. Thank God for these encounters and please continue to pray for God to open new doors for the Gospel.

I also want you to know of how good God was to us during our time in the village. There are so many things that can go wrong: sickness, interpersonal conflict, cultural mistakes, etc. To my knowledge, we were spared all of these. I give credit and thanks to God for that. Thanks for your prayers along those lines. 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 says “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” Please continue to help us by your prayers and give thanks for God’s gracious favor.

My upcoming schedule: Tomorrow I’m going to join one of our other teams in a village called Dakoro, near the border with Mali and Cote D’Ivoire. There we are working among the Senufo Senara people. They are a group of roughly 40,000 people with about 50 known believers. We will be there only until the 19th. On that day, our remaining three teams will come in from their villages. Some will be leaving on the 21st, the same day that four new volunteers arrive. On the 24th, I will return with a new team to Karankasso-Vigue for about two more weeks. Please press on in praying for us.

Praise God for:

* bringing these volunteers to join us in the task of the Great Commission.
* a blessed week in Karankasso-Vigue with the ISF team.
* opening doors for the Word and giving us the opportunities to share.

Please pray for:

* God to continue to open doors for the Word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ (Col. 4:3).
* God to work in the hearts of Seydou, Kareem, and Vali.
* patience, endurance, wisdom, guidance, and health for us and the volunteers.
* the volunteers who return to the States to be able to communicate what God has done in their lives and among these unreached people groups.

Thanks again for helping us with your prayers. God bless!

Burkina newsletter #7

Greetings from Burkina Faso! Exciting times are coming! We are down to our last day of Jula study (Monday)! I am very pleased with how the class has gone and am happy with the level of Jula language we have attained. It has come much quicker and easier than the first African language I attempted to learn (Bisa). Thanks for your prayers concerning that.

Even more exciting news: Our summer ministry begins this coming week. On Tuesday and Wednesday (May 30th and 31st) we will receive our first batch of summer volunteers (14 of them). Then on June 2nd, a team of six more arrive. It would be fairly difficult and time consuming to tell you all that we will be doing with these volunteers this summer. I would, however, like to tell you what I’ll be up to for the next six weeks or so. Once the first group arrives I will be assisting in their orientation and will help get them to their villages. The second group (the group of six) is the first group I will be working alongside. That team is a sports ministry team from the International Sports Federation. I will be accompanying them to the village of Karankasso-Vigue. There we will be working with the Vigue (Vee-gay) people group for just over a week. The Vigue are an ethnic group of only about 8,000 people, and there are no known Christians among them. They are strongly Islamic and animistic. Ministering among them will be a challenge. However, David and Tami have visited this village and found the chief to be very welcoming. He even mentioned that if we built a church he would send his children. Please pray that God would build not merely a building but a community of believers among the Vigue. After the ISF team leaves (on June 14th), I will travel around to visit some of our other teams in their various villages. On June 21st, we say goodbye to another group of volunteers just before yet another group arrives. I will then take a few member of this new group (college students) back to Karankasso-Vigue. Thus, I will have an extended period of ministry among the Vigue people with two different groups this summer. I would appreciate your prayers for me, these two teams, and the Vigue people.

And as I mentioned, this is only a small part of our teams’ summer ministry. Other groups will be in other villages ministering among four other people groups: Northern Toussian, Northern Lyele, Senufo Senara, and Tiefo. All this requires a lot of planning and preparation which has been on-going for a while and will not stop until the end of the summer (actually around July 12th for us). We and the volunteers will need patience, endurance, wisdom, guidance, and health, all of which God can supply. Besides engaging these unengaged people groups with the Gospel, we hope that their ministry in Burkina will have a lasting effect of the lives of these volunteers.

Praise God for:

* the completion of a very productive month of Jula language learning.
* bringing so many volunteers to aid us in the task of the Great Commission.

Please pray for:

* God to open up a door for the Word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ (Col. 4:3).
* the Word of the Lord to spread rapidly and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1) among these people groups.
* patience, endurance, wisdom, guidance, and health for us and the volunteers.
* our understanding of Jula to continue to grow as we use it in life and ministry.

Thanks again for your support of our ministry through prayer. God bless!

Burkina newsletter #6

Greetings from Bobo, B.F.! The past few weeks have been devoted mostly to Jula language study. We are studying six days per week with an average of five or six hours of class per day. That does not include the daily homework and tasks the teachers give us to complete. And I thought I had finally finished with school in December! Nonetheless, we are blessed to have two excellent teachers. The endeavor is somewhat grueling, but I feel we are learning very quickly. That’s good since we only have a couple weeks of class left. We will by no means be fluent in the language, but we will know a whole lot more than the average white person (“tubabu” is what they call us in Jula). All that to say I am very happy with how our language study is going. Just to let yet know we are indeed learning something, my favorite word: “belebeleba” (meaning: very fat). My favorite phrase learned in class (altering the letters we don’t have in English): “Mogo doow bi tagama i na fo tonkono” (meaning: some people walk like a duck).

In between class and homework, we are also planning for the big summer ahead. We have approximately 30 summer volunteers coming in five different groups (they begin arriving at the end of this month). Among these groups we have a sports ministry team, a church group, and a lot of individual college students who will comprise the other teams. It looks like we will send the teams out to work with seven different people groups. The four of us (David, Tami, Jessica, and I) are responsible for planning the meals, transportation, “housing” (maybe the word is “huting” or “camping accommodations”), orientation, and much more while the volunteers are here. This is obviously a large task and one that needs to be strengthened by prayer.

Lastly, I have not spent a great deal of time at my house in Bobo, but in the time I have been there, there are two young men who have visited me regularly. Bouba is 15 and lives next door. Souleyman (Muslim version of Solomon) is 21 and lives around the corner. They are both Muslims from Muslim families. God has given me the opportunity and ability (despite my weak French skills) to discuss the differences in our religions, and thus I have shared the Gospel with each of them. They each have read some of the Gideon New Testaments they were given at school (Thank God for the Gideons!), and each admit to finding the Scriptures intriguing. I hope you will join me in praying for them and their families. Pray that God will give me the opportunities, boldness, and ability to share the Gospel with them and others.

Praise God for:
* wonderful language teachers and our ability to learn at a good pace.
* opportunities and the ability to share the Gospel in another culture and language.
* so many people willing to give of their summer vacation to come serve God in Burkina Faso.

Please pray for:
* the last two weeks of formal Jula study (as well as the informal study that will continue as long as we are here).
* our planning and preparation for the summer of ministry with volunteers.
* opportunities, boldness, and the ability to share the Gospel.
* Bouba and Souleyman, that God would work in their hearts and draw them to Himself, using whatever means necessary (even if that means me).

Thanks so much for your support and prayers. I would love to hear what’s going on in your lives (particularly before the busy summer comes when I will be on the internet much less frequently). Take care and God bless!

Ponderings from a nail-clipping

I stepped outside to clip my fingernails, just to not have to worry where the scraps fell. I was greeted by the sound of a neighbor lady, this is certain without even seeing the person, pounding some grain (more than likely) with the traditional mortar and pestle. The same sort which probably has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Then comes the insect-like trill of what we would consider an old-timey sewing machine (the kind with the manual foot pedal) from another neighbor. This individual, again I could almost say it without seeing his face, although I know who he is, is a man. Interestingly, here the profession of tailor is almost exclusively a masculine occupation. Then another sound, the growl of a moto (a scrawny version of a motocycle) comes closer and closer until it passes my house. Other fainter sounds in the distance I suspect to be the commotion of a crowd and perhaps the murmurings of a TV set. I’m done with the manicure. I decide the porch needs to be swept. It of course has needed to be swept for a while, but I can endure more dust than my mom or most women. Still I do try to keep my house a couple steps above that of a college student.

Anyway, this is one of the moments when I pause to think of this interesting place in which I live. It is such a blend of epochs. The mortar and pestle have long been replaced in our culture by mills and machines and factories that do the work for us then neatly package the product and ship it to our local grocery store for our convenience. That’s not to mention the fact that most of us know nothing of the work required to actually grow the grains and vegetable and other items that we simply place in the shopping cart. Thank God for the farmers! And those farmers in Breckinridge County and throughout the developed world should thank God for the plows and combines and tractors and other machines that they are blessed to use. As for the sewing machine across the street, it might fetch a pretty penny in the States, but not for its usefulness, but because it would make a nice antique to display in someone’s living room. Then there are the motos and TV sets and other items of modernity for our ease, comfort, and leisure. But of course we are not talking about plasma TVs and TiVo and satellites with thousands of channels. Nonetheless, more and more, these sorts of things are becoming attainable here for the “wealthy.” I use the quotes because “wealthy,” of course, is a relative term; the people with the TVs and motos are often the same who pound the grain with the mortar and pestle. I must also think of my two years in Torla, a small village (they say about 3000 people) which to my knowledge and recollection had a total of two TVs and about five motos. The village folk are still far behind most here in metropolitan Bobo in terms of amenities and possessions Well, these are simply some random thoughts. My original purpose was simply to try to give a little description of one short minute of nail clipping. What I have achieved, I do not know.

Things you don't see everyday

During our research trip to Ghana, Aaron (the guy standing by the brave mother and kids) and I managed to squeeze in a trip to a game park. We did the drive around safari thing and saw elephants, baboons, monkeys, warthogs, and an assortment of antelope type creatures. The next morning this fellow was walking through the hotel area eating leaves and whatnot. Then, obviously, he decided he was thirsty. It was quite a site. At one point I was probably within 10 feet of him.
This is just evidence of the random things you see in third world countries. This is the middle of an intersection in the capital city, Ouagadougou. A native can tell that this is supposed to be a taxi because of the characteristic pea green color which identifies them. I still think I've ridden in worse.

Burkina newsletter #5

Greetings again from Burkina Faso! I had hoped to write sooner but I was setback with sickness for the past week. It’s somewhat of a long story. Here’s the short version. The doctors thought I must have malaria, but my blood tests (all 5 of them) came back negative. Then they suspected Dengue Fever (also known as “breakbone fever” to give you a brief description), but I didn’t have all the symptoms for that. Several days later, another doctor decided it must be malaria so I was treated for that. Whatever it was, it was bad, but it has past. I’m doing much better Thank the Lord! I’m sure He was translating your prayers even though you didn’t know what was going on. Now on to brighter matters.

The trip to Ghana was enjoyable and successful. Aaron and I actually finished researching the four people group in northwestern Ghana very quickly. We were again guiding in numerous miraculous ways. We phoned the Woods and they gave us another assignment: to find the Hausa of Ghana. That’s kind of like saying find the sweetness in cake. They’re everywhere! The Hausa are originally from Nigeria but have scattered across West Africa. They supposedly number about 28 million overall and somewhere around one million in Ghana. They are staunchly Muslim. We learned that their language is the most common language spoken at most mosques (Muslim “temples”) in Ghana, even by non-Hausa people. Nonetheless, we discovered that the largest concentrations of Hausa were in Kumasi and Accra, Ghana’s largest cities. Thus we traveled from the northwest to the southeast of the country (enjoying a game park along the way), all the way to the coast (where Accra is located). It was a treat to visit these two cities because they are so nice compared to the grandest cities in Burkina. What makes them so nice? Mostly those things in America that we take for granted yet recognize as sweet blessings once we have lost them: 6 lane highways, Dr. Pepper, the English language, grass, Oreos, fast food, the ocean, satellite TV, etc. (Of course, some of these things can be curses when used in excess.) Anyway, we obviously did not have time to research all the Hausa of Ghana, but we got some good information to help us as we seek to place a missionary among them. Of course, they also need much prayer, which you can help provide.

I am blessed to be able to share a few ways how God has watched over Aaron and I as we traveled and researched:

Health: I mentioned that I’ve been quite sick recently. However, it is a blessing that I had no problems until the night we returned to Ouagadougou. Thus, we were able to finish our work and then I was able to be in our capitol city were I could receive the best care possible. There were many times and places it would have been very bad to fall sick.

Travel: Despite traveling about 1,600 miles we only had one incident with our vehicle. After hitting a large hole/bump/something, a bolt holding a shock to the frame snapped. Several great things happened after that: First, we were able to notice the problem. Second, we were able to find a mechanic in a small village who was able to fix it quickly. And he only charged us $2. All this is really quite amazing. Also, the day after we were back in Ouaga, I was simply turning into our mission parking lot and the same wheel made a terrible sound. At that point, it needed some serious work. Again, this timing was most fortunate.

Cultural appropriateness and Christian witness: As is often the case we interacted with some missionaries in the area we were researching in. They were very helpful and we enjoyed our time with them. We came to find out a few days later (through email) that we had greatly offended them by some of our actions. If we had done what they thought we had done it would have been a huge cultural “faux pas” and we might have ruined our Christian witness and possibly theirs. Fortunately, we were able to discuss the whole matter and it turned out to be a huge misunderstanding. Still, being a foreigner and traveling among so many differing cultures there is always the possibility of offending without intention. I am thankful that this was not one of those times.

What’s next? We are currently hosting our Engagement Team leaders and colleagues, Larry and Lucy Driggers. We are taking them to visit with some of the people groups we have researched and are planning to engage with the Gospel. We are also discussing some strategy and just enjoying each other’s company. They leave on the 25th and then we will begin Jula language study on the 27th. Language study will be very intense since we only have about a month. Still, knowing some Jula will greatly enhance our future ministry.

Lastly, we are now a larger group. Jessica Styles has recently joined our team. She is an EMT from Alabama who will be traveling and ministering with us for about six months. We are glad to have her on board. Here are some matters for prayer:

Praise God for his protection and guidance during the Ghana trip and healing from sickness.
Pray for the four of us to pick up Jula at a very rapid pace so that no one is held back or left behind. This will be extremely helpful for our future ministry.
Pray for us as we continue to plan for the large number of volunteers we will be hosting this summer.
Pray for the Hausa people, that God would open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. Pray that He would send laborers to share the Truth with them.

Thanks again for your support and prayers. Obviously, God is watching over me, even through the trials. If you haven’t already seen them, there are some pics below.

This is another picture taken in a Chordbang, northern Ghana. While learning about their village and ethnic group they told us about their architecture being different from all the other groups'. We said that we liked it and they offered to give us a tour of the village. This is just one family we peeked in on.
I guess this is the African version of a double-decker bus. You should notice that there are people sitting under the guys on top. Those "inside" are sitting on boards that are laid across the truck bed. Those on top are just on a steel frame. These vehicles are sometimes know as "death trucks". Maybe you can see why.
This is just one example of a scenic road we took in southwestern Burkina. In this area, scenic roads are the only option. This is a relatively nice road for the area in that it's pretty smooth. Don't get the wrong idea about Burkina, this area is much greener and wooded than most of the country.

Everybody loves kiddy pics

This is a common scene wherever we go. So many African kids are fascinated by the white man. I feel sure we are the first that some of them ever see. What a privilege. These kids seem quite happy to see us. Other common responses are crying and running. The white guy who's leg and hand you see is my colleague Aaron Mills. I could show you his face, but then he'd have to kill you. Just kidding. He is based in Senegal but we were working together in Ghana. (By the way, this picture and the one below were taken by the "Pocket-Cam." The "Pocket-Cam" is technique whereby I stealthfully peek the camera out of my pocket, take a picture, and slide it back in without being detected.)

What do African kids like more than the white man? The white man's truck. They like to touch it and often chase us down the road as we leave. Again it is a rarity for them to see a vehicle up close, especially where this picture was taken. This was in the very remote area of Burkina that I mentioned a while back in a newsletter.

Here are just some more random kids for your viewing pleasure. They were in the village of Chordbang in northwestern Ghana.

Burkina newsletter #4

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.

David Wood, my supervisor/colleague, sporting the Lyele hat one of the pastors gave us.


Me on a little termite mound we found on the side of the road.

African lazy-boy

This is the courtyard of one of the pastors, where we stayed our second night. You'll notice all the painting on the walls of the courtyard. The Lyele are the only group I have encoutered who have this practice (not that I've encountered that many groups). The round little hut like things are grain storage bins. The more rectangular buildings are where the family sleeps, keep their stuff, etc. This chair is what I like to call an "African lazy-boy."

bush hotel

These were our luxurious sleeping conditions one night. That's David in the fetus position at about 6 AM the morning after we fled to higher ground from the fire. (Read the blog if you don't know what I'm talking about.)