Burkina Faso/ Can you see…..

Ne y yibeoogo, (Good Morning)

I don’t know if words can rightfully communicate the joy that we see in the lives of the people here that love Jesus, or the impact that they have made in our lives in such a small amount of time.  We have taught them, laughed with them, encouraged them and as a team at various times we have wept over them.  There is a Moore proverb that says “until you see the dead body you will not have tears in your eyes”.  I think that our biggest fear is that when we come home we will not be able to communicate rightly the impact they have made on our hearts, and the vastness of the door that is open for us to see Christ work in an entire Nation.  After I was done teaching yesterday Marcel called me over to talk to one of the pastors that had traveled about 200 miles.  This man needed to leave to get back to His church for Sunday morning, and He would not be able to come back next week.  Our plan is to present all 100 pastors with a Moore’ bible and 10,000 cfa which is equivalent to about 22 bucks or 5% of there yearly income.  So I went outside to say good-bye to him and give him his gift, and I asked Him our time of teaching here was beneficial to Him.  With wet eyes he pulled out his notebook (college spiral size) pointed at it, and fanned through the whole thing.  It was full!  Through interpretation he told me that he would go back home and share it with his congregation, and all the other pastors in his region that he meets with.   Just Humbling……

Well today I had the pleasure of watching Nicholas stand by Kristas side as She spoke into the lives of the woman at one of the 4 churches that Marcel has started.  She did a great job teaching from 9-12:30 using many of the notes that she had taken from the biblical womanhood study.  The woman were exceedingly blessed and with Nicholas they spent time counseling some of the woman through the questions that were asked.  While they were counseling I went outside with the  children of the moms that had come to hear her speak.  I taught the kids how to play tic-tac-toe on paper then showed them how to play in the sand.  After about a hundred games of it I introduced them to another game I play on wed night with th 1-5 graders called poopdeck…. (uhhhh it’s the upper part of a boat)   While we were playing neighborhood kids and adults all came out to watch, it was really cool.  It got me thinking about bringing over some people from tfab and doing some childrens outreach or a camp.  While we were with at the church, Peter was invited to go over to a missionaries house that was sent from Burkina to Niger.  He had an amazing time there and I am hoping that he will blog about his time with you tomorrow. Tomorrow we are all teaching in 5 different churches.  I actually get to baptize some people in Marcels church, one of which is a former muslim.  I am honored to be in the water with these people!

Before I go I would ask any of you reading the blog if God would not have you give to this work this week.  IF you desire to do this you can mark a check or envolope with Burkina.  We would like to help some of these guys put a roof on a church while we are here.  We are thankful that someone from ACF gave money for 2 roofs (1700) but we would love to do a couple more.  IF this is something you would like to help with let Scott know and we will make this happen! Well I love you all and miss you, and I want you to know that your prayers are being answered!

Before I go here are some of the names I promised you to pray for…

Amos from Ougua waiting 7 years for a roof

Henry from Saaba Needs a roof

John from Sanse – Time to teach verse by verse, Financial, transportation to conferances

James from Kongoussy- windows doors, Evangelism equipment speakers, Houses that wont fall apart raining season

Paul from Boromo- Evangalism equipment, transportation

Etienne from Kaya- Evangalism equip

Maddi- Tema- Islamic stronghold in village, persecution,

Pray for the children of the pastors

Much Love,

Loren