Well, we almost made it all the way through our trip without a major WAWA moment (see Al, Bev, or title of post). However, this morning, after getting up at the crack of dawn to make our flight from Ouagadougou to Lome (in Togo), we discovered that the small African airline that had partnered with Ethiopian Air to get us to this preliminary destination had overbooked our flight about 50% (at least). There was only room for 5 people (we have 23), and it would not have been good to split up that way. We had a ray of hope when a high official at Ethiopia Air ordered the crew to remove 18 people from the plane to let us on (for economic reasons -- it's not cheap to put up 23 Americans in a hotel for 2 nights). However, either the smaller airline had other ideas, or somebody slipped somebody a whole bunch of francs, because instead of de-planing people as instructed, one of the agents told the pilot to get out of Dodge fast, and the plane actually left the gate ahead of schedule so we couldn't get on. Unfortunately for this agent, the CEO of the airline was in Ouaga today, and when he found out about this decision (that cost him about $10,000 and jeopardized his partnership with the bigger airline), he went ballistic, and made this agent attend to all our needs. Somehow we ended up in the capable hands of another agent, a believer who goes to a church where Pete knows the pastor. She has been very attentive and helpful.
I put in all those details for those of you who enjoy reading about those things. The bottom line is that we're safe and resting in a 5-star (by Burkina standards) hotel about 20 minutes from the airport. We are spending most of the time unwinding, playing cards, sleeping, and even swimming. Sammy and Charity have gotten to join us for a kind of holiday, and Pete and Alice will be able to spend Thursday night with us here. The airline is paying for all of our meals, bottled water, and of course the two nights' stay. It's not as good as home, and some of us are really missing our families (!), but we know God doesn't make mistakes, and we are open to taking whatever opportunities he gives us to minister while we're "stuck" here in Ouaga. Also, we no longer have to deal with the fly-by-night airline, as our Saturday flight will be all Ethiopian Air and all large planes. Pete says that tonight our confirmed reservations will be delivered here to the hotel, and Saturday around noon we leave for Addis Ababa, then on to Washington (with an hour layover in Rome, but we won't be getting off the plane). ETA in Dulles is sometime mid-morning.
A special thank you to Al Boesenberg, who will fill the pulpit on Sunday. I thought of Al first, because he is quite familiar with the things we are going through here (and a lot worse, to be sure), and I know he'll be able to relate.
All you First Alliance people, have a wonderful Sunday! And to all of our friends and family who are following our progress, thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf. Lord willing (!) we'll see you sometime Sunday night! We love you.
pt
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A busy last day !!
This will be our last report from Burkina Faso. As I write this we are hanging around the guest house at about 11:00pm Burkina time. A few are still packing; most are just sitting and talking with Pete and John.
Today was an awesome day! In the morning we went to the President's Zoo here in Ouagadougou. This is not like any American zoo you've ever visited. You can see full-grown lions and tigers from a distance of about 2 feet with nothing but a chain link fence between you. You can pet elephants' trunks while you feed them over a fence and throw grass clumps to a giant hippo from about 18 inches away. (If you're Cody Furr you can even grab his tusk for a split second!)
After lunch we went to an Alliance Church in a very poor section of town where we took part in a ceremony distributing hand-tricycles to four handicapped people. We also spent time talking to and praying with some moms and kids who have been through some of the most harrowing experiences you've ever heard of. Truly the needs here are beyond measure! We feel like we didn't come close to scratching the surface during our time here; still, our visit mattered greatly to many, many people. The Muslims and other non-Christians here in the village around where we're staying seem completely befuddled by what we are doing. They keep asking the local pastor if all this is for real -- they are influenced not only by our actions but by the compassion and sorrow they have seen in our faces as we have done our best to help in any way we could. Thank you for sending us here!
We ended our last day here with a (home-made) pizza party and a wedding ceremony. Cody and Lauren experienced "part 1" of their wedding in traditional Burkina style with a few exceptions (e.g., a performance by FAC's own "Heart Condition"). While their union is not yet official, it was nonetheless a very moving ceremony as well as a touching goodbye to our youth group friends here, most of whom were able to attend the ceremony.
We miss you all very much and look forward to seeing you soon. Pray for us as we fly back over the Atlantic. We actually have three legs to our air journey: Burkina --> Togo --> Ethiopia --> D.C. Then, we have a six-hour drive back through Virginia. If all goes according to schedule, we'll return to Arnold Road around 5 p.m. late Friday afternoon. But first we have to wake up at around 5:45am tomorrow to be at the airport in Ouaga on time.
See you soon !!!
PT
Today was an awesome day! In the morning we went to the President's Zoo here in Ouagadougou. This is not like any American zoo you've ever visited. You can see full-grown lions and tigers from a distance of about 2 feet with nothing but a chain link fence between you. You can pet elephants' trunks while you feed them over a fence and throw grass clumps to a giant hippo from about 18 inches away. (If you're Cody Furr you can even grab his tusk for a split second!)
After lunch we went to an Alliance Church in a very poor section of town where we took part in a ceremony distributing hand-tricycles to four handicapped people. We also spent time talking to and praying with some moms and kids who have been through some of the most harrowing experiences you've ever heard of. Truly the needs here are beyond measure! We feel like we didn't come close to scratching the surface during our time here; still, our visit mattered greatly to many, many people. The Muslims and other non-Christians here in the village around where we're staying seem completely befuddled by what we are doing. They keep asking the local pastor if all this is for real -- they are influenced not only by our actions but by the compassion and sorrow they have seen in our faces as we have done our best to help in any way we could. Thank you for sending us here!
We ended our last day here with a (home-made) pizza party and a wedding ceremony. Cody and Lauren experienced "part 1" of their wedding in traditional Burkina style with a few exceptions (e.g., a performance by FAC's own "Heart Condition"). While their union is not yet official, it was nonetheless a very moving ceremony as well as a touching goodbye to our youth group friends here, most of whom were able to attend the ceremony.
We miss you all very much and look forward to seeing you soon. Pray for us as we fly back over the Atlantic. We actually have three legs to our air journey: Burkina --> Togo --> Ethiopia --> D.C. Then, we have a six-hour drive back through Virginia. If all goes according to schedule, we'll return to Arnold Road around 5 p.m. late Friday afternoon. But first we have to wake up at around 5:45am tomorrow to be at the airport in Ouaga on time.
See you soon !!!
PT
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Starry, Starry Night
Monday night in "the bush" was probably the most unforgettable night of our whole time here. We spent the evening camping out under the stars after a night of celebrating and eating traditional food with our brothers and sisters in a remote village church.
Monday started with lots of packing and preparation, followed by an hour-long ride to the pond of the sacred crocodiles just southwest of Ouagadougou. It was enough of a rush actually sitting on the back of a (semi) wild crocodile. But when one of the chickens destined to be the next croc snack escaped from his predator and made a beeline for our group, followed by the crocodile, things got really exciting. Don't worry -- we're all still here.
Anyway, after another three hours of driving, the last 45 minutes or so on an incredibly bumpy, muddy road with most of the youth on top of the vans, we finally got to the village of Sanaba, where were treated to a traditional meal of to (pronounced "toe"), rice, sauces, and instant Nescafe coffee (!). Reportedly this is the first cup of coffee Tom T. has actually consumed, and he enjoyed it, thanks to all the sweetened, condensed milk that was poured in.
After dinner, we "got down" to dancing with the youth and kids of the local church. Some of us held out until about 12:30 -- all of us were asleep under the stars by about 1:30. Very few mosquitoes, a cool breeze, and more stars than any of us have ever seen. It reminded some of us of God's promise to Abraham -- that his children would outnumber the stars. It's likely the sky he saw that night was a lot like this one, unpolluted by the "light noise" of the city.
Some slept better than others, and there were many adventures in the "bathroom" department (note the quotation marks) that you'll hear about later. OK, just one question -- when's the last time a bat flew out of the toilet while you were using it? Enough said.
This morning was one of the great highlights our our trip, as we dedicated a well that has recently been completed in this village -- a well that will not only serve the Christians (it sits next to the church building) but also Muslims and other non-believers. Pastor Paul's dedication prayer was actually translated three times: first into French, then into Jula, and finally into Pugali, the native language of the village. The Pugali people have been unreached until the last few years; now there are about 20 churches among them; this is one of the most recently planted. After the dedication service, a non-Christian man came up to the pastor and said, "What I have seen here is very, very good. Today I want to ask Jesus into my life." If that doesn't answer "the $64,000 question," nothing will :-) !!!
We got back to our guest house in time for a taco dinner and a driving rainstorm. Tomorrow will be our last day here in Burkina. We'll be going to the local zoo (nothing like those in America, from what we've been able to gather), handing out mobility tricycles to handicapped people, and then experiencing "part one" of Cody and Lauren's wedding (the African part) where they'll participate in part of a Burkinabe wedding ceremony as a practice run for the real thing.
Please keep praying for us, especially as we prepare to travel home. I'll probably get a minute to update you tomorrow night, but in case I don't, we fly out at 9:30am Burkina time, and we arrive at Washington Dulles mid-morning on Friday U.S. time. Unless we are delayed, we should be back by dinnertime on the 13th.
Bye for now!!
PT
Monday started with lots of packing and preparation, followed by an hour-long ride to the pond of the sacred crocodiles just southwest of Ouagadougou. It was enough of a rush actually sitting on the back of a (semi) wild crocodile. But when one of the chickens destined to be the next croc snack escaped from his predator and made a beeline for our group, followed by the crocodile, things got really exciting. Don't worry -- we're all still here.
Anyway, after another three hours of driving, the last 45 minutes or so on an incredibly bumpy, muddy road with most of the youth on top of the vans, we finally got to the village of Sanaba, where were treated to a traditional meal of to (pronounced "toe"), rice, sauces, and instant Nescafe coffee (!). Reportedly this is the first cup of coffee Tom T. has actually consumed, and he enjoyed it, thanks to all the sweetened, condensed milk that was poured in.
After dinner, we "got down" to dancing with the youth and kids of the local church. Some of us held out until about 12:30 -- all of us were asleep under the stars by about 1:30. Very few mosquitoes, a cool breeze, and more stars than any of us have ever seen. It reminded some of us of God's promise to Abraham -- that his children would outnumber the stars. It's likely the sky he saw that night was a lot like this one, unpolluted by the "light noise" of the city.
Some slept better than others, and there were many adventures in the "bathroom" department (note the quotation marks) that you'll hear about later. OK, just one question -- when's the last time a bat flew out of the toilet while you were using it? Enough said.
This morning was one of the great highlights our our trip, as we dedicated a well that has recently been completed in this village -- a well that will not only serve the Christians (it sits next to the church building) but also Muslims and other non-believers. Pastor Paul's dedication prayer was actually translated three times: first into French, then into Jula, and finally into Pugali, the native language of the village. The Pugali people have been unreached until the last few years; now there are about 20 churches among them; this is one of the most recently planted. After the dedication service, a non-Christian man came up to the pastor and said, "What I have seen here is very, very good. Today I want to ask Jesus into my life." If that doesn't answer "the $64,000 question," nothing will :-) !!!
We got back to our guest house in time for a taco dinner and a driving rainstorm. Tomorrow will be our last day here in Burkina. We'll be going to the local zoo (nothing like those in America, from what we've been able to gather), handing out mobility tricycles to handicapped people, and then experiencing "part one" of Cody and Lauren's wedding (the African part) where they'll participate in part of a Burkinabe wedding ceremony as a practice run for the real thing.
Please keep praying for us, especially as we prepare to travel home. I'll probably get a minute to update you tomorrow night, but in case I don't, we fly out at 9:30am Burkina time, and we arrive at Washington Dulles mid-morning on Friday U.S. time. Unless we are delayed, we should be back by dinnertime on the 13th.
Bye for now!!
PT
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Heading off to the "bush"
We had a great time worshiping with the Burkinabe today in two different services. Paul and Ben each preached in a different church. I didn't mention it last night, but Ben was quite sick yesterday and recovered in time to preach. Tom Talmon was prepared and on deck to preach if Ben hadn't rallied. I am not making that up.
Tomorrow (Monday) we head out to a remote village about 4 hours away to visit a church in the Hounde region of Burkina and to celebrate the opening of a well. We will once again have a late night dance party. There will not be a lot of sleeping. We will either be out under the stars overnight or under the roof of a small church building depending on the weather (it rained tonight). Please pray for our travel to and from this village (taking tons of equipment and 25 people in two vans over some seriously bumpy roads), for the continued improving of our collective health (19 of 23 people have been down for at least a few hours due to a virus going around our team but things are currently looking up), for Austin as he shares his testimony, and for us to be encouraged and be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The rustic nature of this trip will be a stretching experience for all of us.
Oh, and on the way out there, I hear that some of us will be sitting on a crocodile.
Thanks for going with us on this adventure through your prayers for us.
You should hear back from us on Tuesday night.
pt
Tomorrow (Monday) we head out to a remote village about 4 hours away to visit a church in the Hounde region of Burkina and to celebrate the opening of a well. We will once again have a late night dance party. There will not be a lot of sleeping. We will either be out under the stars overnight or under the roof of a small church building depending on the weather (it rained tonight). Please pray for our travel to and from this village (taking tons of equipment and 25 people in two vans over some seriously bumpy roads), for the continued improving of our collective health (19 of 23 people have been down for at least a few hours due to a virus going around our team but things are currently looking up), for Austin as he shares his testimony, and for us to be encouraged and be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The rustic nature of this trip will be a stretching experience for all of us.
Oh, and on the way out there, I hear that some of us will be sitting on a crocodile.
Thanks for going with us on this adventure through your prayers for us.
You should hear back from us on Tuesday night.
pt
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Quick Update Saturday night...
Brief update -- the evangelistic presentation went really well, although the order of everything got changed at the last minute and we were basically "going with the flow." Brittany R. did an excellent job with her testimony. About 50 people stood up at the invitation to indicate they wanted to ask Jesus into their heart! Praise the Lord!
Bursting Hearts and Tired Legs
Friday, July 6 was an emotional roller coaster ride to say the least. Our first mission was to distribute grain to about 300 families from the villages surrounding the school complex here. Between 9 and 11 am we distributed almost 9 tons of grain to the poorest of the poor in this area. We poured out the grain in a big pile in a classroom maybe a bit larger than one of the big classrooms at FAC. The people lined up with their pre-distributed tickets, and each family representative got a 50-lb sack of very dusty corn, enough to feed a good-sized family for about 3 weeks. It was a joy and a blessing for us to distribute the grain, which was paid for with YOUR gifts to Grain of Hope a few months ago!
The hard part came when the tickets ran out and the people began pressing in on the little classroom building for what was left over. Now handing out smaller portions, we were trying to get the corn to the poorest, oldest and weakest people of the villages, so we had to bar the doors and let them in one-by-one while the crowd tried to force its way in, holding out empty sacks that would never be filled. As one of the ones assigned to hold back the crowd, I can say that this job was no fun at all, not because of any real physical danger, but because I was the one keeping hungry people from the corn.
Eventually the last bag of corn was given out, and we walked slowly back to our house, shell-shocked and physically and emotionally drained. I can guarantee you'll be hearing a lot more about the events of Friday morning when the team returns from Burkina!
It was kind of ironic, then, that we spent much of the afternoon spending money to buy things we didn't need. Pete had arranged for several vendors to come by the house, and we went souvenir shopping in the comfort of our own dining room! While it may have felt weird spending all this money after the events of the morning, we were also able to be a real blessing to the merchants who visited. One of them said he did more business with us in one afternoon than he had in any two of the previous months of 2012! (From the sheer size of their haul, we think the Barber family alone added 2% to the GDP of Burkina Faso :-)
Still at the brink of exhaustion, we ate dinner very late and then went out onto the school campus for a night of traditional African dance (all to Christian music). This is basically like really happy step aerobics on steroids. And by the way, the Africans have not yet learned the term "slow dance." It's a ton of fun; at the same time, it's very challenging for us rhythm-deficient Americans. We danced with the African youth group as long as we could (until about 11pm) and retired to our house to enjoy about a 4-hour power outage (after dark, "power" = "air conditioning in your bedroom"). Fortunately, the generator kicked in so we could at least run the fans, albeit with no A/C. The scary thing is, at about ten after three when the power finally came back on and we got up to close the windows, the dance was still going in high gear. We have no idea how this is possible, but we are not joking. As far as we can tell, the Africans danced until about 4am.
This morning, we got a well-deserved break to sleep in until about 9:00. Then we drove around the city running errands and visiting the youth center that was Pete's vision back in 1998, and which gifts from First Alliance were instrumental in building (some of you may remember this -- it was a little before my time!).
In about 45 minutes (4:00pm our time), we are going to walk through the villages with some of the church members here inviting them to an evangelistic message and movie, which will probably take place on the soccer field here at the school. Please pray, as I will be sharing one of the messages, and as we have a very direct opportunity to lead many Burkinabe to the Lord Jesus.
We hope to check in again on Sunday!
Love, in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Paul for everybody
The hard part came when the tickets ran out and the people began pressing in on the little classroom building for what was left over. Now handing out smaller portions, we were trying to get the corn to the poorest, oldest and weakest people of the villages, so we had to bar the doors and let them in one-by-one while the crowd tried to force its way in, holding out empty sacks that would never be filled. As one of the ones assigned to hold back the crowd, I can say that this job was no fun at all, not because of any real physical danger, but because I was the one keeping hungry people from the corn.
Eventually the last bag of corn was given out, and we walked slowly back to our house, shell-shocked and physically and emotionally drained. I can guarantee you'll be hearing a lot more about the events of Friday morning when the team returns from Burkina!
It was kind of ironic, then, that we spent much of the afternoon spending money to buy things we didn't need. Pete had arranged for several vendors to come by the house, and we went souvenir shopping in the comfort of our own dining room! While it may have felt weird spending all this money after the events of the morning, we were also able to be a real blessing to the merchants who visited. One of them said he did more business with us in one afternoon than he had in any two of the previous months of 2012! (From the sheer size of their haul, we think the Barber family alone added 2% to the GDP of Burkina Faso :-)
Still at the brink of exhaustion, we ate dinner very late and then went out onto the school campus for a night of traditional African dance (all to Christian music). This is basically like really happy step aerobics on steroids. And by the way, the Africans have not yet learned the term "slow dance." It's a ton of fun; at the same time, it's very challenging for us rhythm-deficient Americans. We danced with the African youth group as long as we could (until about 11pm) and retired to our house to enjoy about a 4-hour power outage (after dark, "power" = "air conditioning in your bedroom"). Fortunately, the generator kicked in so we could at least run the fans, albeit with no A/C. The scary thing is, at about ten after three when the power finally came back on and we got up to close the windows, the dance was still going in high gear. We have no idea how this is possible, but we are not joking. As far as we can tell, the Africans danced until about 4am.
This morning, we got a well-deserved break to sleep in until about 9:00. Then we drove around the city running errands and visiting the youth center that was Pete's vision back in 1998, and which gifts from First Alliance were instrumental in building (some of you may remember this -- it was a little before my time!).
In about 45 minutes (4:00pm our time), we are going to walk through the villages with some of the church members here inviting them to an evangelistic message and movie, which will probably take place on the soccer field here at the school. Please pray, as I will be sharing one of the messages, and as we have a very direct opportunity to lead many Burkinabe to the Lord Jesus.
We hope to check in again on Sunday!
Love, in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Paul for everybody
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Thursday -- Brief Update
Bon soir from Burkina,
Tlhis morning was a great time of fun and relationship-building with the kids in the Compassion project that adjoins the church/school property here. We began by traveling to each class to trade songs, memory verses, and prayers with the kids and then to pass out candy. We were amazed to find about 75 kids per classroom, each of a size that would constitute about half of a Davidson county school homeroom. Yet the kids were well-behaved and enthusiastic. The joy in their songs put us to shame.
The next few hours were basically an extended "recess" featuring soccer, frisbee, circle games, and a lot of other games that gave us a platform for getting to know the kids a little better. We came back for lunch exhausted. After lunch we drove around Ouaga to see the Arnolds' new house, a large school/church complex where the church is just being planted, and the site of the future team center. Pete's vision is to have a team center that can accommodate at least 60 team members, 20 interns, and possibly an MK school for the full-time workers here in Burkina, where the international schools have taken away the missionaries' 1/2-off scholarships due to financial problems. I'm sure you'll here more about this when we return.
Please pray for us extra hard over the next two days. Friday is a food distribution that is guaranteed to break hearts, since we already know we will have to turn starving people away. It can also get physically dangerous at the end, as families realize they may be left out. Friday night is a 6:00-to-whenever worship and dance party here at the team center -- again trying to relate to the young people associated with the church here, a lot of whom are not yet believers. Saturday night is the climax of this process of reaching out here in this area, as we will hold an evangelistic service featuring a film, short messages from Pastor Paul and the local Pastor, and either Brittany or Nilsen sharing a personal testimony. Pray also for Pastors Paul and Ben as we have both been asked to preach Sunday in different churches.
We are all healthy and doing well. Thanks for your prayer support -- we count on it tremendously!
PT
Tlhis morning was a great time of fun and relationship-building with the kids in the Compassion project that adjoins the church/school property here. We began by traveling to each class to trade songs, memory verses, and prayers with the kids and then to pass out candy. We were amazed to find about 75 kids per classroom, each of a size that would constitute about half of a Davidson county school homeroom. Yet the kids were well-behaved and enthusiastic. The joy in their songs put us to shame.
The next few hours were basically an extended "recess" featuring soccer, frisbee, circle games, and a lot of other games that gave us a platform for getting to know the kids a little better. We came back for lunch exhausted. After lunch we drove around Ouaga to see the Arnolds' new house, a large school/church complex where the church is just being planted, and the site of the future team center. Pete's vision is to have a team center that can accommodate at least 60 team members, 20 interns, and possibly an MK school for the full-time workers here in Burkina, where the international schools have taken away the missionaries' 1/2-off scholarships due to financial problems. I'm sure you'll here more about this when we return.
Please pray for us extra hard over the next two days. Friday is a food distribution that is guaranteed to break hearts, since we already know we will have to turn starving people away. It can also get physically dangerous at the end, as families realize they may be left out. Friday night is a 6:00-to-whenever worship and dance party here at the team center -- again trying to relate to the young people associated with the church here, a lot of whom are not yet believers. Saturday night is the climax of this process of reaching out here in this area, as we will hold an evangelistic service featuring a film, short messages from Pastor Paul and the local Pastor, and either Brittany or Nilsen sharing a personal testimony. Pray also for Pastors Paul and Ben as we have both been asked to preach Sunday in different churches.
We are all healthy and doing well. Thanks for your prayer support -- we count on it tremendously!
PT
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