During the week.......

It's been an interesting past couple weeks here, learning what is now a third language (Fulfulde) in order to be able to communicate with the Fulani beggar boys (pictured above). Each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Moumouni and I make sure the kids get a good meal of rice and vegis which is always preceeded by a solid game of soccer. It's been a blast attempting to speak the few words that I've been able to remember from classes each day; but the kids are a blast and get a kick outta hearing me try. Each morning when I show up at the office where the kids gather for soccer, they all greet me and start asking me all kinds of questions - on the top of the list is "How is John and Mellissa?" and "When is Kate coming back?" which to me still sounds like "toy waru mownini bodu suluuuu...?" and "woogy snoogy macko taco...?" Gotta love these kids!!!

What's up....?

Sooooo.... in case you may have been wondering what I've been up too these last couple weeks - it's right in front of me in the above pic. God blessed me with this great Dell Laptop back in Aug. of last year with all the options for video editting; and now I'm pushing it too the max! We finally got our hands on Sony Vegas 7 and Final Cut Pro (two totally different video editting programs) and are using them together to produce some sharp looking promo shorts of the internship here in West Africa and the ministry that takes place here in Africa as well! Stay posted and we'll hopefully be able to upload it online here within the next couple weeks.

Running l'eau

Well, the temp has jumped back up here in Burkina Faso, and after not seeing rain since last October, the water is becoming a little more scarce. This shot was taken up in the often visited area of Ziga where we did our crazy fun and busy outreach back in December. We are now in the process of planning a future project for farming and irrigation which of course would involve - none other than a well! It'll be interesting to see how things pan out, seeing how these puppies run upwards of $12,000-$15,000 a piece........

My Oh My!

Okay - so this little girl's expresion is absolutely adorable! She had just opened up her gift and found a brand new backpack with all kinds of goodies inside. She was so suprised that she didn't know what to do......

How to get lost in West Africa.....

Okay, so this last week was more than interesting and wins the award for hosting the LONGEST DAY of my life! What was originally supposed to be a simple 3 hour drive to a remote village outreach turned into nearly 10 HOURS of endless driving on dirt roads exploring all kinds of small stranged named west African villages that I really hope to never see ever again. Our first mistake (and most deffinately the last one of its kind) was taking a local "navigator" - something that is almost an ironic statement in itself. They say here that in Africa you can't get lost....... HA!!! - soooo not true!
So here's the "how to" on getting lost in West Africa: Step one - When heading to a remote village, make sure to take someone with you who barely speaks French. Step two - ALWAYS assume he knows the way to his home village, I mean, why not - he only grew up there his entire life. Step three - Don't ask, "Soooo are you sure this is the right road" until you've driven half way accross the country and see a stop sign with a crossing paved road. Step four - AFTER admitting that he has ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE where you are at, ask him for further directions including the following - "sooo, at this Y in the road, should we go right or left?" (he said "yes" - so of course we went that way......for nearly 80 WRONGLY DIRECTED km.) or this one "soooo, you recognize this village riiiiiight?" (of course he's gonna say "ya sure" I mean don't ALL west African villages look totally unique?!?!?!) and my personal fav. "heh, we've been driving for over 4 hours now - is it much further?" (oh yes - it was much, much further - in the EXACT OPPOSITE direction that we were headed)
All that said - it is nearly impossible to get lost in West Africa- the catch: DO NOT take someone with you and instead simply ask people along side of the road where to turn next - cause those are the people who live there and know what they're talking about.

Shooting days.....

For the first time in my life, I went to sleep with the sound of gun shots off in the distance. As the night wore on, the shooting subsided and things seemed to calm down. I woke up this morning to find that the power had been out for hours which really isn't all that rare here in Burkina, but still rather annoying.
After talking with a few people here and double checking some local news sources, it turns out that the deep rooted rivalry between the military and the police finally turned violent, leaving one person dead last night.
The International School of Ouagadougou canceled classes today - leaving some American students to futher contemplate education overseas saying, "....in the States we get snow days; but here in Burkina we get shooting days."

The eyes of a child......

This shot captured my attention this last week out in the village here in West Africa. Most of the kids had never seen a white person before - some were even quite afraid of us - other just really really curious.........

A Night Aglow!

This last week in the village can be best described by this picture. Based in the fairly remote region of Ziga, our base camp was a bright light on the horizon of a very dark land. Each day we were able to bring hope, joy, and an abundance of HUGE smiles to 1000's of kids. We saw lives touched time and again and were able to impact over a dozen villages for Christ!
Looking back - everything seems like a blur at this point; but as 2006 comes to a close I'm able to look back and thank God for everything that He has done through the lives of the missionaries here in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

A Week Full of Smiles!!!

Wow - this last week has been an amazing time of outreach and ministry here in Burkina Faso! The last week has really stood out, in that we did nearly 20 outreaches in just six days enabling us to reach over 2000 kids with the Gospel!!! We handed out 1000's of gifts and saw smiles just like this one again and again. It was such a blessing to see the joy on these kids faces - almost impossible to describe in words..........so enjoy the pics and keep an eye out for many more to come!

Litteraly Thousands of kids to reach!

This week has just marked the beginning of what looks to be a VERY promising holiday season filled with outreaches and Christmas joy for thousands of kids here in Burkina Faso! Stay posted for more pics and incredible stories each week this December!