[Dagara Digest] Happy Easter from the Dagara Team

[Burks]

Geoffrey and Suzanne Richter Family

God continues blessing our time in Ouagadougou with language learning, networking with friends, and laying a foundation for long-term ministry. Thank you all for your prayers and support. God has provided a wonderful beginning for our family here in Burkina.

Language learning is going well. In one sense it gets easier everyday, but in another, it becomes more challenging as you discover there is so much more to learn.

When we first arrived in Ouaga we felt somewhat isolated and alone. We must have entered into warp speed because now we have so many ex-pat friends and activities that it is overwhelming.

We’ve learned a lot about living in Burkina and what it takes to do missions here. We’ve also been blessed with the opportunity to serve others by starting a Moringa tree project. Moringa is perhaps the most nutritious and beneficial tree in the world. We have over 700 trees growing in our backyard which we are donating to an orphanage and a street children’s ministry. Another project is “getting our feet wet” doing pump repair on water wells once every two weeks with another mission organization here in Ouaga. In Burkina there are over 30,000 wells serving the water needs of rural villages, however 23% of them are broken down. There are not enough organizations repairing them to keep up with the need. Both these development projects are relatively easy to conduct and can provide a significant improvement in the lives of Burkinabe.

The Richters

Andy and Melissa Johnson Family

Greetings from sweltering Burkina Faso! The traditionally hottest month of the year, April, has certainly not been a disappointment. All the unusually-early rains have left us high and humid, and we’re all anxiously awaiting the start of the rainy season in (hopefully) a few weeks.

Our family is well. Elijah and Amelie are both eating and growing like crazy. Melissa’s pregnancy is progressing (although we still solicit your prayers that some early contractions would stop), and she is handling being 7 months pregnant in this heat with her usual grace.

Our work in the villages of Bafor and Bavule continues to go well, as these young churches are learning more about what it means to follow Christ. Andy’s discipleship training with his friend Romain remains a treat, as do his weekly Bible studies with a Muslim friend of ours. With only a few weeks left until we make the move up to Ouagadougou to await the arrival of the baby, Andy is continuing with research into Dagara traditional religion in lieu of beginning a new Bible study series.

We have been blessed to host the Hauser family (colleagues from Banfora) for a few nights. We’ve enjoyed times of fellowship, soccer (watched), basketball (played – sort of), and ping-pong (played with quite some skill, Andy says modestly). We also participated in a Passover service planned and hosted by the Carters on the roof of their new home.

Thank you for your prayers for us and for the Dagara.

The Johnson Family

Aaron and Andrea Burk Family

One little sickness after another has come over us this month. Dylan has had two eye infections and an ear infection, an allergic reaction to penecillin and a bacterial infection. Daniel has had malaria. Aaron has had a bacterial infection. We've also been a bit accident prone lately with a steam burn on Aaron's finger and severely bruised toe on Andrea. Please pray for a safer month.

The main even this past month was a whirlwind visit. The preaching minister (Craig Kelly), the counseling minister / elder (Rick Kaufhold) from the Homewood congregation in Birmingham, Alabama and his son (Adam Kaufhold), youth minister from Southlake, Texas came to see God's kingdom among the Dagara. We had a blessed time with them cut a little short, because Dylan got a bacterial infection on our way to the Penjari game park. (Later we took a family trip to the Nazinga game park in Burkina). We enjoyed showing the visitors a little Dagara life and how we are trying to bring the kingdom into it.

The highlight of our ministry these days is Kpe-zuo, the first serious leader-in-training that Aaron has enrolled. He is working through some good material and planning on taking on a student of his own as well.

We are also excited to announce that the Carters are (back) in their new (/old) home. They recently blessed both our team and the Hausers, hosting a seder service in their home.

The Burk Family

Chad and Amy Carter Family

Praise the Lord! On April 5th, just 4 1/2 months after our house fire, we moved into our new home! We do not have any pictures loaded at this time because of our pour internet connection. Please take a moment and give thanks in prayer with us. There is still quite a bit of work to be done and fundraising to finish but we are very blessed and pleased to be living back in our own home. It was such a special blessing to be able to welcome friends and teammates to our home for our annual seder service for Passover. By the end of the evening I think almost everyone was comfortable with their young children running around on our roof!

Thank you for remembering all of these items in prayer.

The Carter Family

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Posted By Burks to Dagara Digest at 4/17/2009 09:25:00 AM