[Dagara Digest] Pray for Rain

[Burks]

The Johnson Family

Greetings from Dano! We have had a blessed month, as the rains have started back up. Please pray that God would bless this area with mu

ch needed rain.

We enjoyed a good visit from Melissa’s parents, the Mears. They helped out with kids and cooking while we got our feet under us with the new baby. They also enjoyed getting reacquainted with those they had met in 2006 and seeing how much the movement has grown since that time.

The night of their departure, we welcomed Kevin and Debbie Baber, ‘official’ representatives of our overseeing congregation, 10th and Broad in Wichita Falls, TX. They came to encourage us, pray over us and our work, and discover new ways 10th and Broad might become involved among the Dagara. They accomplished all those wonderfully, in addition to providing extra hands to help

with kids for one more week. Their visit was refreshing to us.

Andy was privileged to attend the birth of the church at Ur-Gawn this week, as 45 souls were baptized into Christ. This included Herman, the evangelist; while a part of a church over a year, he had never been baptized (not a bad start to his Christian walk, planting a church on the same day he formally accepted Christ!). God used the Mebar congregation, one of our first churches, to plant this n

ew work with virtually no overt missionary involvement. The Spirit is equipping Dagara Christians to grow God’s kingdom far beyond our reach!

Blessings.
The Johnsons

The Carter Family

This month has been full! Benjamin is stretching the limits of human hearing with screaming as a form of communication. Noah has started reading with a fury. The boys had their first two sleep-over parties. The bible translation team invited us to a ceremony showcasing their literacy work in the Dano area. We hosted visitors from England and from the States. The church of Muturi opened a first ever Dagara bookstore to increase the accessibility to the portions of scripture printed in Dagara. And in the midst of all this we still had great progress on Train and Multiply. Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministry among and with the Dagara. Our visitors have such great stories to tell that we will pass our word count on to them.

Blessings on you and your family.
The Carters, Chad, Amy, Noah & Benjamin

The Burk Family

We've had a challenging but good month. Andrea has had surgery on her gall bladder and in Burkina Faso no less. I recommend for anyone to get their surgery done in Burkina. The money you make up on the cost of the surgery will more than cover the $2000 tickets. Seriously, it went very well and Andrea is recovering nicely. The kids and I enjoyed some extra time at a pool while we were in Ouaga.

In the village work, things are going well. Romain and I are starting a healthy preaching point in Nawnmare-bagawn. We are praying for the needs of those coming to these meetings early on in this preaching point. I'm hoping this will set some good habits for this community. Kpe-zuo and I will start building relationships in Sorkawn as soon as our family gets back from the West Africa Missionary Retreat next month. Our night guard, So-dere, got married this month! I will also start training him soon. He is wanting to start some church planting of his own.

the peace of the LORD be with you,
The Burks

The Richter Family

We have been in Dano for little over three weeks now. It is a joy to arrive where God has called us. We are very delighted to finally be in our own home. These last few weeks we've settled in and completed work on our home. Geoffrey is happy that all the pictures and decorations are finally hung. Suzanne has kept him busy. The children are enjoying their own rooms filled with their favorite things. The house has been transformed into a warm secure place to lay our heads at night after long outings in the villages. Praise God!

As most of you know we witnessed a horrific tragedy in Dano soon after we arrived. A five year boy was hit and then run over by a bus. As parents we mourned for the family of the child and the impact on our oldest three children who saw it. Also, Suzanne experienced some setbacks. She had another parasite that had her down for five days and then she cut her thumb pretty bad with a knife. We thank God for His mercy and guidance through these trials trusting that we are in the right place at this time in our lives.

Please, pray for us as we continue with language study and discuss water development and other projects with church leaders. Please also pray for rain. Crops are failing and people are struggling to grow food and locate water for their families.

We love you all,
The Richters

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Posted By Burks to Dagara Digest at 7/25/2009 10:13:00 AM