[Dagara Digest] Happy Mother's Day from the Dagara team

[Burks]

The Carter Family

For those of you that have not heard yet, Praise the Lord with us! On April 5th, just 4 1/2 months after our house fire, we moved into our new home! We hope to upload some pictures within the next week (once we arrive in the capital for supplies). Please take a moment and give thanks in prayer with us.

We also passed another fantastic milestone this month. Train and Multiply is (almost) finished through two more phases of production (99%)! The typing and English back translation check have been completed on all the lessons except one. That is 2500 pages of discipleship and bible study material. The next major hurdle is taking the words and entering them into the illustrated book format.

Thank you for your consistent and faithful prayers for God's kingdom among the Dagara.

The Carters

The Richter Family

Our family will have been in Burkina Faso six months on the 20th of May. It is hard to believe because the time has flown by so fast. We have only five weeks left in Ouagadougou before we move on to our home in Dano. It has been a year since we shut down our own home in Hawley.

Our base of friends has continued to expand and have become very close to several missionaries. It will be so nice to see them every so often when we need to go to the capital and we know they are only a phone call away.

We had the opportunity to go to Dano at the end of April for a week. The women of the team went to Banfora, another four hours west on a girls retreat. They stayed at a French owned Bungalow where they swam, talked, ate, talked, went to the market, talked and got to read and take naps without being interrupted. Did I mention talk?

Geoffrey and the other guys on the team did an excellent job taking care of the children and took advantage of all their time together and had several team meetings. The boys, along with a friend Daniel who came to stay the week, got to go hunting with several Dagara men. We concluded the week with a game night down at our home to celebrate Caleb’s 15th birthday. . . . more

The Johnson Family

Greetings from steamy Burkina! The Lord has provided a few early rains, but he’s also provided plenty of sunshine! We always enjoy this time of year; it is really remarkable how quickly Burkina changes from dry and dusty to green and blooming.

We leave tomorrow for the capital to await the arrival of (what the doctor tells us will be) our second son. We will stay near good medical care from now until the baby decides to join us (hopefully prior to the next issue of the Digest!). While we’re not looking forward to being away from home that long, we are looking forward to all the opportunities, shopping, and eating that Ouaga provides that Dano doesn’t. Melissa’s mother and father fly in May 30 to be with us for a month to help with the transition from two to three kiddos.

Andy has been running around trying to finish up everything he was doing in the villages prior to being gone for what could be a month. In both Bavule and Bafor he has either finished or lined up guest teachers to finish his church maturation lessons. He’s also been trying to take care of a number of logistical details, particularly concerning the plot of land on which we built our guesthouse/office.

While in Ouaga, we’ll have (theoretically) a better internet connection. Look us up on Skype (andy.melissa.elijah.amelie); we’d love to hear from you.

Blessings.

The Johnsons

The Burk Family

We spent more time with the Richters this month. They were in Dano about a week, at least Dad and the kids were. While the ladies were getting to know each other better on a 2 day retreat, we guys really began to get on the same page with possible development projects for the future. We are looking forward to processing with Dagara leaders to see what it is they really need and can sustain.




We enjoyed Mother's Day. We were able to give Andrea breakfast in bed, and homemade cards. Later we called and skyped our mothers. Our internet still isn't fast enough for skype video yet though.

We've seen some promising steps in the growth of the kingdom here. Kpe-zuo, one of my 'train and multiply' students has taken on a student of his own. This is exciting since the idea of 'train and multiply' is not just to 'train' but to 'multiply.' He is also the spokesperson for this region for a Bible translation organization. They are going to provide Dagara literacy courses for any village who will commit 30 or more students to their program.

Yawmbacere is renewing his vows with his wife at the Nakar church. He gave me the announcement to try to send by courier to the over 20 churches that are now a part of the movement. We got to talking and figured out that there are another 7 church plants in the works which would grow the movement to 27. Praise God!

The Burk Family

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Posted By Burks to Dagara Digest at 5/15/2009 10:47:00 PM