See Something More

Eight months ago, God connected me with Joël, a thirteen-year-old boy in Burkina who was crippled by a bike accident two years ago. Six months ago, God connected me with Ray of Hope, an organization that provides kids in developing countries the opportunity of high level medical care in the United States. Five months ago, God connected the rest of the dots and Joël boarded a plane. What makes the story sweeter is that Ray of Hope is located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the same exact city where my family moved this year. Coincidence? I think not.  Yesterday, I arrived to my new home in Ft. Wayne for my ten week furlough, and today, the Lord brought Joël and I together again in the same place, and my two worlds collided.  When I first saw Joël, I didn't know whether to hug him (the American thing to do) or shake his hand (the Burkinabé thing to do). I didn't know whether to speak English or French. We ended up doing a mix of both. I didn't know whether to talk about life in the U.

I listened to the patter-clack noise that my feet made as they stepped lightly on the stone pathway, and the sound took me back thousands of years. Did Paul's feet make the same comforting sound when he took strolls through Corinth on sunny, warm days in October? Or was the city always bustling with buying and selling and so much activity that he didn't even notice the clack-clack of his sandals against the gray stones that form the streets of Corinth?  I am currently on a single missionary women's retreat in Athens, Greece, with eighteen other amazing women who are serving Jesus and ministering to his people around the entire world.  We've got people who have or are presently serving in over twenty-eight countries including Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, South Africa, Burkina Faso (that's me!), Ghana, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Scotland, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Australia, and multiple countries i

You thought potlucks were an American thing. You should see what Burkinabé-style looks like. The table was absolutely loaded with the various dishes that each person brought: t ô made of corn flour, tô made of millet flour, rice,mpeanut sauce, cabbage sauce, djo-djo (traditional Dagara sauce made with leaves, squash, and peanuts), riz gras (spicy, flavored rice), sen-sen (fried bean flour cakes), salade crudité, porc au four, drinks, and a pizza (okay, my American teammate brought that dish, but we have affectionately taught our Burkinabé teammates to appreciate pizza).  It was so unbelievable that people were taking pictures of the table and of their plates, piled high like mountains. One look at such a gorgeous table and you had automatic permission to eat as much as you wanted because you could already tell there was way too much food.  I invited our Burkina team (which includes our missionary team plus all of our national members who work so hard in each of our ministries) to share

When I had only two weeks left in Burkina until leaving for my two month furlough in the United States, I asked God to help me spend my last few days well. I imagined it like the end of a race when the runner gives all he's got so that he crosses the finish line with nothing left. I wanted to cross this finish line of my second year in Burkina having given all my heart, soul, energy, time, money, and resources. I wanted to leave feeling like I had poured out all of me, like I had spent all that I had left to give. Well,  he took that prayer seriously.  I've been wrapping everything up as best I can before I leave. I've finished medical cases, implemented organization changes in the infants in distress program so that I can pass the baton and leave the work in capable hands, accomplished end of the year children's ministry goals, and left what is needed for what I can't finish. Long days, long hours, many tasks, many activities, tired feet, happy heart.  As I sit her

I  started the team meeting with my very favorite question: "How have you seen God at work in your life recently?"  I'm not sure if they've ever been asked that question before, but after a moment of reflection, they got it, and they started throwing out answers through stories one after the other.  One team member saw through the leadership training seminar last week that God is in deed at work in strengthening the local village leaders and evangelists. Another recounted a story of a specific problem she had in her work. She manages the young scholars program and needed to enroll a student in school, but the director refused and said their were no places left. No questions. Without any other options for this orphan student, she prayed and believed that God had the final word and not the director of the school. Against his counsel, she persisted with her request, and the director miraculously gave the student a spot.  Another woman testified that she was in a difficul

I've been complaining to the Lord lately about feeling lonely because I live in my house all by myself. Well it's funny how the Lord answers our complaints sometimes.  My answer came in the form of Ollie. That's not her real name, but that's what we will call her. She is a student in our Young Scholars Program, doing the equivalent of the tenth grade. Her father has abandoned the family and her mother doesn't have the resources to send all of her children to school. Since there is no secondary school in her village, she comes to our city to live during the school year and attend high school. Finding lodging for her and two other young women like her can be a little tricky, so when she needed a place to stay for just one night while we figured something out, I let her stay with me, not knowing that it would turn into a 12-day affair.  I got to teach her how to use the toilet, make tea on the stove, and pop popcorn in the microwave. She taught me how to make djo-djo,

The classroom where I had spent all morning emptied, and I took a moment to breathe in the silence and take a sip of water after speaking and teaching all morning in French. I didn't realize how physically and mentally exhausting that is until the students - 45 village leaders, evangelists, and children's "monitors" (children's ministry leaders) - left the classroom and gave me a minute to breathe.  What a great morning we had already had! Charlotte and I tag-teamed in teaching (as Rebeca translated into Dagara) the sessions of this first children's ministry formation:  Introduction: vision and goals  The importance of children in the church Characteristics of a children's minister The foundation: Prayer How children are not like adults How to organize a children's ministry (essential elements)  How to prepare a Bible story lesson for kids Tools for success  Now the participants had a chance to start putting it into practice, and I didn't want to

I ran a half marathon once, and I said to myself, That's good. Checked that off my bucket list. Won't ever do that again.  But for some reason we have the tendancy to do the things that we say we will never do.  So here I am again, training for another half marathon because the circumstances are different. Mainly the people are different. The cause if different. Before, I ran alone. This time, I'm running with a bunch of people that I know and that are all somehow connected with our mission in Burkina. Before, I was running to get a good time. This time, I'm running for the infants in distress program. Yep, the one that I work for everyday.  A few years back, a woman came on a short term trip to visit our team, and she was so greatly impacted that she has rallied people to pray and support us ever since. That's why she organized a team in the Chosen Race of New Braunfels, Texas, that will directly benefit our infants in distress program. The funds the runners raise

"Sometimes I get overwhelmed," I confessed to Rebeca, "because of all the needs."  When people need clean water, they come to us.  When people need help sending their kids to school, they come to us. When people need medicine or a surgery or medical help, they come to us. When people need milk for their babies, they come to us. When people run out of food, they come to us.  I can't even leave the house without someone asking for something - the bike I'm riding, the backpack I'm carrying. Random people that pass me ask me immediately for money. Kids ask for candy and cookies. When I go out for a run, people yell at me and ask for my shoes.  The needs are overwhelming. And the demands are exhausting.  Especially when what I really want them to ask for is Jesus.  It literally wears me out and makes me tired.  It makes me feel unable to do anything for anyone because the demands are too high.  But it also makes me want to change the way I pray. I wonder how

If you've never seen peanut butter made, you've got to check it out. And I'm not talking about Peter Pan on the TV show "How It's Made". No, I'm talking about Burkina Faso real natural peanut butter. I'm talking about harvesting the peanuts, shelling the peanuts, and watching the transformation from a nut in the ground to a creamy peanut butter that adds energy, protein, and fat to help nourish the infants in our Infants In Distress Program.  Juliette is completely in charge of making the peanut butter that we distribute to the babies in the program each month, and she was totally in agreement when I told her that I wanted to help her and learn from the process this month.  On this particular day, we were taking the peanuts to be de-shelled. Placing the raw peanuts in two 40-liter basins, Juliette solicited the help of her oldest daughter to put one of the basins on her head. She asked me if I wanted to carry the other one, and then quickly laughed at

It wasn't too long ago that I wrote about my friend, Phoebe (whose name has been changed in the retelling of her story), which you can read about in my previous post "Phoebe's Call". Her story has been an ongoing one, and I feel that a chapter has just come to an end and another one is just beginning.  She sat on my couch with a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes, I realized that this was the moment I had been waiting for. All those other times we had met were so hard, so painful - discussions about how to help her with her health problems, how to handle her case, how to pay for another medicine or another intervention, how to keep going when everyone is tired and doesn't know if it's worth it.  And now finally, we were here in the place I had been longing for since the beginning of this whole case back in March. A place of praising God for what he has done.  I met her for the first time back in March, but her story actually begins way before that.  S

Four days of searching, four different stores, long trips across town, a budget that couldn't be satisfied, countless phone calls, and one giant headache later...I finally found and purchased the load of school supplies for the students in our young scholars' program. But that was last year, which is why when my teammate asked me to purchase school supplies again this year, I took it on like a challenge.  This year, I knew exactly where to go. I knew it would take several hours to fill my order, so I dropped off my list and left my number instead of waiting outside in the hot sun for hours like last year. When it was all finished, some strong men loaded the seven heavy boxes packed with notebooks and various school supplies in the back of my truck, and I drove off with a smile on my face like I had just pressed the easy button.  "Success!" I announced to myself, and I showed off my shopping spree accomplishment to my friend who took this picture and probably had no id