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It came to the end of the week, a Friday, and I found myself falling into the old habit of asking myself what I had done this past week. Like I needed to sum up the entire week based on how much I accomplished. Strangely, I actually hadn't done much. Surprisingly, I was okay with it. As I reflected on the events of the week, I was oddly at peace with the fact that I hadn't busied myself with lots of activity. This used to make me feel like I wasn't being useful, but Jesus is changing that in me. So I walked into the training hall where the final day of the church leaders seminar was taking place on that Friday, and I was immediately struck with a realization. I heard their joyful singing, saw the smiles in their faces and the light in their eyes, saw the wives sitting beside their husbands, some cradling toddlers or nursing babies, and it just hit me. I may not have done anything this week, but as soon as I stepped in, I saw God doing something. He is raising up men, ...

Presenting themselves one by one, they gave their names, the name of their village, and a piece of news from the church that they pastor. These village church leaders are so spread out that they often feel alone and isolated. This simple activity reminds them that they are not alone, that they are a part of something bigger than themselves, and that God is at work in many different villages at the same time...often doing some of the same things. That's why we do a quarterly Biblical training seminar for all the church leaders in the movement of Églises Évangélique Du Christ - to bring all the hot and smoldering embers together and light the fire once again. One church leader shared the news that they had finished building their first building and were meeting in it every week. Another leader said that their church, still meeting under a brush hangar, had decided to start saving their money to build a building in 2018. One leader announced that their church is made up mostly...

"I'm going to say three statements. Two of them are true, and one is false. You try to find which one is false." These girls, ranging in age from 17 to 22, had never played this game before, so I started out pretty easy. "I'm twenty-five years old. I have a younger sister. I don't eat meat." They smiled and looked around at each other sheepishly until one was brave enough to answer. "You don't eat meat. That's a lie." "Very good!" I responded and they all laughed. "How did you know?" I asked very intentionally. "Because I've seen you eat meat," she replied and I praised her again. "You know me well enough to know that I eat meat. You've also seen a picture of my little sister. And I've told you I'm twenty-five." We did a few more rounds, and I let the girls take turns giving it a try. They were all pretty bad at lying, which is a pretty good thing I guess. We got quite ...

Names carry a lot of weight. Even in the United States, parents are naming their children more and more based on the meaning of the name instead of just what they like or what they think sounds good, but here in Burkina Faso, names have had powerful meanings for a long time. A name always means something, and you carry it with you for your entire life. They have a saying here that says, "the name will follow the child," which means that the name given is like a prophecy, even if it isn't a self-fulfilling one. What you are named is who you will become. This is why it is so troublesome and unfortunate that many people among our people group have horrible names. I've heard names such as "death will follow" and "the day of my sorrow." Take the example of a child named "bad things will follow." From his birth, he was severely developmentally delayed and became a burden to his mother. Even when he grew up, he dropped out of school and de...

I went to the office with my computer in my backpack and a hand written to-do list of everything I needed to get done. I had it all planned out in my head - which tasks in what order and how long each one would tentatively take. As soon as I arrived to the office, though, I walked in on a conversation between the ladies about dreams. Finding the subject particularly relevant, I added my two cents. "Did you know last night was actually the first night I haven't had a bad dream since I arrived here?" The ladies looked at me sharply yet with compassion, as if they were curious, surprised, and sympathetic all at the same time. "Like what?" they inquired. "What do you think they mean?" one woman asked. I explained that sometimes dreams do have meanings, but that mine are usually so strange that I can't make sense out of them at all. They seem to be random and nonsensical. Sometimes they are literally terrifying - like the kind when you wake up...

A young girl sat quietly on a bench in the welcome area of the infants in distress office, a tiny baby cradled delicately in her lap. Her young husband sat beside her, twisting his hands as if this whole thing was very unfamiliar to him. I could see the light in their eyes mingled with uncertainty and wonder. One question confirmed what I already suspected. "First baby?" I asked with a smile. They both nodded. "How old is he?" I asked, holding out my hands to take him for a moment. "Seven days." She had come to our infants in distress office to ask for milk because her baby wasn't breastfeeding very well. With a simple assessment, I could tell that she was producing a more than sufficient supply of milk; she needed some help with latching. With Rebeca's help, we explained the incomparable value of a mother's milk (much better and cheaper than the powdered milk she wanted from us) and that we wanted to give her the tools to help her nour...

As many of you may already know, part of the infants in distress program includes a bi-monthly milk distribution: one in the village and the other right here in our city. At these distributions, all the babies are measured (height, weight, temperature, brachial perimeter - an indication of nutrition) and given a health check up before they receive a month's supply of milk. Each distribution also includes a session on health and hygiene education as well as a devotional, lesson, or story from the Bible. Last week in the village we had 10 present and only 2 absent, and today in the city we had 47 (including four sets of twins) and 8 absent. This makes for a current total of 67 in the program. More important than the numbers present are the ways that lives are being touched. Last week in the village, Rebeca gave an excellent health lesson about the importance of taking your children to the doctor as soon as they become sick instead of waiting until they become severely febrile o...

At the start of a new year, we are making a new habit as a team. As a part of our weekly team meetings, each member of our development team is asked, "How have you see God at work in your ministry?"  It's one of my favorite questions, mainly because I love the answers. Charlotte spoke about children's ministry in the village of Yabogande. This village was one of the most challenging for us last year as we tried to develop a Sunday school program for the village churches, but when we went there this past Sunday, we saw evidence of the most successful children's program so far. "Seeds were sown," Charlotte said. And God did the work! Rebeca then recounted what happened at last Friday's milk distribution for the infants in distress program. After she gave a word of encouragement, training the mother's and caregivers in health and hygiene and then encouraging them to go to church and seek God, I shared a simple verse from Psalm 121:5-6 about...

Last year during our children's ministry tour of five villages, there was one particular village that was harder than all the rest. Not only was it the farthest village to get to, but it also had the fewest number of children, and those who came didn't actively participate. We spent four Sundays there, teaching the children and training the two people who wanted to be the Sunday school teachers. That was really the only positive thing we could glean from the experience - two teachers, a man and a woman, who had good hearts, a love for the children, and a desire to be in involved. I left for furlough shortly after spending four Sundays at this village, and then today was the first day to go back after a three month break. What charlotte, Rebeca, Emily, and I found totally amazed us. A group of eighty children had already gathered under the shade of our designated children's church tree. Ton Ton (uncle) Gregoire and Tanti (aunt) Augustine had already done a lesson with th...

"Cardiopathie" was the diagnosis at the hospital, and what I more precisely suspected was dilated congested heart failure, a condition that can develop after pregnancy. "Some patients recover completely, and some patients die" is what my textbook said. I first heard about Florence when her infant was enrolled in our infants in distress program. The baby needed milk because her mother, Florence, fell "gravely ill" just after given birth to her now 3-month old baby girl, Emiline. I know we are already taking care of the baby," Rebeca said, " but if there is anything we can do to help the mother, it would be good. Her situation has broken my heart." So we went out for a visit and found her, laying on a mat on a dirt floor, her raspy respirations as audible as a freight train. She coughed heavily as she sat up, and it took her a good ten minutes to recover from moving into a chair. Her face was swollen as well as her legs, which were cool to...