See Something More

I was just about to fall asleep when the news started rolling in. First it was just that something was going on near the airport, and residents of Ouagadougou were instructed to rest in place and not leave their homes. Then we heard something about shots being fired, a restaurant, a hotel, and the number of those dead kept rising higher and higher. Finally, the minister of security announced it as an act of terror.  Over the next few days, news came out gradually and with uncertainty. How many attackers were there? Some shooters were killed on the spot, but it was presumed that some got away. No one has yet claimed responsibility for this attack.  Tucked away in our town and far from the capital, I felt somewhat safely distanced from the events. But to say I was untouched or unaffected would not be true. Our beloved Burkina is not the same as it used to be. Our world is not the same as it used to be. You can hardly go one day without hearing some news story about some...

No one prepared me for this. It's the one "what you should know before you go" that no one ever told me.  I remember feeling it the first time when I had only been in the country for six months. A group of interns came for two months, and then left. I had poured into them, and apparently loved them well enough that it hurt when they left. Then, missionary friends left. The people that welcomed me to Burkina Faso left. My family came and then left. My friends came and left. People that I knew were only staying for two years came and left. Others who I thought would stay forever left. Even missionaries who aren't leaving for good leave to go on home assignment for several months or a year.  No one prepared me for how many times I would have to say goodbye.  Missionary life is very fluid, transient, changing. It is constant movement of meeting people, working with them heavily and intensely for a short period of time, and then going separate ways. God is alw...

"He makes the wind his messengers, flaming fire his ministers." (Psalm 104:4) I hardly even remember my dreams, and when I do, it makes me wonder why.  I woke up on this particular morning like I was shocked to be back in reality. In my dream, I was in a large house with many windows. Outside of every window, I was watching lightning strike and start large blazing brush fires of terrifying, unrealistic size. They were all isolated fires, but they were surrounding the house, and I could see at least one out of every window no matter which direction I faced.  The only other character in my dream was my father, but it's funny, I don't think I ever saw him. But I knew he was there and I was calling out to him, and then when I looked out the largest front window where the most intense wall of fire has been, it had vanished, and all fear was gone.  Most of the time, waking up is what makes your dream-fear go away, like snapping back into reality reminds you t...

"Do you think the children will come?" I asked Rebeca as we arrived at church - a tree under which people had already started to gather.  "It doesn't look like it," she said as she sighed, obviously discouraged by the small size of the group of people. "Is it even worth it to come back here next week?" she added.  We came here last week to do children's ministry for three consecutive weeks as is our custom. Last week, since not many children were present, we decided to remain with the adults and encourage them instead. And it's a good thing because this region is one of the weaker and more struggling regions when it comes to the strength of the church. It has been known as hard soil even by Stanislas, who, when he heard we were going out here, wished us luck and told us to have courage. This week we hoped more children would show up, but from the looks of it, it wasn't likely.  In addition, we had been discussing some difficult...

The middle of the table was piled high with moringa branches, which Juliette had just cut from the garden. Moringa is a "super food" plant, meaning it is rich and nutritious, not to mention that it grows fast and easily even in climates as rough as that of Burkina Faso. Every few months, the branches can be harvested whole, the leaves plucked and dried, and then ground into powder that can be added to food - in this case, baby cereal. This moringa powder is like a natural vitamin that helps the babies in the infants in distress program grow big and strong. This miracle plant is God's gift to poverty-stricken west Africa.  I watched as the women who sat around the table each pulled out a branch and started stripping the leaves off by running their fingers down the individual branches. I tried to mimic what they made look so easy, but I kept accidentally breaking the twigs, which meant throwing an occasional stem in the bucket along with the leaves. The women were kind...

I'm not really sure how the conversation started, but then again, I guess that doesn't really matter. What I do know is that this teenage girl was sitting on the couch across from me, and we were trying to make conversation while we waited for the other girls to arrive.  We had already asked and answered all the common questions: how has your week been, what did you do, how is your family, when does school start back up, and all that jazz. I suppose it was when we were talking about the upcoming holiday on the 15th of August. That's what really started the conversation.  "What exactly is the holiday about?" I asked because I honestly didn't know.  "You don't know? Oh, well, we Catholics celebrate the ascension of Mary. I guess you Protestants don't celebrate that."  "No, we don't," was all I managed to say.  "But you like to pray?" She asked me.  "Very much," I answered. She had actua...

It had been two weeks since I worked in the garden, so I grabbed a hoe and prepared myself for what I was about to get into.  Two weeks ago when we left for Ouaga, we had no idea we would be gone so long. In our absence, the weeds had grow like crazy, the sweet potato vines had totally invaded the tomato bed, and some of the corn had bent over and broken off since it had grown at least two feet taller in two weeks.  As I stood there with my hands on my hips, wondering where to start, my eyes fell upon something hidden under the vines. Could it be? I think my mouth fell open, and I quickly bent down to uncover it. Sure enough! A big, dark green, juicy-looking cucumber! As I brushed my hands through the overgrown vines, I found another one, and another one, and another one! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to come home to fully mature cucumbers. Flowers, or buds, it little baby pickle-like things, I could have imagined, but the vines that previously had absolutel...

Send off some teammates, shop for groceries, and attend a couple of meetings. This was what I wanted to do on this intended four-day trip to the capital city. Needless to say, things didn't go as planned.  If there is anything I've learned from living in Burkina Faso, it's to expect the unexpected.  A combination of car trouble and Emily getting malaria and salmonella ended up in a twelve-day stay. Emily will be the first to tell you what an unfortunate combination that is. Thankfully, she didn't have to be hospitalized since I ended up turning our guest house room into the Ashli Clinic and giving her IV hydration right there in what we affectionately named "the salmonella room."  Just when you thought malaria and salmonella was exciting enough, some missionary friends added to the adventure when their 19 month old baby was swinging outside and a rabid bat landed in her lap and scratched her. This turned into a frenzy of rabies vaccines and a hunt...