Teaching in the morning… Evangelizing in the afternoon… and an invitation to the Cinema for the evening.

First was to teach the church members and minister to the children. Second was to go out into the villages with an interpreter and share the good news and invite others to come and watch a movie at night.

Ministry is so wonderful. Much of it began with the children in song and dance. We also brought soccer balls and bubbles to play. Yes, bubbles, it is something that the children become fascinated with as they have never seen a bubble before. Our last village, Pastor Jan and myself were assigned to minister to the children. It started out with 25, but quickly grew to 100 children. We played and distributed candies (bon-bons). After sharing with the children about Jesus, I asked them if they had any questions for me…. OK… here they come!!! Question 1: Why are you so different from us. You’re kidding, that blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin stands out?????

I was able to share that God created each one of us. All of us were different. That no two of us are the same. For God used the dirt of the earth to create man. There are 5 colors of dirt in the earth: Black, Brown, White, Yellow and Red. I just had more white dirt, but showed them my black freckles and told them that really, I was black. We had a young girl of Hispanic descent on the team, she is brown ~ when you lined us up, you saw the color spectrum from white to black. I told them that if they came to America, they would see people of all colors, and we all look different but were created by the same Loving God. To wrap it up, I told them if any of them wanted a hug, I’d give them one. I had over 100 takers. It is something that is priceless to them for two reasons, 1. Affection is not shown often in the nation. 2. I’m a white person (a Nasala), and that is something that just does not happen. It is one of the greatest joys I get from ministering to the children ~ Dispensing hugs and praying over the children.

This particular village was in the northern part of the country. It is a place where the land changes over to desert and the sand changes from red to a golden color from sun bleaching. It is a place where the truth has been absent and many forms of abuse are so great. To rape and abuse children was normal……to use children as slaves (labor, sex and militia). Many of the people struggle with the oppression/depression that comes from being abused.

They may not “know” that it is wrong, but their spirit knows it is not right. Many children are withdrawn and have no “hope” for a future. They don’t understand where these feelings of despair come from. They just go through the motions. It is inconceivable to many that people live in these conditions…. Here was a place where to beat your wife and children into submission was normal… Hard to believe and even harder to see.
We ministered to a lady whom the Lord revealed to us that her condition was not the result of a sickness or disease; rather, she suffered years of physical abuse from her husband that left her deaf, unable to speak and in need of “crutches” to walk (really sticks fashioned into a makeshift set of crutches). It was what the Lord revealed and then confirmed as we were ministering and was confirmed later through another person. The Love of God overwhelmed us as He touched her body and healed her wounds. She was so grateful that we came… even more grateful that we gave her Jesus and she could experience true “Love.”

There is so much humor in missions…. Some of what I’ve experienced is priceless as we’ve gone into cultures. For this trip, it was sleep performance anxiety. What, you may ask is “Sleep performance anxiety?” Well it is 200 pairs of eyes watching as we tried to go to sleep…. Many of the people in this village had never seen a white person before, so they watched us…. Funny to look up and see all these eyes “watching” you sleep….the pressure is on…

As you know, this has been a wonderful transformation for me as I’ve followed the dream God put in my heart.. to reach the lost…. On each trip, He takes me to places I never thought I’d go.

Honestly now…. This was my first real “camping” trip. Trip 1 to Africa, Air France left all the bags on the tarmac in Paris, so no Gear to stay in the bush made it over, trip 2 to Africa, we stayed in a “motel”, all accommodations were simple, but not “bush” . All my other trips the same… I’ve done remote islands… they had “houses” and structures, no electric or running water, but I’ve not really had to “camp out”.

This was a first…. I’m thankful to the Holy Spirit who prompted me to buy my “bed roll” mat to sleep on, sleep sack and mosquito net. It was that prompting that prepared me, even though we did not know that we’d stay in the bush.

Thank you to all who gave toothbrushes, toothpaste, personal hygiene items, and clothes. We were able to demonstrate the Love of God in action by ministering to the needs of the widows and orphans ~ thus fulfilling James 1:28.
At the beginning of the year, the orphanages had a total of 800+ children. That number grew quickly in 2007. The orphanages are spread out across Burkina, but are ran by one individual who himself was an orphan.
Many children end up with out a father (leaving widows & orphans) or have no parents as a result of Malaria, Tribal wars and Aids. For the women who’ve lost their husbands, in the culture there, if a husband dies, no matter the cause, it is the woman’s fault. She’s stripped of everything, cut off from any support and put out with the children. These children are also considered orphans.
The children are also exploited and abused in ways that make one shudder. It grieves my heart.

We carried over many clothes that were donated… Some came from my former retail partners who donated all the merchant and advertising samples… While others came from generous donors who cleaned out clearance racks at Target and other places. Both of these avenues were used by God to let the children know they are special to Him. All said, we clothed approximately 400-500 children ~ Complete outfits….

The director of the orphanage was just stunned as he looked at the clothes… with tears in his eyes, he stated, “NO ONE ever gives new clothes, These children have never had something new in their lives.” Made me stop and appreciate all that I have and stand so grateful for being used of the Lord to touch the hearts of the children. I say, I’m the blessed one who gets to see the faces of the children when they receive the toys, toothbrushes, clothes and other items.

But to those who gave, Thank you on behalf of the children. Your reward will be great…..