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Greetings
from the Dano interns: We arrived
in Burkina Faso three weeks ago and were greeted
by Andy Johnson. Our first impressions when we
arrived were a daze of amazement while we took
in the sounds and smells of Africa. Dano is a
sharp contrast to the U.S., but we enjoy learning
new and interesting things about the Dagara people
who live here. Our daily routine consists of language
lessons in the mornings and village visits the
afternoon, and we have many other cultural experiences
mixed in. These include learning to make Dagara
dishes such as to and sauce, visiting the local
market, and bonding experiences with some of the
local families. We took a field trip to a local
larger city called Gaoua where we went to a museum
and learned about the diversity among the Burkina
people. We look forward to our survey trip that
we will be taking with other missionaries to Mali.
Please pray for the safety and success of the
trip. The missionary team has been so helpful
in getting us acquainted with the culture, and
challenging us with struggles that they have faced
themselves. Overall, this has been such an eye-opening
experience. We can’t wait to see what else God
has to show us here in Burkina Faso.
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| Archie,
Mandy, and Emma Chankin |
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Our
biggest news this month is that we are expecting our
second child in January. This is an exciting time for
our family. It has been a hard time for Mandy because
she is having more morning sickness than she did with
Emma. We ask that you would pray for her health and
our new one to come.
Also,
we would like you to rejoice with Donatien, our night
guard, and his decision to be baptized at the beginning
of this month. He has started studying with several
friends and with some of his family members. Please
pray for his wife and mother as they hear the Word.
One of the other people that Donatien has been studying
with wants to be baptized as well. It is exciting to
see God producing fruit in new believers. We ask you
to continue to pray for Donatien's growth as a new believer.
The
preaching point of Dagore has had a swing in momentum
form previous months. There are now 4-6 people coming
consistently and are eager to hear the lessons. It is
exciting times in Dagore. We thank you for your prayers
and we know that your prayers to God help change the
attitudes of the people in the village. We would like
you to continue to pray for the village. Also, we would
like prayers for the village of 'Yo which we hope to
be starting in the next few months. It is not a great
time to start teaching in new villages because it is
planting season. As we start meeting with the Chief
next month, we ask that you pray for the meetings and
for the people to finish their planting so they can
attend the meetings.
As
always, please pray for rain.
God
Bless, Archie, Mandy and Emma
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| Aaron,
Andrea, and Daniel Burk |
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We
really enjoyed hosting our interns. They have met their
Dagara brothers and sisters in Christ, seen some preaching
points, and begun wading into the ocean of the Dagara
language while they stayed with us before moving on
to our teammates houses.
Another
exciting bit of news for us is that we are getting a
new dog. He is a German shepherd (75%) / lab (25%) mix
and we are going to call him "Uber." We've been making
leashes putting up fences and reading Dog Training for
Dummies.
We're
singing more kids songs in our English church services.
If you haven't heard, "I'm a little bitty frog
and God loves me," you need to ask your children's
minister.
In
a recent meeting in Nakar we had a breakthrough with
Yirsob a man who wants to join in the teaching of lessons
but struggles with memorizing them. He told me the story
of how, five years ago, he started having pain in his
stomach. He went to the witch doctor, who cooked a chicken,
rubbed it with ash and dirt, and had Yirsob eat it.
This didn't work (amazingly). Treatment for worms didn't
heal him either. It was not until after he became a
Christian this past year and started praying to God
about his problem that he began feeling better. I told
him that Yownbacere could teach the lesson, and that
his testimony would be an excellent lesson for him to
teach instead. Praise God for how He is showing His
holiness and power among the Dagara.
May
the LORD Bless You and Keep You,
Aaron, Andrea, and Daniel
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. More news from the Burks
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| Chad
and Amy Carter |
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From
the writing of this letter Amy has just 14 days
left in Burkina Faso. These next few weeks are
an exciting scramble as we prepare for our furlough
in the States and the arrival of Noah.
Two
of the most exciting things this month were the
outstanding success of the leaders meeting on
June 12th and the blossoming of the preaching
point in Dagoreh. Archie made the suggestion of
moving our meeting spot closer to the market in
Dagoreh and as a result many other people have
been drawn to hear the word. Please continue to
pray for this village. We look forward to baptisms
in Dagoreh this month as we reach the climax of
our evangelism series.
Many
of you have asked about the continuing rain and
food situation in Burkina. The rains are steadily
here but food prices continue to be off the charts.
Somewhere along the line prices are being unjustly
gouged.
In
other news, we were blessed to host our first
round of interns for several days. We don’t exactly
feel like ‘seasoned missionaries,’ but we hope
that God will show them something by looking at
all our mistakes.
The
translation of the women’s material and the elder
lessons continues to advance. We hope to wrap
up the reviewing of all these materials before
we leave for furlough. Please go ahead and email
us so that we can plan to get to get together
in the States.
Chad
and Amy
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. More news from the Carters |
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| Andy
and Melissa Johnson |
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This
has certainly been an emotionally-charged month
for the Johnson household. Early this month, we
heard about a child that is going to be available
for adoption stateside, and, after much prayer
and fasting, have decided to adopt this baby!
Should all go well, we will head back to the states
to adopt our firstborn; this means we’ve got 2
months to get ready for our first child, rather
than the usual nine! We’ll be heading back stateside
around September 1 and staying until our child
is 2 months old.
We
also set a new Dagara-team record for consecutive
days in the capital city (16 days, 15 nights),
as we had to stay in town near a doctor for some
health problems Melissa was having. We’re back
home now, but Melissa is still running very low
on energy. Keep her in your prayers. We really
regret missing so much of the interns’ time in
Dano, but health always comes first!
Please
continue to keep us before the Lord, as well as
the villages with which we’re working. Additionally,
we’re running into some complications with our
adoption – please keep that process in your prayers.
Hopefully we’ll be able to see some of you in
a couple of months! Andy and Melissa
Blessings,
Andy and Melissa
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Please forward to a Friend!
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Mission. All Rights Reserved |
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