Email the Carters!

God has once again blessed a month for us among the Dagara. We have been blessed by five interns who are considering where God might be calling them to serve. (Noah sure has not minded the extra individual attention) The church in Nawile was born with 43 baptisms this past Tuesday and we were blessed to see that entirely carried out by the church in Dano-Paris. We were also blessed by the church in Muturi as they so lovingly hosted an all-area leaders meeting. They adopted servant hearts and made the meeting on deacons and elders a great success.

Please continue to remember our family this month as we prepare for
the birth of Benjamin. The due date is less than six weeks away and
we are trying to cross our Ts and dot our Is.

In Christ,
The Carters

Email the Burks!

This month has been full of intern activities and growing possibilities. Andrea and I have been hosting Stephanie and Laren this past week and they have truly been a blessing to our family.

In the "kids say the darndest things" section for this month, I submit to you Daniel's retort to my comment about his leaving the screen door open . . . "Well, Jesus was born in a barn too." Also, in other family news, Dylan has gone mobile and we are really having fun watching the things he figures out to do each day.

In our work here in Burkina, we, first of all, spent a few days looking at the possibilities of a new mission team doing work among the Marka. We hope to publish a report on our website in a few months. Here among the Dagara, the kingdom is still expanding. We should have a few new churches this month as Bavule, Kompla, and Nawile should all have baptisms soon. Di-doro is still probably a few more months out.

Our recent leaders conference on elderships went really well there were many churches represented. We tried to cast a vision for them of the future of this movement and there was a good exchange of ideas on how to choose elders and some practical steps leading to our churches taking on both Elders and Deacons. We've in fact started working towards deacons in Nakar and Nyinyime this past month.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,

Aaron, Andrea, Daniel, and Dylan Burk

Email the Johnsons!

What a great furlough! We have enjoyed so much getting back in touch with family and friends and watching Elijah get to know them for the first time. He has done so well - he has never met a knee he didn't like. He's learning new words all the time and getting braver about trying out new things. Melissa's pregnancy seems to be going well - thank you all for your prayers, and please keep them coming!

We've been given some good opportunities to speak of what God has been up to among the Dagara. We are proud of our teammates and even more proud of what God is doing through them and us. It is an honor every time we get to update people on the work in and around Dano. We'll be preaching and/or teaching each of the next four Sundays, so we'll have plenty of occasions to tell of what God is doing.

We mourned along with our good friends the Barry family in the loss of their son Lukman. Although we were sad not to be with them during this hard time, we were able to contact them by phone. We're praying that God will somehow work through this tragedy to bring this God-fearing (but still Islamic) family to Christ.

We are settled into a new home for the remainder of the summer. You can reach us by phone either at (940) 691-0799 or on our cell at (940) 632-8558.

Blessings.
The Johnsons

Email the Chankins!

Greetings from Burkina! As always, life in Africa has been filled with blessings and tragedies. We are enjoying our 5 interns who have now completed about half of their time with us. They are wonderful people and are eager to learn and participate in life around our homes and in the villages. It has been a blessing for us to get to know them and hear what God is showing them through their experiences here.

In reading the Dagara Digest over the years, you may recall hearing about our dear friends, the Barry family. Tragedy struck that family on May 31 when one of the young boys was killed in an accident on the main road through town. Archie tried to get him to the hospital in Ouaga, but unfortunately he died about 2 hours into the trip. There has also been illness and death among church members in various villages and among many of our workers' families as well. Please pray for peace and comfort as these families cope with their losses. Please also pray for us as we do our best to show the love of Christ to hurting people.

Thanks be to God for answering the many prayers sent up for the village of Mou. After nearly two years of teaching, a church was born. Though small in number, they are strong in faith. Please pray that this group of Christians will be united in spirit and that they will be a bright light for others in the community of Mou who are searching for Truth.

In family news...well, no news is good news I guess. We have been relatively healthy for a while, although Emma seems to have a little stomach bug at the moment. Thank you for continued prayers for Jack's health. He has not had a case of malaria since early May which may be a record for the little guy. Both kids are growing and developing at alarming rates. We are proud of them and exciting to see who they are becoming. Archie and I are fine, although a bit exhausted by everything that life here requires. Please pray for strength and perserverance for us as we desire to do well those things with which we have been charged.

God Bless,
The Chankin Family