Our interns were here from May 23 to July 5. These are some of their thoughts and stories.

A Cultural Remix

The call to church was a song that said, "Take care of each other, take care of each other, y'all take care of each other." We stood in a circle, clapping the heavy rhythms of Dagara worship. The songs were simple and straightforward truths repeated like, "Forget your money and go after God. Y'all forget your money." The song leaders took turns, starting new songs as the old ones ended. One woman with a field hoe in her hand began to dance a long way off as she came to church under the tree.
A short prayer preceded the Lord's Supper. A woman fed each person a piece of sinsin, and a man poured dolo into a calabash (a drinking gourd) for each person to take a healthy swig. We still stood, clapping, in a tight circle, singing, "The food is Jesus' body, there's salvation in the body. . ." They fed the kid drum player and held the calabash of dolo to his mouth so that he wouldn't even have to stop the drum beat. The next song was, "Can the ancestors save us? Can the fetishes save us? No, Christ alone can save us!"
Service ended with a greeting. As each person shook the hand of every other person in the church we sang, "We're greeting each other, we're greeting each other, halleluiah-we're greeting each other!" We ended up in large circle, still praising God that we were greeting each other. As I stood there and clapped, I was able to look into each face. People halfway across the world are finding unity and peace in Christ because of the faith of the missionaries, their families, and their sending congregations. Praise God! Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Song and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:19-20).

Heather and Ross

This trip has inspired and stretched me in ways I never imagined possible. It seems like I have been here forever some times, then I turn around and think I just got here, where have the last five and a half weeks gone? God has tested and tried me many times and I have grown to have a much deeper appreciation for Missionaries and my desire to serve on the Missions field has grown exponentially. All the sacrifices that have been made by my friends and family that allowed me to be here are showing their worth a hundred fold and the hospitality of the Missionaries and the Dagara has been so overwhelming. I pray that God will continue to bless them in ways they never imagined and that God will continue to work in my life and allow me to show the hospitality I have been shown to others. I know the experiences I have had here will stick with me forever and I will recall them often when other challenges come my way. "The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you." Numbers 6:24

Laren

Has it been six weeks already? I feel like it was just yesterday that I stepped off the plane and thought "Wow, I'm in Africa!" There are so many things that I would still love to learn - things like how and why the Dagara do certain things, what they think of us, how they can enjoy dolo. Aside from learning how to cook like a Burkinabae, greet and carry on a small - very small - conversation in Dagara, and shop in the market, I have learned a lot about myself. I have a new appreciation for everything that I previously took for granted. I've never really thought about how blessed I am to have things like clean water always available and a bed to sleep on. I thank the wonderful missionaries and their families who I have come to know and love, who have been such an example and blessing to me. I thank my family for bringing me up in Christ. And I thank you, whom I have never met, for praying for me. Most of all, I thank God for bringing me here, for knowing where I should be and helping me to be there. Philippians 4:10-13

Stephanie

The general state I have been in the past six weeks has been shock. Culture shock, spiritual shock, shocked all around. The missionaries made sure that we stayed in a contant state of shock by sending us on a survey trip days after we arrived, having us switch houses every two weeks, learning new routines before we could fully learn the "old" new routines and bonding experiences which no one could prepare themselves for. After the shock of living with new families was living in an entirely new clulture. I am still not used to not being able to carry my own bags or put my own bike away. As I am writting this the power went out again ... So many things that are unfimiliar or different have happened that it is hard for me to categorize it all. The largest issue that I am attempting to assimilate into my brain is the Dagara traditional funerals. There has been a funeral nearly everyday I have been in Africa and in fact I sat througn two days at a funeral on my village bonding experience. It is so much different from any way I have ever grieved or seen anyone grieve. The jury is still out on which is better.
All in all, I am leaving Dagara land with a good bit more questions and a lot more confusion than what I brought with me. As with the funerals, the jury is out on whether the questions are good or not.

John