Email the Johnsons!

The hot season has arrived! We were blessed this year in that the cooler temperatures hung on a little longer than usual, but the heat has now officially begun! As we've mentioned before, though, hotter temperatures mean more opportunities for evangelism and teaching. Andy has enjoyed a 'regular' month of village visits, working through our team's series on elderships and on following Jesus.

Andy is particularly excited about beginning a new preaching point in the village of Na-mare this coming month. Several women (anywhere from 4-10) have been coming weekly to the church services in Nyi-kpier, and they have requested that a church be planted in their village. Since the Christians in Nyi-kpier are already working in two other villages, Andy has agreed to take on this preaching point. Be praying that God would prepare the hearts of his children in Na-mare.

This has been another great month for our family. For the most part, everyone has been healthy (although Melissa is under the weather as of writing), and the kids are still growing far too fast. Amelie is showing signs of wanting to crawl, and Elijah is continuing his tri-lingual verbal explosion, learning new ways to express himself all the time.

We began the 'official' process of bidding the Chankin family farewell with a guys' fishing trip. Although we were virtually skunked (Chad caught the lone fish, and he wasn't even worth keeping…the fish, that is, not Chad), we had a great time. We almost didn't care about not catching any fish because the weather was so perfect. Instead of roasting in typical March heat, we were blessed with the first rainy and cloudy day since September!

Thank you for all your prayers. We appreciate you.
The Johnsons

Email the Chankins!

We have started offically saying good bye to many of the different churches. Archie has been and continues to visit all the villages to bless them and wish them a fond farewell. He spent some time in the western cluster visiting and saying good bye. A highlight from this trip was seeing the church of Nakar building a primative structure to meet under (grass mats and long branches to create shade). They were doing this for their joint worship with another church from the next village. Other exciting things this month were a baptism worship and party in the village of 'Yo-bagawn, Dano-Pari church meeting in their building and on Easter Sunday there will be baptisms in the village of Di-doro.

Archie was able to take four of our leaders to Ghana to visit one of the Dagara churches there. It was great to get them connected to other Christians. The church in Ghana was established 10-12 years ago. Our leaders were able to ask some questions about situations that had been troubling them and get some good feedback. It was also encouraging to hear our leaders say, "all this is good but we don't see it happening right away. It will take some time."

Archie also showed the Jesus video to the village of Mou and spent the night with Donatien's family. At the end of the night there were 300-400 adults and no telling how many kids. Since then there have been more older men and new people attending the weekly study time. It was encouraging.

The guys had a fishing trip to celebrate our time together. It was a great time spent together bonding and reflecting on past memories. Our lines were in the water but Chad was the only one to catch a fish. It was more about the time spent together than the catch we brought home. It was a true blessing to Archie.

On the home front things are going well. Emma and Jack have been healthy for several weeks now. Thanks for your continued prayers on their behalf. We are continuing to prepare for our departure with sorting, packing and preparing to ship our stuff. Please continue to pray that God would clearly show us the path we should take concerning location, job, etc. We are looking forward to being with many of you soon.

Blessings,
The Chankins

Email the Carters!

Thank you for praying for Kyle and Jenny's remaining visit. They were a great blessing to our family. Both of us fell sick with malaria (first time for both of us to be sick at the same time) and they helped out with the kids.

Thank you also for praying for the missionary family who was considering a move to Dano. They decided to go to the Eastern side of Burkina instead. They will be following up with an existing Fulani ministry in that area. We did get to meet a pastor who is Fulani who plans to speak with the Muslims in this area.

The Nyinyime church is in the middle of constructing a building. During a Sunday visit they announced the work-date and said any church member that did not show up would be fined. Now that is motivation!

Please pray for the continued encouragement of weaker churches. As Chad is continuing visits regarding lapsed Christians he will also spend time encouraging and challenging the weaker congregations. As we try to focus more on leadership maturation please pray for Godly wisdom.

The guys just returned from a special send-off time for Archie and a brief fishing trip (during which they had no luck!). Maybe next time we will land the big-one. We all started to understand how nice it would have been to have Jesus say, "Come be fishers of men." They all must have thought, "Anything beats no luck fishing and sitting in the middle of the sun!" (We actually did have some fun too)

Thanks as always. In Christ
The Carters

Email the Richters!

One thing is definitely true in West Texas and that is, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it's likely to change. Over the past few weeks we have experienced heavy snow and cold winds, warm 80 degree days, rain downpours and hail. It reminds us of the great Power of our God. We are thankful for all the moisture for our crops.

After months of prayer and dialogue we finally have an official timeline to work towards. Geoffrey will continue full-time ministry in Hawley until May 4th. This will free him up to do more intensive study at ACU and in Agricultural Development. In September we will be moving to San Antonio to begin our bonding time with our sponsoring congregation. Then about mid-November we'll get our wings and fly to Burkina Faso.

With our monthly living support and working fund already committed, we are underway in discovering our one-time start up costs in moving to West Africa. God is blessing us with provision at every turn in ways we never imagined. Although we still have a long way to go, we are confident the money we need is already set apart by God.

Family life is going great! Our worship highlight recently was attending a Newsboys concert (the GO Tour) in Abilene. We were touched and inspired by their music. The children are involved in the Leadership Training for Christ program in Dallas where thousands of young Christians will gather Easter weekend. They are competing in Bible Quiz, Children's Books, Christian Art, Power Point, Drama, Puppets, and Service Challenges.

If there is anyone in the US who would like to hear our presentation and learn more about the work among the Dagara, please contact me by phone (325)665-8943 or email richter6@nts-online.net.

God Bless,
The Richters

Email the Burks!

I fell out of the boat during the guys fishing trip. It was important for us to make some memories together with the Chankins in their transition back to the states and so I did it with a splash. We didn't catch much, but we had just about the most beautiful weather one could imagine for March in Burkina. It rained our first night (it hasn't rained for about 7 months), and then it was overcast and cool the whole day we had designated for fishing.

After we got back we had a rough time trying to help the wife of one of our church leaders get some medical attention and she ended up dying in our truck while we were trying to take her to the hospital. This is always harder than it seems it would be and it's a test of faith both for the family and the missionary (probably more so for the missionary).

Pray that Andrea has a less eventful ladies trip to Ouaga. Pray also that Di-doro will have a successful Easter Sunday service. They had put off baptisms there until Easter. I pray that some have not lost their interest and that all who get baptized will make true changes by the Spirit's power in their lives from this moment of dedicating their lives to God in Christ on to eternity.

May the LORD Bless You and Keep You,

Aaron, Andrea, Daniel, and Dylan Burk