Email the Burks!

Does anyone have gopher wood?

God is blessing the Dagara with a rainy season almost double it's annual rain fall. Pray that this will transfer into a large harvest of food while continuing to pray for a harvest of souls. Speaking of which, Nyi-kpier added about 20 to their number this month and even closer to my heart, our night guard, So-dire, is getting baptised at the Mutori church on the 22nd of August. The Mutori church is in desperate need of male leadership and although So-dire is young, he is relatively very well educated and God could use him for great things.

This month Aaron has wrapped up his small group leadership seminar on "Love in Action," and has started a new series of lessons on giving. However, due to the uncharacteristic amounts of rainfall, sicknesses on my part or on the leaders part, and a Catholic holiday we have been having difficulties getting everybody together for the seminar. Pray that either God will thwart Satan's attacks on this or, if God is trying to tell us something, that we will be able to quickly and accurately discern what he's saying.

We're celebrating Daniel's birthday week (He's 8 now). The Crowson's, Togo missionaries transitioning into Rwanda missionaries, came and Stephen and Mathew had a slumber party with Daniel. The Hauser's, Burkina missionaries from Banfora, are also coming so Daniel is getting to enjoy playing with many little boys closer to his age this birthday.

May the LORD Bless You and Keep You,

Aaron, Andrea, Daniel, and Dylan Burk

Email the Chankins!

Thank you for your prayers for our transition back to the states. There have been good days and not so good days. The highlight this month was our container's arrival. There was a mass scramble to find help to unload the container, but two elders, two staff, and a volunteer all from Oak Hills stepped up to help. We praise God for their great outpouring of love to our family.

Archie continues the job search. If anyone knows of ministry positions open please email us. We continually pray, seeking God's guidance for where He wants us to be and what He wants us to do for the next phase of our lives.

We also attended the Global Missions Conference in Dallas and reconnected with many old friends and made many new friends. Attending a Willow Creek Leadership Summit simulcast with some of the Oak Hills elders was also an encourgement and blessing to Archie.

Email the Johnsons!

Greetings from wet and steamy Burkina Faso! We begin with praise, as God has responded to all the prayers asking for good rains this year. If the rain can hang on a few more weeks, many of our friends will have the biggest harvest they've had in years. Keep praying!

Over this summer, our team has enjoyed the longest stretch of visitors we've ever seen. Andy just dropped off at the airport eight brave souls from a sponsoring congregation (Tri-Valley in Livermore, CA). They came for two weeks to encourage us and to work for the Dagara. They passed out eyeglasses to over 100 Dagara seniors and put on two VBS-style events for village churches. Their presence was a huge blessing to our team as well as to the Dagara.

Despite the rain, work among the churches has gone well. We're seeing exciting, consistently-growing attendance in a couple of villages where Andy works (one, a preaching point, and aother, a church considering selecting elders), as well as some frustrating times in an older church (be praying for the Sorian church – they've shown a real lack of interest of late).

Our family is doing well, although the kids have been down with some kind of stomach bug being passed around. Fortunately, that didn't put a damper on Amelie's first birthday party. Now that the craziness of the summer is almost past, we're settled in for a couple weeks of 'normalcy' (if such a thing exists in Dano).

Blessings.
The Johnsons

Email the Carters!

Where do we begin?

After the last Digest our family was visited by several trials. On a Tuesday I had a bike wreck and dislocated my elbow swerving to avoid a kid who ran into the road). Then the timing-belt snapped on our truck during a supply trip that our wives took to Ouaga. These 'problems' have frustrated us but we've noticed two blessings: the problems did not disrupt our meeting schedule during this already busy time of year for the Dagara and they've provided a unique opportunity to live the Christ-witness in daily minutiae; not fun but we know it is frequently more important how we do something than what we are doing. My elbow is better each few days and the truck is being repaired. For now, we've been able to borrow a truck from colleagues among the Jula people.

We have several prayer requests:

Dagara Marriages –

Two men that are in a small prayer group with Chad asked for prayers for their fractured relationships with their wives.

Walking with the Dagara –

We are making several trips to walk with church leaders as they discover ministry options. The very eager might be interested to read some of the questions we discuss at this link.

Discipleship –

Individual formation of leaders continues excellently. Pray for the Spirit to be working.

Praise for the visitors from California. It was a unique new ministry among the Dagara and they showed God's love in new ways.

Thanks for faithfulness in prayer toward us.
The Carters

Email the Richters!

We are currently travelling and beginning to build relationships with members of the Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas. Please pray for God to continue to equip us for the work to which he has called us.