When it was time to leave the States, I was worried about the kids. I was concerned that they would miss a lot of the things we miss: air conditioning, a decent car, root beer… But I needn’t worry.
The kids LOVE being back in Africa!! Silas runs from room to room singing and dancing. There are no closed doors here, and by necessity there are practically no breakables. He is a wild, free waddler.
Jakob has constant and ever-present playmates. Yesterday there were over 20 neighborhood kids playing soccer, swinging, climbing trees. Jakob is quickly remembering his french, if only so that he can tell his friend Sheik to pass him the ball.
So even though the transition has been a bit tougher for Heidi and I (dust, heat and a broken-down truck), seeing the kids so happy has made it much. much easier.
Just a quick blog to let all of you know - we’re back safe and sound here in Burkina. No luggage issues, no major delays or cancelations. Just a really, really, long flight.
Now, it’s back to work! “Give a Kid a Christmas” is right around the corner.
The event was a total success. I can’t tell you how happy we are with the way it all turned out. Our pastor allowed us to hold the event at the church which enabled us to have nursery and also a kid’s program in the children’s church area while the banquet went on in the sanctuary (we moved all the chairs and ate at beautifully decorated round tables). We had about 135 attend. I want you to get a taste of what it was like.
So you’re a guest. You walk into the lobby and your children are swept away to the proper places to have pizza and a great time. You’re handed a blank passport by the smiling greeters and told to go to the 4 stations and check them out to get stamps in the passport. On your left is a huge screen with a projected video of elephants walking and making elephant noises. Straight ahead is long table with loads of amazing African art spread across it –stamp 1. To the right is the church coffee shop which has been transformed into an African open market complete with cages of live chickens, guinea fowl and even a goat named Riley (poor scared thing peed and pooped all over the tarp in quantities I didn’t think possible) –stamp 2. You move on into the sanctuary and there are all the lovely banquet tables and two more stations to the right. The first is Give a Kid a Christmas where you have a chance to stuff and fill an example backpack and wrap it up. 1 down, 2999 to go! –stamp 3. Lastly was a straw overhang where Joseph sits you and other guests down and trains you on one aspect of children’s ministry as if you are one of his children’s pastors. He teaches a game and everyone laughs -stamp 4.
We collected the passports and drew 4 for door prizes. Then began the dinner. We had an incredible caterer, a Christian couple that believes in the ministry and only charged us $7 a head! That’s unheard of! Everyone commented on how delicious the food was (jambalaya, sautéed chicken, roasted potatoes, etc) .
While people were finishing their bread pudding, Joel and Joseph came onto the stage and had the lights go out. They started their presentation with a short dramatic reenaction from last year’s Give a Kid a Christmas. They went on to do a wonderful clear presentation of Vision 2020, to reach 1 million children in Burkina Faso with the Gospel message in their language by the year 2020. They also presented our goals to build a children’s ministry center which we hope to start with 2 buildings: a training center for children’s pastors and a Christian elementary school. People were given the opportunity to give and the ushers quickly counted the donations and returned with the results: $35,000! Praise the Lord. $25,000 was from one donor alone, and we raised $700 of monthly support for the ministry. This is such a miraculous beginning, we can’t stop rejoicing. God showed us that this is His vision and He is providing for it. Thanks to all who helped and took part of this wonderful memorable Africa Event.
