Jour 1

Day one has officially come to an end here in Burkina. It has been a very full, exciting, emotional, and rewarding day. I hope that over these next few days these posts will keep you very much updated and involved in what is going on over here. So sit back, read and enjoy. (Also everyday will be featuring a few quotes from the mouth of Benjamin Lackey, as well as some sort of story from that day.)

Our pit stop in paris brought much necessary sleep as well as a few long tours around the Charles de Gaulle airport. 27 hours after departure we finally made it to Burkina, around 3:30 a.m. american time it was about 7:30 p.m. here. We were happily greeted by Larry Wolters and Steve Nehlsen. We have very few problems getting through security but alot of difficulty getting all of our luggage. 4 of our bags got lost in paris, one bag didn't make to franklin, and Courtney Green's bag didn't even get taken to the Atlanta airport. All in all we arrived with nothing to complain about except our lack of sleep.

Philosophical Sayings from the French Benjamin Lackey

" Everything in Africa has a beat, even the fans..."

"After being in africa for a week people are going to smell us and ask, what have you been huffing?"

"I'm not showering for the next 4 days..."

The view from the plane as the sun set over the sub-sahara desert. It was breathtaking.

Sunday morning started early for us, we had to leave the guest house by 7:30 to get to church by 8:00. When we arrived we were greeted by a crowd of Burkinabe. After an hour or so of Worship this little girl asked to present a song. After she sang, we heard her story...

Recently her father took a second wife, and left her mother hurting and lonely. (I have always wondered what the women thought when their husbands took another wife). During this rough time the mother told her daughter that the only thing that brought her joy anymore was to hear her sing, and so now every sunday this little girl asks to sing before the church, in which her mother sits.

Here are just a few pictures of our time at Balkouy Church (this is a recently begun church that has a very new Compassion program....www.compassion.com (for more info on their ministry and how you can help).

Courtney and I attended the children's sunday school class and were asked to present a few songs, which actually ended up meaning, 'sing for the entire rest of the class.'

After quickly fading lungs Micah Wolters decided to give singing a break with a little red light, green light.

Dane spent a few minutes hanging out with the Burkinabe and playing the djembe.

After church we all went to the Rec center, which use to be the American Embassy, for lunch

After lunch we had a few hours of napping, praise the Lord, and then a mini-market and for dinner we went to the Nehlsen's to enjoy a great time of fellowship, worship, and prayer.

Overall everyone on the team is in high-spirits and healthy, which is a huge blessing thus far. We have a very busy week ahead of us the schedule looks as so;

Monday: Working at the guest house to put up a hangar, and clean out the magasin for the Wolters.

Tuesday: Building a wall at a ministry center called the LAC, and then touring some ministry sites before going to the huge artisian festival, SIAO

Wednesday: Working again at the guest house, and touring ministry

Thursday: Compassion day

Friday: heading out to the bush where we will be helping a recently reached people group called the Daphine, minister to an unreached people group the Noomani through an evangelism presentation, as well as building a hangar for them to meet under.

Saturday/Sunday: still unknown, the possibilities are endless.

So please be praying for continued health, for guidance in going to the bush and for God to meet the needs of people hearts both on our team and in this city.

(more to come from my heart over these past few days, hopefully tomorrow)