Busy weeks full of blessings

There are so many things I need to update you on! Things are going really well here. I’m really getting into a schedule and getting busy! I have started teaching my English class. With school being cancelled for a week because of conflict that was supposed to happen (but didn’t) and now Christmas break, I have only had two classes so far. It goes fairly well though- all of you know that I am not a teacher, but because it’s VERY basic English I am doing alright! :) If you have any creative ways to present animals, numbers, colors, etc. etc. in English, I’m always open to suggestions… I’ve also been doing at least two nights a week of English help for our older kids. I was a little nervous about this because their French is very good and their English classes learn a lot of grammatical stuff (imperfect simple blah blah). BUT this has really become one of the things I enjoy most. Most of the time, if they have homework questions we start with that, but then we just practice conversation for the rest of the time. Usually they ask me lots of questions about the States, my life, what I think of Africa, etc, and I talk with them about it all. I actually, believe it or not, have trouble now talking to them in English for the help sessions and find myself slipping into French especially when they do not really understand the English phrase. It's sometimes difficult for me to just speak in English with them…

Which brings me to the next praise! My French is REALLY coming along! I know for sure that this can ONLY be of God’s blessing because it really just happened all of a sudden, where I was understanding a lot more, and soon after, speaking more! I know it is not by my doing that I am learning so much. I’ve had a lot more opportunities to speak with the kids and workers, and have been getting French help (mostly just a little vocab) with one of our primary school teachers. Learning the language and being able to communicate is really SO huge and really can be what makes you feel more at home in another culture.

One specific story of praise for that… I have been praying that God can just help me even to witness to one person here- that I’ll have the words I need at the time I need them, especially with it being in French. I had this conversation recently!! One of our boys recently accepted Christ (more on that later) and a few days later, we had a really great, LONG conversation all in French about many different things. At the end of it, we talked a lot about faith and I shared a few things with him about the Christian walk. I was so excited and surprised after the conversation, to walk in the house and realize that the entire conversation (minus a few words in English when I didn’t know the French) was in FRENCH! And I was able to really express what I was thinking. Wow. That was awesome.

Other news... The long-awaited well was dug at our orphanage and the pump was installed! We are now only using the city water for the guesthouse where Ruth and I live. This is an incredible blessing, as a group tried on two different occasions to dig the well- the problem was not that we didn’t have water (they said they saw more water here than in most areas of Burkina!) but that it was very deep. Finally another group was able to get deep enough and install a hand-pump for us. We hope to run pipes to every corner of the courtyard and have a tank installed for the water someday soon as well.

We also have a new baby! Her name is Nafisiatou and she came to us about two weeks ago and is now about four weeks old. Her mother died because of complications with childbirth, so Nafisiatou will be staying with us for the first year of her life, and then her father and/or someone else in the family will come to bring her back to her village to integrate into her family.
Other very exciting news! A group from the States came for a very short overnight visit while working in another area of Burkina, and participated in our Tuesday night family prayer at the orphanage. They asked to help and give the message at the prayer night and of course the kids said yes. They shared a little bit about our need for Christ and what it means to have a relationship with him. They asked if anyone was interested in doing this at the end (praise God, almost ALL of our children are Christians!) and Ascension, an 18 year old at our orphanage accepted Christ in his life! Ruth has been praying for him for a number of years, and God has been working on his heart. About one week later, we had a party for our sponsorship program and orphanage, and our 8 year old, Thérèse, accepted Christ as well! As Ruth has said, we are rejoicing with the angels in Heaven!! Please keep these children in your prayers though, as we have already seen some very real spiritual attacks against their new Christian hearts. Pray that we can support them and help lead them in their new walk of faith.

Ascension and Therese

Speaking of our party, we’ve also had a lot going on with our sponsorship program. We recently had two full days of distributions for the sponsored children. At each distribution we give a bag of grain to each child as well as a couple bars of the soap we make. An area pastor gives a short message, and we sing a little as well. These distributions happen quarterly for our 150 sponsored children, as well as one or two monitors in each area meeting with the children once a week to make sure things are going well. If you’re interested in learning more about the sponsorship program, be sure to check out our website (http://www.sheltering-wings.org/) – I’m hoping to “feature” a child in a blog every so often that is in need of a sponsor, so please pray about sponsoring one of our children in need. Only $25 a month pays for the child’s education, some school clothes and supplies, and helps with food throughout the year.

Our first distribution in December and Kids playing at the sponsorship program Christmas party

So we had the very busy distributions (I was the official photographer of the children) and then our Christmas party as well. Busy!! We also recently had a Christmas party for the teachers at our school. Wow this was a fun (and funny) experience. They requested hamburgers for dinner (only one of the 8 had ever eaten one). So, for our Christmas dinner with them, we had hamburgers and fries. Ruth and I demonstrated the different ways of enhancing your burger (ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo) and then had to teach a few how to open the little ketchup packets that Ruth had. How funny to see some cutting their hamburgers into little pieces, trying to eat with a fork and knife (which they rarely use in daily life), and trying to keep the different toppings on the burger. They watched every move Ruth and I made- I bet how they feel when I try to figure out the cultural norms. We had yummy cookies and brownies that Ruth and I made- the women all asked for a lesson in baking. We then played a few games- ones we’d normally play with kids, but they went over really well! :) We played “Hot potato” with tennis balls and Christmas music, and were surprised by how competitive they got! Also played “Never have I ever” – one thing that one of the women said they had never done was to climb down a well- the men all had done this!

So, that sums up some of the major things going on here! I leave for Bobo tomorrow, so hopefully will have a great update for you when I return! I hope you have a wonderful New Year celebration!! Blessings,

A servant for Him,

~Liz

Two disclaimers

One, the weather on the side of my blog is often incorrect- so if you see that it's only 60 or 70 (especially during the day) don't believe it :) It's hot! See previous entry about what the temp has been like at night recently tho :)


Two, sorry for the format of the blog- I try and try to make it right, but it often just messes around with the spacing and placement of everything. It drives me nuts!

Thanks for your patience :)

I’m dreaming of a red/brown Christmas…

Merry Christmas!! Joyeux Nöel!




I pray this finds you all in good health and that you had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family. It was definitely a different Christmas for me, but I think because of the lack of 100 in. of snow and the different way that Africa celebrates Christmas, I really did not feel homesick. I know, sorry to my family. :) Truly though, a friend of mine here really helped me to prepare for the Christmas season. I was worried this would be the hardest time of my year in Africa, but she reminded me that in a year, I’ll be spending Christmas the same way I always have and that I’ll be able to celebrate it in this way for the rest of my life. How often do I have the opportunity to celebrate in another culture and worship with Christians in a totally different way?




Well with 90 degree heat and dust storms swirling around, I celebrated Christmas with my new African friends and family. We started the evening of Christmas Eve with a family dinner at the orphanage. Most of the time, the kids get their food and will eat all over the courtyard and in little groups, but for the family dinners, we all pull together tables and benches and eat as a group. Many of the kids return home for Christmas or parts of their vacation- many still have some sort of family in the surrounding villages. This year though, about 12 stayed at the orphanage (as well as our babies and toddlers) so we ate Riz gras (Rice with a sort of sauce mixed in) and we each got a piece of meat and a piece of eggplant on it. It was really good! I was a bit surprised when they dipped their large cups into a big bin that came out with a bright yellow drink- very similar to Koolaid. A special treat for the holidays. I finished the meal by making the group “blonde brownies.” They absolutely love baked goods, so it was great to share this with them :)




The Christmas Eve service at our church was supposed to start at 7pm. Of course it didn’t, so Ruth and I didn’t even leave the house to walk over until about 7:45pm. With barely anyone in sight at the church, we went into the pastor’s home (connected to the church courtyard) and visited with him for at least another half an hour. He didn’t seem a bit concerned that the service had not started over an hour later than it was supposed to. :) The things to get used to here… The service was really good! In some ways so different than the States, and in some ways, so similar. When the children came in acting like little sheep being herded by the shepherds, I couldn’t help but picture our little ones in church dressed up in white, baaing like sheep- slightly different look, but so similar. And when the choir sang “Angels We Have Heard On High” in their heart language of Mooré, my eyes misted as I felt the familiar warmth of home- slightly different with the African drums playing along with the carols, but so similar. And when the children stood in a line and took turns reciting the story of Jesus’ birth, verse by verse, I had to smile at the same sort of reactions they had; some yelling the verse, some quiet, some rushing through, some forgetting their lines- in a language I could not completely understand, yet so similar.



The kids behind me singing- recognize the song?



A girl's group singing/dancing- all in front row probably younger than 10 years old, what dancing skills!! :)

The service went til 1:30am. Yes, you read that right. I left at the ‘official’ end of the service, but many stayed for more singing and dancing til 4,5, maybe even 6 in the morning. What a passion to praise God! What a celebration of Christ’s birth. And the commercialism of the season really is non-existent here. Gift giving really is not that common, there are not the big shopping malls and people rushing around stressed out over last minute gift purchases. What a refreshing difference and reflection on the true meaning of Christmas. Of course there were moments when I got tired or frustrated with not understanding the Mooré at our very long service, but I was just overwhelmed by the idea of how similar this could be to Christ’s actual birth. We picture our Lord being born on a snowy December evening, in a small but cozy stable with straw all around, the animals softly talking to one another. We picture the baby Jesus wrapped in soft, white clothes and sleeping soundly in a small but maybe slightly comfortable manger. We even portray the story in our own language, English, with our own greetings and cultural understandings. But how different it was. When I watched the story unfold in Africa, I realized that Jesus was probably in a hot, dusty, and dry stable. Dirt floors and animal… waste… all around. The donkeys do not quietly speak, but LOUDLY yell as well as the wonderful roosters making noise, animals moving around, etc. It was not comfortable. Mary and Joseph were probably exhausted by the trip, long lines all over the crowded village, and with her difficult birth with no doctors or nurses to help. They might have had a pange to wrap Jesus in, but it was probably the bright leftover cloth from one of Mary’s outfits (the cloth used here to make the clothing- many woman have a 3rd pange wrapped around their waist to use in case they needed to carry a baby on their back). And when I heard the people in our Christmas drama greet each other in Mooré. “Nayzaabree” “Zaabree kibari” “Lafi” “Lafi bala” “Zakrumba” “Lafi. Zakrumba” “Lafi”… I realized how different the greetings and cultural language would be in the little town where Jesus was born.



Christmas day was a bit different as well. We had breakfast with the kids- I really wanted to make them breakfast, so made pancakes, about 40! Brought out peanut butter, jelly, and syrup for them to put on the pancakes. It was so funny to watch as they took huge spoonfuls of the toppings- probably more than the pancakes, and quickly ate the 2 ½ pancakes given to each :) The kids all went to church, and Ruth and I planned on leaving about 10 to head to Ouaga for Christmas with missionary friends. A little bit of drama with one of the kids, so got out later than we had hoped. We arrived in Ouaga and had a GREAT meal with 4 of Ruth’s single, woman missionary friends. So fun. We actually got turkey!! We then sat around in their home and watched lights on their Christmas tree (they found it for only $30 in Ouaga- usually the western type of things are SO expensive here!), and then exchanged gifts. How nice to be included in this great evening of fellowship. The missionaries have all been here for 20 years or more, so the amazing discussions we had, and the prayers and fellowship shared was really great. We spent the night at their home, and are now at the SIM guesthouse in Ouaga til I leave for my New Year’s trip. Christmas with some BF missionaries! The beautiful Christmas tree :) Almost like home!

We decided to do a shorter, less expensive trip to western Burkina Faso instead of Benin/Togo. I’m going with three other SIM short termers to Bobo Dialosso and Banfora- known for waterfalls, greenery, and a different sort of culture than the east side of Burkina. I’m real excited to see another area and of course spend time with the girls :) It’s funny though, I already miss the kids and know that two weeks away will be a bit weird after 2 months with them.

More updates to come in the next week or two! Thanks for your love and prayers and the various Christmas cards and emails. I feel your love from thousands of miles away :) Praying you all had a blessed Christmas season, and are staying warm in the snow, rain, ice, and fog. :) May God bless you in the closing of 2008!

A servant for him,
~Liz

Am I in Africa??

(Dec. 5, 2008)
So you are not going to believe this… I still don’t. I am COLD in Africa!

I know, I know, many of you are suffering in the cold and snow right now, and this is nothing compared to that, but either my blood has already changed , or it really is cool here.

At might is when it is cooling down, as it is the “cold” season. Cold, right? 90’s.. Hm.. But evenings I would say lately it has been 60’s. For people used to 90-120 heat, it’s cold! All bundled in parkas and hats and warm clothes, it’s rather humorous for a Michigander like me.

But today… Oh man. I woke up early for a run and it was cold! Last night I used a sheet and a blanket and was still cold. Tonight I wear pj pants, tshirt, sheet, blanket, and get this- SOCKS. IN AFRICA! It’s funny because people always say it’s cold or ask if I’m cold and I laugh and say, oh no, it’s hot for me!

But today… I actually had to agree and say yes, it’s cold! Crazy. And I thought I’d never use the sweatshirts I brought- I used a zip up today until about 11:30am!

So as you are bundled up and getting ready for Christmas, think of us here in Africa- all of the little ones bundled for the evenings (and even daytime sometimes) and do pray for health for the people here as well- just like you, they’re more susceptible to colds and sickness when it’s cold.

I didn't think that a cold shower in Africa would ever feel bad, but you should hear me squeal as I get in- I've quit taking showers in the morning and evening, but only when it's the hottest mid-day. Really, I laughed as I put my warm clothes in my suitcase, but I'm so glad I did!