Goat Food

I was wrong yesterday when I said that I experienced Burkina culture…I experienced Ouagadougou main city culture, not actual Burkinabe culture…that was today.

This morning I woke up with my handy alarm clock that worked just swell. Sheila was up and ready for me with my tea. She is wonderful…and so is the tea! Alice and her two darling kids, Charity and Sammy, picked me up. Pete drove separate to pick up others. Charity is in the other K-1 class, but I see her often. She didn’t remember me since she was so young the first time; so she has been really shy towards me until today. Going to church was as wonderful as I had anticipated. Not much had changed about the church in spirit or atmosphere. The women all had on their beautiful African dresses, it was hot, and it was packed. The things that had changed were the large number of mopeds in the “parking lot” and also the finished benches on the project that we had started last time. It was a humble sight to see the chalkboards that we constructed in use. So the service…I LOVE African worship! I did not know a word during the two hours and 22 minute service, but I still loved it! I read about Ruth during some of the sermon. I love that there is no time limit. People are there to serve God, and boy do they know how to praise Him. I saw Elizabeth right away…she is one of the girls that I got to know well before. At the end of the service they asked all new people and people who have not been here for a long time to stand up. Pete came to my seat (men and women sit on opposite sides) to translate to the congregation who I was. He introduced me as Jessica. I didn’t hear my name, and Jessica was the only word I understood, so that is what I guessed, but I thought that maybe I was wrong until he called me Jessica several other times. Here he and Alice were working with two other Jessica’s over email, and Alice told him that was my name. He felt really bad because he didn’t think it was right. I thought it was funny, especially when some of the youth came up to me at the end and said, “Jessica? You are Amanda, right?” I couldn’t believe that some of these friends remembered me. Pete said that they really love North Mar and feel really connected to us. I was SO excited to hug Elizabeth. She and Marie had asked me to promise that I would return to see them someday, but I couldn’t. Who knew that God would have us embrace two years later? I also got to see Pascal! He speaks English well, and we all got to know him well last time. He know is married and has a little baby. After church they had a sprite/fanta/coke reception for me and two other families that were there for the first time. This church is precious! I am now back in Burkina! :)

We left church and headed to the Rec center…this is the American Embassy. Most missionaries go here every Sunday after church because they have good American food and a nice pool for the kids. They also have added a workout area which is really nice. We ate and then I just talked with several moms from my school. It was wonderful to talk with Pete and Alice about missions and just to catch up with them. I feel like I am in a totally different stage of my life than I was last time. I had new questions and my heart has been changed. God has used them so much here…and in my life.

Alice and Pete invited me over to their house afterwards, so I played with the kids and watched Zeus and Roxanne which was a cute movie. Around 5:30pm I went with Alice and the kids to drive their guard back home since Alice was going to buy some hay bales from him for their skinny goats. (I’m not sure if I mentioned, but almost every house has a guard that sits by the gate that each house also has. This is to prevent robberies.) She was planning on buying 30 bales. We drove several miles on the main road and then turned into a village off the road. Dirt roads are all bumpy, but these roads had valleys, and if we did not have four wheel drive, we would not have made it. The houses here maybe have a few cement walls and measure a square about the size of a small bathroom that we would complain about in the states. Several people sleep on the floor in these homes. There is no electricity and some of these people had never seen white people probably. The guard who lives here wanted Alice to meet his family. He has two wives, so eight kids in all. Some of the kids looked like normal little Burkinabe children, and the others were skin and bones…separated depending on the wife. His baby reminded me of the baby I saw in the orphanage, very malnourished. It got darker and darker as some of the people piled bales of hay on top of Alice’s jeep. The jeep was too loaded down at 20 bales…some even in the car. I buckled the kids into their car seats, we said our goodbyes, and Alice and I both looked at each other knowing this would be an adventure going back through these dirt roads, now in total darkness. Alice drove at walking pace, but bales fell off a few times, so we would stop and load them somewhere else. I eventually got in the back seat with the kids and held Charity on my lap so that we could bring more into the car. Alice was worried that once we got on the main road we could cause an accident with bales falling off in traffic. So, Sammy prayed the sweetest prayer asking the angels to hold onto the bales so that his Mommy could drive safe. And angels did protect us…no more fell off. Alice also talked about our time at the village with her kids. She asked them what was different about these kids than the ones that they know. Sammy said they were sad because they don’t know Jesus, and Charity said that they were really skinny. Alice explained that this is what starving really is, and how they should not use this term because they are not starving at all. She is a wonderful mom and she did a great job at explaining this difficult situation to these little kids. As I am now showered and clean, sitting here typing on my laptop, I can’t help but think about these people that I saw tonight. These are the “least of these” that God is talking about. What are we as Christians going to do?? Something must be done for these people and the millions over the world who are in the same situation or I dare to say even worse. What does it mean to love these people like ourselves and more so like Jesus? Please pray for the Burkinabe people. My heart is heavy tonight for these hurting people. They need the hope I am blessed to have.