Random thoughts

So I don't have major story to write about, just several things that have been happening lately or will be happening shortly. I hope you enjoy.

First off, I have a youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49lSO6OPJ0Y which you can see about a 4-5 minute video put together from the Southern Exposure trip. I recommend using the link rather than searching for "Southern Exposure" I'm thinking you might come across some links that you wouldn't be looking for. On that note, I have to say the trip was a month ago or so now, but I can still see the students growing from the trip. As a group this years youth group is gelling well, becoming more transparent with one another and I believe that we are better imitating the body of Christ now than before. This is very exciting for me as a leader to see this perspective going on and to see the students begin to question and challenge their existing worldviews. My hope is that I can continue to guide them as they work through these lifelong issues.

In other news another one of my good friends has left for good. A Peace Corps friend of mine (it was here village that we went to for the Southern Exposure trip) finished her service earlier this month. The only good thing about her leaving is that we went several times to get a nice meal or ice cream and stuff like that. But it is a bummer to have her gone and just another reminder that all things are temporal, especially here. That is one thing I struggle and wrestle with. Truth be told, I don't think there should be this kind of turn around in the communities here. Especially for building solid, honest, open Christian community to which I am striving for, this constant coming and going of people (and eventually myself as well) really hinders. I have experienced and seen other missionaries and aid workers here just not get close to new comers because they know soon enough one of them is going to leave. This is frustrating to say the least.

Finally, I have been busy this week and will be busy the next 2 weeks with "Give a Kid a Christmas". This is a major project that I am helping a few other missionaries here with. They have put together 3,000 backpacks with pens, paper, and other school supplies to give away at different elementary schools in a village called Piella. 2 of the guys and I went last week to check it out and talk to the local pastors about it. It's quite an operation but a great way to both bless those kids, teach them about social things (brush your teeth, don't eat dirty food etc) and present the gospel as well. I'm very excited to be on board with this project this year. That's all for now. Next time I'll let you know how the Give a Kid a Christmas goes, and how Turkeyday here in Burkina went!

Southern Exposure Pic's

These photos are of myself and one of the students Robbie after our last night of outreach. After we were done with our program a large dance party started up and Robbie and I were right in the middle of it!

The next picture is of several kids going for a football. We brought a football and some frisbees to play with the kids and I taught them how to throw a football for the first time.

Finally there is a picture of our gospel presentation. You might be familiar with the "color scheme" in the gospel presentation using several colors to describe our relationship with God and each other. In order that the kids could see the color and image well we had capes made of the different colors to show how, goodness, sin, and forgiveness actually cover us to some degree.

Southern Exposure

I got back from our children outreach a few days ago, and after some much needed downtime and processing I figured I'd let all you know how it went. I'll start off by saying it was amazing! The other youth leaders and I have been planning this trip for quite some time now, really since the end of August and for the past month and a half we'd been meeting every Saturday morning for prep meetings with the team of students. It was a lot of work, a lot of time, but it was all worth it. The kids did a great job with the program we put together both a morning and evening program for the African kids. Besides sharing the gospel and doing a great skit about the Exodus I think as a group we broke down a lot of preconceived notions the Burkinabe had about Americans/Westerners. They were amazed that we were willing to get on the ground, to get dirty, to be real I guess. And for the village we were in, talking with one of the Burkinabe down there, he said he'd never seen that many white people before! There were 20 of us.

Along with our time sharing about God with the Africans, I believe God moved mightily in the lives of our youth group students. I saw many students experience, feel, and rejoice in God's presence. I was blessed to see them moved by the Lord so powerfully. As a group they became closer, I became closer to many of them, and they had a powerful encounter with God. All the people involved I believe were blessed and had encounters with the living God. And another special treat for me was that Sunday morning I gave a short message in the local church. It is quite often typical for a guest pastor/missionary to give a message, and that fell to me. Actually I didn't know I was doing it until Saturday night, so I scrambled to prepare something that night and early Sunday morning. Obviously more prep time would have been great, but given the time I had to work with I think it went very well. I even got a few comments from some of the church leaders after the service saying that my message was practical and something the congregation needed to hear. So I was glad that God guided me in that. Overall, the students came back excited and worn out which usually means they had a great time and the trip was well worth it.
Thank you to those who were praying for this trip, it was much needed and appreciated.
I will be uploading pictures in the days to come so stay tuned!