Progress

I have been quite busy as of late. The regional coordinators for Africa came in to visit last week and we went up to a town called Piela and stayed there for a few days. It was interesting to see the medical center up there and the work with malnourished babies. Also, we ate with a Fulani pastor and met his family. That was fun, and in the evening he and his kids sang some worship songs in Fufoldi. My French is continuing to get better. I actually ordered some cinnamon rolls from a woman today for Thanksgiving morning over the phone by myself in French. That's right, I'm getting cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving (yessss) and I ordered them by myself, another plus. I have encounters like that which are very encouraging, but I have other ones, like trying to get a flat tire on my bike fixed by a local guy which are not as encouraging. All I wanted him to do was pump it up, but then he started fixing it, I couldn't tell him to stop, because I didn't have very much money on me, plus I didn't have a lot of time. It was stressful, but I got through it. Even though I won't be home for Turkey Day tomorrow I'm still really excited for celebrating it over here. Cinnamon rolls and a movie marathon I think are in order. I'm have a dinner with Galen's family too, after that, you guessed it the movie Miracle on 34th St. I'm excited about that one, because it's always the first Christmas movie my family always watches after dinner. I brought it with me, and then it's time to break out the Christmas music. The next 6 to 7 weeks are going to be filled with the album A Charlie Brown Christmas. One of my favorite albums of all time! That's it for now, everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends

Croc'c, French, and life

When I first came to Burkina, Galen told me about a crocodile farm outside of Ouaga where people could get a close up view of crocodiles and even sit on them. Since I heard that, I knew I had to go. So a few days ago, my roommate Will, another guy Robin, and another guy Dave, took the trek to see the Croc's. I have to tell you it is quite an experience. There was something amazing to sit on a crocodile. Something about coming up close and personal with such a revered and feared force in nature. We all had a great time getting a chance to watch the croc's in action. It's one thing to watch it on t.v. and another thing to watch wild animals like that up close and be in their presence. For as much fun and goofing around as we did, we all had a certain level of respect for these creatures and wanted to respect their space as to not get too close to the really wild ones.

In other news, I've started French class. Right now that is the main focus of my day, I go Lundi through Vendredi (Monday to Friday). I still have a lot to learn, but it is exciting to put together small phrases to say, as well as understand bits and pieces of conversations. Right now, besides learning vocabulary, my pronunciation is all that great either. There are some phrases in French that are like tongue twisters to me or I can't get just the sound. I know it's still early in my schooling so I'm trying not to get discouraged. Besides that a few other ministry opportunities have opened up for me. I am helping at a youth group for students at the international school which is nice, because they speak English. And it seems that the audio recording project should be getting under way sooner than I'd expected, so I am excited about that. Despite my lack of language skills I'm am beginning to feel more and more comfortable here, while there are things I miss about home, Burkina is becoming more familiar to me.

My Hostess and one of her children (left) A couple of kids in the market (right).

Back to School

Now that I've been here for 2 full weeks and working on my 3rd it's time to start learning how to communicate with people here. So I began going to French school on Thursday. It's actually more like a personal tutor, because I'm the only one in the class. I guy named Elvis is my teacher (no not that Elvis). He's from the Ivory Coast, and came to Burkina to study law. Anyway, I'm enjoying the class but I'm going to need a lot work and patience to get this thing down well enough. Right now, I'm trying out the few phrases I know on people in the community or my roommate, it's pretty apparent my pronounciation isn't great. The hardest part I think right now is that so many words sound alike, and the words have sounds in them I'm not used to making. But, that is part of the experience and I knew that when I signed up. I had a pretty good day today, I went to class (9-11 everyday) came home, went for a run around the neighborhood, took a nap and read. I can't really argue with that I'm trying to put a few more pic's up but it won't let me right now, so stay tuned!

Ouaga/Djibo

After only a few days in Ouaga the North Park Sem team and I headed up north to Djibo, where our ministry with the Fulani is mainly held. It is about 120 miles north of Ouaga and took us by bus about 5 1/2 hours. None of the roads here are in that great of shape so we could not go very fast on the way up. It was hot up there with temps around 110 F. These people to not live with electricity, running water, or most other things people in the States take for granted. I found my time up there to be both exciting and difficult as I got a chance to live with the Fulani and see what their culture is really like. I know it will take several more visits to get a bigger fuller picture of what the Fulani life is like, but from what I saw it was simple. The father and sons work the fields because it is almost harvest time, and the mother cooks, cleans, and looks after the kids. They are up at the crack of dawn, usually by 5:15 or so and in bed around 9 or 10 at night. I have much work to do in order to be able to communicate with them and in order to see where God exists in their culture. The Fulani take leasure time in the afternoon, but don't play many games. According to a man who was up who is working on a Fulani tranlsation of the Bible, he said there in no real Fulani word for fun. Kids have fun, but that should tell you something. I look forward to my language education and the ability to go back to Djibo to communicate more and learn from them.

Breaking the Rules

For those who know me well, you will know that I have certain rules, a code that I live by. My people find these rules to be asinine, that’s o.k. they aren’t rules for others, they’re rules for me. For example, I know it has become more popular to play Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Heck, Costco has Christmas decorations up right now! Well, one of my rules is no Christmas music before Thanksgiving dinner. It’s just good time people. Another one is, I don’t eat salads. It’s true, I don’t mean to be picky, I eat other vegetables, its just salads, not so appealing to me. Well, as I was staying in a hotel in Morocco I went to the restaurant for a late lunch. I already felt bad because almost no one speaks English, although one waiter did, so he served me. What’s the first thing he brings out? Cabbage, carrots, and beets, in shoe strings with dressing on them. Yup, a salad. I knew I couldn’t not eat some, I didn’t want to be that guy in a foreign country. I’d be lying if I said I finished it, I didn’t. But I put a dent in it. That’s huge for me, all the while washing it down with as much Coke as I could. While in the dinning hall, what do you think they were playing? If you guessed anything but Christmas music, you’d be wrong. It was smooth jazz Christmas. Which is actually kind of funny because it’s Ramadan right now, the Muslim holy month. Nevertheless music of Christ’s birth was being played in the hotel. There’s nothing I could do about that either, oh well, but towards the end of my meal, "I’ll be home for Christmas" came on. Now, I didn’t cry or anything like that, but I sat there and thought about how for the next two Christmas’s I won’t be home. I always liked that song, especially in college, when I was stressed with finals, and excited to get home and see all my family, sleep in my bed, be in Washington. I have a feeling these aren’t the only two of Ben Steel’s rules that might get broken at some point over the next 18 months if 2 have been broken in just over a day

My Last Days at Home

I have about 3 days left here in the States. I can't believe my time home went as fast as it did. Last week was pretty full as I had to get numerous documents, last minute items for the trip, and see a few more people. This morning at church, which is world communion Sunday, they had a consecration prayer over me. It touched me deeply, as I saw the amount of hands go up saying that I would be in their prayers. I can't say how lucky and blessed I've been being able to grow up in a church that has been able to support me like this. I have a mix of emotions right now. I am certainly becoming more excited, but I am very nervous as well, and a little hesistant to leave my home, family and friends. Nevertheless, Wednesday will come, I will get on that plane, and I will go forth to fulfill this chapter in my life, which God has called me to.