The much awaited pictures!

Men begging in front of mosque.




Me on a swing in front of my apartment.







This is an abnormal street in Burkina Faso. Usually you can not see the road there are so many people and cars. We play a game called- dodge the cars/motos and people. Most of the people drive motos.








This is Amilie. She works as a secretary in the office of the Burkina Faso Baptist Convention. She is going to help me practice French.














10-01-06

As I sit on our front porch eating a freshly cut apply, Antonie, our day gate guard, walks by pulling on a stocking hat. I yell “bon jour, Antonie!” thinking how strange it is for anyone in 90 degree weather to wear a knitted hat. Yet this is a cool morning during the winter time for most West African’s and it is not uncommon to see them walking around with large winter jackets on in the morning. Later Antonie will take off his hat as the sun quickly heats the air. He will sit in his chair by the gate all day, getting up whenever a car enters or exits the compound.

We will always greet Antonie and ask about his health, family and his day. This is a custom in West Africa. You cannot just walk past someone with a short “hey.” It is a lengthy process to greet and then move on to the next person to greet. It could take as long as thirty minutes to greet a stranger, but this is only after I learn how to say more than three words in French!

Today is a Muslim holiday, Fet. It is also a national holiday and it is quiet except for the call to prayer coming from the mosque. Emily and I sit listening to the chanting, praying for God to reach down and awaken these people.

We decide to try our first Burkina Faso taxi today. Because of the holiday few taxi’s are in service and we walked a block to find the main road in town. The five of us – Kathy, Deron, Mary Beth, Emily and I – squish into the small car and head for the city park. It was beautiful. It is a large park, with many trails, animals and it also has a kid’s fun park. Kathy said this is the only park of its kind in West Africa, she has never seen anything like it. We walk for a while enjoying the quiet, peacefulness of the morning. We all forgot to put on sunscreen so soon we are pink from bright sun and decide to head back to the compound for lunch.

Tomorrow I start French lessons. I am a little nervous to meet our teachers. This is a shame society. This means we will get little or no praise from our teachers during the next three months. I pray I can be an encourager to the others, as well as doing things to make myself feel good about my accomplishments.

I’ll let you know how they go!

10-11-06

Well, the French is hard but not so bad. I will spend a couple of hours this afternoon practicing and making flash cards. Fun, fun. But I now know how to start a conversation and leave a conversation. I'll show you my classroom next time.

Things are bien (which is good in French and Spanish!!!)

Blessings!