Finishing Up and Moving On:

Thank you for your continued prayers for my safety, language learning, friendships and travel.
Thank you for the countless e-mails which encourage me daily!
Only a week and two days left of French classes. We take test next week to find out our level of learning. Pray I retained enough information to do well on this test.

I wanted to give you my new address for Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. We move April 13. Do not send anything else to Burkina Faso…It probably will not make it to me before I move!

Jesse Lyautey
Mission Baptiste
01 BP 6491
Abidjan 01, Cote D’Ivoire

Remember: Packages can be no larger than an VHS size envelope! Thanks!

Here are some things that I can not get in the stores and are comfort food!

Slim Jims
Muffin Mixes
Cake Mixes
Books
DVD’s
CD’s
Oatmeal
Grits
Koolaid
Pictures
Taco Mix

Though the temperature is rising here I am still finding ways to stay cool. Only two more months of Hot Season!

Je vais decorer ma femme!

This guide to an interest in me and asked the missionary couple we were what was the price for me to become his wife...!

While they were rowing us back to shore he and the other guide made us females flower necklaces and crowns. This guide was in the other boat...not mine another boat! He moved our guide out of the way so he could put the crown on my head! Life in africa!

This is the guest house we stayed at in Bobo! Rulal Ramada, very nice rooms and very affortable!

Last weekend the four of use drove 5 hours to visit a couple working in the town of Bobo...This was our vacation weekend! We went to see Hippo's, a waterfall and then to church with them on Sunday.

They are doing great things with their people group and trying to start the people groups first church in Burkina Faso...Please pray for them as they work to baptize new believers!

Tengrela is the name of the place to see the hippo's!

This was the guide on my boat! He moved us through the water with a bamboo stick!A flower necklace!Le Cascade!

Yes, this would be the Burkina Faso Mc Danold's! No one from the mission has eaten here yet...kinda afraid to try!

This little boy loved to have his picture taken. There is an animal infront of him, a hedgehog!


Also…I have learned a lot about driving. Here in Burkina Faso, the blinkers on a vehicle have multiple meanings.

Turning on the blinkers mean:
1.making a turn
2.driver going around a vehicle
3.don’t go around me there is a vehicle coming
4.driver is going around a moto, person, bicycle, or animal
5.don’t pass or get in my lane there is a car behind me

It’s like having a conversation with other drivers as you try to navigate the roads. It’s a culture unto itself. I loved to drive in the states…it gave me a sense of freedom and an ability to see the world outside of myself. I feel the same way here. I told Diane Pace, driving is like learning how to play a sport, you just have to figure out the rules and watch everything!

New meanings in Africa!

In college I had to memorize a set of verses for one of my Christian Studies classes. It was part of a long list I memorized over those four years and I tucked it away in my mind. This week I read through Romans 15 and what popped out at me…those verses: Romans 15:5-7

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

It is amazing how verses seem to take on new meaning in a new environment. I remember reciting those verses and thinking nothing of them. I thought I accepted everyone around me pretty well.

Now, everyday…I see someone different than I am. Someone, who has a different idea of what is accepted and what happiness is in life. I see women carrying heavy burdens on their heads, men selling anything from tissues to tourist souvenirs on the street. Little kids run up and down the streets begging for the mosque or their family. Yet these same people smile and laugh.

In church I am surrounded by people who live in poverty, yet they raise their voices loudly to sing praises to God. Just like me and it is beautiful.

Did I ever think worship was beautiful? Did I see women shout praises to God for moving in her church?

God wants all to worship…and all of us to worship in one voice. God has promised us we will one day worship Him in Heaven…every tribe, tongue and nation, in one voice.

-I am suffering from a round of sinus problems. Pray they will not get in the way of my studies.

-Driving is a very dangerous thing to do in Ouaga...pray I am always mindful of those around me.

-It is getting very hot here and it is starting to affect what we do and when we do it. Pray we stay healthy and remember to drink WATER!

Thanks for all your prayers.

NAZINGA!!

This weekend, we got out! I mean we got out of the CITY! Africa is beautiful. I was driving…yes, I was driving…along a surprisingly well paved road that led out of the city of Ouaga and headed for the bush.
(note: for all of you who do not know the bush refers to the remote locations in Africa)

Emily, Mary Beth, Deron and I went to a game park, Nazinga, 3 hours south of Ouaga to see some elephants and any other “wild” animals we could find. I drove us to the park…I still love to drive. I learned not only to dodge kids, bicycles, people, motos and other cars, but also livestock and wild animals.


That was just the ride to the park…

Emily and I stayed in this bungalow.

Here is the inside…nice, isn’t it?

At the restaurant located on the park grounds I had antelope for dinner. (it was a little tough…good, but tough)

By the way it gets cold at night in the desert!

Saturday morning we got up to meet our guide at 6.30AM. The way this worked was…we drove around for a couple of hours trying to find wild animals…elephants, antelope, warthogs and anything else.

I drove again. The guide sat in the back in between Mary Beth and Deron and even from there, he spotted animals way more often than anyone else.

We saw so many elephants.

And some of them closer than I had ever thought possible!!!

I would say we saw between 40-50 different elephants…the park boasted 450+.

Here are other animals:

The park was beautiful.
It was amazing to see God in nature.

Friday night after dinner the four of us laid down on the concrete porch and just stared at the stars.

For all of us it was relaxing to get out of the city and see a different part of the country and experience different sights, sounds and feelings about West Africa.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Thank our Father everyday for the witness He gives of Himself in nature.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20