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

Here are some pictures from Togo and life in general. (To get pictures of the blog sites...right click on the picture and copy to your desktop.)

This is the Otter and I at the Togo Baptist Conference Center. The otter has now been to three countries: France, Burkina Faso and Togo! He says Hi to the Sunday School Class!
See all the green in the background! Awsome! Love seeing trees! This is Otter with African houses in the background.

Otter did get a little air sick on the way back from Togo. The overhead compartment was a little crowded and the pilot said there would be slit turbulance and it felt like we were traveling though a hurricane! Also he didn't have his yellow vacination card showing he had had his yellow fever shot...it was a few minutes delay at Ouaga imigration!

So how many missionaries does it take to get a T.V. to pick-up a soccer game?! The guys are trying to watch the African Cup of Nations and the T.V. intina is giving them problems!

They finally got it fixed and nothing can distract them from the game! The comentary is in French...but that does not stop them. No one takes their eyes off the T.V.!

Things are going good. French is progressing. Emily and I are joining the American Club pool today!

On Wednesday...our language helper invited us over for a Congolize meal! We had foufou! It is mixed vegies, fish, and a bean sauce over rice or manika...and lots of fresh fruit! It was sooo good! (I will post pictures later!)

Mostly things have settled into a routine of sorts. Get up at 7, go to class at 8. Class from 8 to 12 than lunch. Study or walk around town to practice French.

There is a huge missionary community here in Ouaga and we have fun hanging out with everyone. It great!

The West Africa IMB trustees were in town this week and they traveled all over Ouaga and Ghana to see the work going on in the area. I got to have breakfast and dinner with them yesterday, Friday. There were 5 of them and they had the whole experience, rough roads, different food, dust, and heat!

Thank you to all of you for sending e-mails to encourage me while I was sick and for all the prayers. I am almost to 100%. I still have to watch what I eat…but so far so good.

AFRICAN CUP of NATIONS
As I am typing this up…I am halfway watching the final game of the Africa Cup of Nations. (For all of you in the dark—this is a soccer tournament for Africa countries, played every two years.) Cote d’Ivoire is playing against Egypt and if you know anything about anything you will hope Cote d’Ivoire wins. It will mean good things for us when we move to Abidjan!

All radios and TV’s are tuned into this game. Everyone who can is going to be watching this game. I have learned so much about culture!

TOGO
Togo was GREEN! It was wonderful to step off the plane and breathe in moist air and not choke on dust. All of us brightened up and felt better. And meeting all the leadership in West Africa was fun. They are all wonderful, Godly people.

VISITING A FRENCH CLINIC
So…about being sick…I got to visit a French Clinic here in Ouagadougou Monday. I had all the symptoms of having Malaria so we thought it would be best to go get tested. Without going to much into detail the French have very little to no modesty and the lady doctor I saw like to practice her limited English. (I hope you are already chuckling!)

So I had to have a translator and even then it was interesting to find describe my symptoms. Well she interviewed me and then pulled me over to the other side of the room for an exam. She felt my heart beat and listen to me breathe deeply. Then, apparently the French lay down when they have their blood pressure taken. She told me – in broken English – “Stand up and take you clothes off.” Well I looked around and there was no little sheet or paper cloth to put over me and so I asked. “All of them?” She looked at me and laughed! Saying, “No, no…take your shoes off and lay down!” I was thinking there is a big difference between clothes and shoes!

The lesson of this story is to always double check when you go visit the French doctor who wants to practice English!

SWIMMING IN AFRICA
Yesterday, Emily, Mary Beth and I went to Isabelle’s flat, (a Parisians girl Emily met on the plane to Burkina) to have lunch and get to know her better. (Emily and I had met her for dinner one night before we went to Togo.) She had a pool and we went swimming! Swimming in February!

Here are some things to remember this week.
--IMB trustees are visiting Burkina Faso this week to travel around and see the work. Pray they keep safe in traveling and for the workers who are with them and who they are going to see.

--French is going well. We have added 4 hours of class time to our schedule. Pray I retain…my brain may be like a sponge.

--Also, our language helper’s father is very sick and in the hospital. She is here to go to the University and he is in the Congo. Pray for him and for her as she is so very far away.

--It is starting to heat up here and the dust is getting heavier. Pray for my health.

I will post pictures this week!

An African Believer.....

Passion…Burkinabe Believers have passion for Christ. They boldly profess their faith. A young woman and I were paired up together after the service Sunday to walk around the neighborhood and share about Chist and Bon Burge Baptiste L’englis (the Baptist church).

Friday night we heard church would start an hour earlier Sunday, so after the service they could go out into the neighborhood and evangelize. Of course the pastor had told the congregation all this last Sunday…but in French. None of us had picked this up. Guess we have a ways to go! Needless to say – we were very thankful Kathy had understood and told us or we would have walked in an hour late to church!!

I didn’t know if the church would want four Americans to go with them to tell the neighborhood about the church…but they did. The pastor came up to us after the service and paired us up with someone from the church who knew a little English.

She knew a little English and I practiced what little French I remembered! The first house we stopped at rejected her and told us to leave. So we walked on – speaking broken English and French, learning a little bit about each other. She is studying communications at the university and was excited when I told her I studied journalism in school.

In the third compound the men invited us in to talk. They all gathered around the burkinabe and the white girl. I told her to not worry about trying in English…to talk with them, not me. Most of them were Muslim. I followed the conversation fairly well. She started off with the story of Abraham and Isaac moving to the power of the Holy Spirit and then finished with the story of Jesus. She then asked if they had any questions.

One guy asked her to explain the differences between Catholics and Protestants. I thought “Good luck!” I didn’t understand her answer…it would have been interesting to know what she thought.

She didn’t back down from there questions, challenging them with her answers and even stopped to pray over one guys food. (He was a Muslim—but understood the blessing!) So we prayed in the power of Jesus for the food to be a blessing to him! She left a note card about the church with them and got their names so the pastor could do a follow-up!

She is coming Thursday with another girl from the church to help us with our French.

Here are some more random pictures from Africa!



Me sweeping African style. They do not have wooden handles for the brooms so they bend over and sweep everything…even dirt. (Every morning at 6 a.m. I hear the night guard sweeping the dirt outside my window)

My African afternoon snack…crackers and cheese. The cheese is called The Laughing Cow and is really good with crackers that are almost like ritz…but not quite.

Thought requests….

Emily is sick…we think with sinus’

Deron is also sick…a head cold.

We leave for Lome, Togo on Saturday for a regional leadership conference. We will meet the Regional Leadership Team and learn and plan the coming year. I hope our flight is smooth and our week off from French does not hurt us.

Blessings to you all from West Africa!

Jesse Lyautey
Mission Baptiste
01 B.P. 580
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Packages can be no larger than the size of a VHS tape
Send air mail
I will only be here until the end of March and it will take about 2-3 weeks for something to get here.

If you want to send something I'd love it!
Here are some items to get you started.
Kool-aid (can never have enough here!)
individual packs of grits and oatmeal
hard candy
pictures
notes
CD's, DVD's
letters
Blessings to you All! Thanks for the thoughts and e-mails!

Walking around town!

In the market we slowly walk through the vendors, looking for fabric for new “pana’s,” African skits that tie around the waste. This market is different. The vendors are laying around napping, occasionally calling out to us, “Madame, Madame!,” but for the most part we are not bothered. Everywhere else people circle around us like vultures in the desert wanting money for goods. One of the missionaries explained this is because this market is not a tourist market.

Against their dark, African skin, the colors are beautiful and bright. You can fin any color with any design. Hanging against one wall is one fabric with bright red birds on a green background anther has orange and yellow butterflies with a multi-color blue and tan backing.

Women walk by with large metal fruit bowls on top of their heads, asking people to buy the fruit. The fruit is placed towards the front of the bowl and even thought the bowl is four times the size of their heads only the front half actually sits on the head. Somehow she beats the pull of gravity and is able to balance 10’s of pounds on her head.

Everyday is a new adventure. Yesterday we braved the crowded streets to go by groceries. We try only to get out during the siesta (less people asking us to buy their goods)…but the Marina Market is closed from noon until 3.30. We got their early and walked around the mosque in front of the market. Many people were begging for food and money. The little kids all come up to shake our hands. (We use lots of hand sanitizer.) On our way back to the market we watched as Muslims did their prayers on the side of the road. They literally put their mats down and begin kneeling.

Here is a lesson in French.

Bonjour! Comment ca va? (Hello! How are you?)

Bonjour! Ca va, et vous? (Hello! Doing good, and you?)

Je va bien. Et famille? (I am good. And your family?)

Bien, merci. (Good, thank you.)

A tout a l’heure. (See you later.)

Au revour. (Good-bye.)

Good times in West Africa!

I am a cooking MACHINE!

Emily and I getting things done

(or maybe this is what m's do with their spare time!?)

Neither of us wanted to take out the trash so we had a contest! Who ever lost had to take it out!I won the "who can eat a pancake the fastest contest!"

Me and the Otter making chocolate pancakes for dinner! (He is becoming a good cook!)

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!

I am having trouble posting pictures visit: Emily P's link and Mary Beth and Deron's link on the side of my blog to view pictures they have posted. Maybe next time.
Thanks to all of you who sent e-mails. Loved getting them. Will write back soon!

Three days in Africa!

06-01-06
The plane lands, anticipation builds. I grab my book-bag, rap my light jacket around my waist and hold my heavy winter jacket in my hand. I can already feel the heat coming from the front of the plane. I am in Africa. As I start to walk down the steps to go into the airport I inhale a mixture of heat, dust, and burning leaves and trash Mary Beth said, “It smells like Africa.” I laugh, thinking soon the smell will be normal, 80 degrees will feel cool, and I’ll be able to ignore mosquitoes.

Between the four of us we have 16 bags and/or trunks of luggage. We caused a small “problem” trying to go through “customs” in Burkina Faso. I use the word “customs” loosely; it was a guy standing at the door wanting to know what hundreds of people had in their bags. We came up and he just laughed and asked what was in them, we had so much he just let us go.

I was able to share Christ on the plane from Paris. It was a random collection of questions and searching. His name is Kevin. Kevin is from Canada, in med-school in Washington D.C. and decided to take time off and visit Burkina Faso. Just wanted to spend six months here and meet people. He doesn’t know anyone here and is going to live with a family in Ouaga. Kevin is a true searcher. He doesn’t believe in God, but does believe something is out “there.” He has traveled a lot lately and I just wanted to tell him, “You are not going to find “happiness” hopping from one country to another.”

We had home made pizza Friday night for dinner at a missionary’s house. Fourteen missionaries and missionary kids we met and bombarded with questions about the area and people. After dinner the guys started watching the Rose Bowl game, someone had taped for them.

We are tired, but content. God has already answered so many of your prayers: safe travel, all of our luggage made it, the people are great, and we are excited about the next three months in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, learning French.

We start our French lessons on Wednesday, pray I am rested and able to learn quickly and remember what I have learned. Pray I will have a willing spirit to get out with the people and stubble through the language.

This is the dry season and everyone is burning trash, pray allergies will leave me alone.

May the Lord bless you!

08-01-06
Yesterday, we went shopping with Kathy. We went all around town looking for different items. I walked down one aisle and saw dove soup in the new fancy bottles! Even though we could get most toiletries, we could not find eggs.

While in the store I saw Kevin from the airplane. I walk over to say hi and he was surprised to see me. He seemed overwhelmed, so I went back to my group.

We meet some Burkinabe (burr-key-nah-bay), the people who are from Burkina Faso, at fruit stands who said they would help us practice our French.

Today we went to the University church. It was a western style with three rows of pews, wooden pews that really are uncomfortable after two hours, and the women sat on the left, the men on the right, and families or groups in the middle. We sat in the middle so Deron wouldn’t be by himself.

It was a great service (in French) and everyone was very nice. We got introduced as visitors, taken back to a special room afterwards and told about the churches activities. We might try to go to youth events to practice French. The workers said the church was a wealthier church and used western worship to draw students from the nearby university.

We ate Chinese for lunch and American ice cream for desert. Things are going really well.

I am having trouble falling asleep at night. Please lift-up this so I might get more sleep and not have feel overly tired during the day.

Also…that I might start picking up some French.

Miss you all!

During the last two weeks:

I decided that I would just pack enough to last one year, on the hope of Mom and Dad coming to see me and would bring the enough to last the next year. Here is just a small example of what one would pack to move to Africa.

1. Lotion (lots and lots of lotion)
2. Ziploc bags (all sizes- these can be washed and reused)
3. Spices (This allows us to flavor our meat)
-Tony's
-Taco mix
-Spaghetti mix
-Mixed spices
4. Jell-O (a little dessert)
5. Ranch dry dressing (even though we can't eat salad's, for some reason we need salad dressing)
6. Toothpaste (two tubes= one year)
7. Sunscreen (haven't really gotten this yet)
8. Converters (for all the electrical stuff I am taking!)
9. Transformer (for all the electrical stuff I am taking that can't use a converter)

While packing to live overseas...one must evaluate their possessions and reject most unpractical things. Like the little knick-knack's, hard backed books, the ten pair of shoes in the closet, and owning more than two pairs of jeans. Since August, I have been going through my possessions and getting rid of anything I have not wore or used this last year. Some things I did keep, the first doll my dad gave me and the key chain collection I started in middle school.


Here are some fun pictures from the last two weeks:

Dad and Uncle Tom in front of the
Elephant at the Smithsonian

The Hope Diamond


Emily and I sitting next to the reflecting pool in front of the Capital






Emily and I on the Metro in D.C.