Operation Christmas Child at Yagma

Yesterday we spent most of the day in Yagma, in the morning we were there for church as normal.  The church had a week of evangelism last week to celebrate the fact that we are a year old!  So the service yesterday was a celebration of that, which involved lots of singing, some important people from the denomination and some new faces from the village. It amazing to think that the church is a year old and how God has worked in the lives of many people in Yagma.

After the service we popped back home for some lunch and a bit of a siesta before heading back out to Yagma, via Pastor Dyamba's house to pick up some boxes.  There were lots of people already waiting at the church and by the time the team arrived there were hundreds of people!  The team (organised by some friends of ours) presented the gospel with puppets and sketches in Morre and prayed with those who wanted prayer.  After the team left we had to wait around for a while for a representative from Operation Christmas Child to arrive.  Once he arrived the sunday school teachers started to give out the boxes, it was great to see the faces of the children as they opened their boxes!  One little boy started dancing! Some of the children had no idea what  some of the items were, so we all tried to help explain.  Josh was excited to see someone got some Lego and Hannah saw someone with a Barbie! Quite a few children had letters in English and photos in the boxes and Ben and I were able to translate the letters for them. One of my friends was dissapointed none of her children got a letter! It was a real joy to be with them and see their excitement but unfortunatly there were not enough boxes to go around so we had some very upset children and parents at the end.

It was really interesting to see Operation Christmas Child from the other side, so next christmas I would say firstlty make sure you do a box and secondly put a letter and a photo in it!

So many people we couldn't ge them on one photo!

Team from Oklahoma

Inside the church waiting for the boxes

Ben translating a letter

One of out young people and her box

Christmas in May!

Toothpaste!

Fun and Games

Last week we decided that we had had enough of sweating it out in the school room and decided to move school into the guest house which has an air conditioner. We have only had four 'guests' in our guest house in the last year so we decided to make better use of it!  It's so much easier to concentrate when you are not sweating onto your books!

Monday afternoon, Ben helped one of our SIM friends move house and came home with another air conditioner which she was selling and which we have installed in Hannah's room (where there was already a hole in the wall for one).  So the children are now all sleeping in one room (always fun!) and the boys room is now a play room.

So we were all set up for the month of May, the hottest month of the year, that was until we had more power cuts!  Yesterday the power went off at 9am and came back on properly at midnight!  Our generator is still out of action so we did our best and ate with our friends by candle light. Fortunately we had no meat in our freezer and we had chocolate mousse rather than ice cream for tea!  It's not pleasant tying to sleep without even a fan to cool you down.

Today the electricity is back on but keeps on dipping on and off, it's so frustrating as the lights dim and the fans slow down!  We have disconnected anything electrical or have them connected to regulators to make sure nothing gets fried! Please pray for patience!

Books, books and more books

Iain and William arrived back safely in Ouaga yesterday after an adventurous time of it, bringing all of Ben's theological books which have been in Sassandra, Ivory Coast since August 2010!  He was very pleased to see them (both the books and William and Iain of course!).  We had some book shelves made a few weeks ago in the hope that William would be able to get the books for us (Thanks again William!) so Ben has been unpacking his books and making lots of comments about how useful they will be, it smells a bit like a second hand book shop in our house at the moment and we are grateful that the termites didn't find them!

 

We went out for a meal last night with William and Iain which was  lovely and Ben has spent most of the day today with them in various meetings about the UFM Summer team which is coming to Burkina in July.  Ben has just taken them off to the airport for their flight home, please pray that they will have a good flight

As for Anna our young friend with the broken arm and dislocated elbow, she eventually flew home to Ireland on Saturday with her Dad.  She was able to see an orthopaedic paediatrician on Wednesday morning and was back in surgery Wednesday afternoon to have some corrective surgery.  Anna's Mum, brother and sister are due to fly home Sunday night (about five weeks earlier than they had expected) and will stay home until September God willing . 

Qu'Il fait chaud

It's really warmed up here after the storm on Wednesday. Our themometer said 44 degrees C today, and that was in the shade!

What made it worse today was a four hour power cut from 8am til 12pm.  Our generator is in need of repair so we endured school with no fan, although I decided to fan the children for the last half hour, changing the child I was fanning each time Hannah finished a sum, motivation or what?

It's still pouring

Its strange how things can be so quiet and then everything happens at once.  On Thursday we had a guy turn up at our gate with a very tragic story and wanting help to get home to Ivory Coast.  We quite often have people coming to our gate like this and it is always hard to know whether to believe them or not.  I find it very hard to send them away with nothing.  Anyway we actually believed this guys story and Ben gave him some money for some bus tickets and told him to come back when he had them as proof that he was telling the truth.   He came back later the same day with bus tickets and Ben gave him the rest of the money he was asking for to get the paperwork he needed.

Yesterday morning Ben went off to Yagma with Iain and the children and I had school.  My house help Piani was here working and the same man came to the gate. Very drunk and demanding to see Ben, Piani told him Ben was out but he came into the garden anyway and sat himself on our porch demanding to see me instead and started to eat his breakfast!  Piani went to get our friend Adama who sells bread outside our gate and then came.to get me from the school room.  Adama was great and eventually we managed to persuade him to leave our yard and locked the gate after him. I could hear him outside the gate causing problems for Adama and his customers.  I phoned Ben who came straight home and asked the guy for our money back, threatened to phone the police and he left straight away!

We have been tricked like this before and it is not pleasant.  I am so grateful that Piani and Adama were there with me and that Ben was able to come back.  

Since yesterday we have heard that he had been to other peoples houses actually the same day and got money out of them too! Please pray that we will have wisdom when people turn up at our gate, as we talk to our children about what has happened and pray for this guy too that he will repent and believe.

It never rains but it pours

We have had quite a few days here in Ouaga it all started on Tuesday whilst on the way to drop the children off at a friends house before heading to the ladies bible study.  My phone started ringing and Josh answered, it was from my friend Louise, saying that her daughter Anna aged 3 had broken her arm and they were at a local clinic.  So I dropped the children off and went to the bible study, it turns out Anna had broken her arm badly and dislocated her elbow, ouch!

After the Bible study I went to pick the children up and Josh had hurt his left arm too, he fell whilst running and had put his arms out to stop himself.  He was still not using his arm in the evening so I took him to see our friendly SIM doctor who wanted him to have an x-ray to see if it was broken! 

Next day we cancelled school as we had Anna's brother and sister for the day as Anna needed an operation on her arm and her Mum and Dad wanted to be with her.  

Josh and Ben went off to get Joshuas arm x-rayed and were told to go back at 5pm for the results.  

By about 4pm there was an almighty thunderstorm which was very refreshing but meant that our friend Iain who's flight was due in at 4:15pm was sent back to Niger as it couldn't land!  

Ben went off to get the x-rays and was told that they needed re-doing before 6pm so he had to collect Josh from his friends house and have them re-done, but then they were told to go back the next morning to see the doctor and get the x-rays.

Then Ben took our day visitors to be reunited with their family at the hospital but was told they were not allowed in as children carry diseases! Fortunately Louise spotted them from the window and was able to come down. 

Then Ben headed off to the airport to meet Iain whose flight had made it this time! And bought him back for something to eat. He's here until Saturday and then off to Ivory Coast to meet William Brown and then they will bcome back through Ouaga next week.

This morning Josh got his x-rays and our friendly SIM doctor has had a good look and it is not broken but still very sore and swollen.  

Anna is flying back to the UK tomorrow with her Dad to have her arm properly seen to.  Please pray for her and her family as they are apart and that her arm will heal.

Our life so far

The temperature has gone up (42 degrees today). Somedays its too humid for our swamp cooler to work, but it has not set off Lukes asthma since we changed the mats.  

We have had some amazing thunder storms.  We all get so excited when we see rain!

Easter weekend we had 13 baptisms at Yagma and really enjoyed the service. 

Last Sunday it was ladies day at chuch and we ate together after the service.

Thursday we had an party at our house for the end of the  recent English course, we had about 30 people in the house and Ben possibly broke his toe!

School continues and Yagma and English lessons.

Tonight my man has arranged for a baby sitter and we're going out for a meal. Hurrah