OUAGADOUGOU.......................................

Paul said to his spiritual son, Timothy: "Godliness with contentment is great gain." And that is a good thing to remember as a missionary. Yes, we are godly for we belong to God who has called us.  But we need to also choose contentment in what God asks us to do. The godliness part comes from God and our surrender to Him; the contentment comes from within us and our choice to follow the path God has chosen for us.

I was so content in working among the Bobos and living in Santidougou and then Bobo. This became home to me, and I had to make a calculated decision to be content with a big move when we felt God wanted us to begin the work in Ouagadougou.  But I am glad we made that choice, as it was an outstanding year of ministry for us.

Ouagadougou is such an interesting city - pulsating with life, growing every day; it is where the action happens, and we sure saw plenty of action during that year of our ministry in Ouaga!  Tim was leaving for the U.S. for his father's wedding, leaving Ruthie, who was pregnant with Michael.  So we took her with us to Ouaga. Dad drove the big truck and all of our baggage plus Markie and I drove the little Toyota with Ruthie beside me and the car packed tight.  The Luthers were new language students and welcomed us when we got to Ouaga.  We were to live in the Colmans' rented house, which was quite spacious and had a small enclosed front yard.  We sure put that house to good use that year.

The Colmans had kindly left their video player and a small TV for us to use, and you, Markie, enjoyed having that to take up your time when you were home from ICA.  You also enjoyed the American embassy rec center in the city, which had a nice pool, and you even  played on the Center's volleyball team as well. 

Our house was always full of students, many of them Christians from our Alliance churches, attending University in Ouaga.  We had good neighbors as well, so we were well situated there and soon began to feel at home - content! It was a year of growth in the new little Alliance church. The meeting place for our church was our front yard where a hangar had been erected to ward off the very hot Ouaga sun. There was a little storeroom outside in our yard and that became a SS classoom on Sundays and a place for prayer meeting on Wednesday.  Our meals were very erratic - we ate when we could find time to do so, often having students join us.

We did have a cook. (Yusufu had stayed in Bobo and worked for someone else during that year.) We also had a young man, originally from Bobo, working for us as house helper. He was very soft spoken and a good worker. I spent all my spare time in my office, typing away on a new PEDIM course I was writing. Fako moved silently as he worked in the house and sometimes he would come to my office while I was working to ask a question. Instead of calling me by name, he would turn the light switch on and off again so as not to disturb me with his voice!  He was a good worker and a big help to me. And today he works at CREDO in Ouagadougou.

The cook was another story - he cooked well and could speak French (he was Mossi) and it was a help to have someone fix out meals. He made beautiful salads. But he had a habit of almost always coming to work late and occasionally missing a day of work without letting us know.  We did not know what his problem was until Christmas time that year. I was having ten people for a big Christmas dinner and expected him to be there at seven. Eight o'clock and nine o'clock passed and he still was not there, so Dad went to his yard to find him. He was dead drunk and stumbled out of his room!  He was in no shape to work and so I hurriedly adjusted my menu and got everything ready myself.  Dad had to fire him when we realized he was an alcoholic and thus not dependable.  He was so mad he took Dad to the hiring office and the judge made Dad give him some money for us to get rid of him.  Other than this man, we always had excellent house help and were thankful for each one.

Ouagadougou is the center of action for much of what goes on in Burkina. In contrast, Bobo was like a sleepy little town. Starting a new church was also exciting for us. We enjoyed the business people and the university students who were part of our beginning group. At first our church people were mainly Christians who had moved there from our part of the country, but soon we had Mossi people join us as well.  Many of them were new converts and it was a joy to help disciple them. To this day we still hear from some of them and have many good memories of our year there.

In Ouagadougou I had the interesting privilege of leading an old lady to Christ through interpretation. A friend asked me if I would be willing to go and pray with this old Mossi lady who lived near us and was ill.  It was the dark of night and the old lady was lying out on her verandah; there was a flickering kerosene lamp lit near her.  We sat and talked - through French to my friend, Georgette, and then she in Mossi to the old lady.  I prayed for her illness but also asked her if she knew Jesus. She said she had never met him but would like to, and I explained salvation through interpretation and finally she prayed with me for salvation.  I had a good ministry of prayer in our home during that year. Several times I had people come to the gate, asking if this was the place where you could be prayed for. Some came with sickness, or other needs. And it was a privilege to have this ministry during that year! 

Planting the first Alliance church in Ouaga was a delight that year - we worked hard. It soon became evident that we would need a church building as the group was growing. We had been granted a plot of land for building and then the Muslims came along and took that choice property. Dad and the church elders tried to talk to the Muslims but to no avail.  It became known to the land officials in the city that we had been tricked out of our original property and so they decided to give us a good plot of land - right off the big roundabout road that encircles the city!  That was a miracle of God. And in the years afterwards a beautiful mother church (octagonal) was build on that large property. It is in view of everyone that travels that circular boulevard around the city!  The mother church continues to grow even today and there are numerous other Alliance churches, plus a large Alliance high school complex in that city!  This had always been an Assemblies city but we, the Baptists and many others have joined the evangelical community there and Ouagadougou today is full of good churches. 

Living in Ouaga was an interesting experience. It is a vibrant city, the center of much that goes on in Burkina Faso.  We enjoyed the American Rec Center for an occasional meal or swim. All three of us appeared on Burkina TV that year:  Dad was caught as he was coming out of the big fair in Ouaga, stopped by a reporter who asked him what he thought of the goods for sale. Dad answered he thought things were a bit expensive! Mark was on TV when he played with the American volleyball team at the Rec Center, and I was in the way of the roving camera during a seminar I attended at the University! 

Sankara's death happened while we were in Ouaga that year. That was a sad time and a time of unrest for the nation.  There were shots in town, people running, traffic stopped and the TV went black. News travels fast in Burkina and we soon heard that the shooting meant a coup.  Sankara was shot dead as he left his office, dressed for his daily "sports"!  Our dear friend, Anne-Berthe, was his private secretary and someone secreted her out of his office and told her to stay hidden for weeks.  All of Sankara's twelve loyal men were also shot. Sankara and his men were buried about a block behind our home, in a run down burial ground there. The burials were at night. They were buried in a row.  The pro-Sankara people had special material made in various colors - called "tears for Sankara"-  and everyone had skirts and robes and dresses made of that material.  The masses loved Sankara.  Dad went with some local young guys to visit the graves - which were a stone's throw from our house - the morning after the burial, and they found a bloody tennis shoe on the ground.  Many youth mourned Sanakara's violent death and it took the country a while to recover from it.

When TV came back on, there was a Catholic priest speaking and a Russian hymn that was first played.  Because of the music, and the way things had been done in the coup, there was speculation that Russia was involved - but that never became a reality. Campaoré sleepily stated to the nation that he had been asleep when his friend was killed. Everyone knew that was far from the truth! We all wondered what would happen. The American Embassy only told us to prepare a suitcase and head for the nearest border if things got worse. But we stayed. Our house was constantly full of young people talking about all that was happeding in our country and city.  Things got back to normal finally.

Campaoré called for a march of "soutien"  for the govenment on a certain day. They were to march out to the gravesite of Sankara and his twelve men.  The people marched all right, but the crowds wore clothing made of the Sankara material and the march became a march against Campaoré.  The throng marched right down our street! Those were interesting days to live in that city. 

Sankara's wife was a cousin of a young woman in our church.  She was engaged to a young Alliance man studying at the University, learning to be a medical doctor.  They got married that year and we asked to use the big chapel at the Assemblies college as our yard was too small and not adequate.  Dr. Adama asled Dad to officiate and asked me to prepare a reception in our yard. So Dad prepared to marry them and I made plans for a big reception on our front verandah and in the front yard.  I used all my best silver and dishes and tablecloths for the long head table. It had to be special as Sankara's wife was going to be there!  I made all kinds of fancy dishes and salads and pretty decorations to prepare the wedding party table on our long front verandah. Madame Sankara would also be seated there. The rest of the yard was filled with chairs and benches for the crowd that was expected!  The women of the church had  made big pots of food to feed the masses and I made and decorated a special wedding cake plus extra cakes for the mob. 

Everything was in readiness at the house and yard and we left Fako to take care of things while we dressed up and went to the wedding ceremony across town.  That was held in a large Assemblies church at their College and was a lovely ceremony. There were also hundreds of people there! And someone got up and invited everyone who could go to attend the reception at our house!  I couldn't believe it and was a nervous wreck wondering if we would have enough food. I left the ceremony before the crowd and drove across town to our home to get ready for the mob.  It all worked out OK - everyone did not attend - and those who did seemed to have a great time, including Mariame Sankara! 

In 2006 when we visited Ouagadougou once again, Debbi and Steve had a lovely reception for us and invited all those old friends who had been involved in that original church planting.  What a delight to talk with them all and reminisce about the beginnings of the church in Ouaga and to hear the news of the many churches which had been planted since that time.   I had taught a TEE class at that first small church building every Sunday afternoon when we were in Ouaga that year, and what joy to see my former students in places of leadership in the church. 

God gave me great contentment - and even great joy - as we spent that year of church planting in Ouagadougou.  Recently Pastor Thomas from Ouaga spent a week with us and we reminisced a lot about those early days of the Alliance church in Ouaga. Together we thanked God for His faithfulness in establishing the Alliance church there. And, Steve and Debbi,  you have continued that great work started so many years ago now!  Praise God!