Chez nous

We have a house!! Our COBE in the kolsama congregation in Burkina has been more then kind and loving to take time out of his busy schedule to find us a house. When we first emailed him after we received his contact from branch, we told him we would love to have a place to land and rent a room from a brother or sister for a week or so, but he let us know right away that they would be more than happy to find us a place. We of course did not refuse his kindness! About two months ago we got an email from him asking if we want a 2bed/2bath for 120$/month...so we replied yes we would love it! So he unbeknownst to us was able to get the deposit money from a kind brother in the hall with the means, as Membe (the COBE) is a special pioneer. He then emailed to let us know we would need to pay rent from October-January when we got there in Jan. We thought this was a bit odd but we prayed and asked Membe if this was normal to reserve a house now when we are not there. He replied that sometimes it is a little hard to find nicer housing because, for one there isn't that much, and two, there are alot of Peace Corps volunteers in Burkina so they usually rent fast. But he said it would be no problem to ask for deposit back and find something else closer to the time we would be there. And he had no doubt in his mind Jehovah would provide something else for us. So we decided to go with that and prayed that everything work out in Jehovah's way.   About a week later we received an email from Membe telling us that they were not able to get the money back from the owner as he wants us (either because we are Witness's or Americans or both) to live there so we felt very positive that Jehovah was providing this place for us, so we called Membe and said we would love to have this place and found a western union to transfer the money to cover the expenses till we get there in Jan. So it's official! We are rich enough to have a vacation home!! Lol j/k. But we do have a house! Wahoo!! It's more and more real every day! Countdown: 2months, 3 days, 21 hrs! 

We kinda had to chuckle a bit when we asked for a pic of the house from Membe, first he said he was not able to take a pic ( not what we chuckled about!) but he would ask some sisters that live near by. So we thanked him and waited to hear, then we got a pic! ...thats when we chuckled....it was a pic of a water faucet...we are not sure why he sent this pic or if it was the only one he got from sister. But we loved knowing we could wash our feet before entering the house. :) And would wait to see the house in its entirety when we arrived in Jan. 

About a week later we received a email from a American sister who got our email from Membe. She was letting us know that she was there in Bobo and thought it might be nice for us to make contact before we got there. Such a kind gesture! Membe had mentioned her name in regards to our house being close to her and another sister. So we were able to email her back with a million questions. Poor sister! But she was kind enough to email back and answer all of them. So it turns out that we are not only living near these two sisters but we are neighbors in the same duplex! Lol she also said that they are the only two Americans witnesses in Bobo, and there's only one other missionary couple from Spain in the asl group (Kolsama cong hosts an asl group). So we will be 6 foreigners altogether. The sister and her roommate are both from Jersey and have lived there for 3/2 years. So we are so happy that they were nice enough to contact us. They sent us an update they had sent home, so we were able to read about their struggles with the new duplex and see more pics! 

We are the gate on the right. 

The living room.

The kitchen. Which we found out it is not in the house but in a room outside. That should be interesting to get used to. I'm excited to see how we can make it all work. 

They also let us know there is no furniture ( including appliances, these pics ere of their side of dulpex) whatsoever in the house (to be expected). And we would have to get everything made...fortunately I know a carpenter! They also talked about the struggles of getting screens and glass on the windows and a screen door on the back door In between house and kitchen. Oh and a water line for the washing machine (green line in the kitchen pic). After reading about everything they had to do to make the duplex comfortable and livable for reasonable standards, I had to laugh and think to myself...man am I happy I married James! I mean I always knew he was awesome and great to have around to make spice racks and all sorts of racks/shelves for our kitchen/house here! Oh, and to kill spiders, but I had no idea how useful all of his skills would be in Africa! So....The only thing we will have to do is find supplies when we get there! Well, that's about all I have for today. We will post more once we have some more info to share. Alisa  

Bare walls

The photo can't really give the full picture, but our little home is feeling pretty barren this morning.  The couch has been sold, along with several other "unnecessary" pieces of furniture.  Yesterday, we sold the kitchen table and chairs.  So, as we get going this morning, it feels a little different. 

For now, the bedroom remains the one fully furnished room in the house.  Really, we do still need to sleep here for 2 more months!  But, for other activities, we can get by with less.  After all, if we can't live without it now, how will we live in Africa? There's no guarantee that we can have all the same comforts there that we have grown accustomed to... Leather couch, wall to wall carpets, fancy serving plates, cars, electricity....

So, we are continuing with day 2 of our moving sale, and praying that we don't have to take ANYTHING back in the house!

La congrégation de Kolsama français

Did I mention that we got in touch with our future COBE (coordinator of body of elders... in case you're not familiar with that) brother Sieza?  He sounds like a very nice brother, I think we are really going to like him.  Imagine: he is minding his own business one afternoon and, out of nowhere, an American calls him up (speaking somewhat rough French) and says "we are moving into your congregation".  I'm sure there are many, many possible reactions!  But his?  He spent 20 minutes on the phone with me asking about us, and basically bragging on his congregation.  It didn't seem to strike him as anything odd that 2 Americans would want to come help preach!  In fact, he is very enthusiastic about us coming.  So much so that he is going to find us someplace to live!  We suggested quite strongly that we can get there and just have lodging for a couple weeks, and do our own looking for a rental, but he won't have any of it!  I think that it goes against the principle of African hospitality to let us go it alone.
Anyways, he also gave us a little basic info on the congregation.  They have 38-40 publishers, several families with kids, and reportedly (according to brother Sieza) the most zealous spirit in the circuit.  It's a young congregation, having been formed about 2 years ago.  But it already hosts a foreign language group, ASL!  So.... any of you who are reading this who are toying with the idea of someday visiting us, and know ASL.... I'm sure they would love your help for a week or two!  We didn't get an exact number how many regular pioneers they have, but they have at least one special pioneer.  Brother Sieza did mention that during the last CO visit, they had 18 auxiliary pioneers (that's half the congregation!)  One statistic that we already had is the general size of their territory: simple math tells us a city of 500,000 with 5 congregations = 100,000 people per congregation (give or take a few thousand).  What it does including the ASL is hard to say.  No doubt they search everywhere in the city, and who knows how many deaf there are!  One thing is sure, there are less than 40 publishers focusing on French.  Brother Sieza said that "nearly all the young ones" support the ASL group.  The French word for young ones is highly subjective... he could mean those under 18, or those under 40!  Either way, it's safe to say they have a very large territory to work, and not that many workers!
Even with all this info, we still have many questions.  Most of them aren't going to be answered til our feet are planted on Burkina soil....  But it's a very positive start.  Brother Sieza did go on at length about how Bobo has the best climate in the country, it's a beautiful place, the life there is so good....  You get the point!  In addition, we were able to meet a brother who served as a missionary in Bobo and now lives in Arizona.  He was able to answer the all important question:  do they have watermelons?????  The answer is YES!  That made Alisa's day to hear that, after all, life without fresh watermelons would be no life at all!  So, we are feeling confident that we will enjoy living in Bobo.  That's not to say there isn't any anxiety (there's a lot!), but there are many positive things to keep our motivation high.

Somewhat larger steps

Yes, yes I know.  You're not supposed to start a blog and then not post for 2 months! Well, there hasn't really been much to report, and I'm really not one to just write about my daily life.  I guess that needs to change.... That is really the idea of a blog isn't it?  Now do you see why we started this so far before we even leave?  Maybe in 5 months we will develop the knack for regular updates!

But, we do have a little to report now.

Yes, those are firm plans for leaving! Airline tickets and visas!  We have now begun to sell some possessions.  Well, actually, Alisa has been selling shoes for some time now... That shows that she's really serious!  And we are planning to have a yard sale in September.  After that sale, we should be living in a practically empty house.  That should help us make a more gradual adjustment to a new continent, and not having quite all the "stuff" that's considered necessary in the US.  But, it will also make for a very chaotic few months!!

I'll try to be a little quicker posting next time, maybe I'll get a few pictures of our little chaos up here :)

A little info about Burkina Faso

Ok, first of all, please feel free to leave comments!  Any questions you have, thoughts, etc, etc.  For now there won't be many pics on here, at least until we get to Burkina and start taking some of our own.  But, I will be adding links to maps and pictures that you might enjoy.
For today, I just wanted to share a little information about Burkina Faso with everyone.  Chances are that you have never heard of it (most Americans haven't).  Burkina (noone ever says the whole name) is in west africa, is landlocked (means no beaches....), and one of the poorer countries in the world.  Of course, this is not to say there is no money there.  There are some very rich people there, and some very high-end neighborhoods.  For example, there is a development in the capital Ouagadougou called Ouaga 2000 which is supposedly where people such as the royal family of Morocco have vacation homes.  Here are some listings for rentals in that area, running beween $700-$4000 a month.  Needless to say, that is not where we are going!!!! Oh, and by the way, the capital Ouagadougou (pronounced Wah-gah-doo-goo) is also never said in full. Everyone just calls it Ouaga.  You might notice a trend in abbreviating names...
Our initial plan is to spend a few days to a week in Ouaga, but that's not where we will be living.  The branch that covers this territory, located in Benin, gave us 4 choices on where to go to help a French congregation.  The most likely destination is in Bobo Dioulasso.  Any guess on what this town is normally called?  Yep, you guessed it....  Bobo.   Anyways, we still have to get in contact with the brothers there and confirm everything.  But we do know that Bobo is a city of about 500,000 people with 5 congregations.  From around 1900 to 1960 the French made it the main city of the area, so it's still a commercial center.  We should be able to get anything we want there... depending how much we want to pay of course.  As far as the practicalities, the branch said that a budget as low as $230 a month is possible... much depending on our ability to live without air conditioning.  To be on the safe side, we plan to double that.  Even so, $500 a month is pretty cheap!  There is a grand marché in Bobo (the african equivalent of a Super Walmart.... where you can get just about anything), also a fruit market where we can get any local, fresh fruit (very important, you know how Alisa loves fruit!).  Sounds like the normal way to get around is a moto (generic for scooters and pretty much any kind of motorcycle).  We will see where we end up living, distance to the KH, etc, and decide if we need a moto of our own once we get there.
About 50 miles southwest of Bobo is a small town called Banfora.  That is going to be our first tourist destination!  Whenever any of you come to visit, I'm sure we will be happy to go back there again and again!  Here are a few pics of the sights at Banfora:

http://banfora.net/Les-cascades-de-Karfiguela.html
http://banfora.net/Les-domes-de-Fabedougou.html
http://banfora.net/Les-pics-de-Sindou.html
http://banfora.net/Le-lac-de-Tengrela.html

Sorry, you're not going to find many pages in English describing Burkina!

Small beginnings....

Ok, to be fair, we aren't anywhere near Burkina yet.  We are still right here in Alameda.  BUT, we have made our decision and are starting our preparations... so I figured I should figure out how to get this blog thing going so it can be fully at speed once we are "au pays".  First, hafta get used to typing on this mini-keyboard connected to my Ipad :)
Please remember, don't share this blog with others without express permission from Alisa or me.
But, now, enough boring stuff!  What are we actually doing to get ready?  Well, I did something fun today.... got 3 of my wisdom teeth out!  A dentist finally convinced me that it was going to be necessary.  Now, the thought of having dental problems requiring immediate attention in Africa?   Not something I want to deal with!!!!  Don't say I have no sense of adventure... but I want to know that someone cutting me open has access to modern technology, especially pain meds!!!!  So, spending my day laying on the couch looped out on vicodon really is part of preparing for Africa :)
Next step, monday we are getting our vaccinations, yellow fever, etc.  Once we have that, we can send off for our visas.  By the first of August (or earlier if we aren't patient) we should have our tickets from JFK to Ouaga.  All that's left after that are the details!!!  Of course, there are a lot of those details....
That's all for now.  I'll be back when there is more progress to report.