Life In Bobo

Hello everyone,
As JJ said in his last blog sorry for the late blogs. Getting settled here has been allot more work and allot more tiring than we anticipated. But we wanted to share some of the highlights when we got here in bobo, now two weeks ago. For all of you
who have instagram, sorry it a bit of a repeat of the pics. Also this is Alisa writing so you will see a very different writing pattern than JJ (he is a better writer than me :) ).

Well we had such a wonderful time in Ouagadougou than the morning that we got on the bus to bobo I asked JJ, "do you think they are going to be as nice in Bobo?" I was worried that we would feel sad about leaving the love, kindness and generosity that we had felt in Ouagadougou. I think Jehovah might have been smiling and thinking....Just you wait to see what I have in store in Bobo.

The Almosts. A missionary Couple at the translation office in Ouagadougou.

Janet Williams, a missionary sister for over 25 years here in west Africa.

Some of the brothers that met us bus station.

From the moment we stepped off the bus in Bobo we knew we were home and every fear that we had had for 6 months leading up to being there was gone in a split second. We pulled up to station to find our brothers and sisters waiting for us. (13 in all) They had all come to meet us there and help us

Our Stove and Fridge

with our luggage (it took 4 cars to fit everyone and all the bags). Everyone greeted is in english to make us comfortable, I remember thinking "wow, everyone speaks English"...Not the case, just wanted us to feel welcome. :) After we got all of our bags together and into the cars, we were off to our new home. Something we had been eagerly anticipating for 3

Our bedroom with a rigged mosquito net.

months since we had been paying the rent since oct. :) I arrived first with the french/Spanish missionary couple. Went inside to find a a refrigerator. (something Very unsuspected since we were told no appliances were included) I was overjoyed! I didn't know why it was there, but Ana (missionary sister) told me there was another surprise also but wanted to let Nancy (American need greater next door) tell me what it was. so when everyone pulled up on the other cars I had to find out what was going on. I ran and told JJ and he just smiled. (didn't understand while he wasn't overjoyed like me). Nancy asked me if i had gone into kitchen yet (kitchen is in back of house through two more doors). So i ran into kitchen to find a amazing stove already there! I couldn't believe it! Again JJ seemed to be pleased but not surprised...Only to find out that HE, my husband had conspired against me with my own parents!...HEHE but for a could cause! It turns out JJ got My parents into contact with the Americans next door, who in turn purchased the appliances for my parents and arranged to have them here in our house when we got here. (which is not as easy as it sounds). It was such a amazing gift that I couldn't believe it! I had already seen enough to know what kind of stove and fridge we would probably be able to afford and there were 10x nicer than that! Ok sorry to ramble on about the appliances. (For all of you who really know us, you understand why ;) ) So after the shock and excitement of the house we went next door to get to know the brothers and sisters a bit better. It was so nice to see the relationship between the foreigners and the local brothers and sisters. Everyone was laughing and telling jokes (all french). It warmed our hearts to see that kind of relationship, they really treated each other like brothers and sisters. We knew we were home! we also found out that since our house had been vacant for 6 months, 3 local brothers came in and cleaned it for us...Including getting all the spiders, cockroaches, wasp hives and 2 inchs of dust/dirt out of it. We really felt welcomed and loved when we heard that! So to say the least we were overwhelmed with love and kindness from our new congregation.


I'm sure everyone would like to know a bit about congregation. We have 5 elders, 6 Ms, 6 reg pioneers (including us), 1 sp pioneer and 1 missionary couple and 40 pubs. That includes the ASL group, which is huge (15 pubs + bible studies). The ASL has most of meetings on their own and joke that they are going to kick French into back room and

Some Pics from First meeting in Bobo

take the main hall because they are more in attendance than the french. We have the CO visit soon and who knows what will happen then. :) For all of you in ASL in the states or Canada, this is an amazing place to take a vacation if you want to help. We were able to get a few to do small videos saying hello to the ASL here and they LOVED

JJ Helping Cleaning Parking lot at KH.

them, they said that those videos were the first contact they had ever had with Americans who signed other than videos. They were truly impressed with the brotherhood. So just imagine if one of you were to be the first American/Canadian to come visit and help them...I can guarantee it would be an amazing thing for everyone involved!
So that's all for now. JJ should be on here soon to tell you about the ministry here as it deserves its own blog. :)

Our Gros Moto

Our new pet Samba