Namaste!

Yet another car whizzed by us, driving even deeper the feeling that we were moving as slow as snails on this nearly deserted stretch of highway.  Why were we going so slow, as if it would cause us harm to get anywhere near the posted speed limit?  The road was in excellent condition, there were only a handful of cars traveling on this divided highway, no other dangers that we could see.  But, the futility of trying to argue these points with our driver was like a wet blanket thrown over our conversation.  His broken English wasn't sufficient to understand why we were frustrated, and our complete lack of Hindi prevented any real expression on our part.  An onlooker could have only laughed at our attempts to explain "slow slow bad, fast fast good!"  Our driver was convinced that his slow driving was absolutely vital for safety, given the hour (3 am), and all we could think about was "why did we get up at 1 am if we aren't even going to arrive for sunrise???"

What led to this bizarre impasse?  Well, it all began the week before, actually with our previous blog post.  You see, the flight we were waiting on to take us halfway around the world wasn't taking us directly back to Africa.  Actually, we were en route to a much needed vacation, in India!  The much-anticipated flight lasting a marathon 15 hours landed us in Delhi, a place so unlike anywhere we have ever visited, but so familiar at the same time.  Before getting into any more description of this once-in-a-lifetime trip, let me finish the experience that we have already begun.

Suddenly, the car began to slow.  As our driver maneuvered towards an exit, he said we were stopping for bathrooms and coffee, "10 minutes."  By the time the car came to a halt at this nearly deserted gas station, the time had become 15 minutes, and our frustration was reaching a boil.  True, we told ourselves, we do need a bathroom break anyways after 2 hours on the road.  However, as we waited in the humid, mosquito filled air for our driver, and waited, and waited, we had to do something!  Out came our phones, Google translate to the rescue (we hoped)!  After settling on the phrasing to fully express ourselves, we typed it in and watched several lines of curly Hindi text appear.  When our driver finally reappeared, we insisted that he read it before getting back in the car.  We can only imagine how incomprehensible the translation must have been, but the point was made!  Finally, he looked at us with a dawn of understanding, and promised we would reach our destination by 5:30.  Holding true to his word, the speedometer finally reached the speed limit, for the first time all morning.

Unfortunately, despite his belated burst of speed the damage had already been done, and we did not arrive at our destination until after 6.  Why the rush, anyways?  What I haven't told you yet is just where we were going.  Our destination was the Taj Mahal, our goal to be there for photos at sunrise.  In the end, it didn't matter that much.  The clouds obscured the actual sunrise anyways, so we were still there for first actual sunlight striking the white marble.  Worse, though, was that restoration work was being done on the Taj Mahal, so scaffolding and tarps covered parts of it.  This, of course, was a big let down, because it ruined any chance of capturing that iconic photo which the whole world has seen of the majestic building.  Still, it was worth the drive, and something to not be missed when we were already so close.  After the Taj Mahal, we continued on to the Agra Fort, which turned out to be a much more interesting place, and just as impressive if not nearly as white.  Needless to say, we slept for much of the drive back to Delhi, and we told the driver he could go as "slow slow" as he wanted!

Beyond our trip to the Indian icon, we also had the pleasure of taking a Delhi food tour, of attending meetings with the only English congregation in the city, and seeing a lot more ancient architecture (is 500 years old ancient? Yes, I think so) as well as getting in a little shopping!  The food tour was our first day, and a great way to get introduced to Delhi.  It mostly focused on the area of Old Delhi, which was once a walled city surrounded by jungle.  Now it's a labyrinth of streets and alleys, home to vendors selling virtually anything you can imagine.  One area is touted as the largest market in all of Asia, a statement which we certainly can't refute.  As we ate our way through the history of North India (and learned quite a bit in the process), we marveled at the crush of people jammed into narrow streets.  Motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, rickshaws, even tuk-tuks all engaged in an endless dance, sometimes slow motion, sometimes high speed; incredibly this dance did not end in loss of life and limb, we are still not sure how.  As we would later see, this dance is enacted on streets all around Delhi, in one form or another.

Delhi itself is a huge city, in one of the most populous countries in the world.  To imagine how BIG Delhi is, consider that this one city with its suburbs contains more people than the entire country of Burkina Faso!  Alternatively, this one city is equal to half the state of California..... Or it's equal to Greece and Portugal added together!  With that many people crammed together, traffic is unavoidable.  Fortunately Delhi has a well developed Metro system which can get you close to most anywhere in the city.  But, again, there's a lot of people crammed into this city..... so the Metro can be packed beyond all imagination!  During commute hours, getting on a Metro car becomes an exercise in geometry, somewhat like a game of Tetris using human bodies.  This may sound rather calm and peaceful, but the reality is anything but that!  Those at the end of the line seem to panic that they may not fit into the car, so they continue pushing in even when physics would seem to indicate that the car is completely full.  Turns out, the car isn't completely full! It can always fit another 10 or 20 bodies! For anyone with claustrophobic tendencies, the Delhi Metro is not at all recommended.  Outside of public transit, Delhi has a lot to see.  We had read that some considered Delhi to be a dirty city, but we certainly didn't feel that way.  Of course, our context does include West Africa..... which is where the term "dirty" truly finds meaning....  Some areas resemble Africa almost exactly.  But not far away, we traveled expansive boulevards with incredible landscaping on all sides and passed immaculately manicured round-a-bouts.  

Overall, that contrast was one of the most striking things we saw in India.  Their economy covers the full range, from rich to poor.  The rich is parallel with what we might see in California, and the poor is just as poor as anywhere else in the world (which one doesn't see in California!) This incredible economic diversity did make things easier for us.  Unlike Burkina, we weren't constantly being asked for money, to our surprise.  For such a large city, there were very few beggars actually.  One reason may be that Indian religions actively promote taking care of others, meaning that those who are truly in need don't need to go beg on the streets.  The most striking example of this that we saw was a Sikh temple which included a kitchen that feeds 20,000 people a day.  The dining room is open to anyone, regardless of religion, and.... wait for it.... charges nothing!!!  We won't get into the exact religious beliefs here, but we were certainly impressed by this generous side of Indian culture.

As with most of us, a highlight of any trip we take is meeting and being with our spiritual family. We were able to do this at the meetings, but we were quite disappointed to find out that the preaching work is restricted for foreigners in India.  Specifically, we couldn't go door to door with the congregation.  While we were there, the branch was announcing a new provision for foreigners who had been in India over 3 months, but we never heard exactly what it was.  Needless to say, it would be hard to live in India for this reason alone!  Despite that, we did meet several foreigners who attend the English congregation.  The brothers taking the lead are all Indian, but they have many African brothers and sisters, from both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, even a brother from a Portuguese speaking country.  In addition, we met a Russian and a French sister.  As would be expected, the French speakers were happy to speak French with us, especially the ones who didn't really understand English yet!  Coincidentally, did we meet any "needgreaters" in Delhi? Nope, not one.  The few foreigners we met in the congregation were all there for work or education.  Yes, I said "few".  Maybe it sounded like a lot, but don't forget how huge Delhi is.... and this is the ONLY foreign language congregation in the whole city!  One can only imagine that the government restrictions make India (or at least Delhi) a very un-hospitable place for needgreaters.

Overall, though, we found India to be an unforgettable experience, one which we would recommend to any adventurous travelers!  Of course, this is just a short detour in our blog about Burkina.  Now that we have vacations, detours, travel of all sorts out of the way, we can get back into our routine in Burkina.  It promises to be a busy and new routine, with the regional assembly almost on us, visitors from all over arriving soon, and a whole new chapter opening up as we do more at the RTO.  Stay tuned for updates!

Is it a dream?

We're back!  Sorry for the long hiatus from posting.  Of course, we got to see many of you in person over the last 6 months.  To everyone that we didn't get to see, or to spend enough time with: Sorry!! Hopefully we will be able to do better next time!

Anyways, here we are, at the end of our time in the USA, having worked 6 months and accomplished our goal thanks to Jehovah's blessing.  As we wait to board a plane going halfway around the world, thought we would share a little bit of our experience.

Our feelings are largely summed up by the title "Is this a dream?"  After so long back in the USA, working secularly, being in a congregation with ones we have known for years, it almost seems like our life back in Burkina was really just a dream.  But, then we stop and wonder "is life here really the dream?"  We are living 2 different lives, one where we follow the basic American mold, working full time, eating out, buying stuff, doing our best in service on the weekends.  In our other life, though, field service is everything, eating out is a luxury, we actually free time.  At times, it feels like we are living a sci-fi movie, where we can't tell dream from reality.  This switching of realities, moving from one life to another, is probably the hardest thing for us.  Not that there aren't other difficulties...  Making a life for 6 months anywhere takes work.  Then, we have to condense that life into a few suitcases that can go on a plane with us....  It's a miracle that we don't both have ulcers!

Overall, though, it is becoming easier each time that we perform this inter-continental shuffle.  What makes it all bearable is thinking about the reason that we are doing it.  The ministry back in Burkina is, of course, a big motivation for us.  Even bigger, though, is the desire to be back with our congregation.  This is not to say that we haven't enjoyed being with Lake Merrit French, it has been a joy spending 6 months with them.  But we have worked hard to maintain the feeling that Burkina is home, and this has just been an extended visit.  Although it may seem like a small thing, or even quite bizarre to anyone who doesn't like animals, knowing that we have a dog and a cat waiting for us at home in Burkina really helps us keep that feeling that it's home.  Something else that we are really looking forward to is seeing all the young ones in the congregation again.  There are about 20 who are under 25 years old, many who are already publishers, some baptized.  A few of these young ones are already pursuing (or planning for) full time service.  Seeing them make goals and pursue Jehovah's service is a great highlight of life in Burkina.

Another reason we are anxious to get back is to get caught up.  It feels like we have missed so much since we left Burkina back in February.  The congregation itself has changed.... There are 2 new elders since we left, 1 from the USA, one from Côte d'Ivoire.  Additionally, there have been 2 appointments of local brothers, 1 as an elder, 1 as a MS.  In reality, it seems like the numbers may allow the Jula group to become a full congregation soon.  While exciting, it's also sad to think about the congregation we know being split in half.  Not all changes have been in our congregation, though.  Some missionaries and special pioneers were moved around in neighboring congregations to allow the creation of a new Jula group.  As far as the Jula language in general, the RTO in Bobo has been expanded, with the addition of translators from Côte d'Ivoire.  We are, of course, very excited to see firsthand what Jehovah is doing to expand the service in this field!  In reality, when we try to decide what is dream and what is real, it turns out that Jehovah's service (no matter where in the world) is really both!

We can't possibly write anything about our time spent in the USA without also mentioning the loving support of our family.  We know that with Jehovah anything is possible.... But we really don't know how it would be possible for us to live 2 separate lives like this without the help and support of family.  Jehovah truly is good for providing just what we need to make this dream our reality!

Dèja vu

As I write, its just after midnight in California.  A few of you may have already seen Burkina Faso mentioned on last night's news.  Others are seeing it on this morning's news.  Either way, here is a quick note to say "we are ok!"

Yes, there was a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso.  No, it wasn't anywhere near us.  The attack was in the capital, Ouagadougou, on a large hotel, whose clients include UN personnel.  This seems to follow the same model as the recent attack in Bamako, and was claimed by the same group.  At this time, we haven't heard much more than that, except that it seems to all be over, after a quick response by Burkina military, and later French and US military as well.  Missionaries in Ouaga aren't aware of any of our brothers being harmed in the attack, happily.

Does this change our plans?  Our return the US was already scheduled for a few weeks from now, that won't be changing.  We are already avoiding anywhere with large concentrations of foreigners, that also won't be changing.  For now, theocratic activities continue unabated, with service today and circuit assembly tomorrow.  As is the case everywhere, we can only expect this world to keep getting worse as the end approaches.  Keeping focused on our hope helps us carry on despite the tragedies around us. 

A little update

Hi everyone!  Yes, we know, it’s been a while since our last post… and, yes, there has been a lot happening in this part of the world.  So, a quick update is in order:

First, presidential elections are over, in theory the political chaos of the last year is over.  Even though there was a lot of uncertainty associated with the elections, there were no problems of any kind on the actual day.  Everything remained completely peaceful, happily!  Our hope is that things settle down so our preaching isn’t interrupted, of course!

Second, many have seen concerning news items about West Africa recently.  It’s true, there have been some scary events in nearby countries recently.  In these last days, scary things are happening more and more often.  However, the situation here in Bobo remains quite safe.  We are 8 hours away from Bamako, where a recent attack happened, and much further away from Nigeria with the infamous Boko Haram.  Besides distance, we are also insulated by virtue of Burkina’s government.  They are taking every precaution to ensure that nothing spills over from neighboring countries.  This means much more frequent traffic stops to check ID's/ nationality as well as searching cars (police can search any car at any time here), visible police and military presence and a continued curfew from 1-4 AM throughout the country (truck loads of police with M-16’s patrol during the night to dissuade any criminal element from using the cover of darkness to move about).  Again happily, the country got through it’s election without any problems, so that closes one potential door to terrorist activity.  All in all, it’s just as safe here as anywhere else in the world.

Third, theocratic stuff, the best part!  The next 2 months are very busy for us here in Bobo, as we have a special visit by a Governing Body representative in 2 weeks (video broadcast from the branch) and our circuit assembly in January.  In addition to that, our congregation also has CO visit in January.  Adding even more, we have the privilege of attending Pioneer School again in a couple of weeks!  All of the permanent foreigners here in Bobo were invited this year, with the exception of 1 sister who went last year and 2 couples who just finished the Evangelizers’ School.  Besides special events, we are also very encouraged to see the young ones in our congregation increasing their service.  Those in the 16-25 age group are making extensive use of the “presentoir” (witnessing cart) which is stationed at our house.  Some are using vacation times to auxiliary pioneer, and even beginning to think about regular pioneering after school.  Nearly half of our congregation is under 25, so there is a lot of work to do training and teaching, but also a lot of potential!

That’s about it for us, for now.  We apologize for the slowness in posting, and complete lack of pictures on our blog recently!  

La Tristesse

Here we are, back to relative peace and stability in Burkina.  But, that doesn't mean that all is well here.  Just about every day we see something truly sad here.  Hence the title of today's post: tristesse, or sadness in French.  If we didn't have the Kingdom hope, this would be a truly depressing place, or at least a truly depressing blog post!  Happily, though, we do have a hope.  We certainly wanted to share it with a family today.

Some time back, we came across a home with a deaf woman.  They said that no Witnesses had ever been by to see her, so we took down their information and shared it with a brother from the sign language group here in Bobo.  When we took him by the house, we found the situation was even sadder than we initially thought.  The woman has never gone to school, and so can really only communicate with her family using "home signs", a problem that will be quite familiar to anyone serving in sign language anywhere in the world.  We knew this would be a challenge for the brother, but it comes with the territory.

However, in sitting and listening to a conversation in a language we didn't understand, we saw more of the family.  Behind the deaf woman, about 20 feet away we saw a child laid in a tub or basket.  While a little bigger than a baby, this child didn't seem to be able to even wave away the flies which were crawling all over his face.  Glancing at each other, we had the same thought, first: that's really disturbing with the flies, second: there is something wrong with that child.

When the child's mother picked him up and brought him over, we could see more clearly that he has a serious health issue.  His hair is faded, almost a blonde color, a color that we have never seen on anyone here.  Very apparent, also, were his curled hands and feet, as if he was trying to keep his thumbs and big toes curled in.  Then his grandmother dropped the bombshell, that this rather large baby is in fact over 4 years old!  He can't walk, and clearly hasn't grown much.  Only after all of this did we notice that he didn't move at all.  In fact, the only thing we saw him do was move his eyes.  They were very much alive, taking in everything happening, and it seemed sure that there is a lively 4 year old mind gazing out of this withered shell of a body, unable to do anything more than observe his environment.

Now, all of this would be sad anywhere in the world, but it's a little sadder than normal here.  Being one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso doesn't exactly have top-end health care.  It's quite possible that the doctors here don't have access to the tests needed to properly diagnose this young boy, or that the necessary treatments aren't available, even if he was diagnosed.  Sadly, it's not unheard of for children to fall sick and die here without anyone ever knowing the reason.  Looking at this boy, and knowing that he has very little chance of being well nearly brought tears to our eyes.  In this case, though, it's not just the country of his birth that makes it hard, but also the poverty of his family.  Walking up to the door, we already know that this family doesn't have much money.  They have 2 houses in their courtyard, a one room house and a two room house, the bare basics for living.  Their courtyard is bare dirt, meaning they don't have money for pavers, of course this also frees up one corner for growing a few crops which may be their only source of income.  The houses and the courtyard wall are bare brick, not painted, as paint is an unnecessary and expensive luxury.  There is no car, no motorcycle, not even a bicycle in sight.  The courtyard doesn't even have a gate, just an opening in the fence.  All of this tells us that there is likely no money to even take this little boy to the doctor, much less to pursue any course of treatment for him.  Again, if we stop to think about it, the sadness of the situation is almost overwhelming.

In the end, though, this is just a reminder of why we are really here.  After all, what do these people need more than anything else?  Why, the Kingdom message!  We can't wait to hear her reaction when the deaf mother is able to learn the promises at Isaiah 33:24, and of course Revelation 21:3, 4.  While it's sad to see things like this, it's even more sad to think that everyone dealing with such sad situations might never hear the Good News!  So, we must shake off the sadness, and get on with the preaching work.  As the system winds down to it's end, would we want to be doing anything else?  Not a chance!!!

coup, anyone?

You may have already heard, but Burkina Faso just underwent a forced change of government...  Happily, it was a peaceful event.  We don't know how, or if, this will affect our life here, but for now we are just fine.  If things change, we will keep everyone updated via blog, email, phone, skype, ???
For now, you can check out our view of events at www.strangelifeinafrica.blogspot.com

Seldom worked territory

Seldom worked territory…. Maybe you have had the privilege of being able to work in such a territory, maybe some rural area far from your home.  That’s exactly what we were recently able to do, and we would like to share some highlights with you!  Just in case you aren’t familiar with this term, “seldom-worked territory” applies to an area which has not been preached in by Witnesses within a year, sometimes longer, sometimes no one has preached there before.

Earlier this year, every congregation in Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso received a letter from our Branch Office announcing a campaign to work “seldom-worked territory”.  (Oddly enough, the 4^th country in our branch, Niger, was never mentioned.  Maybe because, with only 240 Witnesses, every territory they have is seldom-worked?)  Needless to say, we were excited by the possibility to preach somewhere new, so we filled out an application.

Our assignment ended up being some villages about a 2 hour drive from our home, near the borders with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.  They are included in the territory of a small group in Diebougou.  However, the group consists of only 10 publishers, 3 of whom are pioneering, and it’s all they can do to cover the town of Diebougou.  To make it more difficult for them, the only ones in the group who have motos are the special pioneer couple assigned there.  Everyone else is on foot or on a bicycle.  Making a 50 km trip to a village is clearly not an easy thing for them!  According to recent memory of those in the group, 2 of the villages that we preached in had never before been visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The group was small, just us 2 and 2 single sisters from our congregation, but we were accompanied every day by one or both of the special pioneers, and sometimes local publishers, even once by a pioneer visiting from Cote d’Ivoire.  It’s a good thing we were able to use our neighbors’ car, a Renault Kango, to carry everyone!  If you aren’t from France, you have probably never seen one of these cars… it’s kind of a cross between a minivan and a SUV.  Not necessarily the epitome of comfort for the furthest rear passengers (the boxes of literature were the seats), but still effective.

When possible, our method consisted of getting to each village on their market day, when lots of people would be crammed together in one place.  Once there, we pulled out our witnessing cart, and braced for the flood.  A few curious onlookers would gather, which instantly created buzz, and we would typically have 20-30 people around the cart at any given moment.  The biggest challenge was determining who could read French.  Before handing anyone literature, it’s best to confirm they can actually read it!  Surprisingly, the vast majority of kids that asked for something could read.  It seemed like the small, remote villages are better educated than the average in larger towns and cities.  While we don’t know where all these seeds of truth will land, we certainly pray that some will take root and grow.  In the course of our 5 days preaching, nearly 1000 tracts and hundreds of magazines were placed.  For many, this was their first exposure to Bible truth.

It wasn’t possible to get to all the villages on market day, so we did door-to-door in a few.  While not nearly as lightning fast as the cart, we still had great success.  Some people had met Witnesses during a visit to a larger city, and many were eager to learn more.  In the smaller villages, most people seemed to be Catholic, and they had some spiritual hunger but virtually no knowledge.  In one case, a guy literally chased us down the road to stop us for more literature.  In another village, we had a group discussion with about 8 guys at a roadside café, with everyone accepting literature and listening to Bible verses.  By the time we left, they were discussing among themselves how the verses applied.

Not all of the joys were spiritual, though.  It was also a great opportunity to get out of Bobo and see some different landscapes!  Getting to the territory involved passing by something we don’t see too much of here in Burkina: hills.  A landscape is so much more interesting when it includes hills!  Thanks to the time of year (end of the rainy season) there was also a lot of water.  We crossed a river in full flood stage, quite impressive.  Happily, the highway is built up sufficiently high, however the original road beside it was underwater in spots.  Due to this abundance of water, everything was incredibly green.  Knowing how brown and dusty everything will be in 6 months, we thoroughly appreciated the greenery pushing up as far as the eye can see.

In the end, we were ready to get back home, but were also convinced that 5 days wasn’t nearly long enough for this territory.  We don’t know who will follow up on our work, we don’t know what results will come from it, but we do see what a need there is here.  These few villages we preached in are not the only ones that need covered, there are hundreds of villages throughout the country that also need to hear the Good News.  We certainly do see the truth of Matthew 9:37 here in Burkina!

For a small glimpse of the scenery, click here