Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in my first blog from Burkina. Matt Walsh (one of the long term missionaries here) just received a working modem and was able to install it today.
I arrived in the capital city of Ouagadougou and was met by Dale Johnson (another long term missionary here). After spending a couple of days there, we (the Johnson's and I) drove to Mahadaga (a rural village about 7 or so hours away). We had the benefit of also seeing a good friend, Lindsay Reilly, who took some time out of her schedule to spend some time with us both in Ouaga and in Mahadaga.
For the most part, I have been living with a local family here, I forget their last name right now. I stay in a small house with Daniel (21) and David (18) (brothers). Malata (28 maybe?), their sister, also comes over frequently. She cooks most of the meals for us - which is great. Tonight we had "toh" with some sauce, a veggie mix, and some corn. I don't know how to spell "toh", but it's a gelatinous goop of different grains, usually including millet (I think). The portions are so big that I usually have a hard time finishing them, and they want me to eat more. The food isn't terribly energy rich, so you've got to eat a lot to make up for it.
For now, I typically spend my mornings doing some kind of work, and my afternoons doing language training and reading.
"Work" has included:
...cutting and gathering weeds for compost material (which appears to be a new idea in this area)
...organizing a workshop (and a supply house) - which is about 60-70% completed (I think my brother, Josh, might give me a thumbs up for the shadow board that I setup)
...assisting in planting and setting up a few "survival gardens" - which consists of a 25m x 25m plot of land with fruit trees and veggies, these gardens also include a well, a pump, a latrine, and other non-gardening stuff like mosquito nets for the family, a more efficient stove, training on composting, training on micro-enterprise with small animals, and the list goes on. The family is involved in paying for much of it - though the family can take a no-interest loan for much of it.
Just recently I think Matt Walsh and I have come to a better understanding of my responsibilities here. As I understand it, I will be overseeing the management of the "survival gardens". I'm not planning to manage them myself, but we intend to identify a local person to manage them, but I will help assist where necessary (budgets, schedules, reports, driving, etc.). I expect to soon be focusing much of my time on developing a method to dig wells and install pumps (thanks, Tony, for the book! Matt read it and it was just the right thing at the right time). I have some other marginal responsibilities, but if I have time, I would love to consider some other things - like bio-gas. I think it would be great here as wood is in short supply, and it has the added bi-product of excellent fertilizer (let alone the fact that it can work in concert with a latrine).
I have also been spending some time in the evenings connecting with Daniel, David, and Malata. They have asked me to teach them how to develop business models and they'd like to learn about economics. Specifically, Malata asked me about setting up a bread making business, and currently Daniel is interested in a welding business. I know I'm not the best person for teaching these things, so I pray for God's wisdom here too. In addition we've had the opportunity to study the Bible together. We began last Thursday studying from a cloth that shows scenes of the Chronological Story of the Bible (I received this while in Charlotte, NC at SIM USA). We studied about the spirit world and places in scripture that offer insight into God, angles, Satan, and his demons. After a 3 hour discussion, Daniel asked if we could do this every Thursday. Great!
Oh, as far as my "readings" - I have read "The Hole in Our Gospel", and "The Great Omission". These are two excellent books that provide a well balanced health check and prescription for the Church's purpose.
I am reading another book now called "Small is Beautiful". I don't recommend this book as strongly, in fact, I think I disagree with a lot of it's arguments so far, but we'll see.
Thanks again for all of your e-mails, and prayers, and help. May God bless you!
Brendon
Oh, perhaps one challenging question... Christ commanded his disciples to go make disciples. Does that apply to the Church as a whole, or does it apply to each member of the Church? Consider the verse "If you love me, you will obey my commands".
