Comes with the Territory

I thought I'd put up a quick post to let y'all know I've been under the weather with a nasty cold for the past several days. I know that it's for my good, but ask that the Lord would restore me before we leave for Ghana for two weeks on Sunday. Also ask that the Lord would bless our time there: to encourage the believers, to share the Gospel clearly, to see many come to a saving knowledge of and relationship with the Savior. Miss you all.

Ouagadougou

So we've been in Ouaga now for coming up on a month... yes, it's taken me forever to post on the blog. TK and I feel very blessed to have our apartment. We didn't really know what conditions we'd be living in for our 4+ months, and we were prepared for a hut with not power or running water. We call our place a villa basically, and though the neighborhood 3rd world in American standards, we really are living like kings here. We have power (most of the time), running water (most of the time), a fridge, stove, living room, bedroom, TOILET, SHOWER (cold showers are not all that bad after the first 10 seconds)...







































These two guys are named Joshue (Joe-sway) and Rodolphe, and they are Bissa believers who know English- praise the Lord! They are great and we had them over for some greasy American Southern cookin' last night... country fried steak, mashed potatas, gravy, fried ocra, and Kool-aid...
















This is Yaya, our Bissa language teacher. We finished class today and are getting into full-fledged ministry and evangelism. He is a believer and is very encouraging. His family is all Muslim, however, so pray that the Lord would use his witness to bring them to Himself.
















This is a picture of the mud brick shanty-town area where most of our ministry in Ouaga will take place. It's called the Non-Loti (not sure about the spelling) and it's like a labrinth. Kids are everywhere all over our neighborhood and the Non-Loti, and they like to yell out "Nassarra, Nassarra", which means white person or just "Le Blanc", which is french for white. You mainly have to ignore them for sanity's sake and to get anywhere while we ride on our bikes. Sometimes it's fun to call "Mincasida" back at them, which is Bissa for black person (especially since most of them don't know Bissa). Pray that the gospel would spread vibrantly in this area.




















Last of all, right now is "La Wakati"- rainy season. This means that riding a bike around everywhere is quite an adventure, especially if you're trying to keep your clothes at all clean...

Orientation

Hands On had a ten day orientation in Niamey, Niger to allow us to slowly step into West Africa. It was great for us to ease into everything and our orientation supervisors were so helpful.

This is Ali Mozair. My partner TK and I stayed with his family for 3 days to experience African life close up. Please pray for him, his wife, and 3 children. They are Taureg people, and Muslim. He has heard the gospel many times, so ask the Lord to soften his heart and open his eyes to its truth.





















These were some cisterns at Ali Mozair's house, and, given the cracks, they reminded TK of the broken cisterns of Jeremiah 2 (which inspired the Daniel Renstrom song we've all come to love)




















The last night in Niamey, our leaders took us all by surprise to some dunes along side the Niger River. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and some p&w by a bonfire... very good time!

Here's Lookin' at You Kid

So, for my first post, I'll briefly describe the 13 hour layover in Casablanca, Morocco...

We flew through the night and landed in Casablanca. After 2 hours of trying to claim baggage and figure out the airport, our group of 15 made our way be shuttle to a day room at a nearby hotel. From their, we took a taxi ride, six to a car (pretty standard), into the city and explored...














This picture is a cool shot of a market in Casablanca...




















The followingpictures are of a ginormous mosque on the coast in the city. It's probably one of the most beautiful and overwhelming buildings I've been to in my life. It breaks my heart that such an amazing architectural monument is dedicated to a false god and used to perpetuate a religion of lostness and dead works. Pray for the people who come here and that this building would one day be a place where believers in Christ gather to worship the true and living God.