During July, Kyle and Leanne came to Burkina Faso for a 3-week visit. We travelled together into Ivory Coast and spent several days fixing up our village house, which in the early years of the war had been used by the New Forces soldiers as a barracks and prison. After a good scrub and a couple of coats of paint on some of the rooms, things have already started to look a lot better!
We had a super time with Kyle and Leanne. We also did some ‘touristy’ things with them here in Burkina like visiting waterfalls, and checking out the cuisine and swimming pools in Ouagadougou. They are now both back in Scotland.
Before and after!
This past week, for the first time since the war broke out in 2002, we were able to sleep for a couple of nights in our village home. It was great to be able to spend quality time, late into the evening, with the believers and the village folks. In future we hope to be able to travel more regularly from Burkina Faso to the village to help and encourage the believers, and to spend time with the villagers.
Last weekend we attended a baptism at a little church away out in the bush, near the village of Nyamway (see April post - Twenty Years Later). Seventeen Loron believers were baptised in the local crocodile-infested (well, maybe one or two) swamp. Next Sunday, August 26, we will be going to a baptism in another Loron village where they are planning to baptise about twenty new believers. (…and there are definitely crocs in the swamp in this village!)
We will be doing a final check on the book of Acts at the end of this month. A New Tribes Mission translation consultant will be with us from Aug 28-Sept 6. He will be checking every verse of Acts, all 1000+, so altogether, it should take about 7-8 days. If we get the go-head to print Acts, it will mean that over 40% of the New Testament has been completed in the Loron language. It is slow, but very rewarding work.
Enthusiasm for the literacy classes in the various villages remains high. A few people have dropped out of the course, but the majority who have continued with the lessons are encouraged and generally very positive about their progress. Most have completed about one third of the course, and some are almost half way through. Another couple of villages have shown interest in starting literacy classes, so we have been preparing new materials for them.
