Dear Prayer Partners,

On March 31, I sent you a message regarding all the wonderful things God has been doing in Burkina Faso through a volunteer team that was there in January, which was led by Larry and Edwina Rowell.  I made a mistake!  I said that Larry and Edwina are from Arkansas, for my brain had its wire’s crossed with a team we’d just been with from Arkansas.  Larry and Edwina are from Campbellsville, KY., in the same town as Campbellsville University, where Ryan went to school. 

 

Also, from now on I will leave messages from other individuals in their original form!  I write, but make a lousy editor!

 

As clarification, here is part of the recent note Edwina sent me:

 

“The 55 year old missionary is Lynn Kennedy who has her own ministry now, Shattering Darkness, from out of FBC, Orlando.  Before leaving the IMB, Larry and I helped Lynn in her ministries with the Daagari in southwest Burkina.

 

“I will send you the official write-up of our time in Burkina Faso.  It was one of our best trips ever.  Our return to the village of Karo and finding that 20 Christians were now in the village left us totally in awe and humbleness.  Our church is discussing returning next year to Karo to disciple the new Christians.  In July 2005 we prayer walked, along with the pastor and deacons of one of our churches in Kongoussi (5 kms from Karo), asking the Lord to open this village for Him.  The Kongoussi church has been evangelizing there since then.”

 

 

That said I am sending you the original message that Larry and Edwina wrote.  May it bless you and cause you to pray all the more for God to work in Togo!

 

Love,

 

Barbara

 

Barbara J. Singerman

Author of Beyond Surrender

Serving the Peoples of Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire

http://dwmweb.com/ayizo.

bsingerman@gowestafrica.org

 

From: Larry and Edwina Rowell

 

Here's our write-up of our time in Burkina.   EMR

 

Dear Faithful Prayers,

     Below are some highlights of our trip.  We couldn't have had the blessings, encouragment, health or safety in our travels and ministry without your intercessions.  Thank you for holding the ropes for us while we were gone.    Edwina

·         Larry taught 11 pastors and approximately 50 laymen in a conference entitled Stewardship and the Christian.  David Johnson led this same group in a conference on worship.  This was a two day conference. 

·         Larry placed 15 MacArthur Study Bibles (in French) in the hands of key Baptist leaders.  This is the first well known, conservative, study Bible published in French and it will greatly aid our Pastors in their study and sermon preparation.

·         Edwina, Ramona and Kym worked with the women and children of the village called Godyr (pronounced go-deer).  A Bible study was led by a key Burkinabe Baptist woman.  They taught the women to play jacks and played games with the children while the Bible study was being held.  Our original plans had to be altered as there were over 70 women in attendance and we were not able to communicate in the languages we knew.  The only interpreter was used during the womens' teachings.    Our time with the women was while Larry and David were with the 11 pastors and other church leaders.

·         Edwina taught principles of English as a Second Language to three Baptist semester college students working in Burkina Faso.  These three young people will be meeting residents in Ouagadougou until July, using English lessons as an opening to sharing the Gospel.

·         David Johnson taught two sessions on worship and praise at the International Church of Ouagadougou.  He has been invited back to lead a city-wide workshop for all churches.

·         The Fulani village where we have prayer walked for two years now has 20 believers!  The village elders are allowing the children and young people of the village to choose between Islam and Christianity.   We also prayer walked in this village again.

·         We worshiped on Sunday morning with a Burkinabe Baptist church that is now sending out their own missionaries to evangelize the lost in remote villages. 

·         We visited a region where a 55 year old widow is leading Africans to plant Baptist churches in remote out of the way villages.  Larry was able to preach to some believers in one of these churches.  The churches are in the farthest regions of the "bush".  The church where Larry preached had people waiting all day for us.

·         We watched one of our Baptist churches as they fed 150 children lunch.  They do this daily.  The children hear the Gospel each day and some have accepted Christ.

·         David Johnson ate cow brains and potatoes in tomato sauce—yummy!

P.S.  You prayed for our transportation. It was good, although we did have trouble with the brakes.  However, all went well and we never lacked for wheels to go anywhere we needed.