Dear Prayer Partners,
Praise!
~The Benin Congressional Elections happened peacefully! Praise God!
~Our flight did finally land in Ouagadougou!! (wah-gah-dew-goo)
Please pray for:
~Charles and Kay Morrison as they return to West Africa after a time in the States for a new position as itinerant Bible School professor for
our French countries’ (Francophone) Bible schools! They are leaving the USA Thursday, April 5, and are to arrive in Burkina Faso April 6.
~Remember their travel, luggage, health, adjustment, and French language refresh!
~Jeff and I will be taking them through orientation. We will probably return by air to Benin on Monday, April 9.
So what’s this about our flying to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso?? I seem to have forgotten to tell you that Jeff, Kari and I were scheduled to leave for Burkina Faso on Monday, April 2! Some of you must have been praying, anyway, for we did finally make it to our destination.
Our intention, in this trip to Burkina, has many facets. Our first priority is the Morrisons. Jeff, in his position as liasion to the Francophone Conventions is also the acting supervisor to missionaries working at the seminary or with the Bible schools. Therefore we are here to hug, encourage, pray with and to guide Charles and Kay through orientation.
During our time here I intend to meet with Solonge, the Burkina Faso Baptist Women’s president to offer love and friendship. Also, Kari and I hope to check out a deaf school and to discover what is happening among the deaf of Burkina.
****
We soared from Benin into bright blue skies, landing briefly in Lomé, Togo. From Togo it was to be an hour’s trip to Ouagadougou, but ½ hour from our intended landing sight, we were detoured—no hurricane, no tornado, no lightening, no blizzard blocked our path, but DUST!! Sky-clogging, vision blinding, dust!! Although the harmattan has long left the coast-line of Benin, it is still heavily toying with the regions closest to the Sahara! Visability had shrunk to only 400 meters, under which Air Burkina refused to land! Therefore we were rerouted to the amazing airport of Bobo, west and south by 5 hours drive of Ouagadougou.
Although we were given re-boarding passes and escorted to the transit lounge, the gesture was simply a gesture of security, for the airport was all but deserted! The one shop across from us, in the airport building, that could have offered a few bottles of Coke and water, was locked. Why should anyone be there? No flights were scheduled for that day—in fact one wondered if they were to have any that week!!
As the heat grew upon us, and the interior being more oven-like than the exterior although 1 air-conditioner tried in vain to croak out a bit of refreshing air, the stewardesses returned to the plane to rummage up bottles of water to service the overheated crowd.
After three hours passed the officials, who were calling the real officials who lived in Ouagadougou and could actually make real decisions, announced to us that they were hiring a bus to take us the remaining 5 hours to Ouaga. That was not a delightful sounding option! Night would fall long before we’d arrive to our destination airport.
Pray won out over their planning! Just 45 minutes later it was announced that the dust had lifted enough to land and we could get back on the plane! Everyone scurried to exchange the sweat of the transit lounge for the swelter of the airplane cabin.
I don’t intend to forget to tell you our travel plans again!!
We’ve never seen such incredibly thick, thick, thick brown dust settled on top of the world. And the dry heat! It reminds me of living inside a wood burning adobe oven! You know those dry saunas? No one builds those here! Pray for all our missionaries who live in this oppressive, difficult climate! May God give them grace, health and strength!
But there are some good things that have crept out from under the dust and suffocating heat—strawberries! Burkina Faso, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, cultivates strawberries along the edges of their waterways! A dish of fresh berries swimming in cool, freshly whipped, cream is enough to revive many a heat-exhausted cell!
With love,
Barbara and Jeff
Author of Beyond Surrender
Serving the Peoples of Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire
bsingerman@gowestafrica.org