T plus 3 mois, 5 jours

christmas has passed wonderfully, and still a sense of a few days of rest yet, all in all it didn't quite feel like the christmases i remember from north america, then again, it's all different people, different traditions, and definitely different weather

the services on christmas eve and day were fairly similar to that of north america, but added numerous skits on christmas eve by all different groups in the church, of course the highlight being the women's choir doing a hilarious presentation of the christmas story, after all the skits, people stayed around to dance and fellowship as a church family; the christmas day service was just like a sunday morning service with a christmas sermon and a meal at noon for fellowship in the church

christmas trees aren't very common in burkina, christmas is more a christian fête and so in a widely muslim country, the date occurs as similar to other fêtes, it isn't a tradition to give gifts, it is more a tradition to eat with your friends, often, people will come to greet you, as a christian, on christmas, and other christian holidays, if you go to greet them on muslim holidays, etc., it's mostly a time to fellowship with family and friends and an excuse to eat lots of food, just like in the states

also the weather is nothing like christmas time in kansas, then again, we are just more than 10º north of the equator, which provides for rather warm days but nice cool nights all "winter" long, a difference that still keeps me thinking a little behind burkina time

the visit to doumbala was great, i got to stay for two days, the first of which was occupied by a marriage and the second by seeing some of the surrounding country, the travel was good and long, one day each way, slightly less coming home, making for a total trip time of four days

the marriage was of the younger brother of one of felix's good friends, it was a relatively typical christian marriage, with much singing and dancing beforehand and a big dance party late into the night, the service lasted from 10 - 2 in the middle of the day, we greeted people and lounged in the afternoon and then went back to the dance party in the evening until about 1 in the morning, when we left, it was still going strong

the tour of the countryside the next day was highlighted by a visit to a lake, that doesn't dry up in the dry season, the is the base for the fish and rice crops of a nearby village to doumbala, we got a tour from another friend of felix's who grew up in that town and so showed some food plants in the lake that we ate and gave us the inside scoop on all the cool details, all the while i'm taking lots and lots of pictures, hoping my batteries will last enough, since my rechargeables didn't have full charges and i had to buy some cheapos from a local vendor, i did fill up a card and a half in doumbala, despite low batteries, about 600 pictures

tom, kay, and, i have each had our own bought of sickness over and since christmas, all recovering now, but still somewhat up in the air, the trip to ouaga for the coming weekend and new year's is still a plan, but may get changed a bit or shortened, as we like to say here in africa, we'll play it by ear and cross that bridge when it comes

thanks to everyone for all the christmas wishes, such, a little late, but merry christmas to everyone, and a happy new year too, may God grant you peace, safety, and, blessings for all

as God lives inside
God lives outside
when God moves inside
God moves outside

T plus 2 mois, 23 jours

last monday was independence day here in burkina, this year was 46 years from when france gave them their independence back so long ago, most everything was shut down for that day and a things were slower for a couple days after, my two school age siblings didn't start school again until today, whereas felix started yesterday again at the lycée, christmas isn't near as big around here (since a majority of the population is muslim) and so this break combined with some around new year's and another muslim fête just before give a similar mid school year vacation

the parade on monday lasted about three hours, a huge combination of countless civilian groups marching followed by some 10 or 12 military divisions (or whatever the specific name is), the civilians all marched behind a leader with a sign stating their group's name, anything from the schools, public and muslim, to a female organization for raising pork, half of the parade time was spent in giving governmental promotions, a presentation by the provincial governor (13 in burkina) that usually takes place in the provincial capital, for the haut-bassin (our region) that would be bobo, but every once in a while goes to another town for i-don't-know what reason, so in other words, after walking around for an hour before it started, i got to sit and hang out at my house with felix's friends and wait comfortably for the interesting activities to start; the single largest group was that of the hunters, who were 3 or 4 times as big as anybody else and had music and shot off their guns the whole time they walked down the road, which, since there were so many people, was half of the time not even close to the official person's tents down in front of the orodara government offices, the military groups started off marching up the road, away from the tents (toward our house which is right on the main road through town but to the east of downtown) and then stood on the side while all the civilian groups marched through, then lined up and marched after followed by a vehicle brigade of guys on dirt bikes with rocket launchers, chop top toyota pickups with big guns mounted in back, and toyota transport pickups, military bashées; all in all, a very good start to independence day in burkina

the afternoon was spent lounging at the house, a nice rest for an exciting evening of balafons; starting fairly soon after dark, a big crowd gathered at the municipal stadium not far from our house to listen to various groups of balafons, drums, etc. with singing and dancing, monday night i went with both suzanne and esdras for about a half an hour just to check it out and take some pictures, esdras wanted to go back again, so he and i returned and watched for another half hour or so, at the end of which he was fairly far gone (with dreams of sugar plum fairies dancing in his head), the music ran the same on tuesday night and so after the party at our house, felix and i went to watch the festivities

on tuesday night we had a party at the house, mostly put through by felix as an official initiation of me as a newfound burkinabe jeune homme, labeled a "tea party" because of the main attraction, the local favorite gunpowder tea and peanuts, it was a gathering of a few of the church jeunesse (youth group) with cool music, popcorn, drinks, etc., we hung out and talked about various things, i showed them newton in my pocket atlas (thanks ann adrian) and got asked about a lot of things north america, i did discover that they know of frisbee and that getting a game going is a possibility, we'll see who i can round up for something tomorrow

missionary retreat starts in two days and i leave for doumbala with the dakuo's (their home village) in the middle of the week studio work goes excellently well, i'm almost finished pulling in the cassette half of the source material, and i haven't heard any christmas music to make me sick of santa claus, i'd say life goes wonderfully well

God may teach you life and love
while men may teach you safety and security
but which really happens
when you get to choose

for living is learning
you laugh when you fall
you pick yourself up
and God laughs along

T plus 2 mois, 10 jours

the quality of english spoken around me continues to improve, mostly do to the work of tom, but every once in a while i get to chip in a little too, my part is usually just random, mostly useless phrases, but none the less english, and all still good fun

plans proceed rapidly around here for the missionary retreat and the events of the month of december, it's more difficult to believe that we're already in such a month since it's nothing like a familiar winter around here, it hasn't rained for quite a few weeks and won't for a few months (though i don't notice too much since i grew up in kansas), the temperature is cooler but it's definitely not a previously known type of winter, i think these 10 months in burkina just might have the distant feel of a long summer

sometimes i wait to long, most times not enough, i continue to find things that are distinctly different from the states and are logical ideas/concepts, yet aren't fully grasped until after an infringement and when revealed by another, c'est vrai quand ils disent que vous ne pouvez jamais apprendre tout en une année

tom and i have been doing some running on the local airstrip each evening, we usually only have to dodge 3 or 4 planes a night ... except for the fact that the strip isn't certified to land on and thus no plane has ever landed or taken off from it; however, we do meet a few younger people also running for to be in shape for soccer, the army, etc., i got to see his courtyard after Barro Mohamadu and i talked for a bit while running, he also came to see the mission and some of my work

this past weekend was another spent in bobo sending samples to israel and also hanging out with tom and kay, swimming, eating out, and going to church with dan and kathryn smith-doerksen on sunday morning where i got to meet lots of old timer missionaries and burkina workers, most knowing someone i knew, from the states or through burkina, then again, that's not too different from home or from playing the mennonite game

God's will is perfect
thus the question becomes
do i wait for it
or follow my own

God's will is perfect
thus the question becomes
do i believe it
or make my own

God's will is perfect
i am part of it
so let me wait
and eventually

i will see it
meet it
walk in it
and live the peace and grace within it