Schaeffer Home Page | Letters | Photos | Bukina Faso | C&MA
May-July 2004
Seventeen of our Burkina Missionary Team along with 21 MKs will soon be headed for Home Assignment. We will miss them! Laura Livingston is worth quoting; "It is one of the many incongruities of our life that we must pack up and abandon our home, pets and friends to go on a year of "home" assignment."
New Missionaries for Burkina!!
Praise the Lord for Larry and Karen Wolters who will be joining our missionary staff this summer. After a year of language study, they will be relieving the Ouaga team in many areas: Ouaga business agent and church building consultant, guesthouse and perhaps teaching at ISO. Larry has been to Burkina with several workteams in the past and says that "my heart is in Burkina". He is a man gifted in many areas, building, finance, and managerial skills. Karen is a teacher and has a heart for kids. Their daughter Abby turned 14 in January, teaches in their AWANA program and is a gifted pianist. Their son Micah is 10 and loves sports. They plan to arrive in time for Field Forum with Fred Hartley in August.
United in Prayer for...
Continue to pray for the continued healing of Lorinda's arm. Physical therapy for her elbow brought pain to her hand. Recent x-rays show that her hand had been broken at the joint. Pray that this will heal properly and not give her too much pain.
Toby and Kiersten, with the help of Sue, held reading classes at Colma for two weeks this past month. The people came everyday despite the terrible heat this time of the year. Pray that they persevere so that they can read the Bible!
Please pray for those who will be traveling to Abidjan/Bouaké in May. Lorinda will be going up to Bouaké on May 7-8 from Abidjan to line up her belongings that are still there and prepare them for shipping to Burkina. She will travel with Dave Ingram, Charlene, Mike Farho, and Livingstons. They will spend the nights in Yamoussoukro.
Steve and Toby are planning a trip to the Banfora area to visit Pastor Joachim who is following up the evangelism campaign in February. Pray that they will be an encouragement to the pastor and new believers.
Sarfalao is the next neighborhood that will host the tent evangelism campaign. Pray for the Sarfalao church, for the new cell group that is meeting as an extension of the church, and for people's hearts to be open to the Gospel. Pray for Nyagali Traoré who was in Holland at the A.W.F. conference when her father, old Moise, passed away. This old saint was one of the first Burkinabe to come to Christ. Although Emmanuel Makoro is the acting president of the Solenzo district, pastor Moise remained the president in name until his death.
Praise the Lord... Eglise Centrale's Alliance Youth organized a three-night evangelistic campaign, with Pastor Job Dao giving excellent messages Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights before Easter on the power of Jesus' suffering, death and shed blood.
Sandra Scott arrived in Niamey, Niger to begin her role of regional bookkeeper for Niger, Burkina Faso and Desert Sands.
Excellent sessions for the delegates to the Alliance World Fellowship. Nyagali Traoré, president of the Alliance Women, got to talk to Ravi Zakarias about a ministry to prostitutes in Ouagadougou.
On April 3, our Mission leadership team had a master-planning meeting with the Burkina Alliance leadership. It was an excellent opportunity to see that we have 'one mind and one spirit' in the goal of reaching Burkina Faso for Christ.
May-July
May 1 Peggy dons her clogs and goes to visit Jetty in Holland.
May 1 - 5 Doug to Abidjan for C.I. Strategic Field Review
May 2 Poundou Graduation
May 5-8 Lorinda to Abidjan/Bouaké to pack up belongings
May 8th MBI farewell for Gretha
May 4-8 Karen to Abj for ICA board mtgs
May 19-21 FLT in Bobo
May 21 Mission Farewell for Gretha
May 28th Conkles to Dakar /States
June 14th Gretha and Eshbaughs to Home Assignment
June 20th Tim Albrights to Home Assignment
June 23rd Jetty returns from Home Assignment
June 22- July 3 Barta CE Team
June 27th Hulls to Home Assignment
July 1st Ecole Malraux out!
July 2nd Obergs and Burgs to Home Assignment
July 6 Conkle's return
July 12 Schaeffers to Home Assignment
July 14 Peggy to Home Assignment
Did you know...
ISO is having it's annual Garage Sale on May 8th this year (from 8 am to noon)
Our Ouaga guesthouse has a new look, thanks to the hard work of Kevin and Bonnie who have tiled all the floors! Now people can roller skate up there...
Please note that Burkina has a new Field allowance starting on April 1st: $754.That is a $22 increase!
HA Allowance remains at $635
A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas Kwik Stop, and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently, the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and grabbed him.
Major change in phone numbers!
Tim gave the warning that phone numbers were changed on April 30 at midnight.
Bobo numbers will add a 20 BEFORE the number
Ouaga numbers will add a 50 BEFORE the number
Telmob add 70 before the number. This includes Doug, Kevin, Larry, Pete, Steve and Lorinda's cell phone numbers
Celtel add 76 before the number. This includes Eshbaughs, Amy, Hulls and Schaeffers
Telecel add 78 before the number
A more complete list of this is available at ONATEL
Fun and Fellowship...
A pot luck meal was held at Albrights on April 23rd for Phil Skelly. The Schaeffer boys, Mary, and the Hulls were able to join in as well since they were up enjoying the weather in Ouaga.
Everyone in Bobo gathered at the rocks to celebrate Ben's 18th birthday and graduation from H.S. It is early, and as Gretha pointed out, what if he doesn't pass?? But we took the chance since he won't be returning after graduation.
The ladies in Bobo took Esther out for her birthday celebration the 20th.
I.S.O had a break so the Nehlsens and Albrights went to Koubri for some refreshing family time. Because they find it a great place, we will be holding Field Forum there as well.
Meanwhile the Obergs and Burgs spent some vacation time in Bobo. Kevin got his boat out and with Doug and Ben went fishing at Moussodugu. The results: 23 nice Capitain.
May FasoFamily Celebrations
Eshbaughs's 12th anniversary is on May 10th
Oberg's 13th anniversary is on May 11th
Burgs celebrate 21 years of wedded bliss on the 14th.
Rollo has a birthday on the 16th
will be half a century plus two years on May 17th
Amy celebrates on the 29th
Doug celebrates on the 30th
June-July Birthdays and Anniversaries
June 9 Sue
June 10 Nancy
June 15 Paul and David..get ready for this...become teenagers!!!
June 16 Conkle's anniversary
June 30 Schaeffer's anniversary
July 5 Larry
July 15 Pete
July 21 Kenna will be five!!
News from Afar
Jetty made it safely to Holland and says she has a cute little apartment but very tiny. She also thanks the Lord that the second hand car from ''Helping Hands'' is a Jetta Volkswagen (instead of a Pegga Volkswagen) almost like the one her parents had so it is big enough that she can put her mother's wheel-chair in the back. Jetty is dealing with the total change in her mother because of the Alzheimer's and asks for prayer. You can write her at janna@fasonet.bf
Colette looks forward to working with EBRA radio station. She requests prayer for the committee that hasn't had a chance to all meet yet, funding and just the right workers.
Nancy Pierce wrote that their daughter Cheryl and her husband Darrell Phenicie will be moving to Amman in June, so they will be together with the Conkle's daughter Rachel and her husband Matt Clason. Darrel has been in Baghdad teaching at a Bible School and just returned to Lebanon this past week.
The church in Pohin has been working hard on bricks so that they can get a church building. John Arnold has his boss convinced that he should come out and help put the roof on! He thinks that the company may even want to do a yearly project to help fund different church projects as they experience it first hand.
Good news from Royles. Dr. Folkstad is encouraged with Rollo's medical reports (tons of them) and answered a lot of the questions that the rheumatolgist in her specialized field just wasn't sure about. They look to a possible January 2005 return to Burkina.
**********************
From Stan Walkers Friday Funnies:
So what CAN we eat?
Can't eat beef... mad cow.
Can't eat chicken... bird flu
Can't eat eggs... again, bird flu
Can't eat pork...fears that bird flu will infect piggies
Can't eat fish...heavy metals in the water has poisoned their meat
Can't eat fruits and veggies....... insecticides and herbicides
Hmmmm! I believe that leaves chocolate!