...or was it the other way round...?
]]>But our Tamacheq friend at the telephone centre looked a bit confused when I introduced Lynne.
"Oh..." he said, "...did you get rid of the other one then...?"
He obviously thought I had been married before.
It turns out he was thinking of my colleague, Dave, who used to live in Markoye, and was married. Now, Dave is quite a bit shorter than me, has black curly hair, and wears glasses.
However, it was an understandable confusion, because - as I am constantly told here:
"All you white people look the same..."
The inauguration of Wakkil Alla School in Gorom-Gorom went off really well on Sunday. Thank you for all your prayers.
Click Here to see a lot more photos and details of the day at the Acacia Partnership Trust website.
To contribute towards the ongoing building of the school facilities, please click below. Thank you.
Above is a photo of year 3 (CE1), with their teacher, the headmaster Nicodeme, and below is a picture of the school in use:
To see more pictures of the school, go to the APT website: www.acaciapartnershiptrust.org.uk, and please pray for the school and the children. Thank you.
On Sunday, it is the official inauguration of the school, with various dignitaries coming along to join us in celebrating the official opening of the school. I will be posting more news and photos after that time.
Of course, this is just the start. We will be re-starting fund-raising for the second phase of construction, including 3 more classes and subsidiary buildings. We estimate we will need about another £100,000, and will be producing a funding document in the coming weeks. To contribute towards the building of the school, please click below. Thank you.
They and their families are an inspiration to us as they live out passionate and committed faith in often difficult situations, and as they seek to bring God’s love and grace to the communities where they live.
Please pray for these men of God who have given themselves wholly to serve Christ and the kingdom of God. Thank you
Please click below if you wish to donate online to support our church-planting work. Thank you.
In second place: The Carling Kick. Simon Cox scores with a long-range cracker to seal the Baggies’ 4-1 victory over Leicester, and assure progress to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.
And the winner is.... The Tiny Kick. Last night, baby Smith made his presence felt with a few vigorous kicks to Lynne’s insides, causing delight in the Smith household :O)
New Home
We are very grateful for our new home, and for all the stuff we have been given by friends. We actually spent most of the first day sorting out the kitchen - a new dimension to my life...
Lynne
Lynne is in good health, but tired with the pregnancy, the heat, the travel, with trying to set up home in a new culture, and with re-awakening her French after three months in the UK. And today she made a start on beginning to learn Fulfulde, the Fulani language. Thank you for your prayers for her as she finds her way forward.
Friends
It has been good to re-join Seydou and Monique, Pierre and Asetu, Pascal and Grace, and many other friends here. Unfortunately, one of our good friends, an old Fulani man who had made a commitment to Christ following a vision of Jesus, died the day after we arrived. Please pray for his family.
School
The school is ready to move into the new buildings, but there are a few last-minute things that need to be sorted out first. We are looking forward to the inauguration ceremony at the start of November. The new teacher has arrived for the new intake - and he is a pastor friend of mine from Dori, called Prospere. He will be a great addition to the school staff. He has worked as a teacher before, and also helped us with the children's camp in 2007.
Burkina Faso
The country seems to be in peace, even as they get ready for presidential elections in November. The rains have been really good this year - the best that I can remember them. For most people, this looks like being a year of good harvest, as long as the locusts, birds, and other beasties stay away. "Yusufi" has already had some of his fields destroyed by bugs in the millet. Please pray for protection over the fields and a good harvest.
Half-way to a century
It is my 50th birthday tomorrow. Sadly, we can't get the oven to work, so Lynne is unable to make me the birthday cake she planned. However, I am so pleased to be able to celebrate the day here in Gorom-Gorom among my Fulani friends.
These first weeks will be mostly about setting up home, helping Lynne find her way around, and re-connecting with local pastors and other friends. But there are always a lot of ministry needs too. Thank you for your prayers in all this as we seek God's way forward in it all.
This is the latest scan of Baby Smith, taken yesterday at just over 15 weeks. Baby Smith was clearly pleased to see us yesterday and gave us a little wave.
After a first few weeks of bad sickness with the pregnancy, mum and baby are now both doing well. It was really hard to be apart during my recent visit to Burkina while Lynne was at home pregnant and ill, so we are very happy that she is doing much better now.
We are thrilled that Lynne is pregnant, and ask for your prayers as we prepare to return to Burkina in a few days time.
Family News from Burkina Faso
Here is our family in Gorom-Gorom. Everyone is doing well, and we are very much looking forward to seeing our family there again, and to setting up home in our new house.
Pierre and Seydou have both recently taken in extra family members - one girl whose mother died recently, and one girl who was escaping a forced marriage. So, when we get back, that will make 20 and a half people living in our yard in Gorom-Gorom at the moment.
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The banner above was the excellent response of the Baggies fans, flown at the Albion ground on Saturday, in ongoing support of the movement to "Kick Racism Out of Football". Odemwingie has already scored twice for the Baggies, including a goal against Birmingham on Saturday as West Brom beat their neighbours 3-1.
Odemwingie will feel at home at West Brom, which of course was home in the seventies to the "Three Degrees" - Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham, and Brendan Batson - three quality black footballers who, against considerable prejudice paved the way for black footballers in the English league.
As Albion fans say: "the only colours in this club are blue and white."
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A River Runs Through It
The main road through Saouga crosses a river running through the middle of the village (above). The river is dry most of the year, but cuts the village in two during the rainy season.
During the recent rains, a truck inadvisedly tried to cross the river. You can see what remains of the truck behind the children playing by the river in this photo.
Donate
Please click here if you wish to donate online to support our church planting work in Burkina Faso. Thank you.
I am missing Lynne, but I have discovered that a USB "dongle" enables me to get reasonable access to the internet via the mobile phone network, so am managing to keep in touch with her, and hopefully will be able to update my blog reasonably frequently. The dongle works best at about 2am, and worst during a storm.
Here is a taste of some of what I have been doing this week:
Sunday - Arrived with a truck load of stuff for the new house.
Monday - Spending time with the family (Pierre & Aseta, Seydou & Monique, and children). We have two new family members: Aisa, 8, the daughter of Seydou's sister, who died recently, and Rebecca, 14, who ran away from a forced marriage, and has been taken in by Pierre.
Tuesday - Went to look at the new buildings for the school we are building in Gorom-Gorom, and then spent time unpacking and sorting out stuff in our house. Then went to visit Pastor Pascal on the other side of town and had a good time of encouragement and prayer.
Wednesday - In the morning, went with Pierre and Seydou to visit "Yusufi" the father of Amadou, who died a couple of months ago. Yusufi lives out on the sand dunes a few miles from Gorom-Gorom, but the way was blocked by a river that came up to our chests, so we left the truck and waded across, then through another half-mile of water and up the dunes. While there, we heard that another friend, "Muusa", had recently lost his father and oldest son in the same week. So, in the afternoon, we went to Muusa's village to give him our condolences.
Thursday - market day in Gorom-Gorom, and a good opportunity to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen for ages. Several came from various villages to spend the day with us, including two Fulani who are interested in following Christ, and we had a good time sharing the good news of Christ with them.
Friday - In the morning, Arsene from DWF comes to have a look at the house they have helped us build in the Ministry Centre. We then do a tour to look at the teachers' houses for the school, and some repairs we did for houses we built following the 2006 floods.
In the afternoon, I look at the finances with Chantal, go over the details of last month's grain distribution with Pierre, then phone around to catch up with some of the pastors around the province:
* In Markoye, Pastor Adama's newborn baby is doing well.
* In Oursi, there has been flooding - according to the local newspaper, the mayor had to swim to get to his office - the water has come up to the edge of Pastor Matthias's home, but not yet come in.
* In Deou, Pastor Samuel is working in his millet field. Villages around Deou have been badly affected by the flooding, and the road to Deou is apparently impassable to vehicles.
* In Saouga, Pastor Paul is settling in well, having just moved in.
Saturday - Various comings and goings in the yard:
* Arsene sends the painter over to finish painting the office.
* Pastor Daniel comes to discuss how things are going with the school - including the progress on construction, plans to get the toilets in, what to do about a water supply, ideas for an inauguration ceremony, etc.
* The father of "Salimata" comes to thank us for helping with her schooling.
...and I try to get an internet connection to update my blog and to find out how West Brom are doing against Chelsea on the first day of the season (unsurprisingly, not very well!)
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Click here for more details and photos at the APT Website
Click below to donate online towards the building of the school. Thank you.