I just wanted you all to know that our team has made it back safely from Burkino Faso.  I would like to try and summarize for you exactly why we went, what we did, some random thoughts about the place and its people and how God can use all of us to spread his beautiful Gospel message.

The idea started when Rev. James (Jay) May contacted our new Pastor at St. Paul Rev. Steve Schave- his friend from seminary days.  I don't think seminarians have quite the same fun as college kids, but these two guys are pretty cool.  Something tells me that even in the seminary, they knew how to have a good time!!  Pastor Jay asked Pastor Steve if he could assemble a team from St. Paul to help him begin to construct a new church building for the congregation in Tingandogo, Burkina Faso.  This congregation has been worshipping in a church which is nothing more than a thatched roof, held up with some wooden posts.

A team of eight said they would go.  We were also accompanied by Rev. Robert Green of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Parma Ohio.  We collected old clothes, toothbrushes, tools, and printed copies of Luther's Small Catechism in their native language to take along.  In addition, we took along 200 new T-shirts imprinted with the name of the church and an awesome logo for the church designed by Todd Yaquinto (my nephew).

We left on the evening of October 31st from Cincinnati for an overnight flight to Paris.  We had an 8 hour layover in Paris and then a 6 hour flight to Ougadougou, Burkina Faso.  Everything went smoothly.  All but one bin of our half a ton of supplies arrived with us ( the lost bin showed up the next day).  Tingandogo is about a 20 minute ride outside of Ougadougou

We checked into our home for the week, the Baptist Mission center in Ougadougou on Saturday evening.  This was a very nice apartment type hotel.  We each had a bed complete with mosquito netting, running water (although no hot water) and electricity.  We had it much nicer than the people we came to work with who have no beds or electricity or running water. 

Sunday morning we awakened to a hot Sunny day (they all were).  After breakfast we went to the church for Sunday morning service.  We piled into the 10 passenger van we had for the week along with its driver.  The main road was paved but was utter chaos.  Traffic lights and road lines were present but for the most part ignored.  Think of a busy 2 lane road and then put cars, small trucks, a million mopeds, a million bicycles, a few donkey carts, and a bunch of women carrying heavy objects on their heads into the road all together. 

When we arrived at the church we were greeted by approximately 75 wonderful men women and children.  THey were soooooo excited to see us.  The only white person many of the younger children had ever seen was Pastor Jay.  The woship service lasted approximately 4 hours.  THere were 28 people baptized that morning and two other confirmed into the Lutheran Faith.  The service was done in French (the native language of Burkino Faso) and translated into More' ( the native language of the people we visited) and into English (for us).  It was one of the most meaningful worship services most of us had been to.  The people listened intently as pastor Jay instructed them in God's word.  The children sat together calmly and quietly in the front of the church for the entire 4 hours without toys, snacks or needing to be carried out by their parents.

Following the service, we were treated to a traditional African meal with the entire congregation, of rice with a native sauce, and goat meat. 

We then left to go back to the Baptist Mission.  It simply gets too hot in the middle of the day to do anything other than eat or nap--we chose the latter.  When we returned to the church around 3:00 that afternoon we had to raze the current building as well as a small mud brick building that was sitting in the footprint of the new church.  Pastor Steve and I got the assignment of taking down this building--it was quite fun--a sledge hammer and a little pushing and it was down.  The clean up was going to be the difficult part as we had to pile all of the broken bricks about 40 feet away to be recycled into more bricks.  All of a sudden children came from everywhere and started moving the debris brick-by-brick.  They brought them to me and Kristen to stack.  even the littlest children (age 2) helped out.  Within a very short time this monumental job was completed and I had made a bunch of new little friends.  As they handed me a brick I would
 say Merci (french for thank you) but then I just started to say awesome- and soon all of the children were saying awesome and it became the word for the week.  In fact my co travelers came up with Survivor names for everyone and mine was "Doctor Awesome" .  That truly was AWESOME.

Monday we began to clear the sight for the church foundation which was 35'x58'.  since the sight wasn't level the architect and engineer (Pastor Jay and Paul Tomes) figured we would need to remove about 4-5" from most of the site.  If we had a backhoe or bulldozer it would have been a relatively easy process.  With pickaxes, shovels, a single wheelbarrow and buckets--not so easy.  The ground is rock hard-you couldn't even begin to penetrate it with a shovel--only with a pick swung mightily could the job be done.  It took a full day, but done it was.  Another large pile of dirt was ready to be made into bricks.

The bricks are about 4x8x12"  A crater is formed in the center of the large pile of dirt and filled with water.  The men then stomp around in it for a while and then begin the arduous process of turning it over and over with a shovel until it is just the right consistency--they then shovel this mixture into a wooden form which is removed and the brick dries in the sun for 2 days and is ready to use.

On Tuesday we lost a good number of our team to various stages of stomach issues-half the team stayed in bed the entire day.  Paul and I were feeling OK, so along with Kristen, we went back to the site.  Todays mission was to beging setting 20 steel supports for the church's tin roof.  We had a measuring tape, twine, a line level, a corner level, a 2ft level and duct tape to complete the process.  Using various measurements we determined the locations of each of the posts.  We then got the locals to dig the holes.  Using nothing but a spud bar they dug all 20 holes, 12 inches in diameter and 20" deep.  If I had to dig them I would still be in B.F. on the first hole.  These people are incredible!!!!
Amazingly enough when we got the poles all in, not only were they perfectly level, but they lined up perfectly straight.  Paul is a genius!!!!.  We finished this project by noon on Wednesday.

On Wednesday we got Joe and Pastor Steve back.  We moved and leveled several truckloads of gravel around the job site to form a base for the cement floor.  Using a 2-1-1 mix of gravel, sand ,and cement our new friends starting mixing concrete by hand and our floor was underway.  Needless to say the process was quite slow and by the end of Thursday we had approximately 25% of the floor complete.  At the same time, pastors Bob and Steve and the ladies had constructed benches out of 2x12's that will be used for the pews in the new church.  Good old handsaws and files were the tools of choice.  No power saws or sanders on this job.

Friday morning was our final trip to the church site.  No physical labor was to be done.  Pastor J felt it best to wait until today to pass out the supplies we brought for the people.  It was great to see them get clothes for their children, toothbrushes for the first time, copies of the catechism in their native language, and their new awesome Eglise' Concordia Lutheran T shirts.  In return they blessed us with beautiful cross necklaces and homemade coin purses for the women present and and to give to our wives at home.

So much more was accomplished this week than simply building a church.  Relationships were formed with people thousands of miles form home, on a continent we had never been to, with people from a culture light years different from ours who spoke a language equally as foreign.  We truly made friends with these people.  Even though they have very little in material things, and it is extremely hot, dusty, dirty, and doesn't smell so good where they live, they smile and laugh and sing all day long.  They work harder than any group of people I have ever seen and don't seem to tire.  Their children are so well behaved and polite you wouldn't recognize them as kids at all.  They are a beautiful people.  The women of our team taught thes kids some of our hymns as well as the Macarana, the chicken dance, the Bunny Hop, the Wave, O-H-I-O and so much more.  They exchanged smiles all day long.  I am happy to tell you that I brought baseball to Western
 Africa.  We used a 2x3 as a bat and  balls made out of used duct tape, but when the kids made contact, the joy was the same as a $200 metal bat that our kids are using these days.

Most importantly, these people of Ougadougou, Burkina Faso share the same faith in the same Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that we do.  They long to learn His word and bring their friends the Good News of his salvation.  This building that is being constructed is just the beginning.  It will probably not be too long before it will be too small. 

I would ask that you keep the finish of the construction of this church and these people in your prayers.  I thank you for your prayers this past week.  God did protect us and brought us back safely. It was an amazing week that helped all of us grow in our understanding of what brings true joy.  It is not stuff or things that you can buy.  It is making the most out of what you have been given.  It is not complaining or making excuses.  It is in building relationships with those people near to you here or continents away.  And it is putting all of your hope and trust in our Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We all took a lot of pictures that the members of the team will share with one another.  When I figure out how to put them together and make them available to you, I will do so.  In the meantime you can see some on the St. Paul web-site  Stpaulcinci.org

Thanks again for your prayers.

Tom