Home from Burkina Faso

Well, I'm thankful to be safely back home in Oregon, but I have to admit it was really hard to leave Burkina Faso. It was a life changing experience, one which I would have gladly given up any job for again. Even though I will attempt to tell you a little about it, it won't do it any justice. But I will try anyway...Sorry it has taken me so long to put a new post on my blog, but I didn't realize how hard jet lag would hit me, not to mention adjusting back to American society. It is a challenge for me to even know exactly where to start except for that the Lord is good, and He is doing incredible things in the little country of Burkina Faso, Africa! I feel so blessed that the Lord called me to go to Ouagadougou. I hope that the Lord will take me back there some day.
First of all, I want to thank you all for your prayers and support! We felt them while we were gone and were extremely grateful for all of you! On our church's previous Africa trips, everyone was sick for at least two days during the trip. We only had one person who was sick for just a day and half. This was an incredible blessing to have a team functioning at almost full strength. Also, we really had no big hitches in our traveling. There were a few delays but nothing extreme. The only long delay was our flight from Casablanca back to New York City was canceled so we just had to catch the next flight. This caused us to miss our connecting flight into Portland meaning we had to spend a day touring NYC. It was pretty tough. : ) Also, our team meshed really well. We didn't have any conflicts at all, which many of you know, either makes or breaks mission work. We felt very blessed to have a team that truly cared for each other and that were unified in heart and passion, to show Christ's love and to teach of Jesus and His saving grace.

The people in Burkina are amazing. I have never met people who exemplify pure joy more than the Burkinabes. When they say "Barka Wennaam" (Praise the Lord), you know they mean it because the only thing they really have and can depend on is the Lord. This was convicting yet encouraging for me to see. Am I depending on the the Lord for everything? Is Jesus everything I need? Even though we were going to Burkina Faso to buy and distribute Sorgum (grain) and run a kids camp where kids eat three full meals a day, our ultimate purpose was to spiritually feed the people. We were able to purchase 62 Moore Bibles for the pastors to distribute. We had sweet fellowship with Pastor Daniel, his family and his church body. It gave me a little taste of what heaven is going to be like. And on the last day of kids camp, we saw 40-50 kids, from a variety of different kinds of families and religions backgrounds, give their lives to the Lord. Barka Wennaam!!

There are so many fun stories that I could tell you too, but I feel like I am publishing a book as it is. Here are a few links if you want to look at my pictures. If you want to know more about the pictures or want to hear stories, let me know. I'm definitely willing to fill you in on more details, but it is so much easier to do in person. Give me a call. : )

http://picasaweb.google.com/jodiecherry/BurkinaFaso#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jodiecherry/BurkinaFaso2#

Before I close, I want to encourage you to continue praying for Burkina Faso. There are still so many people there who are hungry and are searching for truth. The only answer: Jesus Christ. One night at dinner, we asked David Delma what are the biggest needs in the church. His immediate answer was good, Bible teaching. Pray that God would raise up good, godly leaders. Among the Burkinabes spiritual needs, also pray for their physical needs. Pray that they would continue to get good rain in order to have successful crops.

Thank you all again for your prayers! I can't thank you enough. I will keep you posted if I ever head back in the future. : )

"Wend na Songe!" (God bless you)