Normal

I am back in Ouaga and no longer on vacation.  BUT I am glad to be here!  This week is a "normal" week!  But its also going to be a fun week!  I have some neat things coming up!  The boys Bible study is having their first meeting tomorrow and the girls are having their first on Saturday.  We are having some sort of outdoor game event at ISO (the international school) on Friday.  Also there is some teams coming in this weekend and so I will get to meet the previous WIRED youth leaders!  I am excited about that!  Should be a busy and good week!

And side note: I got a package in the mail from Mandy! Thanks so much for the fun Halloween decorations!

October 21 update!

Greetings from Bobo –

This week is October break for the international students who go to ISO (basically the whole youth group).  I was invited to go to Bobo with the Steve and Amy Nehlsen and their two kids, Kari and Peter, for a mini-vacation.  Kari and Peter are in my youth group and so it has been fun to get to know them better.  Steve is the field director for the C&MA here in Burkina and so while he and his wife Amy have been visiting varies ministries and encouraging people, I have enjoyed taking a break from my own ministries.  It has been a fantastic week – I met the rest of the C&MA missionaries and enjoyed fantastic meals at each ones home.  We also went to some waterfalls with the Oberg’s, Hull’s, and Schaeffer’s, and I have enjoyed the C&MA guest house here in Bobo (good internet, AC, and comfy beds!).  The Oberg’s send their greetings to the Lewiston and Ellensburg Church.  We were reminiscing about how great God is to work me coming out here – when the Oberg’s were at the Lewiston church in March I had no idea where I would be but they encouraged me a ton.  Just a few weeks later I found out about this job and now here I am in Africa eating in their home.  So awesome! 

And God has already been working a ton while I have been here.  We had a girl come to know the Lord a few weeks ago in the youth group!  She and her family are here with the US embassy and she started to come to youth group this fall.  It has been so neat to see her open up and grow in the Lord and to see how God is not only working in her but her entire family!  I have been so encouraged the last few weeks with WIRED.  We have had some awesome small group times and the series we are in, the fruit of the Spirit, has been really “fruitful.” Haha! It is fun to talk about how God works in us through his Spirit – I have been saying that its really a miracle how we can love, find joy, and have peace in the chaos of this world.  Most of these kids don’t know where they will be in a year but God does know and that’s an awesome thing to encourage them in.  

The youth group also went on a medical outreach trip last Saturday.  We went to a village about an hour outside of Ouaga.  I posted some pictures on my blog.  This was an awesome time to get to know kids more and serve along side of them.  Money that was raised from the 30 hour famine the kids did last spring, paid for 300 kids to have physicals and receive treatment. 

In other areas of my life here: I have started French.  I have it three grueling hours a day.  Actually its not that bad, my teacher is AMAZING!  Its certainly hard, I don’t have it yet, and I cant find enough time to study BUT as of today I can say hello, how are you, and I am already starting to understand a considerable amount!  Praise Jesus!

I have also started my English class!  I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it but my first day was so much fun (they may or may not think I am a little crazy).  There are about 16 adults who all have the most difficult names to pronounce but instead of being offended they totally laughed!  The students come from different backgrounds – some come from Christian churches but many do not.  We ask for prayer requests at the end of class and spend some time in prayer. 

Lastly, I have finally started to settle in.  Sadly, Sarah has left, but she left me (basically) prepared to live on my own as a single lady in Burkina (Thank you Sarah! You are missed though).  I moved into my new place a few weeks ago and things are working out fine.  WIRED meets there every week – which is great.  And I am enjoying living on my own. 

I just looked at the prayer requests from my last update and God has already answered them!  Thanks for praying everyone!  I got my schedule worked out, French isn’t as hard as I thought (although I didn’t speak it instantly…better keep praying for that one!), and God has been softening the hearts of the youth!

As for current prayer requests:

I need some more youth leaders – Pray that God brings them.  Currently its Matt and I but Matt’s well drilling ministry is taking him away for the next several months so that just leaves…me.  I know that God has people in mind – we just need to find them!

Pray for the youth still – changed hearts and closer relationships to God, each other, and the leaders. 

Pray for the llama leaders (the student leaders) – they are amazing kids, but carry a lot of weight.  Pray that they can find time in their crazy schedules to slow down and spend some time with the Lord.  This is another reason why we need some more adult leaders – I want the student leaders to get something out of youth group as well. 

Pray also for me.  Safety as I drive on the streets, energy and knowledge to do all I need to, strength to encourage these kids, and courage to learn French, approach kids, speak truth, and be vulnerable. 

Thank you guys so much for your support, encouragement, prayers…everything!  Thank you!  And thanks for reading this VERY long update… J

Love you!

-Hannah

Bobo

Hey everyone!

I am in Bobo for the week - I came with the Nehlsen family.  The kids are on fall break and invited me for a nice mini-vacation.  I grabbed at this opportunity to see more of Burkina and see the only people that I kinda know in this country - the Oberg family.

We got here on Sunday and it has been amazing.  We are staying at the CMA guesthouse - which is very nice.  It certainly feels like a vacation here - I slept with AC for the first time since I got here, I have had every meal cooked for me AND the internet is pretty fast!  Plus I am using wireless for the first time inside a house - that means no mosquito bites while using facebook! :) haha

Yesterday we went Banfora to see the waterfalls.  The Oberg's, the Schaeffer's, the Nelsen's and I loaded up and drove the hour there.  It was a fun, bumpy ride through sugar cain fields and mud!  We got to the place where the waterfall is and trudged through (I guess) a flooded forest/jungle type area.  We hiked up some rocks and saw the breathtaking waterfall!  I will certainly post pictures...hopefully soon!  It was a great day.  Everything was too flooded to actually go swimming but in an area that was overflowing a bit we sat on "mini" waterfalls and cooled down.  Overall it was such a great day!

I will be here in Bobo until Friday.  We have more swimming on the schedule, as well as a dinner planned with all the adult CMA missionaries, and some touring of the booming village of Bobo!  Overall I am already glad I am here and looking forward to the rest of the week!

Pictures from Yako medical trip!

Kara testing a boy's eyesight

Matt (one of the youth leaders) is cleaning out a boy's ear

Holbrook's waiting for the children's urine test results :)

We helped over 200 kids get physical's in Yako yesterday!  We would get a child and walk them through the different stations.  The first station was the urine station - we had to get the kids to pee in a cup (difficult let me tell you) and then we took it to get the results.  After that we took them to get their eyes checked - another difficult thing!  Then we took their measurements and sent them to the doctors!  There were so many kids who were healthy but there were also a ton who needed their ears cleaned, glasses and medicine.    

It was a really amazing experience and I enjoyed the time to get to know some of the youth!  It was also fun to see them do so much great work.  Helping so many kids - all of whom have nearly nothing - was really good for me and them.  I am glad that we do things like this!  

Youth Group this week!

Power Cut

The power went out at 6:30-ish this evening (nothing unusual there).  So I lit candles and went into my room to read.  I was keeping cool by my battery powered fan.  Well, I needed some water an hour later so I went into the kitchen.  Much to my surprise the kitchen light was on!  Who knows how long I was sitting in the dark!  Oh Gosh!

Moped!

This is on Sarah's moto before she left - I dont have an updated one on the current moto I will be driving!

My current moto is a moped because of an incident that happened a few weeks ago.  We asked our old guard to get the motorcycle running.  Well he couldnt get it started so he asked a neighbor for some help.  They got it running and the neighbor took off on it.  He ended up running into 2 parked cars and injuring himself and my moto!  So until it gets fixed I will be driving this one.  Its a good one to learn on because I dont have to shift or anything.  I like it.

Moto

Ha!  I had an interesting day on the moto!  This morning I successfully made it to Lorinda's house!  I crossed 2 pretty busy streets safely!  BUT on the way home I ran out of gas.  Thats right...basically the second outing and I had to push the moto home.  Thankfully it happened on my street and my day guard saw me and came running to take it from me.

Anyways, I sent him to go take the moto and fill it up with gas.  An hour later he returns with some strange young man saying, through motions, that there is dirt in my gas tank.  I was so confused I call Judy and she talked to both of them for me (I really need to learn French).  She said that the other guy is a mechanic and he needs to take my moto and fix it.  SO I gave him some money and watched as he drove off on my moto, money in hand.  I said a quick prayer hoping he would return.  Several hours later both him and my day guard come back but the moto is not running quite right.  So through motions again, I gather that he wants to take me back to his shop and fix it. I actually got on the back of my moto and let a stranger drive me to his shop!  Thankfully the shop (which is basically a pile of tires and tools on the side of the road) was only a block away.  I sat in the shade while he fixed it and met another African man who spoke in ENGLISH to me.  I was so excited but sadly it ended with him asking me if I was married and for my number... I just laughed and said see you later.

My moto is running fine now, although I should check and see if gas was ever actually put into it.  I think from it sitting for so long without being used and running it all the way out of gas it just needed some cleaning.  Hopefully that is the end of that.

English Class

I just finished teaching my very first English class!  I had 12 students, all at a fairly high English speaking level - which is good because I am unable to help them in French.  The class could be as large as 16 students but I am thankful that they did not all show up today.

I can already tell that I am really going to enjoy teaching English.  Its fun having an interaction with locals because most of my ministry is with foreigners.  I love it!

Class went pretty well - it is hard teaching English though!  We went over health issues today - it was ridiculous!  Two of the sentences I had to read were: "I've been feeling so tired lately, and I have to go to the bathroom a lot" and "My stomach has been hurting me terribly for the last 12 hours, I have been vomiting and I have awful diarrhea too.  Do I have the flu?"  I certainly heard some laughter...  It was also interesting trying to describe words.  I mean...how do you describe tingle? It was hard!

Overall though - I really enjoyed myself and am looking forward to teaching this year!

Hello Mandy!

I am dedicating this post to Mandy!  She has my blog set as her homepage :) haha I love it!  I got to talk to her on skype today :) It was glorious!  The internet worked just well enough to see her face and everything!    You are looking beautiful Mandy!!  Thanks for praying for me too!

And for the rest of you - Thanks for being my supporters and praying for me...I am just feeling so thankful!

I had some success today - I drove to the Holbrooks house on my moto all by myself and youth group went well (in my opinion)!

It has been a good day.

Stupid Internet

Internet has not been working great.  I am sure it is because I sit outside and steal the wireless from the neighbors though.  It works well enough for getting emails, checking Facebook, and getting on my blog but as for skyping home and uploading pictures onto the blog...Its not doing so great.  Which has been frustrating because I havent been able to talk to anyone, let alone my mom and dad for several days.  God gave me a good enough connection on Sunday to talk to my dad before he left for China on Monday - so that was good.  I will certainly praise Him for that!

My new place, and possible blog titles

I have moved!  I am now officially on my own...Oh Lord Help ME!

Sarah is leaving tomorrow and as of Friday I have been staying at Pete and Alice Brokopp's home.  I only moved a street over and up a little so thats nice - I don't need to learn a new neighborhood or anything.  The house is pretty big for just me but I am already taking it over!  I made one of the bedrooms a TV room and office so far.

The youth group will meet here, my Saturday English class will meet here, and my French lessons are located here as well.  So thats nice.

Trying to figure out things like power converters, the gas stove, and numerous other things is proving to be more confusing than I had hoped but in time I should be able to figure it all out.  Food and cooking should be interesting too.  I don't know if i mentioned the difficulties of cooking from scratch and with different ingredients...it will be interesting!  I feel like my blog could simply be about trying to cook and it would be interesting.

Although now that I think about it, there are a lot of topics this blog could be about that would make it interesting.  Here are some possible titles:
-My First Two Years of Youth Ministry: the Failures and Mess Ups of a 20 Something Youth Leader
-Learning to Cook in Africa: I Should Have Learned to Cook in America...
-Surviving Africa 101: I May Not Survive But If You Read This You Will
-Cultural Misunderstandings - Don't Shake With Your Left Hand

:)

Farm House

This week was the first official week that Wired moved into its new and current location: my house...aka Pete and Alice Brokopp's house. However I am going to try and see if calling it the Farm House will actually catch on.  I mean there is 2 cats and a turtle.

Wired went good, a few glitches though.  The powerpoint wasn't ready, the projector wasn't set up, and it didn't go as smoothly as I would like BUT it still went good.  About 25-30 kids came (the found the new place!).  I think that the more I am use to having it here and the more I am use to me being in charge the smoother it will go.

We are currently in a series on the Fruits of the Spirit.  So far so good!  Although I haven't seen too many fruits come out of it yet - I am hopeful!  I think God will do a lot of work through these kids!

Bites

Pray that the 30 mosquito bites on my legs were inflicted by cute, nice, friendly misquitos rather than mean malaria infected ones.