Recently I have been reflecting on all God is doing here in Burkina and I am blown away by how blessed I am to be part of so many amazing things God is doing through Envision Burkina.  As I have reflected on the ministry here, I see how God is using teams to reach the people of Burkina.  Because teams come out we are able to come alongside the Burkinabé and build church structures, drill wells, minister to the hurting, feed the hungry, provide handicap bikes to those who would otherwise be crawling on the ground and much more.  Recently, someone said something to our Envision team about how in all that we do, we share Christ and the Gospel message…THIS is what gives us the passion to do what we do.  Yes, it is awesome to be able to provide clean water for a village or to help someone who has been beaten and left for dead.  Yes, it is important to help meet the needs of others and to show love to everyone, in fact both are Biblical.  But, our ultimate goal is to see people give their lives to Christ.  Teams giving up their time to love on the people here through smiles, touch, time, gifts and meeting their physical needs opens up many opportunities for Burkinabé believers to share the message of Christ.  I could tell you story after story of people who have given their lives to Christ as a result of a team coming out and loving on the people in one way or another.

One of the missionaries we partner with tells groups they just need to love the people and leave the rest up to God.  Loving others looks different everywhere you go.  Loving others could mean taking time to play a game or teach someone English.  Loving others might mean drilling a well or distributing handicap bikes.  Loving others might be something as simple as holding a baby or taking time to smile and shake someone’s hand.  I have seen many teams come to Burkina and take time to love the people here and as a result I am seeing God do amazing things here in Burkina.

Here’s some of what’s going on:

Handicap Bike Distributions.

Wells providing clean water to villages in Burkina.

Church structures teams are building in the bush.

TOMS shoes distributions with Sheltering Wings (orphanage we partner with).

Loving on babies (and kids) at orphanages.

May we never forget in the middle of busy weeks and endless reports and projects that God has called us to love people.