Picture 1:  I was able to fly back to the U.S for my sister’s wedding.

Picture 2:  As part of class, we took a tour in French of this cathedral.

Picture 3:  One weekend, I got to feel really Canadian and drive a sled dog team.

I never before realized the power of the “send” button.  Before I pressed it, the rhythm of the     missions preparation process that has lasted four years, rather than the one I naively anticipated, had lulled me into feeling that my place in Burkina Faso was just a dream, even though I was only a couple weeks away from finishing language school—the last step.  But then I typed an e-mail   asking my travel agent to buy tickets to Burkina Faso for July 16^th…and I pressed “send.”  And then I panicked.  The “send” button had used its powers to evaporate every feeling of unreality, exchanging it for the question “What on earth am I doing?!”  You know the feeling when you’re at the airplane door and you realize there’s no longer anything you can do to keep your sky-diving     instructor who is attached to you from jumping?—boring compared to pressing “send.”  It took me a while to remember that God is more powerful than any button, that the God who strengthened me and displayed His grace for me over and over during these last four years is the same God to whom I will grow even closer in Africa.

So on July 17^th I will arrive in Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkina Faso, which has doubled its population in the last five years to two million people, people from each of the 70 different tribal groups of Burkina plus refugees from many other West African countries.  Less than ten percent know the Lord.  I want to begin showing them God’s love as soon as I arrive, building relationships with the children in my neighborhood so that I can start my first Good News Club^® there and also building relationships with churches so that together we can start Good News Clubs all over the city, all over the country, maybe all over the world.  I can’t wait to see more  Burkinabe people discover the power of the “send” button, following God across the sea themselves to share His love.

Praise God For:

· The progress I have made in French.

· Heidi, a Swiss-American who is preparing to join the work in Ouagadougou for one year.

Please Pray That:

· My national director will be able to find a good house for me in Ouagadougou, even though he lives a couple hours away.

· I will be able to rejoice in God’s ways as I say goodbye to friends and family in Canada and the U.S.