Burkina Faso Branch Conference

As promised in my newsletter, here are some pictures of what branch conference and spiritual retreat are all about. First of all, it is one of the few times that everyone working with SIL in Burkina Faso was all together (that does not count people on furlough). This rarely happens except for this time of year.

Months in advance we have several committees to plan various aspects of the conference. I am usually on the "Having Fun During Conference Committee" (a.k.a. the entertainment committee). This year we had Scottish Dancing, a yard sale, and a fun night where anyone can sign up to; sing a song, play a traditional drum, do a skit ...whatever.

We had one and a half days of business which included: discussing, taking notes, and voting. One of the votes was to elect Andre as our director for another term of 2 years. We also discussed the vision for the group in the next few years. As you can see almost all of us were attached to the network and we had our computers ready. Of course then during break we could discuss how the computers were or were not working as they should.

We then began our spiritual retreat. We started with a meal with our employees and ANTBA (national bible translation organization) with whom we work very closely. Then we had a time of singing, worship and fellowship. The ANTBA music group came to lead in singing; they were great! There is a difference between giving a concert and leading worship; this group hit it right! Of course we also had our own times of worship, which were in both French and English and needed plenty of planning. We were each given a time to share and then people would pray for each one. This was the first time since Wilhelm's death that I shared in public with this group who knew him so well, so it was a bit teary, but I wasn't the only one who had hard things to share. Many of us have concerns. We also met in smaller groups for prayer. There were daily coffee breaks. We had a Burkinabe pastor, Rev Karambiri, as our guest speaker.     He shared on the theme, "Re-kindling the Flame of our First Love". He compared it to an African woman and her cooking fire. She has to watch the flame and move the wood around so it won't go out.     We need to express our love for God, to show him ways we love him. He wants us, not our works.

There were after-hours times too, having meals together in the dinning hall, just chatting, or just being together. Several of us single gals were staying in one area of the center, so we often gathered together to share meals or here we are sharing Margaret's ice cream... before dinner. Then there were times for other kinds of business, like getting money.

There was almost too much people-interaction for me, and as an extrovert that is saying a lot! Yet it is times like these that make us feel like family. Thank you for your prayers that keep us going.

• February 2005, Literacy Classes
• September 2004, Market Pictures
• August 2004, Return to Toussiana
• May 2004, In Memory of Wilhelm
• July 2003, Wilhelm’s Parents 50th Wedding Anniversary
• Feb. 2003, New Office Building
• Nov 2002, Reading Contest
• July 2002, Toussian Translators
• March 2002 Literacy classes
• Jan 2002 Bissa New Testament dedication
• January 15, 2002
• Nov 2002  Language learning, Translation, Revision, Ladies day at church
• Oct 2001  Sunday school outing, Fonio harvest
• Aug 2001  Cobly Reunion
• May 31, 2001  Return to Burkina Faso
• May 5, 2001  Germany, Az, Oregon office work
• Jan 2001  Our time in Germany

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