Transform Team

Five gals and their leader came to Burkina Faso from England as a group called "The Transform Team" to get a taste of being on the mission field and to see what Bible translators do. They were in Burkina Faso for one month and were in Toussiana for one week.

I first met up with them in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina Faso when I went to pick up Margaret coming back from England. We were able to touch base but they were quite busy learning some Jula, a trade language, and getting an orientation to life in Africa and BF.

I went to Banfora (a small town 30 min to the south of Toussiana) and met them there where they were working on a Jula language survey.

The point of the survey was to see what language is spoken in the homes of people who are in a mixed language area. For example if a man’s mother tongue is Karaboro and his wife’s mother tongue is Dogose what language do they speak at home?

The girls had no transport, so one Saturday I took them to the domes and the bigger waterfall. This is one of the major tourist attractions in the area. While sitting on top of the waterfall and looking down at the scenery, Alison said it reminded her of "The Lion King" We had a lot of fun, and on the way home we had the windows rolled down and had the music from "The Lion King" blaring. People in their fields that we waved to on the way were impressed by our sing-a-long. Or was it just that there were so many white women in one car? The car is designed to carry 5 but hey, what's 2 more?!

We asked at the Catholic mission here in Toussiana if they could stay there and it worked out quite well. The girls told me what bus they were catching and when it would arrive and so I was parked by the side of the road to meet them here in the village.
		I took their stuff to the mission and then I walked back to escort them to the mission.

The girls had made puppets out of gourds and they worked with five Toussian young people to illustrate the story of "The Prodigal Son", "The Good Samaritan", and "Paul and Silas in Prison". While we were practicing we found that in making the puppets, the gourds were cut in half where the mouth would be. However check it out, your mouth is not in the middle of your head, it is nearer the bottom. We had to remember to tilt the heads down a bit as it made the eyes a bit too high on the head. It always looked like they were looking up in the sky or had "their nose in the air". The first production was at the two church services in the Protestant church. Of course in the church, the people already know the stories.

At the village of Kourkon we have had literacy classes and they have seen the Jesus film in Jula. They went through the three plays twice as more people kept coming.

First, the team from England handled the puppets and then the team from Toussiana had their turn. One person asked why the jailer decided to become a Christian. There are some real open hearts in this village. The AOG church has plans to plant a church there. Pray for this venture.

		The next day most of the girls trekked down the cliff to the village at the bottom. Since people were out in their fields and wouldn’t be able to come until the late afternoon, I knew they wouldn’t be able to make the climb back up before dark. The crowd was a bit smaller there but the interest was real.
It came to me that bagpipes would have been interesting, as they were made for the outdoors. It was nice that Hyunra could have this experience as she was the only one that didn’t speak French.

The day we went down the cliff Zoe was not feeling well. She had headaches in the morning that got better during the day. It seemed like it might be a mild form of malaria. She took the required dose and then got really sick. She was able to take the bus to Ouagadougou with the other gals but then was admitted to the French clinic/hospital for an overnight. It seems that even though she took the required dose she is small enough that she should have taken the children’s dose. She and Alison left a couple of days later than the other girls. She is doing fine now. Pray for these gals as they return home and ask God what he would have them do.

The Toussian puppet team also did a performance at the regional children’s camp the next week.

The puppets were left in Toussiana for further outreach. Pray that they will be used effectively.

• October 2006, Furlough/Home Assignment
• September 2006, Dubbing the Luke Video
• April 2006, Recording Genesis in Toussiana
• January 2006, Toussian Churches
• August 2005, Christian Jr. Hi in Toussiana
• July 2005, Pastor Pierre Wedding
• June 2005, Locust Plague
• April 2005, Branch Conference
• 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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