An Old Friend

One of the first people we met when we arrived in the village of Safané in 1985 was Youssouf. Though we had no common language with him, his big smile and helpful ways soon made him indispensable and we asked him if he would like to work for us.

Youssouf tirelessly hauled water up out of our well and pumped it into barrels on our roof so we could have running water in our little bush house. He watered our plants and took care of the yard. His son Modou and our son Daniel quickly became close friends. We shared our faith with Youssouf as soon as we learned how to do so in the Dafing language which we were learning.

We hadn't seen Youssouf in a long time, but last week he and his son Modou paid us a visit here in Ouaga. We reminisced together about all that we had experienced all those years ago in Safané. Youssouf always loved to joke and laugh and we enjoyed a lot of laughter with him during his visit.

Before he left we asked Youssouf about his faith. He was born into the major religious group of Burkina and is the oldest son in his family so, though we knew that he was a secret believer, he never had the courage to make his faith known. Youssouf assured us that he still believes. We asked him if he would allow his son to be an open believer and he affirmed that he has no problem with that. Modou nodded as we challenged him to put his faith in Christ.

It was a joy for us to see our old friend, but especially for us to know that his faith is still alive. Those years in Safané were hard ones and the fruit was not plentiful, yet there are those who will be with us someday in heaven from that village. Praise the Lord!

An Amazing Heritage

Last week we were incredibly privileged to have my parents, two sisters, and brother visit us here in Burkina. My parents returned for what is more than likely their last visit to the country where they spent 40 years as international workers.

In addition to spending lots of time together as a family, we organized a reception here in Ouaga for about 60 friends of my folks' - mostly people who attended the church they helped to plant many years ago. There was so much joy in that reunion that it bubbled over into singing and dancing. I doubt my parents knew that they could still dance at their age, but they did!

The highlight of the visit was a return to the place where my folks began their ministry in 1959. It's hard to put into words the emotions that my siblings and I experienced as we attended a ceremony in honor of our parents in our childhood village of Santidougou. We watched our 83 year old father kneel in the dust and kiss the soil of that village that holds so many memories for our family. We heard the Bible that our parents so laboriously translated into Bobo Madaré being read aloud for a huge crowd to hear. We heard testimonies from believers and non-believers alike, many of whom were our childhood friends whose lives were touched in a myriad of ways by our generous parents. We saw the crowd of pastors that were the fruit of their ministry and we heard one of them announce as he waved his hand over the crowd, "These are all your children, Papa and Mama Pierce." Our parents both gave messages in the Bobo language, which flowed beautifully from their lips. My dad took full advantage of the opportunity to present the Gospel to the many non-believers in attendance.

Talk about lives well-lived. What a blessing to have such a godly heritage. My heart is full of gratitude to see what God has done, and continues to do, through their faithfulness. If you would like to see the video clip about the ceremony at our village, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4W4SrNOihg

Dad and Mom are still producing fruit in their old age in Toccoa, GA where they faithfully visit the local prison and invest in lives there, in addition to serving in their church.

Dafing Conference

Sorry for the delay.  This post is a week late due to internet problems!

Thank you for praying for Steve’s trip to the bush last weekend for the annual Dafing Conference in the Nouna District!  The Lord protected him over rough dirt roads filled with detours, anointed him for preaching the Word and blessed and encouraged him through many personal contacts.

One Dafing woman who attended the conference testified to her conversion from the major religion here and the resulting persecution from her husband. Although her husband went so far as to burn her Bible, she decided to obey the Scripture’s advice about living a pure life in order to win him to Christ. After a period of years of waiting, one Sunday morning he got up  and told her to bring him some water to bathe as he was going to accompany her to « that place you always go ». Her husband gave his life to Christ and they began attending church regularly together. He has now gone to be with the Lord and she takes every opportunity to continue to give thanks for that answer to prayer !

Testimonies like these abound in Burkina Faso. The fields here are ready for harvest and are indeed in the process of being harvested. Please continue to pray for more workers so that many more will come into the Kingdom during this harvest time.

For your intercession:

1. Please remember the family of Dr. Isaac Keita who just passed into the presence of the Lord last Tuesday. We worked with the Keitas in Abidjan at the FATEAC (West Africa Alliance Seminary) for several years and they blessed our lives immensely.  Isaac's death is a huge loss for the greater Alliance family in West Africa. He will be dearly missed.

2. We have asked you to pray for a pastor for the Ouaga 2000 church that we have been leading for the past three years. That project has now been put on hold for at least six months as our committee has asked us to continue to serve.  They have also committed to coming alongside us in a more active way while the search for a viable pastoral candidate continues.  Please pray that we will have the wisdom, strength and time to lead this group forward.

With our love and thanks for your partnership,
Steve and Debbi

Christmas Outreach Event

We want to give you an update on our Christmas outreach event here in Ouaga 2000 that took place last Friday evening. Prayer is powerful and we saw the results of your prayers in what took place here.

Our little church of around 50 people hosted a dinner and a presentation by a former president of Burkina Faso who was converted from the major religion of this country and is now a member of one of our Alliance churches here in Ouagadougou.

Over 150 people came to our dinner, over half of them unbelievers. You could have heard a pin drop as the message of hope and peace in Christ was presented loud and clear. Because of who he is, the former president has an incredibly effective platform for presenting the Good News. The colleagues we invited from our workplaces were thrilled to be present and both of them expressed to us that they had « understood the message. » We have already given a Bible to one of them, and the other will receive his next week when school starts up again.

In church on Christmas Day there were many vibrant testimonies of the seeds that were planted at the outreach event. Each of us is taking responsibility for following up with those we invited. We are expecting to see much fruit in the coming weeks and months.

Thank you for your prayers which mean so much to us. They truly made a difference !

Please pray for Steve’s trip to the Nouna district Jan. 15-17 to speak at the annual Dafing conference. He has a three-day weekend from work and is so thankful to be able to attend this conference to encourage believers in an area that is very resistant to the Gospel.

Happy New Year to all of you,

Steve and Debbi

THE JOYS OF THE SEASON

Celebrating Christmas in Burkina is very different from celebrating it in the United States.

There are the obvious differences, such as the fact that no one here ever dreams of a White Christmas, or that December is watermelon season.

The big difference for us, however, is the emphasis that the Church here puts on Christmas. This time of year is the time for a major evangelism thrust in our churches. Baptisms are also organized in most of the churches. It’s a joy to see this time when we celebrate Christ’s birth also be a time when we celebrate new souls being born into the Kingdom !

One of our favorite things to do at Christmas time is to purchase gifts for the five people who help us with house and yard work, and guarding. It’s such a delight to know that their families will be able to enjoy a special Christmas meal. We also take great pleasure in buying toys for our Burkinabe grandchildren and inviting them over to open their gifts.

This year, once again, we shopped online for our family in the U.S. We will have the pleasure of watching our children and grandson open the gifts on skype. It’s not easy being separated from them at this time of year when families traditionally get together. Still, we are thankful and blessed for all the joys of the season that we are able to experience here in Burkina.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !

Heading toward the finish line...

We're not doing so great at keeping up with our blog these days. Part of the reason for that is all that has gone with the big transition we've just made (see former posts). One of the biggest reasons, however, is that I've been working night and day on my thesis project for finishing my Masters.

A little over a week ago I taught a workshop to the target audience of my thesis project: home schooling parents! Eight ladies came to the workshop, which I held in the classroom of Family Life Center where our apartment is also located.

The topic for my paper and workshop is "Culturally Sensitive Home Schooling in West Africa." My goal in choosing this project is to be able to help home schooling parents integrate local culture and language learning into their home school curriculum. The research I did on the subject pointed out that kids who have grown up in a culture different from their parents' country of origin will benefit immensely from becoming cultural experts on that country. In fact, their self identity is greatly influenced by the country in which they spent their formative years!

The participants in my workshop gave me a lot of great feedback and each one has told me that they have new motivation to help their children in the area of cultural learning. I'm looking forward to sharing this information again with others in my educational consulting role!

Lord willing, I will turn in the final copy of my project at the end of this month and receive my diploma in December. It's a good feeling to achieve the goal of earning my Masters in Education, something I've wanted to do since I graduated from Nyack College MANY years ago. It will also be a good feeling to have more margin in my life once this is behind me!

More Transition News

We want to thank all of you for the many ways you have supported us during our time of transition to Marketplace Ministries of the C&MA. We have been blessed to hear from many of you since our last prayer update. It has been an extremely busy time for us as we have dealt with a lot of correspondence, filling out of forms, and phone calls – in addition to both of us working full time and continuing with numerous ministries.

Some of you have written and called with questions about our changed status. We want to assure you that we need your prayer support more than ever as our circle of influence has expanded to include our workplaces, in addition to all of the other networks and target groups we were already involved in.

As we said before, we are no longer supported by the Great Commission Fund now that we are earning our own living through our jobs here in Ouagadougou. However we still need your financial support for the various ministries we are involved in. Here is how you can give: Write your check to C&MA and write “Clouser/Marketplace Ministries” on the memo line. You can also give online at www.cmalliance.org or, if you prefer to have a monthly transfer made, please ask us for the relevant information. Marketplace Ministries has a 6% administrative fee and you will receive a tax deductible receipt for your gift.

We are still fully a part of the team of international workers here in Burkina Faso and at this point are still pastoring the Ouaga 2000 Alliance Church. Debbi continues in her role as educational consultant for the C&MA in West Africa.

We would be grateful for your intercession for the following requests:

1.    Pray for our third annual baptism at the Ouaga 2000 church this Sunday. There are 7 young men and two women who are being baptized. Please pray that this step will strengthen their faith.

2.    Pray for Debbi as she leaves for an educational consulting trip to Mali on Sunday afternoon. She will spend the first half of her week of fall break meeting with parents, teachers, and MKs at the Koutiala Women and Children’s Hospital. She will be traveling by public bus, so please pray for safety and for God’s blessing in her consultations.

3.    Please continue to pray that God will supply a pastor for the Ouaga 2000 Church.

4.    Please pray for the farmers of Burkina, many of whom will be having a very poor harvest in another month or two. Famine has already been predicted in some areas of the country.

Thank you so much, Faithful Prayer Warriors, for standing with us. Many of you have been on our team for a very long time and others are newer. Each of you plays a significant role in furthering God’s Kingdom through our ministry here in West Africa. May the Lord richly bless you and provide for all your needs.

With love in Christ,
Steve and Debbi