Burkina Faso & Redefining Missions

Fellow Missionaries I have arrived

I am sitting in a guest house in the capitol of Burkina Faso while the missionaries go and pick up a car that Chad and I dropped off this morning for a check up. This morning I had the interesting experience of taking a taxi around Ouaga and I would just like to say that traffic here is scary. Chad insists that there ARE rules of the road but I'm doubtful. I constantly think we are going to hit someone on a bike or another car but luckily Chad has not been hit or hit anyone...however in the taxi this morning we did get rear ended by another taxi. It wasn't a huge deal, in fact they both got out of the car and looked at the damage then they both drove off. Nonetheless, it was a bit unnerving. We had lunch with a geologist friend of Chad's in order to check out the possibility of a new drilling technique for wells.

Getting into the country was not as difficult as I'd expected but the customs agent did open one of my suitcases, unfortunately it was the one that had a taped box of eyeglasses that the missionaries asked me to bring. He asked me to open it and so I ended up having to rip the box open; then he asked if I was a doctor (because I was carrrying so many eyeglasses) and I explained that I was a missionary. After that he let me go, Chad explained that the people of Burkina are very greatful for missionaries who come to help, so that was a kind of cool experience.

I wanted take some time not to just give you a rundown of events but also to share some of the thoughts I have been contemplating as I read and journal. After my experience in Paris I want to challenge what I would call the "average" idea of missions. I believe that France needs missionaries, there is a lot of work that could be done there if we had the workers, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37)." Unfortunately missions has been so often associated with going to third world countries and providing humanitarian type aid that other areas have been neglected. It is not only the materially poor that we are called to serve but also the spiritually poor. Mother Theresa once said that New York City was the poorest place she had ever been, now obviously she was not referring to the economic status of the average person but instead to the spiritual state of the average person.

I am not saying that we should stop sending missionaries to third world countries (obviously since I am in one right now) but I do want to challenge the idea that missions is only really mission work if it involves working with the poor. Support missionaries all over, the world needs missionaries in all cultures, men and women who love God and will unabashedly share Christ with those who are starving. I could go on but if you've read this far chances are you are tired of reading, I'll include a bit more on this in my next post. Until then keep praying for God to move in powerful ways through us. I love you all and I will post again as soon as I can.

Your fellow missionary,
Ryan