Route 412 Sanwabo – another week of laughter and learning.

Children play the games we learned

Learning about how children can be involved in missons

Playing games can help children grow spiritually

Stephanie teaches about why children should be discipled

Route 412 Sanwabo leadership team with Pastor Jean Paul and a local chief

Between 50 and 60 men and women from five different Baptist associations joined Stephanie Vied, children’s minister from Mississippi and me, along with our team of three other Burkinabé women for the second Route 412 training.  Only two of the 57 churches in these 5 associations already have some type of children’s ministry.  In the small village church of Sanwabo, this training required only 3 languages – French and English translated into Mooré.  We learned about unreached peoples who have little gospel witness, the different types of work that missionaries do around the world, and games that help children to grow.  At the beginning of each session we prayed for unreached peoples and unchurched villages, and the challenge of the Holy Spirit was increasingly clear to move out of our comfort zones and take the truths of God's love to those who haven’t heard in ways that they can understand. 

Route 412 Sanwabo participants

If you had been with us, you would have found as we did that in spite of the heat, God’s strength through joy found its way into our hearts as we worshiped and sang, played and learned together.  Three different groups of churches composed Biblical children’s songs and brainstormed about how children can do missionary activities in their villages and created skits to illustrate God’s call on the child David’s life.  Make no mistake about it -- the Mossi love to dance and their delight in the Lord in doing so is infectious!  What an exciting, incredible week!  Thank you for your prayers!

Next week as you continue to pray, the focus changes from children to adults.   With a break from Route 412, I’ll travel to the southwestern Burkina village of Diebougou to share the joy of life and learning with 3 dear colleagues from Niger and my precious Baptist co-laborers with Christ.  Thank you in advance for praying for the 6^th annual Baptist women’s conference whose theme this year is:  Women on Mission with God:  New Strategies to Reach the World for Christ.