So thankful for a secondary school in Kimini!

Traditional African Dancing

We are so thankful to the Lord that we were able to be in the village to celebrate the official opening of our secondary school.  Although this type of ceremony is not extremely important to us, it is very important to our local friends.  They planned and prepared well and the entire village celebrated the fact that their children can now stay in the village and continue their secondary school education.

New School Books

God has blessed us with special gifts from special people and with these funds we have bought new desks, school books, desks and chairs for our teachers. . . everything needed to equip our classrooms.

New desks - happy children!

This year we are running 7th and 8th grade classes and in the Fall, we will add the 9th grade. We will add one grade each year until we have a complete school through the 13th grade.

The final phase of our school project, a four classroom building,  is well underway.  This building will hold grades 10, 11, 12, and 13.  

Anticipation--

Lunch time at the orphanage!

International adoption is a long process with many curves along the way, long and steep hills to climb, rivers to forge, and deep valleys to cross through.  It requires tedious paperwork to be completed and then more paperwork that needs to be re-done.  It is waiting and hoping for news. . . but all you hear is silence because there is no news to report. 

After a long wait for a referral. . . . another long waiting time occurs while the dossier is studied, passed through numerous offices, papers are signed and approved. . . and then when you feel that you cannot wait another day. . . yet another time of waiting occurs until a court date is set.

But, finally, the parents make the trip to pick up their long awaited for child.  And incredible JOY arrives as Mama and Daddy and Child meet for the first time.  There are tears of joy.  There are sweet smiles.  Sometimes there is a little fear on the face of the little one as well as in the hearts of the mama and daddy.  But, within minutes of time, hearts melt and hugs and tears of joy are shared.

This sweet little 3 1/2 year old boy has only known an orphanage for his home.  His orphanage is

Their new son!

lovingly maintained.  It is bright and cheery.  It is very clean and the children are well cared for and healthy.  BUT, it is not a family.  It is an institution.  And, every child has the right to grow up in a family, surrounded by parents, siblings and extended family who will love and nurture him or her.

We give thanks and praise to God who led this family to adopt from Burkina Faso!  Waiting at home for their new little brother are two older brothers, ages 4 and 6 years old.  

If you have been thinking and praying about international adoption, please contact me via FB Messenger or contact Kim at kim@allblessings.org for information on how to start your journey.  We would love to walk through this journey with you.  There may be tears along the way but there is great joy and rejoicing at the end of the journey!

Double Dedication

Today we were able to participate in the dedication ceremony of a new church building and a new well in one of our neighboring villages.  Many of the village leaders as well as the chief of the village were in attendance.  There were pastors from near and far and the local believers were all present.

The church was started in 2011.  The believers met under a mango tree and then in 2013 they built a small mud brick building as their place of worship.  In 2016 they had to make major repairs to this building because it was in danger of falling down.

Today, the children of God danced and celebrated in a new concrete block building which

will serve them for many, many years to come.

There was a double celebration today because the village also received a new well with a huge source of water beneath it.  The well is located on the church property but it will be open to the entire village to use.  

The well provides natural water to the thirsty and the church brings the Living Water to thirsty souls.

Mobility

In our fast-paced sophisticated society we often take our mobility for granted.  Whether our means of transportation is motorcycle, car, truck, bus, train or plane we can easily get to where we are needing to go in a fairly painless fashion.

This is not so for many handicapped people here in Burkina.  There are very few paved roads, there are no sidewalks, there are very few ramps providing handicap accessibility into schools, businesses, and offices buildings.

This young man is Seydou.  He suffers from the effects of polio which he contracted as a baby.  Seydou is paralyzed from the waist down.  

This new handicap bicycle will allow Seydou to continue to go to school.  He is entering the 11th grade this year.  He is an excellent student who consistently ranks in the top 5 of his class.

First Christian in our region--

This week we had the privilege of meeting the man who was the first Christian in our region.  His name is John Paul and he lives in a village 35 kilometers from us.  He is a deacon in his church.

John Paul grew up in a small village outside of Bobo.  When he was still a teenager, his older brother worked as a guard for a missionary family in Bobo.  From time to time, the missionary would take his guard to the village to visit his family.  During these visits the older brother and the missionary started telling stories about Jesus.  Through these stories, John Paul made a decision to follow Jesus.

John Paul grew up, married, and as his family grew he found that he was needing to go farther and farther away in order to find good fields to plant and to feed his family.  So, in 1997 he and his wife decided to move their family to a very isolated region where the soil was rich and abundant.  And, they settled their family and raised their 10 children there.

When John Paul relocated his family, the nearest church was 70 kilometers away from their humble home.  He searched for other believers in his village but did not find any.  John Paul started inviting his neighbors to prayer meetings and they met under a tree to read the Bible together and to pray.  After 5 years of holding church under a tree, a young pastor was sent to his village to continue the ministry of building the church.

Today there are an average of 100 adults who attend this village church and the children number 50 or more.  There have been 30+ believers baptized!

John Paul says “Choosing to serve God is the best choice that I ever made.  My life has been full and blessed”!

Ouch!

So. . . it was a routine trip to the airport for an early check-in.  All went well and within 30

minutes we were returning to the very back of the parking lot where we usually park.  (We park there so that other cars do not park too close to us.)

But. . . while we were still far away. . . we could see a grey Mercedes resting in a very suspicious way, right behind our truck, and blocking the passage. (Right in front of our truck was a wall.)

What we learned from the parking attendants is that the Mercedes rolled across two rows of parking spaces and stopped after hitting the back of our truck.

Fast forward 3 hours of waiting in temperatures of 100+ and brilliant sunshine until, finally, the owner of the car returned and the police arrived. 

Our bumper is only slightly dented, but the Mercedes did not fare so well.  After exchanging contact information, we shock hands, he moved his car, and we were on our way home!

Only in Africa!

Forever Families--

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  Ephesians 1:4-6

Adoption comes from the very heart of our Father God.  Adoption into our Father's family came at the great cost of the suffering and death of God's own son, Jesus.  

International adoption is not for the faint of heart, but, for those who persevere, for those who are called to step out of their comfort zone, for those who are willing to face the fears of the unknown, to step out of the boat, so to speak-- God has children in Burkina who are waiting for that first embrace from their mother and father.  This is what adoption is all about.  This is the moment that parents and child look forward to, not even really knowing what it will look like or what it will feel like.  

This month Linda and I had the privilege of sending two more precious children home to their Forever Families.  

This is Ibra with his Mama and Papa.  Ibra has experienced more pain and loss in his young life than most of us experience in a lifetime.  He has waited, not daring to believe that a family really wanted him.  But, today, Ibra’s life has changed and he has the hope, love, nurturing, and guidance that a Forever Family provides.

This is Anselme meeting his parents for the first time.  Anselme is 6 years old, full of life, full of energy, and anxious to meet his 3 siblings waiting for him at home.

Our God is so good!  He loves the children of Burkina and He loves to place them in Forever Families.  If you feel that the Lord is calling you to adopt a special needs child, please contact me or contact Kim at kim@allblessings.org – All Blessing, Intl.

Secondary School for Kimini - Phase One - Completed

It is celebration time! This is SO exciting! 

This year. . . . our 7^th graders no longer have to walk 7 or 8 miles to attend school!

This past year a 4-classroom school building was completed in Kimini and this is our first 7^th grade class! Teachers have been sent to teach and the government will be paying our teachers' salaries.

7th Grade Class

There are only 2 middle schools in our region. In the past most children who passed 6^th grade were not sent on to school because they had to be sent as far as 20 miles away to attend 7^th grade. This year, there are forty-six 7^th graders who have come from miles away and are now living in Kimini. Our Kimini fathers held village meetings asking families to take these students in and each one of them has a family to care for them and watch over them while they continue their education. In total, there are 89 students in our 7^th grade class!  (Believe it or not, this is a small class in that there are 100+ students in most classrooms).

The village has already submitted a request to the government for teachers for the 8^th and 9^th grades for next year.

This building is phase one of a three phase project. Phase two will be to build a second 4-classroom building to house 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th grades. Phase three will be to build an administration building for office space and storage space for the director and teachers.

Our national pastor, Bernard, is building relationship with the new students and has already found 8 students who are Christians.  In addition to our students learning French, Math, Science and History, Bernard will be forming a youth Bible study for all of the students who have a desire to learn more about Jesus!

Math Class

A Growing Village Church

For two years, we have waited for our new pastor and his wife to complete a 4-year Bible School program and graduate. Each year during the summer vacation / planting time, Bernard and his wife lived in our village, met with the believers, built relationships, and planted fields of peanuts and beans.

On May 27^th, a graduation ceremony was held and they both graduated with their diplomas. And, the following week, they moved all of their belongs into their newly built house in the village.

Between Bernard's work and the work of Pastor Joel, the church is growing stronger. There are still only a few believers in our village but 12 to 15 believers are coming from neighboring villages, sometimes 10 miles or more away to worship with us.

We praise God for what he is doing in our village. He is drawing the hearts of the people to Himself and opening the doors of evangelism in our surrounding villages and region! 

Milk Program

Our Milk Program continues to provide for babies in need. Babies come to us from several surrounding villages, sometimes as far as 25 miles away.

Baby weighing

The need for help may be because mama has died and grandmother is the one caring for the baby. Or, it can be a case where mama is not in good health and is not producing enough milk to sustain her baby. Another need is for twins or even triplets and the mama just cannot feed all of her babies.

Baby Sadia

This past week we were presented with another need of a little 16 month old who is severely malnourished and weighs only 12 pounds. Because there are many children in the family and because it is the beginning of the planting season, the father could not allow his wife to leave the village and go to the malnourished center. But, thanks to the Milk Program we were able to provide an enriched baby cereal for the mother to feed her baby.  

Grandmother caring for her granddaughter

We are so thankful for each one of you who contribute to the milk program and we are thankful to the Lord for the privilege that it is to be here and to be able to help these babies. 

A Forever Family for Charlie

Once again, Linda and I have had the wonderful privilege to introduce a beautiful family to their new son.

Charlie has waited in an orphanage for many years but his years of waiting are over! He is now a member in full standing of a precious American family.

Although Charlie cannot hear with his ears, his heart heard and felt the love radiating from his mother and father from the first day that they met.

Charlie is now in his forever home, meeting and getting acquainted with his three brothers, two older and one younger.

Adoption is all about FAMILY. Charlie has been chosen and adopted into this family, with the full rights of a son, just as God has chosen us and adopted us into His family, with the full rights of His son or daughter!

Doing Church in Kimini

Our local Pastor graduates from Bible school on April 29^th. We are planning a celebration to congratulate him and welcome him and his family to Kimini on a full-time basis.

In his absence Pastor Joel has traveled to Kimini each week to hold a mid-week prayer service for the believers and he has sent one of the leaders of his church each Sunday to hold a service.

On Sunday mornings the church has been running between 15 and 20 people. There are two young men in the church who have started a children's church in the pavilion in our courtyard.

In the picture below a young boy is reading a child appropriate Bible given to us by Operation Christmas Child!

Children's Church in the village

Out of Small Beginnings, God does great things!

Our amazing God gave us an unexpected gift of a trip to visit Linda’s home and friends in Adams, MA this week.  We have been able to connect with many friends and also had opportunities to personally say ‘thank you’ to many of our sponsors and donors.  

One event during our week was a visit to the Haystack Monument at Williams College in Williamsburg, MA.  

The story behind the monument is that in 1806, five Williams College students gathered together for a prayer meeting.  It started raining so they moved under a haystack to continue their prayer time.

Out of this group of 5 students the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was formed and in 1812 they sent their first missionaries to India.  During the 19th century the mission sent missionaries to China, Hawaii, and many nations in southeast Asia, establishing hospitals and schools, translating the Bible into local dialects, and establishing churches.  Out of this mission, thousands of missionaries were sent to Asia.  

This Haystack Prayer Meeting is viewed by many scholars as the seed planting event for the development of Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century.

Another Forever Family Returns Home

This past week Linda and I had the wonderful privilege of hosting a new adoptive family and introducing them to their little girl!

International adoption is a long and rough road. It is not for the faint of heart, but, for those families with a call of God on their hearts to adopt, it is a joyous journey. There are great highs and there are deep lows but by staying focused on the prize at the end of the journey, the Lord helps each family through the process.

There once was a little girl with a very sad history but her story is now being rewritten by love, affection, joyous interaction, and acceptance.

This little girl who was growing up in an orphanage now has parents, an older sister, and a slightly younger brother to love!

We are rejoicing today because God has placed another of His little ones in a loving family!

Help for a young boy named Barto

A pastor from a neighboring village brought a father and his son to our door asking for help. Barto is 18 yrs old and he is paralyzed from the waist down.

As a young boy, Barto was healthy and attended school. But, as a result of an undiagnosed illness and several days of high fever, Barto's health deteriorated to where he lost the use of his legs. He has also lost most of the use of his arms and hands.

Barto is a bright boy but he comes from a very isolated village with no medical care available, no social services available to help families, and a family without the resources to find help for their son.

We have introduced some very basic physical therapy to the family to help Barto regain the use of his hands and arms. And, we are searching for a handicap center where he can learn a trade to help support himself and even help to support his family.

Please pray for us as we try to find ways to help this boy and his family!

Barto

Fighting for life--

Today we received a call from the hospital asking for help with a tiny little newborn named Fousseny. Fousseny is a two and half month old twin. His brother died shortly after the twins were born.

At two and half months old, Fousseny weighs only 700 grams (about 1 ½ pounds). Fousseny and his mama recently spent 2 weeks in the hospital in the city and when they returned to the village Fousseny weighed a little over 3 pounds. But, in the last three weeks he has lost all of the weight that he had gained while in the hospital.

After teaching Fousseny's mama how to prepare the formula, how to clean and sterilize the bottles, and especially to use only pure water, we enrolled him in our village milk program.

Mama will bring Fousseny to our house each week to be weighed and she will be given more milk as she needs it.

Please pray with us that Fousseny will thrive and very quickly regain the weight that he has lost!

We recently had the opportunity to do our 'back-to-school' sponsorship distribution in our village and 5 other surrounding villages. School starts late here, usually not until around the 1^st of October. But, back-to-school excitement for returning students and nervousness for new students is an international occurrence and we saw and felt these emotions in each of our students here.

Our distribution included a new pack pack for each child, a reading and a math textbook, notebooks, pens, colored pencils, chalk, math sets (protractor, ruler, etc.), a 100 pound bag of rice for the family, and soap. Some of our children also received special gifts that some of our wonderful sponsors had sent for their children. Some of those gifts were special things like a new bike, a new outfit of clothing, a solar lamp, etc.

We cannot say 'thank you' loud enough for our outstanding Sheltering Wings sponsors. I hope that you realize the amazing part that you are playing in your sponsored child's life. You are giving them the encouragement to do their best in school and therefore a hope for the future.

Your children are ready to start school! Thank you!

Church on the move--

God is blessing our little church!. 

Just this past week, two women stopped by our house to visit. Our Bible and daily devotional book were laying on our table. After talking just a little while, one of the women told me that she was a Christian. We continued to talk and then she shared that she has been a believer for several years. She first made a decision to follow Christ when she was living in a neighboring city. Now she is married to an unbelieving man who will not allow her to attend church. The friend who came with her is in the same situation.

Please pray for these precious believers and particularly pray for their husbands to allow them to gather and worship with the other believers.

Our student pastor, his wife, and two of their three children are in the village for the summer 

vacation.  While we were away, a pastor friend in a neighboring town contracted with a builder to have a house built for our pastor. The family is now nicely settled into their new home. 

New House

 Our pastor will be leaving the village in November to return to Bible School for his final year. We  are looking forward to next May when he graduates and moves his family permanently to the  village! 

Through gifts from generous friends, we were able to purchase a new motorcycle for our village pastor.  Thank you so much!

New motorcycle

Medical Center

Linda and I have just been back in country for a month and we are so excited about all that the Lord is doing in our village.

The medical center is completely functional!

Vaccination day in the village (new pavillion)

The 'official opening' of the medical center was held on April 12^th with visiting officials from the Ministry of Health from Niangoloko, Banfora, Wangolo, and Nonfesso. Most of the village turned out for the celebration and drums and dancing went well into the evening.

The government has sent us 3 nurses with the promise of sending us one more nurse. One of the nurses serves as the chief of staff, one is a midwife, and one is in charge of vaccination campaigns. Each of the nurses take their turn for general medicine consultations.

In our absence, our village contact, Babou, contracted with a builder to have a pavilion built on the hospital property. This will be used for vaccination campaigns, training for the women, and for a place in the shade for family members to rest.

Newborn weighing less than 2 pounds

As of Sept 1^st, there have been 137 women give birth in the new maternity center! Women who probably would have given birth at home are coming from as far away as 35 kilometers to have their babies in the hospital!

We made a quick trip to Banfora with two babies in distress. One was a premature twin weighing less than 2 pounds and the other was a newborn with a cleft lip.  

Returning 'home' to Burkina

After spending a few days in Yako, and then a few days in Ouaga, Linda and I took the road

south to our little village of Kimini. Upon arrival we were honored by a visit from the village chief and the leaders of the village.

Part of our first few days in the village were spent in meetings with our village contact, Babou, reviewing the progress that was made on the medical clinic while we were away and also planning our next phase of development.

This little baby girl is named Biba. She weighed just a little under 5 pounds at birth. Her mama is not well and cannot produce milk for her, so we have enrolled Biba in our milk program.

This is a very impressive young girl named Maman. Last year on Jan 1^st she suffered some very bad burns on her backside and the back of one of her legs when her skirt caught on fire while she was cooking. Maman missed 6 weeks of school last year, yet finished the school year with a very high mark. Since then, Maman often comes by asking for help with her English studies.









Through a very generous gift from Dawn Malcolm, we were able to equip the Kimini school and the Nonfesso school with sports uniforms for their soccer teams. This is the proud Kimini team in their new uniforms.