May 29, 2007; “How I nearly violated many young Burkinabes. . .”

Wow, so much has happened now in just a couple short days! Sunday morning, Kristina and I were up early for church. We had been warned before hand that this, the Pentecost, would be a very long service, and both of us knew that that meant it could get very hot, so we came prepared with lots of water.

Tatiana sang in the choir, so we found ourselves a seat and watched as the church filled up. From time to time people would extend their hands and say hello. We expected there to be some spectacular music and we were disappointed. To my benefit, they projected the words to the songs onto two walls, so that Kristina and I could join in. People were clearly enthused with Kristina and my effort with not only the French songs, but with the More songs (which I actually felt were easier to keep up with!). People clapped and swayed to the music easily, and as many of you can all imagine, I was quick to join in. It was so exciting to be in a place where so many people were so clearly wanting to be together – you could feel the enthusiasm and the unity. After the first song, “Le Saint Esprit est la” or the Holy Spirit is Here, I found myself so excited to be present that I almost started to cry.

The service was in French with concurrent translation in More; the head pastor would say a phrase and the More pastor would follow up, giving me extra time to translate in my head, or allowing Kristina the time to translate for me. My French is undoubtedly getting better; I find myself able to follow more conversations, and get by in the simpler of conversations. After a lot of singing, everyone seemed to go to their knees. Kristina and I, naturally followed. What ensued was definitely a bit different, both exciting and scarey. A number of people were at the front and the various pastors began to pray upon them. Some of the choir members continued to sing, and the congregation remained on their knees, praying aloud themselves and singing. I too prayed, but to myself, and I was pleased when the pastor later said that some feel the grace of God and fall to their knees and others receive him less dramatically – that neither was better than the other. This continued for about a half hour, with lots of yelling and crying and various noises filling the church.

As this segment of the service concluded, we were about 3 hours in church. Fortunately, what followed was simpler and less intense; first there was a long list of announcements and then new people were asked to stand and introduce themselves; we had been warned of this, and so we did so without too much problem. Finally, ‘witnesses’ or people who had felt God that morning, were invited to come up and talk. I was definitely a bit tired at this point and found it hard to follow. Finally at 12 pm or so, church was concluded, and after sitting since about 8am, Kristina and I got up eager to leave. As we turned, however, a white woman was standing there waiting to greet us enthusiastically. She introduced herself as Dorothy.

Dorothy as it turns out, is the Canadian warden for the Leo area – meaning that just the day before, she had been in the consular to find that two new young girls named Emily and Kristina had registered in Burkina Faso with a Leo address. So, lucky we were when she was in church and heard us introduce ourselves. As it turns out, she was heading back to Leo on Monday – as were we and we managed to get ourselves a free drive!

After church, Kristina and I took it mostly easy. I meant to write, but I just couldn’t concentrate to do so. I definitely cannot wait for next Sunday though. Later in the evening, before supper, we decided we would go for a walk. I took my camera, but as I have said, I have been scared to use it. Outside our house, however, with the kids who have greeted us everytime we left the house, I asked in my horrible French if I could take a picture. This, as I should have known, drew a large crowd of kids, and I had people laughing. Two young boys, about 16 or 17 were walking down the street, and in broken English asked if we wanted in the picture and we agreed.

The brothers, continued to talk to us, and one ironically, was just in Helsinki Finland, and knew quite a bit of English, so we were talking as the kids stood around. Kristina and him started talking a bit of French so I decided to squat and play with the kids who were just looking at us and as I squatted what do I hear but a . . . “riiiippp”. My wonderful quality Stitches capri’s split right in the back. Fortunately, we were right outside of our gate, so I stayed sitting tossing pebbles around with the young ones and hoping that Kristina would wrap up the conversation soon. As she did, I stood up with my back to the gate, front to the group. Then, to my horror, Kristina and I realized the gate was locked. So I squatted again, just to hide it, when my phone rang – it was Dorothy finalizing plans for the next day. When the gate was opened, I moved backwards inside and turned to go inside. But I wasn’t home free yet – two of Abiba’s sisters (our cook) came in an d asked to have a picture taken also – so I took the picture so I wouldn’t have to move and finally got to run inside, Kristina laughing behind me. That is how I nearly violated many young ones with my big, white, bum