Swimming Day Outing

Javin has enjoyed being home and taking a break from studying. Today we visited a beautiful indoor swimming pool. The kids had a great time splashing around and getting wet. Javin was really interested in his goggles. He swam the length of the pool breathing through the air tube underwater. He only got water in the air tube a few times. That was quite a shock to him when that happened though. He kept working at it until he got the hang of it.

Kailyn enjoyed her goggles as well. She loves to go underwater and pick up rings on the steps. It won't be long until she is swimming on her own. Here she is goofing off with Javin's goggles.

The best part was the nice hot tub. We relaxed in it several times and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this morning. Ahh, vacation. What fun!

Discover World

It's Spring Break and we are enjoying having Javin around the house again.

We joined some friends for a trip to the Discover World Museum at the McKinley Monument in Canton yesterday. It was a nice little museum for the kids to explore.

The roaring dinosaur made quite an impression on Kailyn. Javin loved the shadow maker wall and the robotic arm.

So if you are looking for a fun and educational adventure with your kids, check out Discover World. It's not COSI, but it's local. Here's the web site for more info http://www.mckinleymuseum.org/discover_world

Do you want to hear more?

This Sunday I will speaking during our morning service for a few minutes. Please pray for me if you think about it. Surprisingly enough, I am not nervous about it. Maybe singing in front of 3,000 cured me of my speaking in front of crowds ailment! I will be sharing about how the trip impacted me and the opportunity that I had to minster to the brokenhearted.

Then on Sunday night, March 30, our team will be sharing about our trip from 6 to 8 pm at BCF. You are all welcome to come out and hear what God did through our trip. We will have pictures and video for you to see. Hope you can come. Thanks again to everyone who prayed for us and invested in this trip.

Saving for Change

Another glimpse into my trip last week...

We were meeting under a mango tree with a Saving for Change group and learning from them regarding their support of one another in business and the principles and guidelines they follow. As we observed them, there were so many revelations and so much inspiration we were overwhelmed. Simple, yet so effective, much like the Amish Culture of Berlin. Their eyes had hope in them and their faces had smiles! Because they are an oral society (this nation is the second most illiterate nation in the world), they recite and memorize everything they need. Their minds are much sharper than ours who rely on electronics to do our thinking for us! They recite the guidelines and parameters clearly before and after each meeting and have to remember the amount they have invested into the treasury box and the total amount their neighbor owes in loans as well as the total amount the group has in the box and out in loans. They each contribute to the seed money each week and decide as group who gets a 2-month loan to start a business. Fines are paid for being late or missing a meeting.

We also watched the Mentor, a young lady from ACTS, and learned much from her about how to tell stories that illustrate principles. The principle she shared was Goals using the illustration of two ladies, one with goals and one without, then asking coaching questions after her story as to which one they wanted to be like. One of the most impacting thing to all of us was their answer to our question: what happens if a business fails and the money is gone? They smiled and said there is no such thing, they think positive! Pressed for more, they said there is no rule regarding failure. There is no room for it. It they made room for it then people would fail. That jarred the paradigm within all of us and confirmed Heidi's revelation from the Lord that in Him, we could not fail. Many of these ladies don't even have Him and they still believed they could not fail!

While we were interacting with these ladies, the chief of the village approached with his "entourage." He held a crop in his hand as a symbol of authority. The male leaders of ACTS that had escorted us responded immediately. The Chief wanted to greet us, shake our hand, and sit with us and the ladies under the tree all of which is absolutely unheard of in this culture. At first we sensed the ladies seemed to be uneasy as to what this might mean. As he shook each of our hands and expressed his gratitude for the program and support of it to help his people, they seemed to relax. On our side we expressed our respect for him following the lead of the ACTS team and the genuine positional respect for him we instinctively felt. He was a chief, an idol worshipping, animal sacrificing chief, but a chief none the less. Arman, the Supervisor of the Saving for Change program for ACTS, and his team were so excited at the attention because they said they had never been acknowledged by a chief in any of the many villages where they work.


Then lo and behold another astonishing thing happened. We were invited to his home. A breakthrough was happening. Women were never acknowledged, let alone asked to his home! The name of his village meant "To Multiply". It was started by three men that saw it multiplying and expanding out. We believe that in the Spirit. When we met with him under a tree he said he saw the respect we had for him and he was pleased with that and was happy we were helping the ladies and his village. He received our gift and gave us a live chicken in return. (Sharyl was thanking God we did not have to participate in the sacrificing of it and we were thanking God for that too!) We are so happy that our visit brought favor and support from the chief and ushered the leaders into a relationship with him that we are sure will be transforming.

Power Encounter

The following is a team summary of the events of our Sunday night service in Ouagadougou at a Pentecostal Church.

"And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons... " Mark 1:34

Before our arrival, Joanna, ACTS Executive Director in Burkina Faso, had a significant decision to make regarding our first venue. Since she knew part of our anointing was to the marketplace, she wondered if she should arrange a hotel as a neutral environment as an outreach. As God would have it, he started first in His body, the church. A precious prayer warrior spoke to her pastor and he agreed to host us in his lovely, hospitable church in town. What a time we had under this pastor that is so supportive of women!! Our male covering would have been so happy to meet him and personally thank him for the security that first experience gave us in this nation. The house was overflowing and people gathered at the door. There were many widows, young mothers and others.

After joining the women in their jubilant dancing around the church for worship, the Pastor turned the evening over to Sharyl and Joanna and their new friends from Kenya and BCF. Joanna told us they are too consumed by looking at their problems instead of looking to God. We were there to help them see God. And see God they did! We were on a FREEDOM MISSION, to preach the Kingdom news to the poor and set the captives free. In her gentle, disarming way, Sharyl introduced us to the church and her view of what we carried. The anointing fell according to the words spoken by Joanna and Sharyl and the many words and prayers spoken over us by our church body. After introductions, Erma opened up with the Word God had given her from Genesis and spoke it over the place just in case there were any enemy remnants hanging about! As an example of the saying "Preach the Gospel and only if necessary use words, Heidi danced one of the most beautiful worship dances any of us had ever seen, using her body as her investment into the Kingdom. Even though the crowd may not have had much in the way of finances, they all had bodies.

The foundation for freedom was laid. Gail was told by the Lord to invite three widows up and act out the parable of the talents. Angie handed the "talents" to each one. One young widow left with what to these precious people was a small fortune. Even though we felt very bad for the one who was left with nothing (Ok, we slipped something into her hand just for participating), she gave a powerful testimony on how the Lord had been dealing with her regarding her calling and she had been afraid. Now she was more afraid NOT to walk out in it!! Praise be to God! The other two also gave powerful testimonies regarding the barriers to getting there that night that they had overcome! What a prophetic picture of what the remainder of the week would be like.

Regina brought forth her encouragement for them to overcome the mental lies of the enemy that they are not good enough or valuable as she had to do. Angie encouraged the widows and all of the listeners with her message as the vessel of the comforting overcomer that she is. We all shared our testimonies on how we travelled from darkness to light.

Then, God dropped the final bomb onto that church, Susan Onguko. With her story of the rejection of her father, the death of her only friend, her mother, when she was still a child, the rescue of Derrick Prince, and her ultimate authority in Christ as a Bishop's wife with a calling over all of Africa, she set the captives free! Our ministry of prayer then broke out that none of us will ever forget. Every person in the church came for prayer. As Erma said, she has never seen such a "wall of people" like that before. This was after the authority and glory of the Lord burst on the scene as Susan walked around the breadth and the width of the church with the microphone in her hand taking authority over the sin, the demonic, and any barriers those present were feeling. The three pastors jumped off the platform and were following her, interpreting for her and agreeing with her in unison. Erma said it is a picture she will never forget as long as she lives and I am sure the people won't either. The broken hearted were healed, the captives were set free, the sick were healed, and demons fled long held territory. The people were released into the city to be fruitful and fruitful they will be! Glory be to God!

Burkina Faso Summary

I have returned from my power packed trip of destiny! Burkina Faso was an amazing land to experience. The heat was hot and dry with dust as thick as fog. But the people were warm and friendly and hard working despite their harsh circumstances. God let us in to the very heart of the country. We encountered some of the most influential and some of the most downtrodden in the land.

Here are the highlights:

• We arrived safely, beating the storm that dumped on Ohio as we were leaving.


• Sunday our team ministered in Pastor Florence's church in the morning
  
• Sunday evening we had a powerful business women's meeting at a church in Ouagadougou. The presence of God fell in a powerful way and many were set free.


• Monday we toured the Acts Center which houses a school, wood shop, sewing school, grain mill, orphanage, garden, nurses station and well. There we met Abdu and Eunice, 2 orphans that stole our hearts.


• Monday night we returned to minister to the orphans through dance and prayer.
  
• Tuesday we visited a "Saving For Change" village outside of town and received the unexpected honor of meeting with the chief and his gift of a chicken. (I'll write more later on this program.)
  
• Tuesday night we accompanied our host and Acts Ministry leader, Joanna, to the calling hours of a well know pastor's wife who had just died and sang a song in front of 3,000 people as well and TV cameras. Now this was a huge stretch for me!!


• Wednesday morning we went to the Acts Center School and had activities for 225 students on the grounds. Susan taught on Citizenship, Heidi and Regina and I taught the kids a dance, then we had games. We also told the Easter story and made cross necklaces with the kids, and shared letters from an Amish school and told them about the Amish culture. They in turn wrote letters back to the Amish kids.


• Thursday was the first day of our Women's conference in Saonre. I shared my testimony of how God helped me through tough times and taught me how to trust him fully. It was a real connection point for the ladies there. I was honored to be able to share my life with them.
  
• Friday we continued the conference and the ladies responded so eagerly to the messages that were brought.


• Saturday we finished up the conference and handed over 4 of the goats from the catalog project to the orphans to care for. I also went to a radio station and recorded my testimony for a family radio program that Joanna airs. That night we took off and began our journey home


• Sunday we were still traveling and finally arrived home late Sunday night.

I am still processing all that God has done in my life, but it was amazing to see how he used each of us on the team in different ways. We all worked together and God flowed in an amazing way. The environment was ripe with expectation and God did not disappoint. It was an honor to be a part of such a mature and spiritually minded team. The Act Ministry has a wonderful program going on there and I hope to be involved in their work again in the future. God is bringing change to Burkina Faso.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and the trip. It was because of such great prayer support that the trip was so successful.

Waga Land, here we come!

Friday is Launch Day! I can't believe the time has actually come. I am heading out to Burkina Faso on the trip of a lifetime! I am filled with such excitement and anticipation. I've been doing my best to keep fear at bay, so keep praying for me that I will have the confidence of the Lord. My biggest issue is speaking in front of people. I was all fired up to prepare my messages and I feel the Ord has given me a speacial message to impart. Now as I think about actually standing in front of people and giving my message, I am not as wild about the idea. It has been so amazing to see how God has brought me step by step. Even little things like having to make that announcement for the Gift Catalog in front of the church last December. I was so nervous and then it went wonderfully. So I need to keep reminding myself that when I get up there God will meet me and everything will go smoothly. Grace, grace; much grace needed, Lord!

So here's the low down. Our team of mighty warriors leave for the airport on Friday morning. The Pecks are here to stay with my kiddies. Pray for them to be able to handle the separation peacefully. Our travel time is 27 hours with all our layovers. The are ahead by 5 hours. Sunday we go to church and hold a business women's meeting in the capital, Ouagadougou (pronounced Wah-ga-doo-goo). Monday through Wednesday will be various ministry opportunities with the orphans and women in the villages. Thursday we begin the "Woman, God has a purpose for you" conference. I will be speaking on Thursday morning on Esther, Woman of Destiny. Then again on Saturday with my life story called Tragedy to Triumph. All the ladies on the team will be speaking during this morning and evening conference held under a tree. Then we fly home Saturday night and Sunday.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for me and our team of ladies (Erma Yoder, Gail Crites, Heidi Hershberger, Regina Gingerich, Susan Onguko and Sharyl Seih) while we are gone March 7-16.
• Pray for unity among the team and for us to flow in what the Spirit is doing on this trip.
• Pray for protection and safety for us and the supplies that we are bringing along.
• Pray for open ears to hear from heaven and open hearts to minister to these dear people.
• Pray for Burkina Faso to be established in righteousness, and that no weapon forged against her will prevail. Isaiah 54:14, 17
• Pray for strength and health for our bodies as we adjust to the time change, schedule demands and new foods.
• Pray for boldness and confidence as we speak to the women who come for the conference.
• Pray for the seeds that are planted to go deep into the hearts and produce long lasting fruit.
• Pray for peace and stability for my children back at home. I am believing for Isaiah 54:13 for them “Great will be your children's peace.”