Day 7 – 9, Ouagadougou

I did not preach the first night in Ouagadougou, the plight of the believers remaining in the bus remained long in Bolga much taken up in waiting for the driver of the onion trike to be dismissed from the hospital to accompany them in the police station for everything to begin. Though the cart driver did not possess a license, the bus driver did not possess and “international” driver’s license and as he was from Burkina Faso, and not Ghana, this was considered in as much error as the cart driver. As the cart driver was the one wounded, someone had to pay for the hospital fees. It was finally agreed that the church would pay for the man’s bills at the hospital, even though technically, he was the one who hit the bus. Apparently, the police had noticed there was a “white man” in the midst, and had assumed that he was the pastor. Bro Gilbert said they probably thought they could get more money. It was probably a good thing Bro Gilbert sent us on in Bro Israel’s car. It may have cost more had we not departed earlier. So the police charged the church 300 Cedis for their fees, and the church gave the cart drive 120 Cedis, and promised to send 400 more Cedis by MoneyGram the next day from Ouaga. This is a combined total of 820 Cedis, and equivalent to around 250 USD. Or something close to that.

Bro Gilbert arrived with his car at Bro Israel’s house around 7pm, and we commenced with dinner. I say commenced because of the French influence I have been under for the past few days! We had a fine meal of pepper chicken and fries. I hadn’t really eaten all day, giving my stomach a break, and I was very ready to eat! It felt very good, and the food tasted nice. The rest of the believers in the bus still had not arrived as the bus goes slower than the car through all the traffic, the border crossing with immigration, as well as all of the frequent speed bumps and police checkpoints.

I slept well that night in the comfort of Bro Israel’s house. The air conditioner worked very well and so I was cool and comfortable. Actually, I had to turn the AC off at some point in the night as I only had a sheet to cover with and it got a little cold!

The next morning I discover that two Nigerian Brothers are also staying with me at Bro Israel’s house. Bro EmmanJo, whom I wrote of previously, and Bro Matthew. (pronounced more like Mattchew) We had breakfast together and enjoyed fellowship and discussion around the Word. We told testimonies and related experiences of preaching in different places and encountering different doctrines. It was a fun morning, and after what felt like 2 full days of not much speaking, it was so good to have fellowship in English.

The rest of the day past with preparing for service, calling AnnaMay after morning had happened in the US, and lunch.

Service that evening went very well, and I preached passionately on the title “No One Must Know” about the secret sins of the heart. I invoked some sarcasm and humor into the sermon. It took Bro Gilbert my translator a few sentences to understand what I was doing, and finally he started chuckling as he spoke and conveyed to the people what I was doing to make a point. The countenance of the believers visibly changed and lightened as just invoking a little humor set them more at ease to listen as hopefully they felt more akin to me as their brother!
Notwithstanding the humor while laying down the foundation, my sermon ended in a seriousness starkly contrasted to the initial humor. I spoke on how if there was anything in their hearts that they shuddered at the thought of anyone else knowing, that it was by that thing they were bound. God desired to set them free by HIS truth.

At dinner at Bro Israel’s house, a brother commented that it was a very “healing” service. I was grateful to hear this report.

The following day proceeded much like the day prior. Bro Jeff arrived after having dealt with all the particulars of wrapping up the convention. He is happy to be with us, if he is with us in Burkina, he cannot be pulled on by the people in Northern Ghana so he is able to get some rest. It is good to have him with us of course, and it aids us in some interpretation with our hosts as Bro Israel speaks “small small” English and his wife does not speak any.

I have discovered something at Bro Israel’s house! Comfy chairs! Chairs and couches to relax in, so you don’t have to sit in the bed or at a dining table chair. Soo nice to stretch out and throw your leg over the side and be lazy! I haven’t found any chocolate yet, but I’ll take the comfy chair!

I decided to teach this evening and what I figured would be the following service as well, on the subject of “A Concise History of Mystery Babylon and You”. I have slides for this in English, but the people speak French…the pictures will be nice, but what about all the quotes? No problem, most of the quotes are from the Church Age Book, and this has been translated to French. It’s easy to go line by line and figure it out, so I spent most of the afternoon creating a French version of my slides. I figured everyone would be so ecstatic that I went to this effort! I imagined them patting me on the back, and being so impressed. Yeah, no comments from anyone on that! Ah well, the inflated pride balloon has been pricked, and the air is all gone!

I did spend about a half hour or so with a young brother from the church who came by. He had questions about learning IT related stuff as he is in school for networking. He also had a few life questions to ask and I tried to help him as best I could. He is a good young man, and I pray God blesses him.

So the service went well, everyone was blessed by the teaching. I made the point that Cush HAD to know the truth because honestly, how many people really could have been alive on the Earth when he was 20 years old? Maybe 20? So the idea of a God who judged the Earth with a flood could not have been in doubt at all, so why does he begin to form the roots of pagan idolatry? It must be because he wants to. I told them, we know the truth, and if we leave it, it is not because we are unsure, but only because that is our desire. This point seemed to be very pivotal and many brethren commented on it.

Of course we ended the evening with some food and fellowship at Bro Israel’s house.

The next day was our “tour” day. Even though I had seen all the places on the tour the previous trip, there had been some small developments at the church land that it was good to see. I think it was mostly just something to do and spend time with the brethren. It was good fellowship. Poor EmmanJo was the brunt of all the teasing as he asked one of the sisters at the church to be his wife the prior evening after service. They have known each other for some time, and had been making arrangements to formalize the relationship. Bro Gilbert and Bro Jeff were relentless in light-hearted banter with our brother.

After the tour we ate our late lunch and prepared for the service. Bro EmmanJo wanted a video with me telling my testimony of how God has dealt with my life. He wanted to do it “Twentieth Century Prophet” style with two minister brothers interviewing me. That felt kinda funny at first, and kinda cool by the time we finished. It was supposed to be 20 minutes, but I’m long winded and it was 35. Maybe I’ll post a link to it when Bro. EmmanJo gets it up on his YouTube channel.

I taught the last half of my notes this evening. We also told the people about the Pillar of Fire pictures that I had procured for them from VGR. On my previous trip, a brother had asked me if he could have the Pillar of Fire picture that I carry in my Bible to use while I preach. Since my wife had given it to me as a gift, I felt I could not part with it, but I resolved to provide him with one in the future. I had been meaning to send a box of the pictures to the church, but never got around to it, so I knew when I went there I had to bring some with me. Bro Gilbert is taking care of distributing one picture per family, but I wanted to give the brother his picture.

I always enjoy this little church in Ouagadougou, fine fellowship, a good balanced church, and a comfortable place to rest after the convention. We are leaving in the morning for Abidjan, Ivory Coast a place I’ve never been to before.