Thank you once more for your support and prayers. I have been back in Burkina for two months now. A lot is happening.

Welcome Pierre and Asetu
Pastor Pierre, his wife Asetu, their 6 children and two camels have now joined us in our yard in Gorom-Gorom. Pierre is from the Gourmantche tribe, but has a love for the Fulani, speaks excellent Fulfulde, and is a passionate evangelist. As a converted Muslim himself, with knowledge of the Quran, he is able to relate to local people and share his own insights and experience of Christ in a meaningful way.

Several months ago, Pierre’s daughter Berta had a dream in which she saw that the family were going to move from the village where they were living. “But”, she said, “I will move first, followed by mum, and dad will only come later.” It was several weeks later that their leaders asked them to think about moving to Gorom-Gorom. And it happened exactly as Berta saw it. We believe that God has brought the family here at this time to join us in his work. Please pray for us as we seek to work together for his purposes.

Searching for Water
I have just had a quick four-day trip around half a dozen villages looking at drilling wells and putting pumps in needy areas. As you can imagine, there is no shortage of need! I was joined by Chuck from Friends in Action, who support Christian work through well-drilling. We had an excellent time, and have identified six sites for wells, which we hope to drill later in the year. At each site, the well will provide water to a needy population, and at the same time will accompany the ministry of local pastor-missionaries working there among the Fulani. If you would like to support this, please send money via World Horizons for “Well-drilling, Burkina Faso Sahel Account” .

Songs of Joy…
Psalm 126 promises that those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. We feel that God is challenging us to work for harvest after years of sowing. Abu, a Fulani friend of many years has recently given his life to Christ, and is doing really well. He regularly visits the other Fulani believers to encourage them. Another Fulani in Deou has also given his life to Christ and has been faithful at church over the last few weeks.

Pierre, Pascal, Seydou, and myself are starting an inter-denominational “mission team”, committing ourselves to meet regularly for prayer and evangelism together. I am very excited about this – to have the churches working together enthusiastically in mission is one of my passions. I recently took a car-load of local believers to the Fulani conference this month, and they came back all fired-up for Christ. We have now re-started the Fulani cell group, which Pierre is running in our yard, together with “H”, one of the local Fulani believers, and there were 6 at the first meeting. Please pray for ongoing fruit.

Other News in Brief
• Me. I am in BF until early March, when I return to the UK for a few months. We now have electricity in our yard in Gorom-Gorom, but are still waiting for a phone line. I have had an article accepted for publishing in “Christianity” magazine – keep your eyes open! I will hopefully be spending most of May in the US, so if you have potential speaking engagements for me there, feel free to let me know.
• Gorom-Gorom School. We are launching the appeal to build the Gorom-Gorom Christian primary school this Sunday, at Glenwood church, Cardiff. We have been looking at some interesting innovative designs and materials to make a school that would be really good for the students. If you would like to support the building of the school, please send money to: The Gorom-Gorom School Account, Glenwood church, Circle Way West, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff CF23 6UW, UK.
• Churches and pastors. I am spending a lot of time visiting and helping the local pastor-missionaries in our area as they move forward in the work here. We have had great opportunities to share Christ in many villages, and I am trying to find ways to help them support themselves in ministry. Part of this involves developing partnerships with churches in the west, and we had a great visit from a team from Hatteras island in the US, linked to one of the churches here, which has been a great blessing. If you are interested in such a partnership, please get in touch.
• Help… There is so much going on, I really need help. I am setting up a UK charity to help facilitate all that I am doing (I will tell you more of this later). But please pray also that I get people to work with me – ideally at least a bilingual UK-based administrator, and also a helper to accompany me in my travels and ministry.
• BF People. Steve and Charlie are doing well in Djibo, in spite of Charlie nearly missing Christmas through being bumped off her flight and sent to Togo for a couple of days. Monique is doing a lot better with her health, as long as she keeps up with the medicines. She missed one day, and deteriorated badly. It is a big cost for them to buy medicines for the rest of her life, and we are looking at how to help them in this.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers. They are invaluable.

Keith