If you aren’t looking for this West African nation, you will have trouble finding it. The airline attendant that helped us at the kiosk on the way out of Atlanta had to ask where it was. It’s a nation of approximately 16 million people that speak French and other tribal languages. 

 

Keith Shumaker: The mission work of Keith and Rebecca Shumaker is in its 6^th year in Burkina and is seeing great results.  The best way to measure them is by looking at the caliber of men he is training in the Bible College and the churches.   The response to the gospel is visible in the changes that have taken place in so many lives.

 

Bible College: The Bible College will have seven graduates this year that have completed their four year studies and are already pastoring or working in leadership positions in their churches. Konaté, Salif, Simón, Giblert, Tali, Mamadou and Rogé will be graduating. The Bible college building is approximately 70% complete and also houses the church at Cissin.

 

Churches:

·         Pastor Konaté leads the church at Cissin is currently planning a new church plant in Kaya, a city to the northeast of Ouagadougou. This church has its own land and building.

·         Pastor Tali leads the church at Tingandogo, a suburb of Ouagadougou. This church is meeting in a smaller building but will soon finish its new building on the property and will move services there.

·         Pastor Salif leads the church at the village of Roungou. This village is northeast of Ouagadougou where the people speak Mooré.

·         Pastor Mamadou leads the church at Saonré. This church has land and buildings but must get its final paperwork complete on the land title.

·         Pastor Zachary leads the church at Bassinko, a suburb of Ougadougou. The church has a large tract of land, a church building and a house for the pastor.

 

·         Pissila is a city close to the village of Roungou.

·         Koudougou is a city about 80 miles west of Ouagadougou.

·         Kaya is half way between Roungu and Ouagadougou.

 

Partners in the mission: Contact David Lundy at david@mjvi.org to find out how you can make a trip to Burkina Faso, or help out with the work there. Also go to www.theharvest.net to contact Keith Shumaker.

Viola, (pronounced vwa-la) became one of my all time favorite words last week. Webster’s online dictionary defines it as expressing satisfaction, calling attention to, or the presentation of something as if it appeared by magic. Like we took some graham crackers, marsh mallows and chocolate and viola!  we got smores.

 

The French speaking people of Burkina Faso use this word liberally in conversation. There may be an English equivalent but I don’t know what it is. Plus, it is just a fun word to say. You can draw out the second syllable, put your hands out and smile. They will do the same back to you.  Its fun and its hard to not smile when you say it.   The word has incredible resiliency also.   They don’t get tired of hearing it and I didn’t get tired of saying it.

 

The best way to experience the word viola is to take a trip to Burkina Faso West Africa. You can fly into the capital city of Ouagadougou (Wa-ga-doo-goo) and visit the Shumaker Family. (www.theharvest.net )   Keith and Rebecca and their four children serve as church planting missionaries in the city and in the neighboring villages.  It is common for Keith to translate for English speakers, then a second translation happen into a tribal language.  My wife and I and another of our  board members, David Lundy, and his wife Anne spent last week there with the Shumakers.

 

Here is how it works. Get a passport, call the travel agent, help them find Burkina Faso on the map, pay the money and viola, you will have a mission experience that will change your life.

 

 

Check out the work in Burkina Faso at www.theharvest.net and also at www.mjvi.org/jv_opportunities 

Better yet, what are you doing to raise your value in the market place? It doesn’t matter if you are an employee, a self employed contractor or a business person, these personal investment strategies will raise your market value.

 

 

 

3.     Become a good listener and learn to understand what the other person wants. It may or may not be something we can provide but mostly we never know because we don’t listen. We spend most of our listening time formulating our responses, readying our credentials or thinking about someone else we just saw walk into the room.  People that listen – worth more.

 

4.      Become solution oriented. Every career, country or age has its share of problems. Anyone can find them and be critical of things. Leaders are solution oriented and bring positive, thoughtful solutions when they point out problems.  Problem solvers – worth a lot

 

5.      Last but not least, take responsibility for your work, and most especially, mistakes. People are usually willing to forgive you for mistakes of the head. Those are mistakes you make where you just messed up and did something wrong. Others are not so willing to forgive mistakes of the heart. The ones where you try to cover up your mistake or blame someone else.   People that don’t take responsibility – worth less.

 

Employers will tell you that even at what we deem to be a high unemployment rate of 8.5%, high worth individuals like the ones described in these five points are difficult to find. 

 

When they are found, they get hired.

check out www.coldriverdev.com