Tree of Life

   Every day Mari and I go on a walk. This is a time when we can get out beyond our "comfort-zone" of hanging out with Jesus in our personal time and perfecting our personal walk with Him. This is a time when we can share our love for our Jesus with the community that we live in. A time when we can talk about all the things that we are dealing with and a time away from the compound that confines us on a regular basis.
   On our walk we pass by what we call the "Tree of Life". At this tree there is a large portion of dirt because the kids use it to play futbol and gather and the adults gather with them as well at different times of the day. We call it the tree of life because no matter when you pass by it there is always life going on below its beautiful branches: young, old, and people in the middle.
  Today was a special day. We got to go beyond our gate and our compound that has unfortunately confined us for much too long of a time, partially because of circumstances beyond our control. But non-the-less today we got out for a long period of time! Every day we also stop to buy mangos and occasionally a loaf of bread. The people who run the store always know when we are coming that that is what we need! So we went to buy a loaf of bread. We have new Muslim neighbors that live behind us so we thought we should welcome them to our community (even if technically it isnt our community) so we gave them a loaf of bread to welcome them to their new home! After "conversing" for a bit (Mari did the talking as I know very VERY minimal French) we continued on our journey.
   It didnt take long and we were finally at the Tree of Life again. While there we ended up with a group of about 20 kids just hanging out with us. It was so so so much fun! We painted the little girls nails and then we played games. We also handed out little pieces of paper that said "Dieu et nous t'aime" which very simply says "God and we love you". We taught them ring around the rosie and "bef, bef, matonge" or cow, cow, goat. It was probably the best day and experience I have had since arriving here in Burkina. I love love LOVE kids and just hanging out with other people and making conversation. God truly blessed us with this experience.
   The best part of this experience though, isnt the "satisfaction" of going out beyond the gate and getting out of the compound or playing and hanging out with the kids. The satisfaction of this experience is getting to spread the love of our Jesus with those in our community. Even if we dont verbally tell everyone that Jesus loves them or that somebody died so that they could live, we can show it through our actions. Even if we cannot speak the Dagara or French language that our friends in Burkina do, we can communicate with them through His love and His grace. He lets us be in community with these beautiful children for just a little while so that He can reveal to them His love for their lives, talents, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses alike; just as He will reveal those things to you if only you ask Him to! How great is our God?! :) I hope and pray that He reveals his marvelous love and grace to you today!