I even love the smell of this place!

Wow guys; seriously wow; I REALLY forgot how much I love this place and these people... before I get too much into how awesome these last few days have been though I want to share this out of Aug. 23 Streams in the Desert mainly just because I think it' s great:

"By faith Abraham... obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going." Hebrews 11:8
"Too many of us want to see our way through a new endeavor before we will even start. Imagine if we could see our way from beginning to end. How would we ever develop our Christian gifts? Faith hope and love cannot be picked from trees like ripe apples. Remember after the words 'in the beginning' (Gen. 1:1) comes the word 'God'. It is our first step of faith that turns the key in the lock of His powerhouse. It is true that God helps those who help themselves but He also helps those who are helpless. So no matter your circumstance you can depend on Him EVERYTIME. Waiting on God brings us to the end of our journey much faster than our feet. Many an opportunity is lost while we deliberate after He has said 'Move!'"
I liked this passage because I see it as 2 really important things: 1. Wait for God; His timing is perfect so don't get ahead of Him! and 2. When He says move I need to move. So good and so challenging!

Well gang let me tell you just a couple of reasons why God is SO GOOD today:
1. By God's grace we've got a healthy team. Everyone here on our team is holding up and doing great.
2. Let me just tell you how humbling it is to be part of such an AWESOME team that truly the Lord has assembled for this trip. We are having an awesome time so far; tons of laughs and I REALLY cant tell you how pumped I'm getting for the actual kids camp to start tomorrow night (and goes through Sunday)!
3. God delights in the details and He covers even the ones we forget as we prep for this camp.
4. He answers prayer! Thank you so much for your prayers back home! They are felt and they're working.
5. Mom thanks for sharing Phil. 2:1-2; so great: "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ if any comfort or love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind." (sorry i can't find the comma button on this keyboard and that verse had lots o commas :) ); this verse completely reminded me that the real joy the joy that comes from the Lord is a result of J.O.Y. Putting Jesus first; Others second; and Yourself last. Boy I pray that I do that on this trip!

So just a quick recap of the last 2 days as it's waaayyy late and i need to get to bed :)
Yesterday: We got to go buy enough Sorgum (kind of like maise or corn) to feed approx 40 families for one month; praise God! We also got to use the money that many generous people donated to buy 62 of the newly translated Moore Bible (the native language here in Burkina) which we will most likely give to Pastor Daniel to distribute as he best knows the need of this incredibly important gift; the Word of God. Pastors we are told often will save for over a year for one of these Bibles! We also had an awesome dinner at Pastor Daniel's house last night with his whole family eating the native food Sagabo (along with lots of other good stuff) and we had a blast.
Today: We did a lot of camp planning but also got 2 great and unexpected visits from Pastor Marcel (the saying around here is 'everybody loves Marcel' cause he's awesome) and a visit from 2 of Daniel's sons Asher and Nathan. We introduced them to the games of dodgeball and UNO; it was sweet. OK for serious it's time for bed. more later but I love you guys. Thanks for reading and thanks for praying!
In Him
Ryan