Back Home Now

I have been home for 2 days now and have probably slept about an average of 14-16 hours a day. Over these last 2 days, I have felt tired, angry, depressed and withdrawn from my family and society. I feel like I am a foreigner in my own land. I am constantly processing what I have just experienced. This trip to Africa has changed me. I feel different like I have gained something different, but also like I left something back in Africa. I am processing to figure this out, and at this moment I am not sure what has changed.

I know I have met some awesome brothers and sisters in Christ who have become life long friends. Their example of faith, servanthood and love towards others is very inspiring. They live out their faith in a big way everyday. They serve the same God I serve, but a much bigger God. Bigger than I often think is possible. They totally depend on him for everything. They are not comfortable like we are in the US, where we feel we can depend on ourselves.

Since I am still processing, I thought I would start out with the story of Pastor Michel. He is the leader of a huge church in Ouaga, Burkina Faso which his father started. He is the founder of the Village of Hope, where we stayed. This man has huge faith in God. He has never ending energy and joy of the Lord. He is very humble, delegates like Moses learned to do, and shares the vision God has given him whenever he can.

Pastor Michel's Story


When Pastor Michel Ouedraogo graduated from seminary some 25 years ago he carried a burden for his people and the transformation of his nation (Burkina Faso). Traveling village to village on a bicycle, then a mo-ped, he presented the message of Jesus Christ through a film-strip projector which he carried strapped to the back of the bicycle. In the beginning, the elders in the village of Banken asked him to leave, but he persisted in returning to bring hope to the village.

Pastor Michel, with his wife Lydia were saddened by the many children in the village who had no opportunity to know Christ or to improve their lives, so they asked the elders if they could take one child and educate her. The elders agreed and gave them one little girl. When the Ouedraogos received her, she was dirty and sickly with a runny nose and a bloated stomach from malnutrition.

The elders in Banken were soon able to see a big change in the little girl the Michel and Lydia called Sarah. She was cared for and loved like all of the other kids in the Ouedraogo family. She was clean. Her health improved. She showed that she was smart and an eager learner in school. Today, Sarah has completed medical training, and gives leadership to one of the medical clinics started by Pastor Michel. She is married, and has beautiful children.

Sarah’s transformation was so amazing that the Banken elders asked if Michel and Lydia could take more children. The idea was daunting, but the Ouedraogos believed they take more children…and the Village of Hope was born.

Today over 400 children from 15 villages are housed, fed, and educated at the Village of Hope, returning home during holidays. The school day begins early with Chapel every morning at 5:00 am. Morning chores are a part of the routine, too. The kids are learning so well that they consistently place in the top three on the national exams. Some have progressed through to middle school, so Pastor Michel has added facilities for that. Within a few years there will be need for vocational training for some, and university for others.

Another remarkable part of the story is that when the children have returned home for holidays, they have wanted a place to go to church on Sundays. Parents and elders in several of the villages have seen much change in the kids, so they have asked Pastor Michel to send a pastor to their village to start a church. The villages are now being transformed by the kids.