155 Days in Burkina and 155 Reasons to Be Thankful!

Where to start? 

What began on June 19, 2012 during the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans came to an unexpected ending 2 years, 4 months, and 27 days later when our family boarded the plane in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to return to the US. So, where to start? Well, we start and finish with our deepest THANKS!…with many life lessons, many rich relationships, and many impacting experiences…and much, much thanks!

Thank You, Calling One,

for calling us and moving my heart at the Southern Baptist Convention
that Tuesday in New Orleans!

Thank You, Lord, 

for leading us to Shattering Darkness Ministries via First Baptist Vivian!

Thank You, our Creator, 

for making us a part of the family of First Baptist Vivian in the first place!!!

Thank You, God, 

for allowing me to participate in FB Vivian's 2013 Burkina Team with Ms. Paulette Holt and the others on that team and to catch a glimpse of the amazing work
You are doing among the Dagara and Lobi peoples!

Thank You, King Jesus, 

for Ms. Lynn Kennedy and the work You began with her
and the ministry You continue to do through her in Southwest Burkina!

Thank You, Sovereign One, 

for leading us to join with the ministry of Shattering Darkness
when You did, how You did, and why You did. 

Thank You, Faithful One, 

for renting our house at the right time, and thank You for all the lessons we learned
through the many prayers prayed and the many who prayed them!

Thank You, On-Time One, 

for getting us to Burkina Faso inside the open window
just prior to the Ebola crisis hitting West Africa!

Thank You, Our Protector, 

that You have shielded Burkina Faso thus far from being infected with the virus!
Please continue that protection and heal the infected nations!

Thank You, Our Provider, 

for providing us such amazing support by our brothers and sisters in Christ
and our friends and family in the US!

Thank You, Our God Who Hears Our Prayers, 

for hearing the many prayers for our safety and our health.
The girls and me only experienced one brief minor stomach sickness,
and, other than a cold, Tracy stayed well the entire time!

Thank You, Generous One, 

for the house you blessed us with in Diébougou
and the Christian guards who helped to keep us safe.

Thank You, Jesus, 

for my opportunity to visit an important ministry partner (for FB Vivian)
up in northern Burkina.

Thank You, our Father, 

for all the experiences our girls had! What a gift that time was for them!!!

Thank You, Kind One, 

for the gift of our puppy, Skipper, and the joy that little dog brought to us
during our short time together. Thank You for providing the perfect home for him
when it was time for us to go.

Thank You, Saving One, 

for the opportunity to share the Gospel and my testimony through an interpreter
and to be a part of leading 5 people to pray the sinner's prayer.
Please continue Your awesome work in them!

Thank You, God Who Loves All Peoples, 

for the opportunity to befriend 3 muslims at a local grocery store
and to share You with them!

Thank You, Wonderful One, 

for the vibrant worship of Your people during Sunday and Wednesday services.
Thank you for songs in French and Dagara,
and for the jubilant universal language of dance!

Thank You, Good Shepherd, 

for the amazing shepherds of your people in the Shattering Darkness churches.
Thank You for their devotion both to You and to Your people and for Your Word!

Thank You, Language Maker, 

for the blessing of studying French and picking up some Dagara along the way.

Thank You, Never Changing One, 

for the opportunity to learn a new lifestyle: hand washing dishes and laundry outside; learning to make apple pie and tortillas and pancakes from scratch with Burkinabé ingredients. Without a doubt, our apple pies made there were the best we have ever had!

Thank You, Great Comforter, 

for helping us through the difficult days of home sickness and culture stress.
Thank You for showing us that we can live in a 3rd world country. And thank You for also showing us that it was OK for us to cook up French fries, to make pizza on traditional bread, and to live in a close-to-Western style house. 

Thank You, Friend-Giver, 

for giving our girls wonderful friends while we were there.

Thank you, also, for blessing us with the friendships of our tutors, our guards,
pastors and lay leaders, and even some people from within the greater community of Diébougou…even without knowing a lot of French. THANK YOU!

Thank You, Our Maker, 

for making a way for us to know amazing people like Ms. Lynn Kennedy,
Patrice and Celine Hien, Pascal and Maddo Somda, Pastor Marcel, Pastor Bill Mitchell, Pastor Ken Hucks, the Shattering Darkness Board, Christian, Victor, Mimi, Gabriel, André, Mme. Irene, Mme. Margaritte, the ministry center young adults group, and so many others!!!

And thank YOU! 

We thank all of YOU who are reading this post, who have supported us and loved us
and prayed for us from the beginning until now. None of these blessings, gifts, photos,
and our previous posts would have been possible without you!

Our thanks goes on and on and on…………

In God's goodness and timing, He brought us to Burkina Faso to work with an amazing ministry called Shattering Darkness. In God's wisdom and timing, He brought us home to take care of our family and to continue following after Him here in the US. 

Going into it, we could never have imagined that we would be heading home for unforeseen special family reasons. However, God knew. 

Though it was only 5 months, our journey of the last 2+ years, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was God's will for this Manning family and fulfilled His purposes for us during that time. 

We learned so much about our Heavenly Father's provision, sovereignty, and protection! 

We learned so much about how God moves through the prayers of His people. 

We learned that sometimes what we want to do and what God wants for us are 2 different things. Why? Because He sees the BIG picture. He knew our time would be limited in Burkina, so it was His best for us to study French in our place of ministry and not in the capital as we had originally planned. He also protected the girls from the political turmoil that the country went through recently. If it had been my own will, we would have been studying French in Ouagadougou (Burkina's capital), the center of the recent protests and upheaval! God knew, and He protected us. He knew that we needed to spend as much time as possible there with the people and ministry of Shattering Darkness. And then He knew when and why He would release us to return home when we did. 

Now, there lies many unknowns and wonderings before us…and yet God knows each one of them and will help us and guide us just as He did during our journey leading up to our June 12th departure for West Africa. He was faithful then. He is faithful now. And He will continue to be faithful in the days to come. Thank you for your prayers for our family as we prayerfully move forward. 

WE LOVE YOU AND PRAISE GOD THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ON THE JOURNEY WITH US!

Note: This post DOES NOT CLOSE THIS BLOGSPOT. Our journey continues, and we will keep you posted.