“Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:18)

About 600 years before Christ, Habakkuk faced a terrible situation. He had been warned by God that Judah, because of their disobedience, would be invaded and deported by the Babylonians and the country would be destroyed. But despite this, Habakkuk decided to rejoice in the Lord.

We certainly did not experience the same situation like he did. Therefore, a year after this overwhelming pandemic, which revealed the whole world’s limits, we can declare that the Lord, the only Master of times and circumstances in the midst of this pandemic, preserved all His goodness to us. Yes, the Lord has been good to us. So, like Habakkuk, we rejoice at the faithfulness of God and the extraordinary hope that He has given us in Christ. In this letter, I would like to share with you some of the blessings for which we rejoice and give thanks to God.

By His grace, my family and I are doing well so far. God protects us and keeps us in our many travels across the country. The church is also doing well. Not a single member has been infected with the coronavirus although nationwide, the number of diagnosed cases was increasing every week. Our meetings were continuing in an atmosphere of peace and thanksgiving to the Lord, but we continue to wear mufflers and keep hand washing when we meet.

In Sakoula, we ended 2020 with the celebration of Christmas and New Year’s Eve with thanksgiving to the Lord Who has preserved His goodness to us during this year. At Christmas, 9 people were baptized and joined the active members of the church. Among the baptized are Asseta and her daughter whom Naomi had met at our well 3 years ago and this contact resulted in the salvation of that old woman and her daughters. It was very moving when she told the congregation how God brought them from darkness to His light and from death to life. All praises to our Lord for His works.

We started the 2021 year with the topic: “Be a fruitful disciple of Christ!” (John 15:8), and this year, the focus is on evangelism. So, we are already blessing the Lord for what He has done. We have gotten in this first quarter 5 adults, new believers, who regularly attend the church meetings every week. We praise God Who adds to His church those who are saved! We also see many church members growing in their faith and being very engaged in evangelism and other church activities. We are very encouraged by that.

The women’s vocational training center is doing great, too. God sent 3 new women who have joined the program. With the support of the Women’s Ministry of Northside Baptist Church in Elkhart, IN, we were able to purchase 2 knitting machines and the teachers started training how to use these machines. We express our gratitude to the members of the Women’s Ministry for their faithful support. May the Lord continue to bless you richly in Jesus’ Name!

In our last news, we shared with you our burden regarding the need for a new well for our village of Sakoula. Here is an opportunity for me to thank all those who took this need to heart, who prayed, and financially supported this project. Our special thanks to Grace Baptist Church in Marion, NY for their invaluable support for this project. May the Lord bless you all in return for the efforts and sacrifices that you made! We have not yet gathered the full need to realize the project, but we are very close and hope that with the help of the Lord, we will be able to realize it very soon!

If at Sakoula, there are encouraging signs in the ministry, it is not the same at Bigtogo. Indeed, since the beginning of the year, the church has been going through difficult times. Many children from Catholic families have been prevented by their parents from coming to worship. Several have been threatened and even punished. So for fear of being excluded from their family, many children stopped attending Sunday school; but their hearts are still there. So, our team came up with a new strategy to get around the obstacle. Every Wednesday, we have a school support meeting, which consists of supervising the pupils in mathematics and in English. This gives us the opportunity to keep in touch with them and to continue teaching them the Word of God. The meeting begins with prayer time and Bible study before separating the mathematics and English classes. God continues His work and we believe that over time, these children will be
strengthened and ready to live out their faith regardless of the oppositions. Please keep them and Pastor Yonli with his family in your daily prayers!

Prayer Requests:

1. Please keep praying for the security situation in our country. Terrorist attacks are still frequent. Pray that God will deliver our nation from this scourge.
2. Also continue to pray for the health issue in the country. May God heal Burkina Faso from this Covid-19 and its disasters.
3. Pray that God will provide $1,400.00 that is still needed to pay for the well drilling.
4. Pray for the persecuted children whose parents prevent them from going to church meetings in Bigtogo so that their faith will not backslide, but that the Word sown in their hearts during the school support classes will bear fruit
in their lives.

Pastor Lompo K. Robert and Naomi