Ryan and Jason playing in the leaves with our nephew Kellon

Shannon holding our new niece, Allie Grace Lincoln

Shannon holding Jason's cousin Sheri's new baby

We were just reflecting today on some of the awesome stuff that God has done in all this preparation to go overseas.  We have pages and pages in our new “praise the Lord” notebook where we’re recording some of the answers to prayer (so we don’t forget)…and we just cannot believe how good God has been to us!  Wow.

It also kind of occurred to us just how odd it seems that we’ve prayed so much more over these preparation months when really, we need God just as much in our everyday lives in Canada as we do in Africa!  It’s just a different place!  Why do we not utterly depend on Him and continuously record God sightings in Canada when…we have just as little control over circumstances and are just as unable to depend on ourselves here?!  I pray all that what we learn over this trip floods into our lives back in Canada (that is, of course, if God wants us in Canada long term!)

Please continue to pray for us- especially as we travel on Monday- pray for safe travels, good health, and that our luggage comes along with us! 

We will miss you all!  Please keep in touch with us and let us know what’s new in YOUR lives also.  We have a mailing address there as well:

We wanted to update a bit about Burkina Faso to help inform those praying for the nation as well as just for your curiosity-sake!

Some random facts you may not have known about Burkina Faso:

-Burkina Faso’s high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens

-recent droughts and desertification severely affect agricultural activities…and since many children are now living longer due to some improved health measures (leading to larger and larger families)- there is an even GREATER need for farmers (which most people are) to produce more crops…leading to overgrazing, soil degradation, and deforestation (as forests are cut back for wood for fire as well as for farm land)

-life expectancy at birth is only an average of 52 years!

-much of the male population migrates to neighboring countries for work- because there is such little work available

-Islam is spreading rapidly in Burkina….and there are few to NO workers among Islamic people there (such as the Fulani group)…many rich Muslims also hire young laborers and will not hire them unless they turn to Islam…since work is so limited, many are forced to comply

-few converted Muslims to Christianity attend Church and receive MUCH public harassment

-there are many disputes along borders with neighboring countries- both ethnic and territorial in nature

-in 2005- Burkina Faso was ranked country number 175 out of 177 countries (being the 2nd poorest nation in the world)

-46.4 % of the population lives below the poverty line

PRAY WITH US for this nation!  Not just for development but for their Spiritual lives in face of many obstacles!  Pray for labourers to come and work specifically among the Fulani Muslim peoples….pray for protection for the Muslim converts to Christianity.  Pray for stability, health and new means of making a living.  Pray also for better ways to do agriculture that are sustainable and do not worsen the land condition.

(Facts taken from the CIA factbook and the CIDA websites)

So it’s official- we’re really doing this whole “moving to Africa” thing!  We finished packing up our place in Surrey and have put all our stuff in storage.  Currently we are living in abbotsford in my dad’s basement until the 18th when we are flying out!  Our move went really smoothly- cause we had lots of amazing helpers!  And the place is cleaned and I’m turning the keys back over to my landlord today.  Praise God that it went so well- everything fit in our storage locker!   We are still taking care of the myriad of details with the trip- but we’re getting there! 

If you need to contact us for any reason- please feel free to e-mail and we’ll give you our address or phone number!  Although- for all of you who received our missions letter- the address while we are away is on the bottom (that’s where all our mail is sent)

shanny.brink@gmail.com

SO I started to get a bit “worried” and anxious about our trip to Africa.  What trials might we encounter?  What diseases might we be infected with?  What if…?  What if….?  But then God did something wonderful the other day.  He reminded me of why I love Him so much.  It’s my favourite thing about Him: He takes even the broken pieces of our lives, weaves them with His grace, and makes a beautiful story.  (Ginny Owens said that- the blind Christian singer).  Looking back over my life- EVEN WHEN my hope was lost, disasters struck, the ground I was walking on fell from underneath me.  When the earth shook, the sky fell, and everything I knew changed- God did something amazing in my life.  During the valleys, the deserts, the storms and trials not once did they overcome me.  God brought peace and healing.  He was my safety, my security.  So why would I be afraid of what’s to come? Because EVEN IF there are trials and sorrows, losses, and struggles, yet I MUST Praise Him because He will do something beautiful from them.  We are not to be afraid of disease, sickness, death, suffering, loss or despair because God will carry us.  You’ve got to hear this song by Ginny Owens “If you want me to.”  What a testimony!

Psalm 91 was an incredible reminder again today “This is what I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him.  For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease….if you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home…”

Remind me- friends and family- in struggles and trials of How this wonderful, beautiful God we serve will rescue us in trials, and provide us with His love and safety during life’s losses.

What a beautiful thing about You God!  Take every broken piece of our life and make it something valuable! “Just because You love me, the way that You do, I will go through the fire- if you want me to!” (Ginny Owens song)

We recently e-mailed out a 1-page update letter, about how preparations for our trip are going, and about Shannon’s knee surgery. I thought I’d post it online here for any of you would didn’t get the e-mail. So, here it is. If you’d like to get the e-mails, though, please let us know!

So my first surgery is over!  (And I can’t sleep - hence the 5:40 entry).  It was yesterday at 3 pm which meant a lot of waiting, killing time, and hunger!  I had a major coffee withdrawal headache prior to the surgery!  But the centre was super nice and the staff great….the waiting room had huge leather chairs, pictures on the wall (looked more like an insurance office or something versus a surgical centre).  The nurse took me upstairs away from J around 3:30 where I had lots of questions asked, changed etc…then the surgeon popped in and wrote on the appropriate leg (good thing).  Another surgeon came in and left, then another nurse, then the anesthetist.  Finally they came to get me…how weird- walking into the surgical room and hearing “At last…..” (the song) “my looooove has, come along….my lonely days are over”  Interesting choice of music.  There was a flurry of activitiy- IV being poked into me, the other arm being strapped down and then “you’ll start to feel a bit drowsy.” I definitely felt loopy (would be a better word).  And then before long I was waking up in the recovery room.  Although “waking up” doesn’t really describe me for the rest of the evening. 

I was loopy and out of it for the next number of hours- as the nurse chatted away with me, as she got me dressed, when Jason came in, and when they loaded me in the car. So drowsy it was irritating- just couldn’t get my bearings.  Then at home I was like “forget it- I’m going to bed.”  Only slept for an hour and then I was not really able to sleep so got up, watched a bit of 24 (DVDs we got) and then back to bed at 9:30 only now to be awake since 3:30.

Had my first self-injection last night of anti-coag- went surprisingly well.  I can actually use crutches (way better than the injury last time where Jason had to carry my leg around for the first number of days) and had no nausea PRAISE GOD! 

However- my shin has this odd looking bruise and i have no sensation there (if you touch that area I can’t feel it!)  I have some good pain drugs and such, my husband around, my mom coming today and lots of movies.  I should be fine!

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers!  All is well (so far) and I’m just glad to be done!!!

Shannon

My mom said something very profound the other day- and it helped me re-focus my vision for this missions trip.  I was reflecting on the difficulty of my job: caring (as a nurse) for people that are frankly not that easy to care for.  There are the patients that don’t do anything for themselves and just ring the call bell for ridiculous things- irritating everyone.  There are the patients that scream at us, yell at us, swear at us, hardly let us take their blood pressure, leave without completing their needed medical treatment…..there are those with deformities, disabilities and ugly conditions… the alcoholics and drug addicts, the depressed, and poor, the homeless and hairy…..how difficult it is to care for them, touch them, love them?  How much easier it is to care for the family that says “thank you” all the time.  To care for the family that gives you a card, honours the work you do, and well….are from middle class, well-to-do families.  But who is it that Christ ministered to?  He loved the unloved.  He touched the untouchables.  He healed the lepors and social outcasts.  He forgave the sins of whores and prostitutes.  It is my Jesus who loves like that.  I was talking to my mom about how I wanted to be like Mother Theresa “you see, she loved the social outcasts…she cared for the un-cared for…she touched lepors!” and my mom wisely said “you know who that is don’t you?”  And then the light went on and my soul was flooded with a new and profound love of my savior.  “It was Jesus!”  It was Jesus living through her.  It was Him- the greatest at compassion and love, the greatest at mercy and care.  He is who I want to be like- at my job, on the street, and on this missions trip.  “Lord let this trip not be about us and our glory.  I don’t want credit for leaving this life of comfort to serve you- how can I not go?  Your love compels us!  It is your love, dear Jesus that compels us.”

 Isn’t it incredible that Jesus loves us- messy humanity, like that?  I’m so thankful that I know this Jesus- and may all who read this blog come to know Him.  He is the only one who truly loves  (without reserve, with reckless abandon, all the time, in every way)….

to the ‘least’ of these we shall go with the love of our savior compelling us!

After talking to Pastor Jim, our pastor at Home Church, about our missions trip to Burkina Faso, he decided to google the town we were going to - Mahadaga. He happened to come across a site from someone who had been on a missions trip to Mahadaga, probably with SIM. He posted a number of pictures, including pictures of the medical clinic, the terrain around the SIM compound, and the church. It was really cool to look at them, and I think it’s started to make the idea of the trip a little more real for me. I can actually picture a bit better where we may actually be going now. If you’d like to check them out yourself, go to his site here.

Another cool thing about this is the fact that the guy who posted these pictures, Scott Weaver, is a computer science professor from a college in the states. So, I’ve been able to e-mail him and find out his thoughts on what computer infrastructure and work is like over there. That’s been quite interesting, and helpful!