November 2007: Phil spent five days in the nation of Burkina Faso, immediately to the north of Togo. The drive from Lome to Ouagadougou took twelve hours, but the trip was well worth the long drive!
Over 150 people attended the opening night of our Children’s Ministries Seminar and heard the powerful message about why God loves kids. Around thirty Sunday school teachers and children’s church leaders continued the seminar, learning new and creative storytelling techniques.
Phil was blessed to be able to visit the crumbling remains of the home built for the first Assemblies of God missionaries in Burkina Faso. It was a very humbling experience to see what those early pioneer missionaries sacrificed to bring the Gospel to this part of Africa. He also had the occasion to visit several Assemblies of God schools and a camping facility run by the Assemblies of God.
Probably the most exciting result of the trip to Burkina was a new relationship with Pasteur Etienne KONKOBO, the National Children’s Ministries Director for the Assemblies of God of Burkina Faso. We pray that through our relationship with Brother KONKOBO, we will have open doors of opportunity to bless the children of Burkina Faso.
November 2007: Phil returned for five more days of intense teacher training in Cotonou, the capital city of the nation of Benin. During this visit, he first spent two days teaching 80-100 Sunday school teachers how to teach children more creatively. Following the seminar, he was able to spend two more days of intense, one-on-one training, teaching some of the regional Children’s ministries leaders how to teach this seminar- in other words, training trainers!
When he left, he was able to leave the Benin Assemblies of God Children’s Ministries Department with a kit containing all the props and supplies they would need to continue hosting Children’s Ministries training seminars for other Sunday school teachers. The leaders that Phil trained were then tasked by Pastor Festus SAMBIENI - the national children’s director - to start seminars in each of their regions using the training kit.
We praise God for the open door to help build children’s ministries in Benin. We have been invited to return to Benin in January 2008, to train more trainers in a more remote part of the country.
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The Malcolms
Missionaries to the Children of West Africa