We made it! But it was no cake walk.

After 9 days of travel (including 5 days in Ouagadougou), we’ve finally arrived in Mahadaga.  It wasn’t easy.  For a really fun play-by-play, you have to read Liz’s blog post about our travels out here.

Check out:  http://themahadagaroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/on-the-road-again/

It gives a pretty good picture of what we went through to get here.  Truth be told, just about everything here is as crazy as that story, so we don’t even think about writing stuff like that anymore.  It’s great to have Liz around…she’s a great writer, and she can still see stuff through American eyes.  I’d be tempted to just write, “we finally arrived in Mahadaga”, and leave it at that.

Caleb is especially excited to be here.  He remembers it well, and feels right at home.  But he’s scared we’ll leave again.  He says, “Daddy, can we stay here now?”  Poor kid’s been on the road for 8 months.

So far, we’ve been visited by most of our friends, neighbors and acquaintances.  It’s been a busy time around our house, answering the door, shaking hands, accepting chickens, remembering names, etc.  It’s been tough to deal with the boxes of stuff in storage or transported across the ocean.

“Florence, where’s the silverware?!”  You get the idea.

Oh, and not to rub it in, but we’re so glad we came to Burkina for the weather!  While most of our friends and family are sweatin’ it out in PA, we maxed out at 75 degrees today…that’s right.  Cool and rainy.  But what that means for us solar-electricity users – no sun = empty batteries.  So, we chose to have our spaghetti dinner by candlelight.

[caption id="attachment_652" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A nice, quiet dinner by candlelight"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_653" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Liz wasn't happy about the death of our left-rear tire"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_654" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=""Le Gourmand" (the glutton) - From his car seat, Joel could help himself to 3 baguettes of bread that were meant for Mahadaga"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_655" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A Welcome-Back present - he's escaped twice, but he's tied up now in our chicken coop"][/caption]

Driving in Ouaga

Sticker shock

Okay, we've told you before about how expensive things are in Ouaga.  Here are some new examples (and no, we didn't buy all of these):

• Salsa (8 oz.) - $14, and it was tiny!  Dale will just have to wait until Flo gets a chance to make some homemade salsa.


• Maple Syrup (14 oz.) - $8....wish our Canadian friends would send us a care package...


• Box of chocolate truffles - $60 - I know it's European chocolate, but still!


• Pringles potato chips are now up to $6 a can.  It's home made popcorn for us from now on.


• 200g of Philadelphia cream cheese (about 7 oz.) - $10.  Cream cheese desserts are a big time splurge (hence the reason we enjoyed the cheesecakes back home the last few months!)


• a pack of 6 "kiddie size" Dannon natural yogurt cups costs $7.  We buy a pack every so often to have a fresh starter to make our own.


• We were surprised to find boneless chicken breast.  It was marked at $15 for 3 breasts.  I think we'll just keep having our chickens butchered by our day guard, cooked by the pressure cooker, and deboned by a househelper.;)


• We were pleasantly surprised to find mozzarella cheese at $6.25 per pound, so we stocked up on that.  Normally we get it at anywhere between $9 and $12 per pound.


• But the best deal of the day was the shortening.  It was two for the price of one today, so we only paid $15 for two 48-ounce cans.

Welcome to Ouagadougou

Our first full day here...

We had a power outage this morning. That's normal. Then, we had a water outage. I was standing in the shower with my hair full of shampoo. Sigh...welcome to Ouagadougou.  :-)

Safe Arrival

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso safely early this morning. It was a long and somewhat grueling voyage, but we're pleased that we made it without any major incidents and, to top it all off, all of our bags arrived with us! We had two flights and both were overnight, which made the traveling more tiring. We had about a 14-hour layover in Casablanca, Morocco, but the airline put us up in a hotel for the day and gave us vouchers for our meals. That at least gave us a chance to catch a few hours of better quality sleep in between flights since none of us sleep especially well in an airplane. The process of travelling generally involves a lot of hurry-up and wait, so it can catch up with you. Burkina Faso is four hours ahead of the US East Coast time, so our internal clocks will need to adjust over the next few weeks. The boys didn't do especially well on the flights, but then, there wasn't much we could expect considering how tired the poor little troopers were. They actually had the hardest time with the airport waiting times than on the actual plane. Regardless, we're here and we managed to get a few hours sleep again earlier this afternoon and are feeling a bit more human this evening. The real test will come this evening as we try to sleep through the night.

It does feel good to be back. Better than I honestly expected it to as I thought about it in the air the last several days. It feels good to know this place and these people. There's a sense of rest that comes with falling back into appropriate behavioral patterns, especially for the kids. In some ways, Caleb, especially, seems more at home here, and I find myself relaxing more as I stop feeling responsible for keeping a tight rein on him. It also feels good to have a more clear sense of purpose now that we're stepping back into our "jobs". The weather seems to be welcoming us as well. It was only 81 degrees when we arrived this morning and the temps have remained pretty comfortable. It is pretty humid, though, but running a fan or two takes care of the worst of the sticky feeling.

We'll spend this week in Ouagadougou, the capital, resting and picking up groceries to take back with us to Mahadaga. Saturday (August 7th) we will drive to Mahadaga and start settling back into our house! Thank you for your prayers during this whole process. We are grateful that things have gone so smoothly thus far!
[caption id="attachment_630" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="We had 15 pieces of checked luggage (including Liz\'s things). We\'re so grateful that all of them made it safely to Ouaga!"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_629" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Our carry-on bags. Caleb and Joel were very serious about having their own bags to carry on to the plane."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_628" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Excited to see the air planes!"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_631" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Saying goodbye to our parents at the airport."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_632" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="View of the city of Casablanca from our hotel room."][/caption]

Summer 2010 Newsletter

Johnsons Summer 2010 newsletter

Please click on the link above to view our Summer 2010 newsletter.

Hi friends!

It's been a long time since we've sent out a newsletter. We've been in the US on home assignment since December and have found ourselves busier than we had imagined! On the plus side, though, we've been able to see most of you face-to-face!

Our time in the US is drawing to a close. As I write this, we have exactly 2 weeks left. Our plane leaves from JFK on July 31st. We have lots to do before then, but aside from all the packing, cleaning, and last minute stuff, we're feeling pretty ready to go back. Praise the Lord that we've been able to get enough rest despite the busyness to be able to look forward to our return to Burkina. We do miss our friends over there and we miss having a more "settled" pace of life, even if it is very busy! We can't escape the call the Lord has placed on our hearts to be in Burkina, and our hearts aren't fully at peace until we're back doing what we're supposed to be doing!

We will miss you, though! It's always with a "torn" feeling that we have to say our goodbyes because we miss sharing in your every day lives. But this time around, we feel less grief and more thankfulness at having had this opportunity to reconnect. You have all welcomed us and loved us thoroughly while we've been in the US and we will take those memories with us, knowing that we have a great team behind us here in the US. What an encouragement! And we hope you will consider entering "our world" sometime...we would love to welcome you to our Burkina Faso home someday!

One last thought as we leave you...we always crave communication. It helps us stay linked to the reality of things happening back here in the US. We will work hard to send you regular updates, and hope that you will think of us from time to time and send us a note! Did you know that in addition to the quarterly newsletters like this one, we also send out monthly prayer letters? If you aren't getting those and are interested in receiving them, please let us know! We also changed our website. Last fall we began our own blog site. So if you've been checking our old website and not seeing any updates for a long time, try looking up the new blog at www.johnson.ergatai.com. And if you're not already connected to us through facebook, look us up! It's one more tool to help us all stay in touch! With all these options, we hope there's no excuse for anyone to forget about us!;)

Love,

Dale, Florence, Caleb and Joel

The Wild, Wild, Wild West (Part 1)

Over the last several weeks as we’ve prepared for this last road trip out west before we head back to Burkina Faso, it’s not been uncommon for us to hear the comment: “Wow, you are so courageous to try that with two little boys” or “That’s certainly an adventure!” We got many of the same comments when we visited Europe on our way back to the US in November/December, as well as when we first set off for Burkina Faso three years ago. I think it’s somewhat safe to interpret many of those comments as “You must be crazy!” Maybe we are a little crazy. I can’t help but think of the stories Dale’s parents have told us about his great-grandfather and grandfather Johnson, both of whom had the “travel bug”. I don’t know so much about my own family background, but I think it’s safe to say that this “travel bug” did not come from my mother! I always chalked it up to my experiences growing up overseas as a child, but perhaps there’s more of the “pioneer” blood in me than I realize. Regardless, as we’ve traveled the US these last few weeks, I can’t help but get lost in contemplation over how it must’ve been for the people who first came here and found this a strange land. Especially as we’ve travelled west, an area I’ve never been before, I find myself remembering various stories I’ve read about the pioneers and I have to wonder about the character and the spirit of those people to have dared such a “crazy” adventure as the one we now take so easily in a car with a couple of suitcases, a cell phone, a map, a credit card, and many friends along the way to help feed us and give us a place to sleep! What drove them on?

Our final and longest trip began May 17th as we travelled to visit Dale’s Uncle Keith and Aunt Megan who live near Lynchburg, Va. Keith and Megan were married while we were overseas, so it was our first chance to meet our “new” Aunt Megan and to get to know her better. It was also a great chance to catch up with Uncle Keith, whom we’ve missed having around! Uncle Keith knew just how to entertain two little energetic toddlers, too…he had his Lionel train set up on the dining room table and Caleb, especially, spent hours watching the train go round the track. In the meantime, Dale and I enjoyed the delicious meals they cooked up for us (and insisted we eat ‘til we were about to pop…not that we protested that much!). Though we hadn’t seen this part of our family in a long time, we felt right at home and were so glad to have this chance for family bonding!

Our next stop was in Charlotte, NC, at SIM USA’s headquarters. We always enjoy visiting SIM in Charlotte because we always feel like we’re getting together with another part of our family…a newer family that has come to mean so much to us in the last several years. There are not many other places we can go to where everyone we talk to just “gets it”…knows where we’ve been experientially and can understand and relate on so many levels. We’re so grateful for this family! We were pleasantly surprised upon arriving in Charlotte to learn that an old college school friend whom we hadn’t seen in 10 years, Amanda (Martzluff) Fielder, and her husband Jon were also staying at the SIM guest house in Charlotte at the same time we were as they had just arrived back from Malawi. It was a joy to see them and to catch up a little again. We also enjoyed visiting with fellow SIM Burkina Faso missionaries Marcus and Jen Baeder and their quickly growing little boy, Silas. And we topped the overnight stay with a quick lunch visit with college friend Erin (Calpin) Bergen and her husband, Ben the next day before getting back in the car for a beautiful drive that would take us through the Smoky Mountains to our next stop in Tennessee.

I remember visiting my Uncle Ray and Aunt Sylvia’s ranch near Knoxville, TN when I was a teenager, but had forgotten how pretty the area was. I remembered “rundown” barns and log cabins that I now think of as “rustic.” Regardless of my perception, though, Ray and Sylvia’s home is far from “run-down”, though it may still have a bit of the “rustic” air to it with its log construction and its rural setting. We enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful overnight visit with Ray and Sylvia, catching up on a lot of stories from my aunt’s childhood that I hadn’t heard before and thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to see a few of the family heirlooms I remember from my grandparents’ home as well, giving my visit with Ray and Sylvia a bit of a nostalgic feel to it. Although Ray and Sylvia have had to get rid of the animals they’d kept in the past, the ranch is still fun to explore, and the boys thoroughly enjoyed doing just that. They climbed around the barn, played on the rope ladder and tree swing, spotted deer and even got to see Aunt Sylvia’s worm farm!

After an overnight stop in Jackson, TN to break up the long drive, our next destination was to visit Luke and Vanessa (Stine) Bates and their 3 children near Branson, MO. Faithful supporters and dear friends since college, we spent 3 nights with the Bates family, which Caleb and Joel were happy for after the constant daily driving we’d had up to this point. Our trip to the Bates home took us through the parts of the Ozarks, which made for a pretty drive, and I got my first glimpse of the Mississippi River. We enjoyed visiting Luke and Vanessa’s church, a short walk at a nearby state park, a brief “behind-the-scenes” tour of the Sight & Sound theater in Branson where Luke works, and a chance to see this well-known town and try to get a feel for what it’s all about. Caleb and Joel thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Bates children, especially Josiah, their 2nd child, who at 7 was wonderfully patient with our younger children and played well with both boys.

Our next destination was to be in Colorado Springs to visit college friends Lawrence and Nicole (Welles) Martin, but once again the trip was too long to do in one day. Nicole’s parents, who live in Wichita, KS, graciously offered to put us up for a night to help break up the trip. In exchange, the wanted to hear all about how Lawrence and Nicole met at our home.:) We’d like to take more credit for it, of course, but we simply had an open home that both of them took advantage of…and one day they both just happened to be there on the same day. The rest, as they say, is history! Now, four years later, we finally had the chance to visit them in their home in Colorado Springs, and they showered us with wonderful hospitality. Nicole had to work twelve-hour shifts two of the days we were with them, but she was a great sport in the evenings despite being tired from a long day at work. Lawrence’s schedule was more flexible, and so he played tour guide, taking us to a nearby state park one day, and to the Garden of the gods on another, not to mention playing with the boys and finding different playgrounds for them to enjoy as well. Dale and Lawrence went on a bike ride down one of the mountains near Colorado Springs, as well, though Dale did manage to get a little too eager and wipe out, leaving him with some pretty deep brush burns on his elbow and knees. Guess he’s not 16 anymore! He says it was worth it, though! On Saturday, we spent the morning at the Memorial Day arts fair in Old Colorado Springs. We had been expecting Colorado to be a bit cooler than PA, but we were roasting in our jeans that day! The fair was packed, but the boys still enjoyed some of the fair activities like the petting zoo, a pony ride, and a toy train ride. After all that sun and walking, we were tired that evening, but not too tired for a competitive round of Hand & Foot…we miss our game playing days! After church Sunday morning, it was time to say our goodbyes and move on again…this time to the heart of the Rockies: Crested Butte!