While in Burkina Faso, I got to see a few of the realities of missionary life some positive and some negative. One aspect of missionary life is the unique scenery they get to see. Due to the pressures of work/ministry and stress of culture clashes, missionaries are in need of breaks from the daily life at home. I experienced this just a little as Daniel and his family decided to take a day trip to visit a city about an hour away. The attractive thing about this area is the lake that has wild hippos in it. We were able to take a rickety canoe out to the area and watch them spray water and wave their ears. One of them yawned for us which was very interesting to see in the wild. We went to a nice restaurant for lunch. It was a great way to relax and spend some time with family. I am looking forward to those types of breaks from the pressures of daily life.
Another interesting topic among missionaries is transportation and travel. In West Africa, travel by bus is very common. Many people use it to get from one city to another. It is very cheap and mostly reliable. I was privileged to have the opportunity to travel in this manner while in Burkina Faso. We were traveling back to Ouagadougou which is a 5 hour drive unless the bus driver decides to take the rough spots quickly. We ended up in Ouaga about 4 1/2 hours after departure because our driver wanted to get there quickly. It proved to be a rough ride for about 30 minutes as we drove over the broken road. It was a little hot and tight, but it was cheap. I paid a little less than $15.00 for a 5 hour bus ride. I don’t think you could get that far with $15.00 of fuel. Just one more experience I can add to my memories of Africa.