No, I still don’t know which people group I will be working with in West Africa. But starting in May I’ve wanted to introduce you to different West African people groups who need missionaries to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. Though I won’t be working with all of them, they could all use our prayers. Each one represents hundreds or thousands of people who have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel in their own language before. Let me introduce you to the Blé people of Burkina Faso . . .
The BLE People (also called the JALKUNAN)
Demographics
There are 500 to 1845 Blé people who live in just 1 village in western Burkina Faso. They speak the Jalkunan language, which is a tonal language. Some of the Blé people can speak a different language, Jula, and some can even read Jula as well.
Religious Beliefs
In 2006, it was said that there were 40 Blé Christians. But earlier this year there didn’t appear to be any Christians, so there are probably between 0 and 40 Blé Christians. There are a few Bible stories recorded audibly in the Blé language, but they don’t have a Bible in their language. Most of the Blé are of a major world religion, though many are also probably animists. This means that they may conform to the rituals of the major world religion while also fearing and trying to manipulate spirits.
Occupation
The Blé are mainly subsistance farmers, meaning that they grow the food they eat. They also grow cashews to sell to earn money.
Prayer Needs
Please pray that God would send missionaries to the Blé. Pray that the Blé people would seek the truth. Pray that missionaries would have the wisdom to know whether to translate the Bible and present the gospel in the Blé language or whether the Blé understand Jula enough that a Bible in Jula would be well understood by them.
(Sources, which are also places for you to learn more: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bxl, http://www.sil.org/silesr/2001/001/Ble.pdf, http://www.peoplegroups.org/Detail.aspx?PID=47043, http://globalrecordings.net/en/program/C29020, http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=10894&rog3=UV, NTM PGA report)