May 2020 Newsletter

We want to thank everyone for your continued support and prayers. We hope that everyone is healthy and doing well in this time. Something that we have been learning in this time is that our Lord truly is constantly faithful and with us. He is never out of control and has a plan even when we cannot see it. We just need to rely on Him and not on our own strength. We are still in Nebraska with my family, enjoying time with them. Our hope is that we will be able to visit some churches as they reopen in the month of June and July. We still plan on going back in Burkina in mid-July unless airports do not open up. We found out that airports are supposed to open up internationally in the first week of July, and we had planned to leave the second week, so we hope that, that can still happen. We are just praying for the Lord’s will to be done. As of right now, there has not been any positive cases of the virus in the areas where we serve. Please pray for the Lord to open up the airports for us to be allowed to go back to Burkina, and for the opportunities to speak at some churches would happen as well.

The girls are enjoying time with their grandparents and growing like crazy. Felicity will be 1-year old next week already and has started to walk! She is such a funny smiley little girl that brings so much joy to our family. Briella and Lilya have loved that they have finally been able to see some people and leave the house more, we hope that they will open up parks before we leave since we don’t have those in Burkina. Barto this week has been doing some painting for some people, and just trying to keep a little busy. We praise the Lord for His constant faithfulness in this time and we are always just trying to listen to His voice to guide us in all He wants us to do.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
-Ephesians 6:10-12

School Update/Sponsorship

We just heard that the Burkina government has finally said that they will not open up school for the rest of this school term, like through the summer they mean. And that they will allow kids to advance through into the next year with whatever test grades that had done towards the beginning of the year. So, we plan to just have our 1^st graders move up to 2^nd grade and do revision, and then start in the reading book where they left off. Then we will move up our 5-year-old preschool class into 1^st grade if we believe that they are ready and add in new preschoolers that have signed up already. Please continue to pray for our teachers and students to stay safe in this time.

With the construction of the second school building, everything was still put on hold until this week because we were still having issues with our contractor and his dishonesty. So, finally we have been able to put another builder in charge of installing the roof at least, and when we get back in July, we will finish the rest of the building. It is truly so difficult at times to find honest people to do the work, but once we get back, we don’t think it will take more than two weeks to finish the building. Barto and I have decided that he will need to be in charge of buying all of the building supplies and watching over each building project. We have tried three different contractors and have had issues with all of them, so we believe it will be better that Barto hire the workers and buy the supplies so we can get things done without someone trying to steal and mismanage funds.

With the new school year coming up this fall we will be adding in another 100 preschoolers and we will be adding in more teachers since our 1^st graders will be moving onto second grade. With all of this, we would really love to find more sponsors so we can pay the teachers, have enough supplies for the children, fund the lunch program, and employ the guards, cooks, and other employees. For $50 a month you can pick any classroom to sponsor. You will be helping actually 10 children go to school. We need 29 more sponsors to make sure that everything is covered, if you are interested in helping, please let us know! We want to thank everyone who gave school supplies and preschool toys! We will be sending everything over in totes next month on a shipping container so it will arrive in Burkina in August.

Other Ways to Help:

$60 buys a school desk (20 needed altogether)
$150 buys 10 children schoolbooks (220 children need these books)
$1,500 pays for an outdoor bathroom to be built
$10,000 builds a preschool classroom/administrative building
$16,000 builds a 3-classroom school building

Prayer Requests:

Our family to stay healthy and safe
The virus spreading in Burkina Faso to be contained
Finances to stay strong
Security Issues and terrorism in Burkina
For the Lord to work in the hearts of the kids in our school to know Christ
For our students, teachers, and other employees to stay healthy and safe
For our sponsorship program to grow
For the world in this difficult time

We are so grateful for each and every one of you. We could not do any of this without all of you, so thank you for being a part of making a difference in the lives of so many children and people in Burkina. May the Lord bless you greatly!

Keep the SON in your eyes,

The Yelkounis