A Year in Review and a Look Forward

2016…wow, it is amazing how each year seems to come so quickly after the next and yet looking back 2015 was truly a great year. As a family God allowed us to experience so much of His faithfulness when we stepped out in faith and trusting him.  We went to Burkina Faso, USA, Australia (Joseph also visited South Africa and Ivory Coast as well) and made many visits to different locations in most of those as well as Togo too! Many of these trips were huge leaps of faith, often only departing with a small amount of money or none at all! Yet, every trip was completely covered by God and there was wonderful experiences to trust God as a family and see God do great works while we were there.

For ministry Joseph has had many opportunities to expand his influence with his teachings at new locations as well as now being apart of the board of regents for the University of the Nations, (the training branch of YWAM). On our campus we have seen great breakthrough with new schools beginning on the campus and have new nationalities join our campus either as students or staff. This year we have hosted 6 different outreach teams some YWAM, some church groups, there have been testimonies of miraculous healings, deliverance, salvations, and transformations. There have been many challenges, but each one God gave wisdom and showed himself to be teaching us new things and giving us authority to walk out freedom in our lives and for this campus and nation. We are grateful for each challenge that has taught us these things and we are so looking forward to new things. One of the most exciting things that has happened this year is the fulfillment of part of this campus’ original design. God spoke about how this campus would be a sending location into the Muslim nations of North Africa and then into Europe. This word was spoken in the 1990’s and as of December 26, 2015 that dream became a reality for the first time. One of our DTS outreach teams travelled to a North African nation to share the good news in a time when there is not much good news in that region of the world. As campus leadership, we have had this nation on our heart right from the being in 2011 but was waiting for the right timing, and this year when the DTS leader approached us and asked what we thought about them sending a team to this very location we gave an enthusiastic yes. There were some challenges to see this happen but God paved the way and we cannot wait for them to return to share the testimonies of what God did.

2016 looks to be a truly great year, even more so than 2015. September marks our 5^th year living here in Togo as well as the fifth year of the campus running once again. We are expected to start two new schools this year along with continuing the ones that started last year. We are looking at hosting many outreach groups and have many visitors as well. Most excitedly we are hosting a leadership training seminar on our campus in October called the DNA seminar. It is an event where the speakers are none other the very founders of the mission and those who are leading it with them. Loren and Darlene Cunningham will be here for two weeks teaching young leaders from all over the region of West Africa about the heartbeat of YWAM. We are so honored and excited to be hosting this event as they only do a few each year (this year only 4) and we have been asked to host one this year. Needless to say, we are expected a lot of fellow YWAMers to join us for this time and so we are going to be full! Actually we are looking at needing to do a lot of remodeling on the campus and hopefully building as well in order to host this event properly! We are not in a place where staying at a hotel or guest house is an option so our campus will be the one and only location for accommodations. So you will be hearing lots from us this year in this area as we have much to do and are looking forward to all the ways God provides and supports us in this preparation.

If you want to check out more about what's happening on the campus click here.

God's Goodness

I am so blessed today, Mission Builders is such a rewarding ministry! Some might wonder why I would call a volunteer program a ministry, well let me tell you why. We have hundreds of people coming to serve the University by volunteering their time to cover our basic needs area like the kitchen or construction and maintenance, all of which bless us as a campus greatly. But the true joy for me is seeing these people come and be transformed for God. Let me give you an example. Tuesday we had our weekly goodbyes where those returning home, give a little testimony of their time here with us. One young man shared that he was returning home to go back to university and then he adds to pray for him because God has called him to start a House of Prayer in his city! Isn't that amazing? Never have I heard a young college age guy say that he needs pray because he is going home to start a house of prayer in his city. God is so good!

Another one that shared tonight told how much her life had changed and how when she came she was under all sorts of lies of Satan, but now she knew the truth and she wasn't going to believe them anymore. She has decided that she is going to take the next year off of school to study the Bible because she doesn't know it well and knows that its important. She is only 18! It truly is amazing to watch these young (and older) people come to this program, serve 8 hour days, five days a week and leave sharing the testimonies of all that God is doing in their lives. It is a privilege to be a part of this change and to see the work of God in the lives of those who serve us so faithfully. We are truly blessed to be able to lead and direct this program. 

I just wanted to do a little update on our fun times so far this year! So here are some pictures from Ezekiel's 2nd Birthday party and just some fun around campus. I hope you enjoy!

                                The Mission Builder Dodgeball team!

Ezekiel enjoying a day at the Beach

This is all of the staff here in Kona Hawaii. Good luck finding us in the mass but I am wearing a black shirt in the picture :)Our little Ezekiel isn't so small anymore and he loves the beach!

Andrea & Steph enjoying Ice Cream after a hard day of cleaning around Hale Ola where we live.

All of our Mission Builders crew during our BBQ after a hard day of cleaning.

It is almost the holidays and it’s been a great year. We are now working with the Mission Builders program on campus and it has been an amazing reward. Mission Builders are all such amazing people who desire to come and serve with no expectation for personal gain but simply to be blessing. We have been amazed to work with all of these wonderful men and women and of course our staff too! We have three ladies who are on staff with us and they are great, without them we could never lead this ministry. They cover all the bases from pastoral care to caring for our facilities and prayer and worship. It’s been a learning experience in leadership and in what we need to be doing to be good leaders. It has also been a learning process to make sure that we are also doing what we need to be doing in order to be good parents too! God has been so faithful to us through and we are completely astonished by God in this season.


Recently we had a wonderful woman of God come to our base and spoke for three days to us. Her name is Landa Cope; you may have heard her before but if you haven’t you should. Her teaching style could be described as being in your face in order to make you think, or as she herself put it, “hurt you in order that you may be healed.” One thing that she talked on was unconscious incompetence. Basically if I could put it in just a few words, it was that we are all incompetent in our knowledge of God and righteousness. We really don’t understand how much of God we don’t understand and that we often make the most mistakes because we think that we understand Him when we really do not. Surprising as it is to write, upon hearing that word, I realized that God was already working that same idea in my own head. Often times, I think that I understand who God is and I think that I am starting to “get it” but then just like that, I realize that I don’t truly “get it” I am totally and completely off the mark. This has been even more so since beginning our journey in Mission Builders. I realize that although we are doing well and things are all being taken care of, I am still not “there” yet. However, the best thing now, is that I know I am not there yet, and I can just move towards God the best I know how, and be confident that He will continue to show me how I am progressing and where I need to do it more. It sure is good to work with God.

Our time here...

It is already midterm here in Kona for this last quarter of the year. Time has flown by very quickly and we are amazed as we look on the calender as Thanksgiving is only three weeks away. Ezekiel has flourished here in this tropical weather, growing an inch each month and putting on the pounds even faster. We have seen God do some great and mighty things among us here on campus. Week after week, we have seen God challenge us as a campus as well as the entire body of believers, to live a life of purity and righteousness before him. We are so excited about being apart of this base, just this last week, there has been great things happening. To mention a few, there was a team who went out into the community to prayer for some locals and one of them ended up requesting to come back here to our coffee shop on campus with a friend of his to learn more about God, and that night they both gave the hearts to God. Its awesome to see that we aren't just sending people out to other places to do this work but we are being apart of reaching out to this community here in Kona. Another amazing testimony is that Monday morning during a prayer time for one of the classes, they were praying for an older gentleman who was so hard of hearing he had to wear hearing aids, and during that prayer time, God completely restored his hearing after 18 years of being hard of hearing! We do serve a God that heals us!!! So these are just some of the stories we are apart of by serving and working here and you are apart of them too as our friends and supports. So thank you and rejoice in the work of the Lord.

Confessions of the Soul

Recently, I read in a book that there is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction. This statement hit my heart with a sledgehammer, see I have always prided myself in the idea that I am not an addictive person. Yes, I have my habits but I do not become addicted. But when I read this statement, God convicted me so strong, it became tangible. I felt it surround my heart and mind, suddenly realizing that I am an addict; I am addicted to myself. Philippians 2:3,4 has become my prayer, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." I have found the grace of God and have been encouraged to change. Daily I work to lose a part of this selfish addiction. I lay down my rights to myself, and everytime I want to complain or have a selfish thought, I stop and thank God for something I have. I have found that cultivating a heart of gratefulness in all that I have, looses the grip of selfishness in my heart. Everyday, I let go of spending time the way I want to spend it and instead let God chose the best use of my time. Here is another thing God has told me, in order to truly love others, you have to be willing to sacrifce your time. In America, we have a saying that time is money, which is true, it is the strongest currency we have, so my challenge to myself is where have I have been spending that currency. For Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be." Time is a treasure so where am I spending that treasure, on things that matter, which for me I have come to know that all that matters are people. This is my confession and I hope that it challenges and encourages you today.

Safely in Hawaii

I am sitting here amid half-empty suitcases and half-full cupboards, yes, we made it to Hawaii and it has been an interesting ride. We left Colorado a week ago today and traveled to Sin City which we left quickly and made our way towards the ocean, California to be exact, where we spent several days with my Grandfather who is not only aged but also been afflicted by numerous illnesses which could claim him at any moment. It was wonderful to spend a few days with him, acquainting him with Ezekiel who took very kindly towards him. We then travelled back to Sin City where we once again made our escape this time our destination would be this Island Paradise. Our travel time from getting on the airplane in Las Vegas until we landed in Kona was nine and a half hours. Despite the many hours, Ezekiel did wonderful and was the lest tried. We did have some of an adventure after landing, as it seemed that we landed in a third world nation instead of the famous paradise island. See there was some miscommunication and we did not have a room to stay in when we first arrived so the first empty room found became our temporary home. Additionally, there have been electricity problems on base since the day of our arrival with multiple power outages and therefore a lack of hot water. Needless to say, it has been a test of our patience and expectations. However, we have since been moved to our semi-permanent room, which I will say was worth waiting for as it has a small tub perfect size for Ezekiel's baths as well as a walk in closet, (nothing like what most of you are imagining but great for YWAM standards). So there is nothing to complain about and we are excited to be apart of the campus here as there are great things happening. The Greek School is expecting five students for sure with one student wanting to come but uncertain due to visa issues, so you can keep him in your prayers.
God was amazingly gracious to us and provide us with enough for our immediate needs here and we are trusting him for the coming months.
Ezekiel is already eating us out of everything we have, his appetite surprises me every meal. He is already the talk of the campus as we have many strangers telling us how adorable he is and how they have told their friends about him, already Mr. Popular.
Thank you all for the great support you have given to us and for all of the prayers you have prayed on our behalf, they have been answered in might ways.
As you continue to pray for us, please would you consider these needs? We are still without any form of transportation and that has become quite difficult when trying to keep up on diapers and formula for an actively growing boy. So if you could please pray that God would provide us with a vehicle that is easy to maintain and cheap. Also we are hoping to find a church here that we will be able to be active in and enjoy and so will you pray with us that God leads us to the Church he desires for us to be at. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and for us continued relationship with us. We would love to hear from you all, we will place our new address at the end of this update and our cell phone numbers have not changed so please feel free to call us anytime.
Thanks for taking time to read this and staying updated on our life!

Joseph and Meleah Ouedraogo
University of the Nations
75-5851 Kuakini Hwy #15
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740-2199

Once again, it has been a long time since I updated this blog but I wanted to let you who are faithful to check up on us, know how we are doing and what we are up to. The summer has been busy but great so far. We have stayed busy enjoying family and friends as well as doing many activities with the youth group at church. Ezekiel celebrated his first 4th of July in two exciting fashions. First off, we started the celebration by going to a local concert that included some of our favorite bands like Super(c)hick and Grits than after most of the fun was over we traveled up to the mountains and went camping with some good friends of ours. Ezekiel greatly enjoyed his camping trip, as he loves to be outside and caught up on sleep with the river being his lullaby. He did great and we really enjoyed that time with our friends.
The most exciting event we have yet to look forward to and that is our return to Hawaii. Yep it's true we are moving back to Kona, Hawaii and we have set up the tentative dates for the 12th of September. We are excited about this new adventure as we both have been in Hawaii before but it was a new experience with a baby along for the ride. We are looking at this as a long-term move as we are planning to be on staff with the campus there and are looking forward to at least a year of service. Joseph will be apart of the staff for the Greek School which starts September 25 and than will be apart of two other schools those being the Old Testament Hebrew, and the school of Humanities and Science. Meleah will be spending most of her time with Ezekiel as well as returning to her studies online.
We do have some pray requests that if you remember us, would you please lift these up for us? We are currently in need of monthly support for our finances, which is looking to be about $2000 a month, as well as about $1000 to travel to Hawaii.
We also would love your prayers for our travel as we venture with a seven month old, and we are praying that he does well during the many flights and layovers we are expecting.
Being on staff can also be very challenging and Joseph needs your prayers, as he will be taking this time to the next level as he figures out a way to take this school back to Africa one day.
We want to thank you for all of your prayers and the time that you have invested into our lives, we greatly appreciate all that you have given to us during our many adventures with God. We look forward to sharing with you the many ways that God answers our prayers.

Future plans

Many of you may be wondering what our future holds now that we are no longer just two but three. Well, we are still passionate about missions and feel God has called us to return to Youth With A Mission, and we are just seeking his face for the right timing to go. We desire to serve back in Hawaii at the University of the Nations campus specifically with Joseph being apart of the Humanities and Science school, in addition to the Hebrew and Greek schools. Meleah's first priority obviously is Ezekiel but still desires to be apart of the campus in anyway that she can while bringing Ezekiel with her. It will be hard to leave Colorado once again as we have put down many roots and built many great relationships since coming here last summer, however we look forward to what the future holds and how God can continue to enrich our lives with many more relationships throughout the world.
We would love for you to come aside us in prayer for these plans that we have. If you could just pray that God would confirm his timing for us to return to YWAM and also that he would give us the provision to do so. We desire to serve God in every area of our lives and would you just pray that in everything that we do we would glorify his name alone. Thank you once again for your commitment to us and for your friendship. May God bless you greatly!

Ezekiel is getting to be so big already; it is so true that they grow so quickly. He has already doubled his birth weight in only two months and is the best child I have ever seen. He is learning so much everyday, smiling and even starting to laugh. I know that I am biased when I say that he is a beautiful child but I can't help to believe it when whenever we leave the house we are stopped by a stranger and told that he is a beautiful baby. Here is some recent pictures to show you just how true it is.

This is one of my favorites with Joseph showing off how closely they look alike.

Ezekiel's first bath. He loves to take baths and had never cryed during one.

And of course you have to have a picture of the sleeping boy. He loves his swing and we are ever so grateful for it.

Long over due

First off, I would like to apologize to everyone for such a tardy update. When people say life is very busy with a newborn they are correct but personally I find the bigger obstacle to be sleep deprivation. Being awake 80 percent of the day and night taking care of the baby and then in the few hours of his sleep during the day trying to take care of the daily necessities of running a household is the life of every parent especially us new ones. However, I have thought of sharing much with you for a great amount of time. First off, I want to thank all of you for your sweet words and gifts to us since Ezekiel was born. We appreciate everyone and treasure your words and thoughts towards us in this precious gift of parenthood. We feel like Ezekiel could not have come at a better time in our lives and is so much more than a precious gift to us for he has been used by God already to teach us so much about God's heart for us and has been instrumental in healing our hearts and minds in many areas. For Meleah, she struggled with her identity as a woman for much of her life and God used this pregnancy and thenceforth the birth of Ezekiel to minister to her heart, affirming her femininity in ways that only becoming a mother could. For both of us, God showed us that it is not us who is the provider for Ezekiel despite what we have been taught, that is still God's job and he alone can give us what we need to provide a loving and safe home for our son.
Since Joseph has returned from Africa, his job situation has been much like a roller coaster ride in that it has had many ups and downs and many unexpected turns. However, God has been so faithful to us in providing everything we have needed. Never once has a single bill gone unpaid nor have we lacked food or any other necessity. In getting everything ready for Ezekiel's birth we were just amazed by God's provision, the only thing we spent our own money on was Ezekiel's baby book, every thing else was given to us by a great deal of different people and trust me we have everything that we could possibly need for him. From crib to swing to baby monitor to clothing, everything was provided by God to show us that he wants the best for us and will provide in whatever way he desires. We have learned to rely on nothing outside of God himself. Nothing is reliable but God.
So thank you to all of you who were apart of this work of God, your obedience to God has made a lasting impact on our lives and has been used by God to teach us a great deal. We pray that whatever you have need of, that God will provide in greater ways than you can imagine. A life serving God is truly the only a life worth living. We are forever grateful for his provision and grace in our lives.

Pregnancy Update

I am sure that many of you are wondering about Meleah and the soon arrival of our little boy, and I will admit that an update is shamefully over due.

Meleah has been doing great and having a wonderful pregnancy, having no complications and relatively few complaints.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks to update you on the growth of her belly, as we near the end of this exciting time.

I realize that we have not posted any pictures of Meleah's belly during this pregnancy up until now so we will start with this one, which as at only 13 weeks.

This next picture below is from our time in Africa when Meleah was about 18 weeks.

This one on the right was taken at 22 weeks along. Slowly getting bigger...

This picture is from Christmas Day with Meleah being 31 weeks.

This picture is from two weeks later, a last minute picture in front of the Christmas tree before we said goodbye to Christmas decorations until next year. Meleah is 33 weeks along in this picture and is greatly looking forward to the end.

A White Christmas and a New Year

A late Happy Holidays to all of you!

Life has been very busy since Joseph's arrival home from Africa in the beginning of December. We managed to make our new house a home and decorate for Christmas before the even actually happened, something Meleah was suspicious about happening.

We woke up Christmas morning to a snow storm that piled more snow on us in one storm than I had ever seen in Montrose, it was truly a white Christmas to remember.

Christmas was another wonderful event for us as we spent some time with Meleah's family, it was especially wonderful to be able to spend sometime with Meleah's sister, Melodie and her family who lives in Missouri. Joseph celebrated another year of his birth in tradition of a Christmas breakfast made only once a year by Meleah just for the event of his birthday. This is a picture of him showing off his new Birthday outfit, in front of our beautiful Christmas tree.

It was a great time for us as a family and are thankful for all that God has given us during 2007.

We celebrated New Years by spending time with family, old friends and new ones at our house. It was a small get together but very fun with lots of laughter and games. A wonderful way to spend the last moments of 2007 and an even better way to start out this new year.

We hope and pray that you all had a wonderful holiday season and that you are able to see all of the many blessings that God gave you during this past year and for the new year to come. We pray that you all are able to find joy and hope for the upcoming year as well.

A Long Overdue Update

Please forgive us for not updating this sooner. Its been a very busy four months but exciting things have happened since then. Most of you already know that Meleah is pregnant and we are expecting our first baby in February. We travelled to Burkina Faso in September to finally visit Joseph's family after two years of marriage. This was the first trip for Meleah to Africa and also the first time Joseph has returned home since coming to the United States four years ago. It was the trip of a lifetime for Meleah, since Joseph and her had been engaged she has wanted to meet Joseph's family and felt that part of her heart was incomplete without this meeting. It has since been complete and fulfilled in every way. God did some awesome works in opening doors to allow us to travel and we are so thankful for all of your prayers in making it happen.
Joseph continues to travel within West Africa, teaching in different regions and Churches. He is currently in Nigeria teaching at a Biblical Studies school and will be returning to Burkina Faso at the end of this week. Please keep him in your prayers during his travels as it can be dangerous to travel in Nigeria. I am including a link for our Picasa web albums of our trip, so that you can see pictures of our time there. Please email us if you have an additional questions and we will try to update with more regularly. Thank you all for being apart of our lives during this season of our lives.

Some Prayer Requests

We have reached the end of our time here in Switzerland with less than two weeks left and we are excited about the time we have spent here.
We are almost ready to start packing and heading out of Europe towards the USA, however we have some prayer requests during this transition time. We are still in need of about $1000.00 dollars in order for Joseph to graduate and for us to be debt free, we have been actively fundraising and just as we continue in these efforts we would ask that you would stand with us in prayer that we would receive the necessary finances before we are finished.
Please be praying for us as we travel, that we would have safe flights and nothing would go wrong. Would you also pray that we would have complete guidance on our next steps and adventures. Thank you all so much for me being so faithful in our lives and for your continuous support.
We will be back in the states on the 27th of June and look forward to seeing those of you in Colorado!

Only 5 weeks left!

We are currently half way through our time here in Switzerland and I finanlly have some pictures to show you from around our small village here.

This is my favorite tree on the base and I know it looks just like every other kind of tree but I liked it so I thought I would share it with you.

These are our cows, by that I mean the cows this YWAM base owns which live in the field behind and produce all of the milk we drink here.

This is a small stream that is very near the base, once again I just liked the picture so thats why you are seeing it.

This is the Clock Tower that is just a little up the road from us but can been seen cleary from our window. It chimes

every hour and than once on the half hour, starting at 7 am and stops at 10. So needless to say it is my alarm clock.

This is one of the many fountains around the village, they used to be used for different purposes, from washing clothes to providing water for the homes. Now they simply remind us of the history of this small village.

Thanks for going on this tour of Burtigny with us, I hope that you have a better understanding of what our small village looks like now. Check back often because we will be adding more soon!

1 Down, 79 More to Go!

Yes, its true, Joseph and I have finally been married one year. We celebrated our anniversary here in Switzerland and God once again was so good to us.

My deep desire was to spend our anniversary in Geneva, as it is a truly unique city, yet due to our financial circumstances, that didn't seem possible. However, God always knows our desires and helps them to come true, the morning of our anniversary one of Joseph's classmates informed us that they were going to spend the day in Geneva and invited us to come along. Needless to say I was overjoyed, we quickly accepted the invitation, and off we went. Joseph had never been in Geneva before and so it was great to wander around the city and the lake. We were also given some money and so we found one small souvenir shop open (since it was a Sunday no shops are usually open) and in it we found this cow.

As most of Switzerland is farming country with cows being a major source of income, most of the souvenirs are cows. Despite not really liking cows, I loved this one, as it was prefect for being our souvenir from this lovely country. It really has been a huge blessing to experience our first year of marriage, God has continually shown his faithfulness in our life and we are both very excited to see what God has in store during this next year. We want to express our thanks for all of your support in our life during the past year and thank you for your wisdom and input during this learning process of marriage.

Hey Everyone,
It seems that the pictures have a problem, so I will try to fix it soon. The Internet is having problems here so I will fix it as soon as the Internet works again properly. Sorry Everyone!

Pictures Finally!!!

I know that you all have been anxious to see pictures of beautiful Switzerland and so here they are.

These are pictures from our retreat during Easter weekend to a town called Einigin. As you can see, it is a beautiful place.

This is the house Joseph and I stayed in. It is beautiful on the inside as well and still has that old Victorian feel to it.

As you can see the lake was beautiful and we find it to be an honor to be in this beautiful country during this season of our lives.