We arrived safely in Parakou, Benin from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, just before sunset on Monday evening the 4th of February. Thank you for praying for us.

The first half of the trip we were spoiled. We were sent to the border in a nearly new air-conditioned 4-wheel drive. We just had to pay the 53,000 for fuel, 10,000 for the driver and 1,800 for the tools = total 64,800 (US$148).

At the border of Burkina I got out to processes out of the country with our passports. Wow was it hot – more than 100 degrees and the midday sun was scorching hot. At the border there was no Hamarttan but just a clear blue ski that let the sun shine through. There we met Pastor Augustin with a “Bush Taxi” ready for us. We moved our luggage into the taxi and drove some more kilometers to the Benin police where I took our passports to processes into Benin. Then a cold drink and toilet at a little hotel and on down the road we went.

The trip from the border to Parakou was a hot and dusty. The taxi did have soft seats but without a/c the air that blew through from outside was HOT! Once we started traveling up the mountain we came back into the dust of the Hamarttan, but this time with none of the coolness we had experienced in Ouagadougou. It was 58,000 for the taxi (about US$132.00) So it was about US$280 for the 2 of us for this trip – well under the $600 each for the plane flight to Cotonou. (Normally it is not so expensive, but gas is way up and the dollar is way down.)


The terrain on this trip is at first Sahel – semi desert – lots of dirt, little green, but some bushes. You see mud huts regularly. Now and then you see something like a Butte – like a mountain with the top cut off flat. Just after you cross over into Benin there is a wide, mostly stone, mountain. The picture shows it but you can’t tell how big it really is in the photo. You wind up a good road to the top. As you go up there are always groups of women going up the hill or down. These women with lots of things on their head go up and down, or is it down and up, every day.

Last you drive through some rolling mountains. This is still a semi-arid area with not a lot of green. You drive through some towns like Natitingou and Djougou – key cities of the North of Benin. (We hope to do some leader’s seminars there when we have the finances.)

Benin is a narrow country that bulges out at the top. The main highway is kind of like the small letter “y.” Parakou is where the 2 lines of the “y” meet. It is the beginning of the Muslim North of Benin. We have preached all up and down that letter “y” and done a number of seminars as far as Parakou, but not above. We came again to do seminars. Debby is doing a women’s seminar in the morning while I am doing a Christian Worker’s seminar. In the evening we have a church crusade.

We stay at a S.I.M. mission guesthouse. It was sure nice to have a "real" shower and wash away the dust. (Had been doing “bucket bath” in Ouagadougou.) This is also one of the mission guesthouses that prepare meals for you. There is a very nice Australian family here that runs the place. It is 10,000 / night for each of us and 4,550 for each of us for meals – so that’s US$66.00 for the 2 of us each day – much better price than hotel and restaurants.

Augustin took us to meet the Mayor the first morning. Eastern culture, like here in Africa, loves to receive strangers. We had a nice time to greet the mayor. He asked us if we could help bring an orphanage here for the orphaned and abandoned children. Pray with us about that. It’s not Debby and my mission, but we are glad to help out in these things and Bill and Cathy Hoffman want to do this kind of work.

Tomorrow – Friday we have a big “kick off” for another Video Bible School here – out 3rd in Parakou. Then at lunch time we travel on to Cotonou. Then Saturday morning I will leave Debby there and go through Togo to Accra, Ghana to receive the team of 8 that is coming. Sunday morning I will bring the team back with me to Cotonou. Starting Monday they will have 6 days of Women’s seminar in 2 small towns and I will be doing “live” teaching at one of our Video Bible Schools in the city.

Fred