The following is adapted from a recent update by Esther Schaeffer, who serves with her husband, Andrew, in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
It was probably the worst road I have ever driven. I kept questioning the guide about the car’s ability to make it down the rocky path that looked like a dried riverbed. At certain points, I didn’t think the vehicle would fit between the mud brick huts on one side and the boulders on the other.
“Madame, just last week your husband drove on this same road with this same car,” the guide reassured me. So I kept going. If I hadn’t known Andrew had already traveled this route successfully, I would have parked the car at the edge of the village and walked the rest of the way to the church.
A Reassuring Example
Nancy Pierce has been that kind of reassuring example to me as I’ve encountered challenging situations in ministry here. This second-generation Alliance missionary served with her husband, Milt, giving most of her life to the peoples of Burkina Faso.
Nancy was involved in many of the same ministries in which I participate today. And I am thankful as I recall her tireless efforts in teaching, mentoring, and investing in others.
I had the privilege of traveling with her when she taught in rural villages. I watched as Nancy counseled and encouraged church leaders. I saw her embrace new ideas and methods, tackling seemingly impossible projects that ended up being successes.
I heard her laugh and saw her enjoy the Burkinabè culture and people.
An Honored Servant
In recent years I’ve witnessed firsthand the Burkinabè peoples’ great love for her, especially the Bobo Madare, recipients of Nancy’s hard work to translate the Bible into their language.
How fitting that on the day she was called to her Heavenly home, October 11, 2015, I was traveling that impossible road to teach a Bible lesson to a group of Bobo Madare widows.
“Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God,” Hebrews 13:7 (NLT) tells us. “Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.”
I am grateful for the tireless leader Nancy Pierce was to me and to so many others. We have witnessed the good that has come of her life and are inspired to follow her example.
Pray
“Please pray for the Lord’s comfort for the Pierce family and our Burkina national Alliance church as they feel the loss of Nancy in this earthly life,” Esther requests. Join the Alliance family in praying for our Alliance workers in West Africa and throughout the world, who are taking the good news to some of the most spiritually dark places on earth. Use the Alliance Prayer Requests to assist you.
Learn More
Read “A Lasting Legacy,” an article published in the May 19, 1999, issue of Alliance Life magazine (pp. 12–14) about Milt and Nancy’s life of service in Burkina Faso.