Carolyn Elaine Burge A celebration of the life of Carolyn Elaine Burge will be held at 1:00 on December 10, 2016, at Grace Church, 3626 Hwy 31, Racine. Carolyn would like you to know that her work here is done and she was called for another assignment on November 25, 2016. She will be joining family and friends for visiting, singing, laughing and most importantly, being in the presence of The One who gave her a new life. Before she left, she told us to celebrate when she is gone, so we will. In 2010 she wrote the following: "I first of all want to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for transforming my life when I was 21. He has given me the true meaning and purpose of my life. He has fulfilled me to the depths of my being and made me whole. I am deeply grateful for my precious, eternal family in Christ because we are forever. Thank You Lord for allowing me to experience the true fellowship with You and with those who are in Christ. We have so much to look forward to." Her joy, gratitude and boisterous signature laugh are some of the things we will most remember and miss about Carolyn. Carolyn was born on August 17, 1950, in Bloomington, Illinois. The family moved to Racine, Wisconsin and Carolyn graduated from Wm. Horlick High School. She was employed by Great Lakes Dragway and a data processing center in Milwaukee, but she soon felt the call to go into missions and began to pre-pare herself for the mission field. She graduated from St. Paul Bible College in 1977 and completed one year at Canadian Bible College & Seminary. She then served some wonderful people in Kentucky before being appointed by the Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1980. She studied French for one year in Albertville, France and in 1981, she finally arrived in Djibasso, a small village in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Over the next 11 years, she led many people to Christ in this community and formed many lasting friendships, including her dear friend, Lalabu. She concluded her service with the Christian & Missionary Alliance in 1999. After living in California and making eternal friendships there, she returned to Burkina Faso in 2006, this time with SIM (Serving in Mission) and lived in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Carolyn had a deep love for the Burkinabe people and they became like family, especially Mamou, Anne-Berthe, Flora and two of Lalabu's children, Daniel and Delilah, who lived with Carolyn and went to school in Ouagadougou. Carolyn loved having people in her home to share the gospel, under the guise of practicing English. God only knows how many people she impacted for eternity. Whether she was standing in the checkout line or eating at a restaurant, she was bold in sharing Christ and inviting others to accept the free gift of eternal life. She proved her college counselors wrong when they said it may be difficult for her to learn a foreign language and eventually spoke 5 different languages. She loved diet coke, fried shrimp and Fritos. She prayed. She was faithful to the end. When she wasn't feeling well and went to the clinic on November 21, she said, "Someone here must need to hear the Gospel." Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, Gerald and Helen Burge, her sister Kathy Burge, and her brother-in-law John Marton. She is survived by her sisters, Sue Marton & Bobbie Sawyer, her brother Jim Burge, nieces and nephews Keri (Brian) Fosse & their children Levi & Flora, Andrew (Karen) Sawyer & their daughter Hannah, Eric Sawyer, Molly Sawyer, Erica Marton & Jacob Marton. In addition to the celebration of her life, her family will be receiving visitors from 12:00 to 1:00 at Grace Church. Carolyn wouldn't want you to send flowers. In her absence, if you would like to help Daniel finish the school year, you can participate at youcaring.com/daniel-706094