Which would you rather have??

Over the last week the guys at my house created a number of games. One game we came up with was “you know you’ve been in Africa too long when…” and we’d complete the sentence. One way we were reminded of being in Africa was the water cutting off each day. Fortunately it would come on at night so we could get showers, but in the morning we wouldn’t have any water. When I realized the pattern, I stayed up filling water bottles with the filter so we would have drinking water for the next day. And I’d be the last to take a shower and go to bed. But the lack of water got me to think-what would I rather have, water or power?
In Dakar there has been terrible power outages lately. I am not sure if it is from the change in temperature and more people are running fans, or if there is a shortage of power available. At any rate, when the power is cut off, people here cannot work. Seamstresses cannot sew, factories cannot produce goods, computers cannot work-in short, life is at a stand still for the 5-6 hours that there is no power. The water just this week has become an issue as well. I understand that there was a main water line cut in Dakar, and apparently all the water in various cities is being sent to Dakar to alleviate the shortage. But it doesn’t help us in the other cities. We sacrifice all our water so they may have some. Just a reminder of being in Africa.
Now, to answer the question-which would I rather have? Without a doubt, I’d rather have water than power. I can do everything I need to do at my house without power. I can cook on my gas stove, I can flush and shower (the water powers itself when it is on), and I can read during the day or go out and talk to friends. No power at night makes for a boring evening, but I can still talk to my guard until I’m sleepy enough to lay down. But if I don’t have water, I cannot shower, I cannot cook (unless I use bottled water-which I will keep on hand), and I can’t refresh myself. I do have a reserve tank of water that I can store and run through my lines in my house, but it is a weaker pressure and does not make it to the kitchen. Also, I used to really enjoy the power outages that we had at home during a thunder storm. But if I’m without one or the other for an extended time, I’d rather not have power than not have water.

No Rest for the Weary

Anyone who has small kids, or who has ever been a youth minister can relate to being tired after a camp, or being tired in general from caring for children. And this is not to say that I am complaining about being tired, I am just surprised at how tired I was. While the Hickory Grove group was here, I slept most nights for 5 hours-1:30-6:30. Occasionally I would get a few more winks, but some nights I also got less. I’m one of those people that can handle 5 hours of sleep, as long as I’m active and working. If I’m idle, that makes it tough.
Anyway, this week I was able to get some much needed rest. All I had on my agenda was to clean my house, cook for myself, visit 2 friends, order my internet for my house, and rest, rest, rest. Although it was a very hot week, I was surprised that even though I would sleep in til 8am, I could still get a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, and yet still fall asleep at night. A few days I was extremely tired-maybe I slept too much! But some days I could not keep my eyes opened when I was reading. It’s been awhile since I have been that exhausted. I was grateful for this week to recuperate, and now I am ready for the next group to come.

The Hickory Grove Group

This group was a church youth group from Charlotte, NC, who came to do ministry work with the youth at the highschool in Mekhe. They were a large group for Mekhe, 15 people came! But what an amazing and outgoing group. Not only did they learn greetings, they took initiative during each day of the week to speak with friends they were making, or even strangers on the road.
This group also braved the elements of Mekhe. Each day we had to battle for running water, which is not fun in a house of 7 guys. And they braved the 110 degree heat of Senegal. I was very pleased with their work.
They even came up with a new nickname for me, Biv or Bivster. It comes from the acronym for learning the colors of the rainbow. It’s still growing on me, but this group earned the right to call me bivster. It was/is cute.
What was their schedule like during the day? Well, they would get up, shower, and eat breakfast, and be ready to go by 9am. From 9-1 we usually did whatever we could, whether prayer walking, visiting friends, or for a couple of days we visited the school and spoke in the classroom with the kids. After lunch we would rest until 4 or 5, when we would really get going with visiting friends at the school. We would play soccer or basketball until dark, then eat supper and have debrief time until 10:30. And after the dust settled, the guys would go back to my place and we’d turn in for bed around 12.
I think that this group got to share with 12-15 different students, which is amazing! We did a really big outreach in showing the chronicles of narnia on a projector outside my house. Several of the Senegalese students were able to ask questions after the movie, and from the responses they did seem to get the message behind the story.
My take home message from this group is to never think that I have to work before sharing the gospel message with those around me. This group took it upon themselves to go straight for the gospel message with the students-sharing their faith, sharing who they believe Jesus is and what it means to be a Christian. I have been waiting to share—waiting to be more comfortable in Wolof, waiting to share the right stories before going to the Cross. Now I know that I don’t necessarily have to wait. I can share right away, and let God’s Spirit do the work.

Language Learning

It was a fast 3 months of language learning in Dakar. I didn’t think that I would ever get a chance to start learning Wolof for all the struggles that I had in finding a teacher, and then even when I came here to Dakar the teacher missed 3 days in 2 weeks-and this is a teacher who has the reputation to never miss a class. But thankfully it worked out and I received a strong 2 for my language evaluation. I believe I still need to work on improving my Wolof, but I wanted so desperately to stay in Mekhe to begin my ministry there. It is hard to minister in 2 places at once, and with time already ticking away, I was not happy about the thought of having to come back to Dakar after our volunteer groups leave in July.
Well, praise God, he answered both of those requests. Not only do I get to stay in Mekhe, I get to continue learning Wolof while living there and working in ministry. Here’s the schedule. For 3 days a week I will have class 9-12. For the afternoons I will study and cook and rest, as well as visit when I have the time. And for 2 days a week I will have the chance to begin ministry in Mekhe. I have set a goal to actually do ministry for one day a week, and the other day I will be working on learning one story a week in Wolof. I’ll probably translate it on paper and begin reading it aloud to myself to learn the vocabulary words. I don’t have to say it the same each time, but I do want to hit the main points in each story I share.
God is good and I am go grateful that he answered this request. I admit to being angry when I thought I would have to come back to Dakar in August. Then I had an amazing peace about the situation shortly after. This week, as Elliott and I had a chance to discuss the future, he told me this was available and I jumped for joy. Praise God for answering prayer.

Giving a Bible

I had the chance to meet with a friend last week. It was a follow up visit from a few weeks past. This family is Pulaar, and although they speak Wolof, their heart language is Pulaar, a very different African language. I was given a Pulaar New Testament to give to this family, so I went to present this gift to them. Immediately after arriving and greeting the family, they asked about my gift. So I explained that it was a New Testament, and was written stories about Jesus-who he is and how he loves people. And so she began to read, and smile, and read and smile even more. She was laughing as she read, never once stopping although her family was not as thrilled as she was. I promised her that I would return in a week to talk about what she had read. And I will plan to go to share creation to the cross stories as well. I hope that I am able to find her again to talk. It would be great for this woman to tell her neighborhood about the exciting stories of Jesus and who he really is. I pray that eventually God will reveal himself to her, and she will believe.