Prayer Answered!

I had a huge prayer answered a few weeks ago. A friend of mine here in Mekhe who is a Wolof welder was talking with me as I introduced to him my guests. He met Justin, a youth pastor, and asked him what he did for work. I translated that he taught the Bible to youth. And my friend excitedly proclaimed, “can you teach me? I want to learn.” I was absolutely floored! So eagerly we set up a time to meet and tell stories.

The day we met, I translated the story of creation as well as the story of Adam and Eve and their sin. We talked specifically on the idea that Adam and Eve sinned just like everyone sins, we mentioned that God required a sacrifice from a living animal to pay for that sin-an innocent animal had to die. And we discussed that our relationship with God was broken because of that sin since Adam and Eve could not go back to the garden. It was a good lesson, and I will share more with my friend.
This was a great start into sharing with my friend. I look forward to going to his house and continuing to build this relationship with him. He has been given a Wolof New Testament Bible to have and read when he can. And although he has pushed aside the Word when his friends are around (which is what any Muslim would do culturally), privately he is eager to hear more stories. He knew these stories well, and was saying them to us in Wolof better than I could say them in Wolof. I do pray that together we may continue to share the truth about Jesus.

New Happenings

Now that we are done with the volunteer teams here for the summer, you may be wondering just what I am going to be doing with the time I have. Well, I’ll try to give you a little summary of what I would like to do with my time here in Mekhe. But before I do, here’s the plans for the next few weeks.

-We have a regional workshop to attend in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire at the end of the month. I will be attending this to gain insight on effective entry and effective presentation of the gospel. I’ll also get to meet other missionaries from West Africa and begin to hear their stories.

-I have highspeed internet! So I will hope to keep in touch better with family and friends once I catch up on the work that I have been missing here. With the internet maybe I’ll even catch a cubs game on the radio. And I look forward to exercising to Adventures in Odyssey, and hearing a few sermons as well.

-After the regional workshop, I will begin Wolof classes again. These classes will be 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. This will give me time to not only grow in my Wolof, but I will have off days to begin working on telling stories and doing ministry in Mekhe. So I’m very excited about continuing language study, and for the chance that it will give me to ask questions as I go.

I know that seems like a lot, but I do like to stay busy. I don’t think this is too much to chew on, and once I get into a rhythm I should be able to get this done each day. I believe this will also make me look forward to resting on the weekends. I’ll keep you updated how the schedule is working.

a day of rest!

I was awful tired one day, and I didn’t realize it. With the work that we had all been doing the last few weeks, I was getting 5-6 hours of sleep each night. Usually when I am tired and I’m not active I can fall asleep no problem. And I started taking light naps in the afternoons. Elliott would even pick on me for taking naps, which I didn’t mind but I did try to stay away so that he wouldn’t have anything to say to me. But one day, I took a nap for 2 hours before lunch. After the nap I felt even worse, so I thought to myself, “Oh no! I’m getting sick.” So after lunch I took a nap to see if it would make me feel better. After that nap I went with 2 of the boys to visit a friend of ours, and I couldn’t hold my head up during the visit. After bringing them back to Elliott’s house, I went home to go to bed, and slept for 12 hours. I felt much better after the rest and was back to my old self. So after sleeping for 17 hours in one day, I was caught up with the sleep I needed. I guess my body will shut itself down to catch up on much needed sleep.

The Second Group

The second group that we had here working with us as volunteers came all the way from Poquoson Baptist Church in Virginia. Like the first group, this group had the chance to work with the high school students here in Mekhe. They played games-usually basketball-and taught the Senegalese students a few American games—such as Uno, football (American style), and some other card games. They also shared dances that each prepared. There was a group of 3 boys here in Mekhe that dance together and performed for us, and the Poquoson group prepared dances to share as well. It turned out to be quite a fun time for all involved.

With this second group we also learned to laugh at ourselves. Many days we said things that seemed to come out wrong-me included! Some of those sayings that you just had to be there to see the humor. And we learned a lot about ourselves and what makes us different from others. We realized that we all have gifts we can take to the throne, and God can use them in a special way. I am glad that even as I am 28 I am still learning things about myself so that I may work better with others.