2 house guests

My Wolof team was hosting a couple for 2 weeks, Brian and Kara Cloud. They are residents of Oklahoma and are considering becoming missionaries one day. With this in mind, they wanted to see what life was like in Senegal and with our Wolof team. So they came and saw a lot of what we do in our ministry. After seeing what the life is like in the city (Dakar), they wanted to see what life was like in a village environment.

I agreed to host them for the 2 days. There were here for 48 hours from Monday-Wednesday. Knowing they were coming, I set up my schedule to host them and show them a bit of what I normally do during my time.

When they first came, we met in town and drove over to my house. It's not a long drive, but having never been here, Jeff and Risa (Wolof team members) wouldn't know how to get here. We got their bags in the house and chatted while I finished cooking lunch. Lunch was good-I did a chicken casserole, green beans, and homemade mac & cheese. After lunch we continued talking until Jeff and Risa had to go. They were staying in a town 2 hours north to do some scouting for houses.

I let Brian and Kara rest in the early afternoon before we went to the market. On the way to the market we met several of my friends and talked briefly to them. We observed some of the buying and selling in the market, and I explained a little of how the market works. It's a weekly market full of people who come from villages near by to buy and sell what they have. Some women will spend all week sewing in order to sell at the market. I always enjoy visiting the market to see how many people are coming and to see the action of buying and selling. There's not much else to do in Mekhe, so this is my window shopping!

After spending the evening in the market, we returned home to cook and eat supper. We had spaghetti, sauce, and a medley of peas, carrots, and potatoes. I should have done bread, too, wasn't thinking about bread. Then I chatted with my guard and introduced Kara and Brian to him. I continued chatting while they went to sleep.

Tuesday morning I had planned for the early morning to be free for quiet time while my maid cleaned the house. When she finished, we went out together to see the junior high school and my neighborhood. I had hoped to do some more visits with my neighbors, but Brian wasn't feeling well from the heat. So we did walk around and walked over to the school. The school headmaster had misunderstood me. I told him last week I had guests coming who wanted to see the school to compare it to schools in America. He was thinking they may be here to help out with finances, as they explained a lot of the difficulties the school was having in starting up. I know that it's tough having 80 kids in one classroom, that the desks and windows are broken, and the classrooms are in a bit of a mess. But they do have resources and could easily do something about the conditions. There are men who would come and clean the grounds for 5 dollars a day, which is half a child's registration cost. They could even ask the kids to do it, and I'm sure the kids would do it for free. I would have cleaned for 30 minutes with my friends when I was 12 if asked. We were asked to help and I wasn't expecting that. So I explained again that we were just curious to see the school and thanked him for his time. Classes should have started last week, but they're still trying to improve the school. The teachers are meeting and throwing ideas around, but I would be surprised if anything is done about the conditions.

We had lunch at my neighbor's house. They cooked rice, onion sauce, and fish for us. It was delicious, it's one of my favorite dishes here. After lunch I brought them back here to rest before going out to the village. At the village we were able to observe the slower paced life of Senegal. There the women were entertaining the kids and talking amongst each other. They also were gathering in the fields and brought home the millet that they had harvested for the animals to eat.

That evening we came back and talked for awhile with Elliott and my guard. Then I offered them sandwiches and leftovers for supper and we went to bed.

I did enjoy my time with Brian and Kara. We had good conversations and I learned a lot about what they hope to do in future ministry. I'm glad they are seeking and hope God will direct their lives from here on out. I'm especially grateful to all of you who prayed for our time together. My language seemed to grow this week tremendously. The food was good, and the visits went well. I enjoy hosting guests and will look forward to more opportuities in the future to host people here.