2 busy days

I am getting back into my routine of visiting with friends and neighbors. I do love the volunteer groups that come, and I'm enjoying challenging myself to learn even more Wolof by listening. Some days I do pick up a lot of the words I hear, and other days I feel like I'm not hearing as well as I should be. I think being tired has a little to do with that, but if I am able to pace myself I know that I'm going to grow so quickly in my Wolof these next few weeks.


If the next few weeks are anything like the last 2 days, I'll be a fluent speaker by the time my term is up! There is so much to share about what I have done lately. So I'll try to be brief but detailed, and detailed but fun. So here goes!


Yesterday started out with a trip to the post office. After that I visited with a shop keeper for an hour. We teased each other like always. I was able to challenge him to a wrestling match at the end of March! We'll see if he remembers but I'll look forward to wrestling him-win or lose.


Then I visited with my welder friend for a few hours. During this visit we were alone enough so that I could talk to him a little more about my beliefs. We talked about Adam and Eve, their fall from sin and being kicked out of Eden. We talked about Cain and Abel and the sin Cain did. And we talked about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. I purposely wanted to get to that point, and then I'll backtrack a little to talk about how God promises to bless Abraham by making him the father of nations. So the things I said today I hope to share with several people during the next 2-3 weeks. I need to continue to work on it so that it comes out clearly, but despite the pauses from him working and from me stumbling on words it went pretty good. We had good discussion from it.


There I was also able to talk to some of the guys about having multiple wives. I shared with them first that God made Adam one wife, Eve. God knows that Man needs Woman, and one woman was good. And then I teased them. In their culture it is a sign of wealth to have multiple wives. But I told them, if I work the same job you're working, and I have one wife, you have 4, and I have 5 kids but you have 20, it may look like I have less money, but I would have more money in my pocket. So if you have one wife, people may think you don't have money, but you do. The mindset of the people here is amazing. They have absolutely no common sense. They think by having 4 wives they will be rich, and it's not the case.


During the afternoon I went to a village I am close to and visited. Together my friend and I went to 2 other smaller villages to visit his family and friends. We had a good time catching up, though I was a little quiet. And greeting so many people I didn't have the opportunity to say much else. But it was good to get back into the village and touch base. I was able to talk briefly about my family's trip, about our other guests we have had, and that my work was starting again. That was basically my conversation to 30 or so different people.


Today a good friend invited me to his village to spend the day. I remembered that he wanted me to come for a celebration, but I didn't realize it was an Ngente (baby naming ceremony). I didn't get to participate in the festivities, but I did get to talk with my friend's family for the day, eat lunch, and even rest.


The highlight of the day was getting to talk to this one person for over an hour. As we walked out of the village area we saw where a room by itself is going to be built. So we gathered to watch the work for 2 hours. While sitting there this person talked to me about his faith. I talked to him about the prophets, he was aware of their names. I talked to him about Adam and Eve and their sin, he was aware. I talked to him about Jesus coming and only through faith in him can we go to heaven, and he was aware of that. He talked for most of the time, telling me about learning in school-learning how to pray, learning about the prophets. We compared what we do when we pray. He even mentioned that Jesus is coming back. I know Muslims believe this, but I have yet to hear one mention it here. The only difference is that he believes as a Muslim he has faith in Jesus. He doesn't. One difference in our prayers, in his words, is that I pray to Jesus while he prays to Muhammad for God to hear our prayers. I enjoyed very much talking to him. Wow, his Wolof was clear! I wish I could talk 1/4 as good as he was, and even communicate to him that I was understanding most every word he spoke. But I did walk away saddened that I could not change his heart. I know that I will see him again, and do pray for words to speak that may spur him to think more of putting his faith in Jesus.


I did enjoy the conversations I had with the men of this village. I was exhausted by the end of the day, though. Now I am looking forward to reading and turning in before another big day tomorrow.