Vol. group from Mississippi

When I was applying to be a missionary, one thing that I really looked forward to was the future opportunity to work alongside church partners and volunteer groups who would come on the mission field to assist in sharing the gospel. Serving others is a passion of mine, and I've always loved guiding others in service.

That being said, I had another wonderful experience with our volunteer group that came this past week. This was a church group of 5 adult men and women from Mississippi. Some colleagues here in Senegal attend this church, and they came to visit this family. While in Senegal for 2 weeks, they were able to spend 4 days with Elliott, Pat and me.

The group arrived Monday morning. After breakfast Elliott talked about the culture here in the villages to prepare them for sights and sounds they would experience. Most mornings we broke up into prayer walking groups of 3 and walked over the village here to pray for the people and for God to begin working. Monday they also were able to experience our market.

Most afternoons we spent time in villages. The women visited with Pat in some villages her and Elliott are working in. Elliott and I took the men to villages and visited with the men of these villages. We also were able to let the teenage children of our colleagues visit the local highschool and french club to speak with the students.

There's always the challenge in this culture of finding friends when they are not busy. When visiting one village, our friend the village chief was busy with a water leak in the town. While grateful that he did take time to talk with us and open his home to our guests, we were sensitive to his schedule and left a bit sooner than we planned. Also, when I was prayer walking with my group, I was hoping to introduce some of my friends and made plans to do so. However, when arriving, we were not able to find 3 of these friends to talk with. As missionaries and guests in the culture we do have to be flexible in organizing our time with friends.

But with challenges there are often rewards as well to celebrate.
*Pat and her group of women were able to share the story of Ruth in its entirety to 2 separate villages.
*My prayer walking team and I shared about the concept of the trinity to one of my good friends. This friend is a student of the Islamic faith. We often have conversations like this where I try to relate my faith to him. I told him that God and Jesus are equal, even though we consider them to be Father-Son. It's like my friend here. I know him by his American name, while you know him by his Senegalese name. He's still the same person. Jesus is God, but came to earth as a man. It's very difficult to understand; however you see Jesus as a great prophet. He claimed to be God's Son. You should accept his words as truth if you know he is a good prophet. He then wanted me to read some books he had about his faith, and I told him I would read them if he would read the New Testament in Wolof that I would give him. So I pray that he will read this and consider it's message.
*My prayer walking team was also able to share a story with a religious leader and his 2 friends as well. We told these men the story of Lazarus. Unfortunately one man walked away during the story, so we stopped. But we did say a prayer for these men, and prayed in Jesus' name.

This group was a wonderful group. I certainly appreciated their prayers for me in my personal life, my ministry, and my future. I was very encouraged by their presence. I was also very intrigued to see the culture through their eyes. As they recognized the severe darkness here in Ngay Mekhe, I am deeply reminded of the work that is before us. I know God is bigger than this, but I know that I am not capable of even waking up in the mornings without him. As this group has come, it has allowed me to focus on my goals for my ministry. When I came, I did think that I could lead some of my closest friends to Christ. Although I pray for that to happen, I have come to realize that it does take years of ministry to lead a Muslim believer to know truth. Now I wish simply to be a man of Christ to the Wolof people. When they see me, I want them to know that I am a follower of Christ, and that I have come so that they may hear about Jesus my Savior and Lord. May God grant us perseverance to continue sharing with the Wolof people.