Vol. group 1

This past week was a really fun week. Karen and Janice came to visit and work as a mother-daughter volunteer group with the Wolof people. We had plans to keep them busy during the week sharing about their stories from home and hoping to get the chance to share Bible stories. Here's some of the highlights of the week:

Saturday they arrived safe and sound. I picked them up from the airport and we headed up the highway to Ngaye. We were invited to join the local high school's English Club's end of year performance. Though it was supposed to start at 10, it started after 12 and ended after 3:30. It was a long performance. A few minor complaints were that yes it started way too late to drag so far after lunch time. And while a few of the cultural lessons were important to teach, the actors were too risque in telling the story. I was embarrassed for my guests.

We spent the rest of the weekend resting up, and we had a worship service Sunday morning together. We did go for a walk in the market, greeting people and seeing some of the sights around Ngaye.

Monday morning we visited the market, did some prayer walking around the neighborhood, and after lunch visited a village. Unfortunately this village had experienced a death, so it was not appropriate to stay. We greeted the family that I am friends with, and I promised to return when I could visit at a better time.

Tuesday everyone met at my house to prayer walk around my neighborhood. We saw the school, greeted some of my neighbors, and prayed for some of the mosques and religious teachers in the area. I let them greet 2 of my neighbors and see inside the compounds. They entertained us as we talked, and we left to go back for lunch. After lunch we left to go and visit village #2 for the week. This village houses one of my best friends here, and they were very excited when we arrived. We greeted the people, had some great conversations, saw a lot of pictures. Pat had a good spiritual conversation with a man there, a man that I have often talked to about spiritual things, too. Karen got to talk in French to some of the people. It was a very warm visit.

And Wednesday Karen and Janice went to the market in Ngaye to get some fabric to make outfits when they return home. We all did our last morning of prayer walking, seeing a house that is home to some of the talibe boys that are learning from the religious leaders and begging during the day around the town to earn their keep. As we walked we also prayed for the neighborhood, the people working, for food to be plentiful and for a good rainy season for the crops this year. We had an invitation to visit the mayor of Ngaye this morning, and visited with him and 2 of his co-workers. It was a brief meeting about what Janice and Karen do in the states, and them telling us of some of the cultural lessons and foods in Senegal.

The afternoon saw us visit village #3. This village just had a new baby! Just this day the baby was born-the father was my good friend that introduced me to the village, and he was away getting a birth certificate. We got to share about work in America, and they talked about the work they do in the village. After talking, we spend 30 minutes playing soccer with the kids. Karen and Janice presented balls for the children, and we left to happy faces.

Unfortunately we didn't get to share any stories during the week. With just women in the group we were conciencious of being culturally appropriate. Women cannot teach men, and cannot really teach children without direct permission. We asked in villages 2 and 3, but it just wasn't appropriate to teach.

But I feel that we were able to make some great connections. Visiting the English club, the mayor, and the 2 good visits in the villages, I thought it was a pretty successful week. I really wish we had been able to share stories this week. I continue to pray that God will use these contacts that we made this week to draw the people to himself. Maybe something could have been said so that they are more receptive in the future in hearing stories from God's Word.