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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Life In Senegal

Hello Everyone,
Please forgive me for not posting or updating all of you on anything for these past couple of months. Within the first couple weeks of being here, my computer's hard drive randomly crashed and I haven’t had a working computer until just a couple of weeks ago and I have not had a ton of time to type out a blog. It is finally fixed and I can now share what has been happening here in Senegal and also show you all the pictures I have taken! I know a lot of you were wondering if something happened to me or if I was just really bad at blogging but I am doing more than okay and I am not that terrible at blogging. It has been super encouraging and exciting for me to hear that all of you are so curious of how I am doing and what God has been doing here in Senegal so thank you!
I have been living here in Kaffrine for just over 3 months now and I have loved it here! It has been a totally different life style out here but I have been really comfortable with it, well… maybe not the heat, considering I have lived in Washington for almost all of my life. . I must say I do miss home, family, and friends a lot, but I have been so comfortable here that I am okay with being away from home. It has been really cool to see God’s hand in this to where He has given me this rest with living here in Kaffrine and being thrown into a completely new culture
Learning the language here has been a fun yet a very frustrating process. It has taken me a while to get it but I am at the point now where I can live and do almost anything in Kaffrine and communicate things clearly, but I cannot have long conversations with people. It is funny to see people’s reaction when I start to speak to them in Wolof and tell them that I do not speak any French because most white people in Senegal are French and only speak French. For this being my first language learning experience (because Spanish in high school doesn’t count) I feel like I am doing all right but it is so hard for me ha. There has been many times where I would stay in my room because I would be so mentally tired and frustrated that I cant clearly talk to people, but that is all apart of the language learning process. I really do like this language and I am excited to continue learning it better.
Kaffrine is a very simple and rural area. It really only takes about 7-10 minutes to get from one side of Kaffrine to the other. Most big cities in Senegal have some what of a French or Westernized culture thrown in there to where you can get a hamburger and fries, some peanut butter, nice snacks, jump into a swimming pool, or even go to a very small grocery store, but there is nothing like that in Kaffrine, which is a small town. The closest place to get any of that is an hour away in a city called Kaolack, but it’s not too pleasant of a place to go spend a lot of time in. During the week I live in a very small 3 building compound with about 9 other Senegalese. I live in the same room with one other apprentice named Jacob and we share it with all sorts of bugs, mice, and bats. We eat almost every meal with one of the families in our household and it’s usually the same types of food every day. For lunch we have something called ceebu jen, which is rice, fish, and vegetables, and for dinner we have something called ceere, which is ground millet and it usually has some type of sauce on top of it. Whenever we have something different it usually still includes rice, fish, and ground millet. Every once in a while Jacob and I will go out to a local restaurant to eat something different and escape the traditional Senegalese food but the restaurants here in Kaffrine are absolutely nothing like back in the states. They consist of maybe two tables with chairs around them, set up under a shack, and the person running the place has everything out on the tables ready to serve or be cooked on a small gas burner. The nicer restaurants will actually have somewhat of a back kitchen room, a few small tables set up right outside the small kitchen room, and they are under a more stable building. The food at these restaurants is also a little different. They usually have things like spaghetti and fried eggs with Dijon mustard on it or sometimes a spaghetti and meat sandwich. I can tell you that its is actually pretty good and I probably would have never even thought of it or tried it if I never came here ha.
The living in Kaffrine is so cheap compared to back in the states and even compared to some of the bigger cities in Senegal. For all three meals in the day, a nice snack, and a nice drink (coke, sprite, juice), it wont cost more than 5 dollars. Even going out to the restaurants around town, you wouldn’t even spend over 6 dollars for all your meals and drinks. Even material items like clothes, shoes, utensils, tools, bags, etc, are very cheap and you can also bargain for a price with just about everything, which is the best part. Whenever I happen to go out to a bigger city, which has only been 2 times, I feel like I am getting ripped off because I am paying so much more for the meals there.
On the weekends I go out and live in our village with the Garretts, which is even more simple living than Kaffrine. Usually coming back from a weekend in the village makes Kaffrine seem luxurious and my small room with electricity (the times that we have it) feels like a palace. The village life is a lot of fun though and it has been a great experience. Out in the village I kind of have two ministries going. The first ministry I am involved with is helping Corey farm a field that he has bought to try a new farming method. This new farming method is able to produce more from the crops in a smaller area and it is also healthier for the soil. Because people here live off of what they grow, we want to help them find new and better ways to farm so they can have more food and money and also keep there soil healthy. Our field is looking really great so we cannot wait to see the end results of how much our crops produce!
My second ministry as I have previously mentioned is the soccer clinic. Last month we had our first run at it and it went really well! We had around 30 guys show up and I was able to put on several drills for them so they practice as a team instead of individually like they usually play. After our first weekend of doing the clinic both Josiah, a fellow apprentice, and I were able to share our testimonies to the group of guys. As Josiah was sharing his testimony, some of the guys started to get up and walk away and by the time it got to me there were only about half. I was still able to share my testimony with those guys that stayed and though it felt like no one was listening, it was such an awesome opportunity to tell them how Jesus has impacted my life and that He is way more important to me than soccer. A few weeks ago we were able to do our first bible story session, which went great! We only had about 10 guys but they all stayed and were listening to what was being said. That same weekend we ran into several issues with the clinic. Because of this crazy time in the season most everyone is out working in his or her fields so all of the guys that used to play soccer aren’t able to play because they are working. Also, the Ramadan fast lasted for the whole month of August and since they are fasting from food and water all day they do not have any energy to play soccer later in the day. But one of bigger issues is that a guy who owns a field of crops right next to the soccer field doesn’t want us playing because he doesn’t want the ball and people going through his field. But I am praying we will figure everything out by next week and continue the soccer clinic and bible stories.
In the beginning of July, Josiah and I were able to go help out with an English teaching ministry in Dakar. It was so great to see other ministries in Senegal and seeing God work through them. In this camp we had about 22 university students and we had them involved with English word games, discussion groups where we talked about the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and intense English learning classes. Through all of these activities we were able to tie in Scripture and discussions about religion. Josiah and I got to lead our own discussion group and we were able to have some great conversations with these students. Throughout the week I was actually able to connect really well with one of the students there and I was able to share a lot about Jesus and my faith to him. He actually knew quite a bit about the Gospel so it was awesome sharing more to him and answering his questions that he had. I connected with him and got his email and skype information so I could try to stay in contact with him. It was a great week of relaxation, seeing other ministries in Dakar, and growing better friendships with the rest of the SIM Senegal team. I am so thankful for the team here and the work they are doing!
So for the first couple of months here Corey (my mentor) and I have been trying to figure out what my ministry would be while I am in Kaffrine during the weekdays. After many attempts to figure out what I would be doing, we found the perfect opportunity for me. For the past few weeks I have been involved at a small center called the Eden Center where a local pastor runs some activities for the neighborhood kids and talibee kids (street kids). Although most of the talibee kids are gone most of the time working in the fields, Corey, Jacob, and I were able to start our own Bible story group twice a week at the Eden Center with kids in the neighborhood. We set things up sort of like a youth group to where we first play some games (we play a lot of foosball), then we go into our bible story, and then after the story we play another game that reviews what we just read to the kids. I have been able to help out with the games and also read the stories to the kids in Wolof. When I first started to read the stories I was very nervous because I don’t know the language that well and we usually have anywhere from 20 to 40 kids show up. After doing it a couple of times I am now able to read a little bit more confidently but some of the time I have no idea what I am saying. It has been a really good language learning opportunity to read the stories and also to just be around these kids. Last week we had the local pastor and another person that is involved with the local church do the stories and the review questions. We really want to get them more involved so when both Jacob and I leave they can continue to story and also for them to use these story books in other ways because the stories are such a good tool to use for many types of ministries.
I am so happy we finally were able to start this because the kids here need so much more attention and love than they are getting. Adults around here usually don’t take the time to play games with kids. Because the kids never really experience these kind of things, sometimes we have issues with them being able to sit down and be quiet for the full time we are reading the stories. But this has been such a great experience for the kids and especially for me so please pray for the Eden Center and for us as we trying to invest this time in these kids.
This whole experience here has been completely eye-opening for me. It has been so awesome to see how the Lord is working here and through missionaries and I am so blessed to be apart of it. The Lord has been revealing and teaching me a lot of things and it has been so humbling to be able to come here and serve the Wolof. Since I have been here I have been thinking to myself that if ministry, serving the Lord, serving people, and studying the Word to know Jesus more is what I love to do the most and is what I get the most enjoyment from, then why not be apart of that for the rest of my life. A while ago I got to listen to a sermon by Matt Chandler and while listening to it I came to realize that at any moment I could die and if the only works that I do that will matter after death are the works that glorify the Kingdom of God, why not invest all that I have to glorify the Kingdom. I am feeling that the Lord is leading me in the direction of ministry but I do not know what that looks like for me yet. I am praying and looking at several different options for when I get back to the states but I have no for sure idea of what I will do. Although I have no idea what I will be doing, I am trusting and resting in the Lord that He will lead me in the right direction because HE is such a faithful God even in times when WE are UNfaithful.
Thank you for all of your continuous prayers and caring, it has been a huge blessing to me. Please continue to pray for the team and I and also for all of the great ministries that are going on in Senegal.