Kids Camp/Thoughts of My Time Here

First I would like to update all of you on two events that I was involved in just recently. In late September, the Kaffrine SIM team put on their annual kids camp, which is one of the biggest events they have all year. Because of the Lord providing the funds through very generous donors and guiding the team through many situations that could have caused problems, we were able to have a great week at this camp at almost no cost to the kids going. We took around 80 kids between the ages 8 and 23 from Kaffrine and villages outside of Kaffrine to a nice complex, which was right on the beach, in Mbour and had a 4 day camp with awesome activities. The 4 days were filled with amazing Senegalese food, tie dying T-shirts, football (soccer), teaching them American football, Frisbee, Gaga Ball, making bracelets and necklaces, and swimming in the ocean (kind of). This really is a special opportunity for a lot of these kids because most of them can't afford to go outside of Kaffrine especially to a nice place like Mbour. So for a lot of them, going to this camp is the first time they have been out of their city for a year.

Even though there were a lot of fun activities, the coolest part of this whole event is that these kids, some of whom Muslim, came to this camp knowing that the Gospel was going to be preached. We had local believers speak to the kids, a lot of worship time, small group discussions, and watched a film about Jesus throughout the whole camp. It was awesome to see the Lord work through the camp and to see these kids be open and listen to the Gospel. One of the highlights of the camp was after our discussion group time, we gathered everyone back together and went over what each group talked about. In one group that had quite a few Muslims kids, started asking questions such as, “ How was Jesus the Song of God?” “Why did the devil try to tempt Jesus before going to the cross?” and several others. The pastor that was at the camp speaking was able to answer the questions perfectly and in a way that made sense to the kids. This is so exciting is because usually when people share about Jesus in this Muslim culture, they either shut down not saying anything back to what they heard or they walk away, so for them to ask these questions is a huge!

Another really cool thing was that most of the camp was planned by local believers in Kaffrine. Previous years it had always been the missionaries planning everything and even running most of the events in the camp. It was so encouraging to see these young believers rise up and take charge in planning this big event with so much excitement and passion.

The second event that I just recently got back from was a Wolofal seminar. In this seminar we were able to learn how to write Wolof in Arabic script. The reason we learned this is because most people in Senegal don’t know how to read or write Wolof in alpha script (“abc’s”) but they know how to read and write in Wolofal (Wolof in Arabic script). It is very useful in Senegal especially in Kaffrine because more people can read Wolofal than Wolof in alpha script. It took us about 3 days to learn how to write and read Wolofal although I am still very slow at it. But the Wolof have a saying that goes “slowly one catches a monkey in the bush”. I am so thankful that I was able to participate in this workshop to use this skill to ultimately glorify God and also for being able to meet and build new friendships with more missionaries and local believers. This country is filled with such amazing people, both missionaries and locals, and I am so blessed to be apart of God’s work here.
I only have a month left in Senegal and time is going by so fast. Sadly, before I know it I will be on a plane back to the States. I can’t say that I am not excited to be going home because I miss family and friends so much, but at the same time I will miss so many things about this place. The past few weeks I have really been recapping on my time here and especially on what God has done in my time being here and there are so many things that I am beyond thankful for as I have seen God pouring out His grace upon me. The Lord has revealed some really cool things to me and I would love to share some of them with you as well as some things I am thankful for.

1) As I have said this so many times, I feel like I can’t say it enough. Thank you to all of my supporters! Without all of your prayers, love and support I would have never been able to make this trip and experience all that I have experienced. It is so encouraging to me knowing that people are continuously praying for me and wondering how my trip is going. I truly am blessed to have all of your support so thank you!

2) Something that I have loved doing here is being able to travel around Senegal to see and take part in all sorts of ministries. I have been to four main cities in Senegal and have been involved with village outreach, soccer ministries, a kids camp, an English reading center, a kids center that works with talibee boys and neighborhood kids, and even growing crops. I have loved seeing how God is working through these ministries and also seeing the passion for Christ in the people that run the ministries. It has been great to get out of the States and see more ways to spread the gospel to the lost and love on those that need love.

3) I have said this in previous posts as well but again I don’t think I can say it enough times. I have truly been blessed by being placed in this specific place with these missionaries. God was continuously faithful throughout the whole process of me picking a place to go and I am so thankful for Him guiding me here. I could not ask for a better organization or a better team to work with. It has been so amazing to learn from a group of people that love Jesus with their whole hearts, love spreading the gospel, love the Wolof culture as much as they do even when the Wolof don’t love them back, and who act so faithful in the most discouraging and uncertain times. I have been able to take away so much from just watching and listening to everyone here. Even though sometimes I can't catch a break from them giving me a hard time on just about everything, this is an incredible team and I will miss them a lot when the time comes for me to go back to the States.

4) I am very thankful that I have gotten this opportunity to serve the Wolof culture and also the missionaries here. After being thrown into this culture and going through times where I wish I was home, I have grown to love this place and this culture. Because of the language barrier for me, it has been hard to do everything that I was imagining coming here but I have still been able do a lot and I am so thankful that I am able to help in even the little ways such as, help Corey with his farming project, running random errands, help with our kids camp, going to get all the kids on our scholarship program school supplies, and help to start a bible story group at a kids center. I am glad I am able to help with these things so that the missionaries have less to worry about with their crazy schedules.

I am very excited for what is to continue to come in this next month I am here but I am also excited to get back home to see family and friends. But the thing I am most excited about is to start on this new path the Lord has put in front of me. As I have been feeling this call into ministry, I have been spending a lot of time in prayer trying to see exactly what that means for me and the Lord has been so faithful in revealing some of the things I need to do to follow His calling. I will be honest in saying that I am a little scared of this new path because there are a lot of unanswered questions and I will be taking a lot of big steps in a completely different direction, but I cannot ignore this calling that the Lord has given to me and I know that He is continuously faithful to His children and He will never lead me in the wrong direction. I am so blown away by His grace upon me that he would first of all save a wicked man like me, but then choose me and give me this beautiful burden to want to share the Gospel with the lost, love people how Jesus has loved me, and disciple more followers for the Kingdom’s sake. I have been thinking to myself a lot, how could He entrust such a young, weak, and inexperienced person like me to the spreading and preaching of his Gospel, but I have been continuously reminded by scripture that He entrusts and uses the most weak and unexpected people throughout the whole Bible. So although I am a little scared, I know that Lord will be faithful and He will guide me and use me in ways I cannot even comprehend.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for your prayers!