S.E.W.

Working at a private school has its advantages.  We had the opportunity two weeks ago to participate in S.E.W, spiritual emphasis week, for the whole school.  All the kids have chapel once a week, but during S.E.W. the kids have chapel every day.

For the middle and high school students, it consisted of a speaker that had come out from the states to talk to them each day.  They had a time of worship and then the speaker. 

 For the elementary kids, it consisted of more like a VBS.  The elementary also had a team that came out from the states to put it on.  The kids had different stations they would go to each day.  They had a craft, games, bible verse, and bible story station.  Of course, there were special treats and prizes for the kids!  The theme of the week was God’s love. 

It is amazing to be able to openly speak about God and His great love for us.  Even though it is an MK school, it doesn’t mean everyone is perfect or everyone is a believer.  It was a great opportunity to see how God can work and move through the hearts of the future generations.

 

Big News!

As most of you know, we had originally committed to serving a year in Thies, Senegal, but recently our plans have changed.  We had our plane tickets to come home at the beginning of January then we received an email from Dakar Academy in Dakar, Senegal which is an American Boarding School for missionary kids.  They recently were in need of filling two spots for the spring semester due to a medical emergency of a couple already teaching.  They needed a PE teacher and a 2^nd grade teacher to fill the positons of the couple currently serving there. 

 

 

We decided to go visit the school to have a better idea of what it would be like.  Although we had never really considered it, it seemed as though the timing of it and the positions they needed to fill fit us perfectly.  We spent a lot of time in prayer and talking about taking the positions.  We decided that it would be best for us to take the positions for a number of reasons. Even though we will be cutting our time in Thies about a month short because we will have to go back to the States to catch up on some doctor visits, refill prescriptions for 6 more months, have some overdue doctor appointments, get more contacts, etc, we still really feel like this is where we were supposed to be. 

 



Auditorium/Chapel

We never dreamt when we left that we would be extending our year by an extra six months or serving in this capacity.  Although we will no longer be serving the Senegalese people specifically, we still are definitely serving in Senegal.  It is always a mission field no matter where you teach, but in Dakar it’s an additional ministry for the missionaries serving all over West Africa who send their children to school at DA to know they are receiving a quality Christian education.  We both will also have the opportunity to serve using sports by helping with coaching different sports at the school.
  

high school classrooms

     We are both excited to see how the Lord will use our talents and abilities in this next step at Dakar Academy.  We know the Lord will use us no matter where we are as long as we are willing and seize each moment He gives us.

 

Neighborhood Soccer

 

Lucas has had the privilege of getting hooked up with playing on our neighborhood soccer team.  It has been a great way for him to build relationships with the guys in our neighborhood.  He can hardly walk around in our neighborhood now without getting stopped at least 2-3 times by guys he knows.  Even the all the little boys know him because all the little boys go to watch all the games.

  

 The team started practicing at the beginning of June.  They play every day except for Sundays.  For about the first two months, they pretty much just went and scrimmaged every day at the neighborhood field.  Then they had games for a small tournament.  But now, there is actually a coach because it is time for the “big” tournament Senegal wide called Navitan (not sure on the spelling).  Each day, they do some fitness, do different drills and scrimmage and practices are usually at least two and a half hours long. 

 

On game days, Lucas has had the opportunity to pretty much spend the whole day with the guys.  They meet usually around 11 in the morning and just talk and hang out.  Then they go to a different house each time they have a game for a typical Senegalese meal. We believe that this is really what has gotten Lucas even more “in” with the guys because he eats what they eat and drinks what they drink.  Then in the afternoon, they will head over to the field and get ready for the game.

 

An interesting twist on the team dinners is that there is actually quite a bit of animism that goes on.  Although at least 90% of Senegal is Muslim and we live in a neighborhood with quite a few Catholics, a majority of the Senegalese people also rely on animism.  The first time Lucas went to a team dinner, the guys used some hot coals and threw a bit of plastic on them to make it extra smoky.  Then the guys essentially let the smoke wash over them. After the smoke, they use this special water with soap in it that they wash over their bodies.  They wash themselves three times throughout the day leading up to the game.  The point of these rituals is for protection during the game as well as against any curses the other team may have cast on them.  They also add to their rituals at the game.  Each time before they sit on the benches on the sideline, they knock them all over and then set them back up.  Sometimes one of the coaches will give them a little twig to eat or sometimes they put a little bead in their shirt for protection.

 

It is a mix of guys on the team of Catholics and Muslims.  Lucas has had the opportunity to explain why he doesn’t need to partake in the rituals.  Our God is a big God and will protect him just through prayer.  Now we have been praying extra hard that Lucas will not get hurt just as a testimony of God’s protection.  One guy said once, “well I believe in God and Jesus too!”  But Lucas was able to explain that he believed that God and God only could protect him from getting injured. 

 

We think it is hard for so many Americans to not think these rituals sound almost “kooky”, but when many of these guys have actually seen witchcraft take place and spirits essentially at work, it would be hard to not want to protect yourself from it.  We just hope and pray that even if we don’t see a transformation of any of the guys hearts now that we are able to just be faithful through the little things of everyday life, playing on a football team (which such a large part of life here) and planting seeds in hopes that someday each guy will see and understand how much our God loves and cares for them.

 

WAWA

We recently made a trip to Dakar to accomplish 3 things.  1) We needed to attain a piece of paper called a Carte Consulaire for Lucas to play on our neighborhood soccer team.  2)  We were going to go to a grocery store there as there are many more options of items to buy in Dakar than Thies. 3) Bekah had a doctor’s appointment in Dakar.

 

Now it doesn’t sound like that complicated of a list of tasks to accomplish, and it shouldn’t be.  However, we quickly found out that it may be slightly more complicated than we anticipated as ordinary tasks can regularly become here.  Lucas’ soccer coach for the neighborhood team wasn’t even exactly sure what the piece of paper was that we needed to attain for his license to play.  He was just passing along information, but the coach said we needed it, so we were off. 

 

We got to Dakar and started asking around to several different Americans as to where we needed to go to get this mystery piece of paper.  Unfortunately, we found very quickly we weren’t sure we would be able to find it because we asked three different men, who combined have lived in Africa for over 100 years, and none of them had even heard of it.  But we decided to be optimistic and start our search anyways since that was one of the main reasons for our trip.

So we headed to the police station where they just pointed us to another station.  So we got in a different taxi and headed there.  While we were there, we were sent to six different offices and even the sixth office sent us to another office, but obviously we didn’t see this cycle ending soon or with us actually getting the correct piece of paper.  At this point, we were at a bit of a time crunch since Bekah had an appointment, and we still hadn’t made it to the store, so we decided to give up.  

 

Then we headed to the store in a taxi, but since we aren’t in Dakar too often, we weren’t sure exactly where it was and decided to just have the driver drop us off and walk.  We ended up walking more than we had bargained for, and about 25 minutes later ended up at the store, which was closed.  Why?  Well the store doors were open and the guard was there like normal, but he informed us it just wasn’t open today and would be open tomorrow.  That didn’t help us much since we were leaving later that afternoon.

 

Then we headed to Bekah’s appointment which was the only successful part of our day thus far and for that we were very grateful.

 

However, then we had to begin our trek home.  We had to catch a taxi to a suburb of Dakar where we then would catch a sept place home which is basically a 7 person station wagon.  We sat at the station for about 40 minutes in the back of the car waiting for our car to fill up.  Then we started our way home basically through a town that would be like driving on Lake Shore Drive during rush hour. 

 

Unfortunately this was probably one of the hottest parts of the day, and there was no wind whatsoever.  So we were just inching along, hoping to catch a tiny breeze somehow as everyone in the car is beading up with sweat in literally every nook and cranny on your body.  Finally after about 45 minutes we started moving and started to get some air movement which was exceptionally exciting.  After about another hour and a half we had successfully made it home! 

 

Lucas was then off to soccer practice, and Bekah started making dinner.  Bekah was very thankful she had planned a casserole so she could just throw it in the oven pretty easily.  However after about 20 minutes, she went to check on it, and the gas bottle had gone out.  Usually our landlord has a few spares sitting downstairs so it wasn’t that big of a deal, other than when Bekah got downstairs and there weren’t any full bottles.  Cereal all around for supper!

 

Obviously some days go better than others no matter where you live.  It seems here in West Africa though, many days can go like this.  You can’t rely on much or be too upset if the things on your “to-do list” don’t get done.  Some days you just have to say WAWA (West Africa Wins Again) and go to sleep hoping tomorrow things will work out better!

 

African Time

We have mentioned how much longer things take here several times.  We thought we would share a couple of stories that demonstrate how much time is not a pressing matter here.

Bekah was supposed to play in a basketball game with some of the Thies University girls.  The plan was to meet at the gym, where they normally practice, at 3:30.  Then they would take a bus and play at 4 at a stadium in town.  Well needless to say, it didn’t exactly go as planned. Shocker.  Bekah was there on time at 3:30 (just in case something did happen on time).  However when Bekah arrived, there were only 2 girls there.  Eventually all the girls came around 4 and they took the bus to the stadium. Once they arrived at the stadium it was discovered that no one actually had keys to the stadium. Classic. So Bekah and the girls waited for over an hour at the stadium until someone eventually came who had keys.  Then once they actually got into the stadium, they had to set the portable hoops up.  The game didn’t actually end up starting until almost 6!

Lucas has been playing on a neighborhood soccer team to build relationships with the guys.  They were supposed to have a tournament on July 4^th.  But the first game got delayed a week so they would play on July 11^th.  A girl, Helen, stopped by our house the morning of July 11^th and said the game had been postponed until the following night.  The reasoning was the game was postponed because the teams who were supposed to play on the 10^th didn’t end up playing, and they had to play first.  So the other teams played on the night of the 11^th, and our neighborhood team played the following night of the 12th.  The plan was for everyone to meet at a neighborhood shop at 8 then they would get a vehicle to the game which was supposed to start at 9.  Sounded simple enough, right?  Lucas headed over to the boutique just after 8, and ended up sitting there until just after 9.  Once all the guys showed up, they headed to the stadium.  The game ended up starting at about 10:15 and there was still another game after Lucas’ which didn’t end up starting until after 11:30!

Needless to say, understanding how time works here has been a real adjustment.  It is night and day from what life is like in the United States.  Bekah remembers in college when if you weren’t five minutes early to basketball practice then you were considered late.  That kind of mind set just can’t be used here.  The culture is different, and we have just gotten used to it.

Village Visits

 

 

We have had the privilege of getting out to four villages to do sports evangelism.  We have done soccer three times and basketball once. 

                                            







Basketball presents a bit more of a challenge since we need a court before we can do anything.  There are only two villages currently that have basketball courts, and that’s because a partnering church from the United States came out and provided the funds to build one.
 
 

 

 

     Usually when we go out to a village to do sports evangelism, it is an all-day event. We typically go out to the villages sometime mid-morning, meet and greet people in the village, eat lunch (around 3 or 4), and then play a game.  People don’t really like to do sports earlier than about 4 o’clock because it is so hot.

 

     It really is amazing to see when the game starts, people seem to come out of nowhere to watch.  Literally we are in the middle of the bush, you see no buildings except the different small compounds in which the people of the village live. 

 

 



Then a soccer game starts, and people start walking up from what appears to be out of the wood work, from miles away.  The times we have gone out to different villages, there usually ends up being at least 150-200 people that have gathered to watch.  





The Word being shared at halftime.  It's amazing how many people were packed in that little circle!



 

It really is incredible how God has enabled us to use a simple game to be able to bring people together to hear about Jesus.  Using sports is really an international language, and it can be very impactful as long as you are intentional about it.  Even the most simple of things can be turned into a powerful tool for God if you are willing to surrender it to Him.

 

1 Peter 4:10-11

 

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with strength God provides, so in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus.  To him be the glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

 

Here are some extra pictures over the last few weeks.



Bekah with some girls in a village.





Lucas made a friend at a soccer game.

Very popular shoe here in Senegal to play soccer in.

The boys enthralled that a toubab puts his shoes on like everyone else/ hoping that the toubab will give his cleats away.

Notre Dame



Abel

Abel is the head of the church association here in Senegal.  We have had the pleasure of getting to go out to see what he is doing twice now.  He is a very sharp fellow and it is phenomenal to see the things he is doing in his village.  He is doing amazing things here and attributes it all to God!  It is really awesome to see the Senegalese having a heart to help their own people! 

 

 

They just recently had a new church built in their village- which he is the pastor for.  He also help get 2-3 churches built in surrounding villages.  He preaches every Sunday at his own church, but he also goes into a local town each week, before his own service, to preach his message on a local radio station in hopes of allowing others to hear the good news.

 

Abel also is part of a group that runs a boutique in his village.  Boutiques are very common in larger cities like Thies, but not so much in the villages.  These little boutiques are just hole in the wall stores with flour, sugar, onions, some candy, soap, and other basic need items.  Abel first did research to see what items sell best in the boutiques and only supplies those items in the boutique in his village.  He now has something set up in Excel to help keep inventory and track of the money.  A different member of the church, manages the boutique for 3 months at a time.  Then the manages gets a certain percentage of the profits and the other percentage goes back to the church.

 
Abel also helps run a storehouse for food.  Currently there are 60 members of this program which is all they can hold right now, both Christian and non Christians.  During November (harvest time) people put food in the storehouse.  They are not allowed the get it back out until July or August sometime when they start running out of food.  If a person chooses to take out 50 pounds of food then when they bring it back after harvest time they have to bring 55 pounds.  If a person chooses to take 100 pounds, then they have to replenish it after harvest with 110 pounds of food.  At this point, 100 pounds is the most a family can take out.  This way, slowly over time it builds the amount of food they have.   

The problem here is that if people plan ahead to have food for the whole year they are still obligated to give it if a family member or friend runs out of food or wants to throw a big wedding.  Just how it works.  So this way, the food gets locked up to help prevent a shortage in the village before the next harvest comes.  They can't get to it unless it's an emergency.


They currently have 32,000 pounds of millet stored for just their village.  He says it’s good because it helps them be self-sufficient and not have to go straight to a relief group like WorldVision if famine hits.  They have a back-up plan.  He wants to be able to help surrounding villages build similar buildings. 

It is great that a national realizes they need to become more self-sufficient so they can more easily solve their own problems.  Another cool thing is that word has been travelling about their village and the storehouse.  Evens Muslims have been amazed that the system seems to really work and how the Christians have handled themselves. Many people were very hesitant to join at the beginning for fear it may be more of a loss than a gain.  However there are now Muslim families that participate, and there are even more people wanting to join.  It has been a real testament to us to watch someone who is a very smart individual who could probably move to a larger city and have a “better life” for both himself and his family.  However he has chosen to stay in the village and work with his own community where life is much harder and be Jesus’ hands and feet to them.