Hand crafted!!!

I have recently had the privilege of visiting some very interesting places.  The first place is a wood workers “shop” which is where we bought our furniture.

Every thing you see here is HAND made.  That means NO electrical equipment AT ALL was used.  Just hand saws, tape measures, hand planers, it was routed by hand using planers and a piece of sandpaper as well as ALL sanded with a piece of sandpaper and their hands.  This is all truly a work of art to watch and to see the final product.  An interesting side note is that while I worked at Kirkland's Home in the States, I sold a chair similar to this, but for a LOT more and not near as nice as these.

I sat for over an hour and watched these guys hand measure some wood while looking at a diagram and mark up the long plank to be cut.  Then, in order to "clamp" it down, they had a boy sit on one side, near the work table as they started to cut the wood.  No big deal you would think, except that they were trying to cut the plank down the middle, lengthwise.  The guy cutting it was standing at the end he was cutting and carfully watched every stoke of the hand saw as he pushed it through.  I watched another guy, the guy whose shop it is, as he carefully hand planed the edges off of a stool that he was making for us.  He did not rush, but rather took his time and payed close attention to every pass of the planer. Only after he was satisfied with the smoothness of the edges did he grab a well worn piece of sandpaper and start to use it, followed by a finer grain of sandpaper to finish it all off.  After seeing the attention he paid to the details of a stool, I was even more impressed with the beauty of the furniture that we got.  Then of course there was the hand carried delivery they offered as they carried all 4 pieces to our house a block away.

This reminded me of Eph. 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  The attention that these guys paid to the things they were making is NOTHING compared to the attention God paid when He created you and me.  If He is going to pay that kind of attention to something, you can rest assured that he did not create no junk AND that he has a purpose for you in this life.  He gave all of Himself to ransom you and He has not stopped working and perfecting you or me.  He has called each one of us to give Him our all and to be used for His glory.  Our chairs, while they are beautiful to look at, if that is all we did and never sat in them, they would not live up to their full potential.  You are the same way, if you shelve yourself rather than "getting into the game" and never share His love with anyone, than you are not living up to your full potential either.  Remember, If you are a Believer and a Follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, than you ARE called to be a minister no matter where you work, what you do, have done or will do. 

Be what God has crafted you to be!!

Same....but different?!?!

   WOW!!  I expected things to be different, but I am not sure to what extent I thought they would be the same.  We have been here now for one month and already our lives have been VERY busy.  We have been studying hard to learn a new language; this language is known as one of the hardest to learn in West Africa.  We are at least making some progress!!  We have also been trying to get set up in our house, meet neighbors, learn the market and what is available locally.  Being in a more remote part of the country this time it is different than what we had available in the capital.  There seems to be more fresh veggies here as this is the region they are grown in, but the prices seem to be different.  We also are finding that there are some things we have not seem before, as well as noticing that the imported stuff from France does NOT make it down here.  So that means that we have had to learn where to go to do our supply runs, which is 5 hours away, so we go every 3 months!!  Lisa has been getting home-school started and we have tried to learn all we can from our co-worker before she leaves on the 10th of November for 2 months.

     It also is MUCH quieter here than in the capital.  There, people would be walking the streets outside our bedroom window all hours of the day and night.  Here we are in a neighborhood and while most people walk everywhere and there are taxis, the neighborhoods are MUCH quieter as most people seem to go in for the evening around 10pm or so.  Then there is the sounds of the call to prayers.  Before, there were places on almost every corner and they seemed to compete with each other to be heard, and then there was the Thursday night services that could be heard rather loudly from certain brotherhoods.  I have heard the call to prayer here a few times, but they are not near as loud as in our other home.  Also the brotherhood that has their night on Thursday is not as well represented here, so Thursday nights are quieter as well.

     Our house here is different than last time; it is much bigger here inside, but our courtyard is smaller.  Last time we had a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath house with a small kitchen.  It was the top floor of a 2 story building and we had the whole 2nd floor and our courtyard was on the roof.  The sun rose in the front of the house and passed over the house and set on the backside of the house therefore it heated several large sides of the house and made it rather hot!  Now we are in our own house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bath house with a larger kitchen (still smallish though) an we actually have storage room for a pantry.  The sun rises on the side of the house where there is a large tree with shade and passes over the house and the side it sets on is another house (we share a common wall).  So while it still gets hot here, the house is cooler than last time, the celing fans we have that we did not have last time make a differance as well.  Our courtyard this time though is on three sides of the house and rather small though, but the side has shade and the front has shade.  The kids play out in the dirt road that runs in front of our house as we have almost no car traffic on it.

      

     The spiritual darkness here is just about the same here though.  We are living and working amongst a people that are wandering about in darkness and have not heard the truth, or else have heard it and reject it.  They follow what they have been taught by their religious leaders, or family members and most of the time they do this without questioning them.  The team here has been telling God's stories from the Bible for several years, with the help from volunteer groups from the States.  There are villages that have asked us not to come back and tell these stories as they do not want to hear them.  Some though are starting to listen and even asking questions about what the truth is and some are hearing and responding as well!!  The Spirit is drawing people here to Himself and people are responding.  There is even the beginnings of a local gathering happening here!!  We believe that the time is ripe and the harvest is plentiful and we are trying to be faithful harvesters.  It is our desire that after our first term that we will have to start to look for someplace else to start working due to the calling out of locals and them taking on this area themselves!!

My oldest brother and his wife came to visit us in January, yes it has been a LONG time since we have blogged! He, Jurgen, and I were outside talking and William started playing with Uncle Jurgen and then Jurgen caught William. So we started playing catch with him and he had a BLAST!!

Stay tuned for more stuff soon!!!!

Our trip to the village part I

Following our trip to a few villages this last weekend, I thought that I would write about our experiences here rather then take up a whole newsletter. I am VERY glad that we asked you to be praying for us, because as it turned out, we would need your prayers more then we ever imagined, especially the first day of our trip.

A little background information on Islam here in Senegal will help you to understand some of what I am going to tell you. Here in Senegal there are several sects of Islam and the biggest and strongest is called the Mouride brotherhood. The Mourides started from their founder who was persecuted by the French for his work in liberating Senegal from the French government, and he was banished to the southern region of Senegal, which back then was VERY under developed with swamps and few people. He was from a town called Touba, and he is buried there, and the Mourides have a big pilgrimage their every year on his birthday (most will say that if you go to Touba enough, you do not have to go to Mecca). They are very syncretized with traditional African Religion that listens more to their religious leaders then to traditional Islam and are very big into charms, religious incantations for protection and worshiping of their dead religious leaders. Theirs is a dark religion full of fear of the spirits, while trying to control those spirits for their own use. They also are less open to toubabs (white people) and their religion then other sects here in Senegal.

My friend A, whose village we went to first, is not only part of this sect, but his whole village, of @ 1000 people, is a Mouride village. I knew he was, and in spite of that, we have formed a sort of friendship and he has been a big help during our time here to become familiar with the culture of Senegal. What I was unaware of was that the whole village was Mouride. As we entered into the village, the first sign that things were going to be different was that almost nobody came out to greet us, even in the family compound. This is NOT normal anywhere in Africa!! Normally white people are followed by a group of children and when you get out of the car you are surrounded by them, followed by the adults that you are their to visit and their friends and family. Instead we had family members keeping their distance, other than A’s mother and a few others. His father did come to greet us, but did not stay around long, nor was he around almost the whole time we were there, instead he laid on a mat right outside the compound.

This was the way that the rest of the visit would go. There were even times that my friend left us alone while he visited briefly with a few friends or his religious teacher. While normally, children will almost fall over themselves to play with William and Mariama; his main playmates the whole time were the chickens and the goats that he chased after. There was one boy who played with him after we pulled out his soccer ball, but that lasted all of about 20 minutes, and then William was seen kicking the ball by himself. When we went to visit A’s friends, we always had to pass by and greet his religious leader, where you could cut the spiritual darkness with a knife. That night, we did not sleep well due to the spiritual activity. Actually, after fighting with sleep for about 5 hours, I asked God to have our prayer warriors praying for us and covering us with prayer, only then did we get any rest that night. So thank you for the coverage and protection.

That next day we arraigned to meet our friends in the next place we were going to a day early. The whole time we were there, both kids were fussy and did not sleep well, not even a good nap. We were only about 2 minutes out of the village before Mariama fell asleep and slept for over and hour, William lasted about 30 minutes before sleeping for about an hour. We later realized that this village is about 1 hour west of the town of Touba. The spiritual arena in this whole area is VERY active and very dark. This was one of the darkest places I have ever been to.

Thank you for your coverage, and if you were one of the ones that God impressed to pray for us on Thursday evening, especially from about 9pm central time on, I would be interested in knowing that. Thank you for your prayers. To see how the rest of our trip went, see part II below.

Our trip to the village part II

The second and longer part of out trip up country went much better then the first day. After leaving the first village, we drove to Kaolack to spend a few days with some fellow co-workers that live there. Our time there was of course MUCH different and was a great time of spiritual fellowship with fellow Christians. We had a great time watching some Bill Gaither videos, singing, and playing cards and eating some great food.

This was the second time that we were blessed with spending time with this couple and have enjoyed every second of it. They have been here in Senegal, working with the Wolof for around 20 years and have some good insights on things. We were able to pick their brains and get some good thoughts on everything from appliances for use here to team work to family life as missys with children in Senegal. We had a great time singing old standards of the Faith while watching the videos and listened to a CD of their home church for house church on Sunday morning. William discovered some new Disney videos and they allowed us to borrow them for a while so Pape can watch them at home in Dakar. They taught us 2 new games and we played them all 4 nights.

On Monday we went to another village to go visit our first househelper, A, who we had not seen in about a year. This village experience was VASTLY different then the first one. This was especially interesting seeing as how A’s father is a Koranic teacher and has several schools through out Senegal. This man came and greeted us shortly after we arrived on his compound, and stayed around us the whole time we were there and talked to us. A’s brother is also a believer and while their father was not crazy about that at first, he now supports his son’s right to choose and is starting to see Christians as people of honor and respect. Pape had SOOOO much fun playing with the children and almost did not want to leave when it was time to go (at the other village, shortly after arriving, he started asking if we could go). A made us one of my favorite Senegalese meals, Yassa Yapp, onion sauce with meat. She even tried to find chicken for the meal, but none could be found. She made this meal knowing it is one of our favorites. We had a great visit with her and her family and we were VERY glad that we were able to see her again before returning to the states.

We spent that night back in Kaolack and had a great meal and a wonderful time playing and visiting and laughing with our friends again. This part of the trip was exactly what I needed spiritually to help get me through the next 45 days or so before returning to the States. Hearing the hearts of our friends, singing, worshiping and having some good time alone to study and seek God’s heart was a great spiritual shot in our arms. You had a hand in that through your prayers, and we thank you for those. They helped us get through the first village, and to get through to the heart of God.

Quotable: How much was that coffee?

"Globally, the average Christian gives 15 cents to foreign missions each week. The average North American believer gives 50 cents; the average European believer, 25 cents. How much was that cup of coffee before church?"

-- missions researcher Justin Long, quoted by Erich Bridges in "As U.S. population tops 300 million, is American church still a global force?" (Please click to read all of the article, it is good.)

TOP TEN SIGNS YOU'RE ON STATESIDE ASSIGNMENT

Most of you may not understand the humor here, but Lisa and I were rolling on the floor when we read these. Mainly because we know that this will be us in a few months. So read these and watch us while we are there and see for yourself how many of these you can catch us doing.

These are from a West Africa regional newsletter called "The Talking Drum" that is sent to all west african missionaries. If you are interested in getting it as well, let us know and we will see about getting you signed up as well.

10. The Wal-Mart cashier stares at you blankly when you thank her in Pulaar (or in our case, Wolof- I did this SEVERAL times last year).


9. You (or your daughter/son) haven't had a marriage proposal in at least a week.


8. You sit at the gas station a full five minutes before realizing you're expected to pump your own gas. (Yes they still do that over here!!)


7. The salesman won't budge on the price no matter how hard you try to bargain.


6. Your children wonder why African Americans don’t speak French (Or Wolof).


5. You get pulled over for an actual traffic violation (which cost a LOT more then just $6), not just because the cop wants you to give him a Coke.


4. At the grocery store, the clerk gives you change in coins, not candy.


3. You automatically load 30 sticks of deodorant into your basket at Wal-Mart…just in case it’s not there the next time you go shopping. (I did this last year as well--after I got over the shock of ALL the choices)


2. You sit at the traffic light for awhile before realizing that you can turn right on red.


1. You take Contingency Training at the International Learning Center and say, “So what? I’ve been to Abidjan!”


Bonus! Your children are fascinated by the strange new wildlife…squirrels!!!

I hope you enjoyed those at least half as much as we did.