An afternoon meal

After the Ramadan

Yesterday was the end of the fast of Ramadan. We were invited to share in the breaking of the fast with Maritou's family.

Me and the Kids

Trip to Edingough

Thursday is usually a day reserved for prayer walks and evangelism. Last Thursday we went to Ishmael's village. All through the day I felt as if we were immersed in God's presence. When we arrived we worshiped on Ishmael's porch for a long time. Then went to visit a young girl we had prayed with on our previous visit. She wasn't there but a young man named Paul was there. As soon as his head emerged from the house I saw a door open in his life. He sat with him and told him about Jesus. Lorrie had a word about him having difficult with his eyes and school. He confirmed the prophetic word, that yes, he was 14 or and still at the elementary school do to his difficulty with learning. He cannot see far away and has trouble writing. We prayed for him to know Jesus and God to heal his eyes.

We then went on to visit Ishmael's uncle who is blind and has a difficult time believe that God loves him. We worshiped at his house and then, something new overcame me. I began to tell a Bible story, in true dramatic, Tina style. It was so fun, I had the language to do it and the whole family came out and around and listened to the story of Zacheaus and how Jesus called him down from the tree to eat at his house. Lorrie and Tom both had words for him. You could tell he was really touched.

Later we visited my friend Patricia who has come to the Wednesday fun days at the house and the finally ate at Ishmael's and prayed for his family. It was a really fantastic day.

Kristina Diatta

Kristina Diatta

Two months ago my friend Louis introduced me to his new wife Clara. I knew she was having a baby soon and Louis told me that if it was a girl he wanted to give her my name. This meant a lot to me on so many levels. The Jola think very seriously about the names they give their children. I knew that it meant a lot to Louis to give his child my name. I also was honored that his child would carry my name. She was born yesterday and she is just so beautiful.

A Day Planting Rice

Yesterday Lorrie and I had the pleasure of going out to the rice fields with Lucy Lambal and her hired workers. The day started by us waiting at Lucy's aunts house while she gathered supplies and her workers. Lucy's husband was the only son and he inherited large rice patties. Lucy and Joe had four children who are all still rather young. The work is divided up between women's tasks and men's task. The planting of the rice is a task for the women, while the digging of the fields in preparation is a task for the men. Lucy's daughter is only four years old so each year Lucy must hire workers to plant her rice. We went along to help.

The hired workers rove in bands of women from similar age groups. We were working with a group of single women from Dvante. Each family pays all the group 5,000 cfa 0r $10 for a full days work on their fields. Then at the end of the season all of the money made is used for a big party for the group. There were similar groups that we saw from other villages of different age groups working for families.

We followed the long line of 50 or so girls out to Lucy's patties, hiking our skirts to cross a river and walking through stagnant smelly mud and traversing precarious passages between the patties. We where then given our first rice planting lesson. Lucy stood between Lorrie and I and gave us each a handful of blades of grass with the rice root at the bottom. You take one blade and use your thumb to push it down into the mud. Five across and five down. Over and over and over again all day long. The girls with us were like machines. Zoom Zoom Zoom. Meanwhile Lorrie and I were working very so dutifully to make sure each was planted well in it's hole.

After about an hour of work, breakfast was delivered. Unfortunately bees were delivered as well. Swarms of them followed the hot bucket of milk and sugar and the bags of bread with chocolate inside. What a shame it was for Lucy who was bound and determined to drink her coffee and eat her bread. I was given a cup of milk that after two seconds of bees landing all over my hand dumped out and gave back the cup. I had to watch that no bees landed on my bread and went into my mouth. I did later step on a bee and that gave me start, and oh man did it hurt. Poor Lucy. I felt so bad as she ran from the bees to try and drink her coffee.

We kept plugging away with the girls. Lorrie and I each attached ourselves to one of the older girls and followed them through the fields so we would no where to stand and plant our seedlings. The whole day bent over knee deep in mud, elbow deep in water. Lorrie was just talking about what breeding ground this would be for leeches when screaming was heard and low and behold, there were leeches in the mud. Who woulda thought.

We worked until about 5 p.m. With the girls and then Lucy led us back across the fields towards home. It was a long and wonderful day.

Tsteste Fly

Since I got my dog Adjou last year I have been through a series of drama's with this dog. Learning how to care for a dog in Africa is no easy task, as so many unseen creatures are out to destroy them. Last week it appeared as if my dog might have been sprayed by another snake. I decided to watch his eye for a day or two and see if this was the case. As I watched it I began to see his health deteriorate. He became more lethargic and his other eye also seemed to be affected by this crash with the snake. I thought, no somethings wrong. All of my senegalese friends, said, don't worry he'll be fine. I took him a second time to the vet and the vet said, he was probably bitten by the Tsteste fly. This is a total killer to livestock in Africa. The doctor gave the dog three injections. Just as a testimony to how sick the dog actually was he didn't fight at all during the injections. Where as last year I had to wrestle the dog to the ground for his rabies shot. Then two nights ago, after we had seen some improvement, Lorrie had a dream about the dog. She drempt that he had eaten a bad fish and it had come out the other end whole. She believed the dream meant and ending to what had made him sick. And the very next day he was back to his energetic grumpy old self again. Thanks God for healing my dog.

A culture of rice

This year at the training center we had the pleasure of many people coming to use the grounds to plant their rice seedlings. These are photos of one women picking her rice seedlings for planting in the rice patties.

Touba Coffee

Touba coffee is neither from Touba nor actually coffee. I absolutely love African markets. I love to buy things from barrels and ask questions about the unknown. Friday as we wandered the market I saw what I thought was either strange looking soybeans or white coffee beans. So I asked the patron what they were. He said Touba Coffee. He sold us a bag of the beans ground up and showed me how to prepare them. Tom and I were super excited about this experiment. Upon returning we prepared our coffee and then, smelled it and tasted it. It looked like mud and smelled like camphor. And tasted like coffee mixed with dirt and mud.

When we saw Offie that evening I asked him what Touba coffee was. He started laughing. Ha ha ha ha ha. Why are you laughing at me Offie? Touba coffee is not actually coffee but a plant that grows in this region not near Touba. They named it Touba coffee after one maribou as a marketing gimic so that people would buy it. We were taken in. After having the Touba coffee around the house for a day we decided to throw it out. Everything began to smell like the coffee and the taste was permeating. So that was the end of our Touba coffee adventure.

Ziguinchor

Trip to Ziguinchor

Throughout the missionary training program we travel on the weekends. This helps the students to learn to travel easier, build relationships with regional churches and see new places. The first weekend in September we traveled to Ziguinchor to spend some time with our friend Offie Bolie and the Sencheba church.

We stayed at the old WEC mission house near the regional hospital. When we arrived Arsen, the caretaker, was sitting and talking with one of the oldest pastors in Senegal. This man is so interesting. He was one of the very first evangelical pastors in Dakar at the very beginning of the church plants here in Senegal. Arsen also told us when we arrived that there had been rebel activity during the last couple of nights in the forests behind the regional hospital. This gave me something to think about as I pondered over whether I had made the right decision to bring us to Ziguinchor. But as our program emphasizes immersion and following the Senegale manner of living, they were not alarmed or leaving the city, so we would also relax and enjoy our weekend.

Friday we wandered around the market and enjoyed buying new things. In the evening playing pitch and dice at the guest house. Saturday we went swimming and in the evening enjoyed a fantastic dinner of deer and wild pig meat with Offie. Then Sunday Tom and I spoke together at Offie's church. We had a really wonderful time during this trip. During the church service Offie welcomed Tom and Lorrie to Senegal and said they would always have a place with the Sencheba church. This was encouraging to me as I see Tom and Lorrie already making their mark on this place and being woven into the fabric of our relationships here.

Isaiah 52:10

The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.

I was reading this verse the other day and it really encouraged me about the strength of God. I pray everyday for God's miracles and supernatural to be manifest in the lives of our friends and family here in Oussouye. Like God rolling up his sleeves and saying, "check out the gun show." And people going "oh my look at the size of his arms he looks strong. People here want to follow a powerful God, they just aren't convinced yet that God is more powerful than the fetish. But when they see his power surely people will follow after him.