Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Here are some pictures of our time at the dunes:






We are currently on break and enjoying our free time hanging out and relaxing in the dorm. We have done our annual (okay it is only the second one) trip to the Dunes the day after Christmas and had an awesome time. Our dorm is currently being painted so that has put a little damper on things, but it will look nice when they are done! I am a little loopy as I am typing this!

We will celebrate New Year's Eve with friends and fireworks! New Year's Eve or trente - un is a big deal here with lots of fireworks and festivities. Last year we went to the beach and had a chili potluck - this year it will be in our neighborhood with a soup potluck.

In January, we are looking forward to some folks from Northwest Baptist Church coming over to go on outreach with the school. They will come in a day before outreach and then stay the following week to observe our Spiritual Emphasis Week. We are so excited to have them and show them our country and have them meet the guys and see the work around Senegal.

We hope your New Year is filled with family, friends and the blessings of the Lord - we miss you all! I hope that in the New Year I will be more consistent with blogging!!

Outreach

Last weekend we went on outreach with 130 other kids and adults to a village about 3 hours from Dakar called Tattenguine. Those 130 people built benches, poured a foundation for a church, harvested peanuts, pounded millet, performed VBS in 10 villages, did drama for 13 villages, did a medical clinic and did 6 evening services. It was a crazy weekend, but was it worth it. The gospel was shared with over 3,000 people and over 700 people responded to the gospel. The pastors in that area have a huge job ahead of them! Zach and I (Chris) were on the VBS (Vacation Bible school) team. We traveled to over 10 villages and performed skits, sang, played with the kids and handed out cookies! We were deep in the bush of Africa. It was really great to be able to see Zach with the kids and doing skits in French. It is neat to see how he has blossomed. Ron was on the peanut harvesting team. Wow was that hard work. He basically had 2 sticks - 1 to lift up the peanuts and 1 to beat the peanuts off the vine. Many blisters were formed in those 2 days. We basically camped - slept in a tent and showered out of a bucket. It was a grueling 2 days but so awesome to see our youth really shine for the Lord! We have another outreach 21-23 January. We have some folks coming from our home church in Maryland and we are really excited to have them join us and see our work. Please pray for their preparations and travel. I have lots more pictures on Facebook if you are interested!

Tabaski Fun

Tabaski is on Wednesday which means that there are sheep everywhere! You see them in the back of taxis, on top of buses, walking down the street, and being carried. Tabaski is a holiday where the Muslims celebrate God providing a sheep in place of sacrificing Ishmael (Bible says it is Isaac, but they believe it was Ishmael). On Wednesday these sheep will be "sacrificed" in remembrance of what God provided. It is a day full of festive outfits and celebration. School is closed for us so that our Muslim workers can be with their families. Pray for our national workers that one day they will know the truth!

Other tidbits:

Luke and Faith won the movie contest! They were very excited and awarded a fun trophy!

Here is a picture of us with our dorm guys on our latest outing to the beach:




Also, pray for my Dad who is having bladder surgery to remove 2 cancerous tumors on the 23rd of November. Pray that they will be able to save his bladder and that there will be no other signs of cancer! We continue to be thankful for your ministry and support of our family!

Cinderella

Luke and Faith with some of their friends made a video for a contest here at school. It is called a sweded video - where you recreate another video in a short format. They had 3 minutes to do Cinderella. Except for the editing, they did the whole video themselves!

Some pictures of some happenings in our lives. Ron toting water when we had use the buckets to shower. We have had some really bad weeks of no water or electricity. We have had to conserve water and deal with the sporadic electricity. But thankfully this week has been great on both accounts so hopefully we are on a better track. Also included is a picture of Luke with his braces - hopefully they will fix his crazy teeth!

We were very blessed to have our 2 days off last weekend. We went to Saly and stayed in this amazing house with a pool and air conditioning. It was very relaxing!

We are gearing up for the next outreach to build a church in a local village. It will be my first time (Chris) since my back was so bad last time. We are excited because Zach will be going since he is in High School! He is very excited.

We are also planning for a team coming from one of our home churches - Northwest Baptist Church. They will be coming in January and we are very excited!!!

Thanks for continuing to pray for our family. Your prayers mean so much and we covet them.

Hiatus

Sorry it has been so long since our last post - life, electricity, rain, blah, blah! We are in the middle of raining season and it has been a bad one. We are having more rain than last year and it creates such havoc. The roads are deteriorating rapidly so driving is a nightmare. The potholes are sometimes a foot deep and 1-2 feet wide! Driving is definitely an off-road adventure not for the faint of heart! We are thankful that rainy season only comes once a year - I don't think the country could handle more than that. Electricity has been another major issue. We haven't had it so bad, until now. September has had 57 hours of no power so far! The stretches are getting longer - last night it was off from 6 pm until 2 am! Rough for sleeping with no air movement. We are in the process of getting our battery sources set up, so that will help at least with some fans and air moving. Getting laundry done for 17 sweaty people is a whole other issue!!

School is really underway, with all of the sports and school activities. Zach continues to love being in the dorm and Luke has recently told us that he wants to be in the dorm next year.

We recently went on a staff retreat to Saly - our resort town. It was so nice and relaxing. We left the kids here and were so blessed to be able to hang out and swim and relax.

Luke just got braces - top and bottom. He has had a little trouble adjusting to those - cheeks being sore, spots on his tongue from rubbing, no chewy candy, sore teeth. But we are really hoping that they fix his teeth - the orthodontist is really knowledgeable and we really like her!

I am going to post this while we still have electricity - will catch up on other photos soon! Miss you all!

Ron recently turned 40 and I threw him a surprise party - boy was he surprised! I didn't realize how much time we spent together until I had to manage all of the details for the party. I did manage to sneak away and organize it, but it was hard. It was a fun evening and it was more fun to be able to pull a fast one on him!

Things are progressing smoothly for us in the dorm. The guys are settling in nicely and we are adjusting to life with these guys. It is a different than last year, so we are trying to figure out food, routines, etc. We are slowly getting back into the swing of things. We had a rough start with our cook breaking her ankle and was not able to start back to work. So we were trying to manage cooking ourselves - what a nightmare. We hired a temporary cook - not good. She was trained in a french school and couldn't get the flow. We then hired a cook that worked here 8 years ago and it has been great. She picked up right where she left off and it has been a huge relief for us!

We are in the middle of hot season, so it has been crazy hot and humid. It is also rainy season, so that adds to the chaotic atmosphere too! The electricity has not been too bad this past week due to Ramadan. Once Ramadan is over - we are all a little worried about how much the electricity will be cut!

Zach continues to adjust to life in the dorm. We didn't realize how much we were going to miss him even though he is just right down the hall. He is enjoying his roommate and loving the bonding of being a dorm guy. It is definitely giving us a taste of when he is going to be in college!

Pray for protection of illness - there are lots of infections, boils, colds, etc. Thanks for your support of our family!

Life's Lessons

As a puppy!


We have had the unique and fun opportunity to rescue a puppy that we found on the street. We were walking along the road and saw 4 puppies in the bushes and were told by the guard for that house, that the mother abandoned them. The kids jumping up and down exuberantly asked if we could take one home! My answer was no, we are not allowed to have pets. But we took one home with the hopes of allowing her to be a guard dog on campus. But alas we brought her home and the current guard dog was none too happy. Our puppy who we named Bella was very fond of Addy and so badly wanted to play. But Addy who is very old, didn't not return the sentiment. She growled and snapped and was generally cranky when she saw Bella. So we had her in our apartment which we were informed that she couldn't stay there. Sad thing was that she would have been an excellent guard dog - all of the kids loved her! Well today we gave her away. It was very sad but upon reflecting our kids shared even though it was sad, it was still good that we saved her and got her healthy. We asked them if we had to do it over - either leave her or love her and let her go - they all picked love her and let her go. Still stinks, but she will be loved by her new family!!

We have started school and are in the swing of things. We have 13 guys in the dorm, 7 which are new! We are busy showing them the ropes and learning how we live as a family. We will be busy but will continue to post the happenings of our family! We love you guys and miss you!

Pictures

Birthday in the Village

Sunday we were invited to attend a birthday celebration at the house where I have been teaching English. Birthdays are not usually celebrated since a lot of those days are not even recorded. We went as a family and it was a fun day albeit a long one! We went for lunch around 2, but when we arrived they were still in the throes of cooking. So Faith and I jumped in and went to help chopping, peeling, pounding and stirring. It was fun for Faith although she tired quickly. Finally around 4:30 we ate lunch. We ate separately - a big clash against our cultural mindset! After lunch we hung around for a bit and then we started our goodbyes. The lady whose birthday it was said that she didn't want us to leave and that we had to stay for dinner. Ugh. We said no and then she proceeded to beg and say - do it for my birthday. How do you say no to that? We finally relented and went to sitting while they cooked again. Finally around 8:30 dinner was ready and again we ate alone. The birthday girl did sit with us and eat a few bites, but then left. We asked her what the dish was and she replied, "It is from the sea." It was sea snails, with peas and onions. Interesting. We all ate some, except for Faith for when she tried she started gagging. We allowed her to pass.

Even though it was a very long day for us, it was an honor and a blessing for her for our family to come to her celebration. One that she won't ever forget, nor will we!

Here are some of the faces from my time yesterday in the village of N'Gor. You can picture these women and children when you pray for the people of Africa.

Look at the little girl's back - she is swaddling her stuffed animal!

This is Abby, one of the college students that live in this house - she is learning how to pour the tea. You have to pour it over and over again - the higher the better - to create a foam.



The one thing that I continue to be amazed at is the hospitality of the African people. Even though they have considerably less than I do, they are so very generous. In Wolof it is called Teranga. The main girl that I deal with would not let me leave before I had dinner - again! We told her that I wanted to be home to see the kids before they went to bed, so I couldn't eat with them. But she insisted that wouldn't work, so she worked so hard in order to have dinner done so that we could eat right after we finished teaching. Amazing. I continue to learn new phrases and just watch the culture. I am having fun with this opportunity and continue to be amazed at their love and generosity towards me.

On another note, we had our first rains last night. It was quite a storm that caused much dirt and mess. Some of the windows where we are staying leaked, so it was a lot of work to get things cleaned up. I think that we are going to be surprised at how much the power is off once we get back to our own house and have no generator!! But for now we are enjoying a break from reality.

English vs. Wolof

I (Chris) have been going to a village to meet with some ladies and teach them English. I have a dual purpose - I want to practice my Wolof and share about Jesus. There is a college student that is staying there for the summer and I went to help encourage her as she is the only student in the house.

The students are family members of the chief of the village. This chief has 8 daughters, 1 daughter in-law and a haggle full of kids wanting to learn English. The routine for an African home is a little bit different than our culture. I arrived around 12 and the family was just finishing breakfast and getting themselves together. About 45 minutes later we start cooking lunch. It is a good opportunity to talk as we cook and to teach me how to cook Senegalese. So I cut, peeled, watched and tried to stay out the way when necessary. Finally around 4 we ate lunch. It tasted great - maybe because at that point I was very hungry!! After lunch all of the ladies gather together in one of the rooms in the house and talk. Their Wolof is so fast that I understood about 5 words out of 100, but it is good to just listen. The student also helps with some girls that gather every night on the beach to play volleyball. So we head down to the beach to hang out with them around 5:30 until 7 pm. Once again blazing fast Wolof! I feel a little discouraged but know that I am still in the learning process. We go back to the house and start teaching the lesson. I teach the lesson in Wolof and then teach it in English. It is fun to see that they are where I was at - just mimicking what they hear! The electricity goes out and so we are teaching by candlelight, making the process so much more interesting. There are 3 English speakers that desire to really master the language. So I am going to give them Christian materials to read and try to absorb. They also have the assignment to listen to The Message by Charles Stanley. We are praying that they hear something that resonates and they desire to know more Truth! Around 9 pm I told them that I was leaving, but they said I couldn't leave until I ate dinner. They said that it would be served right away. So since they had barely started the dinner, they went to a "restaurant" and bought me a meal. They don't normally eat until 10-11. So I will have to stay until then to avoid having them buy me dinner each week. Overall it was a much more productive day than the last time I went there!

The previous week I showed up and it was a funeral. I had to wear a head covering - not my favorite. I got there around 12 and sat on the mat until 7 pm - bad idea for someone recovering from back surgery!! I didn't want to say anything because I was already a spectacle! We were sitting on a mat and every person that came in stared at us. It was weird when we heard them trying to explain why I was there. I would hear wolof, wolof, wolof, wolof - Djenibah (my African name) wolof, wolof, wolof - all at lightening speed! So I had no idea what they were saying, only that they were talking about me! Uncomfortable!!

So I begged off saying that I needed to get home to my children and my husband. I was supposed to spend the night, but I was going to have to sleep on a mat and I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk the next day if I had done that! Weird, uncomfortable day, but a good opportunity to build relationships and it made it easier when I showed up the next time. I go again on Tuesday and hope to get some pictures this time! Pray that I can continue to soak up the language and retain the words that I learn!

Ron will hopefully going to be going out soon to different village. Pray that an opportunity will open up for him. Thanks again for supporting our family!

Outreach Video

Below is a video from the outreach weekend that the students of our school did this past year. The money raised from the offerings of the church on campus go towards this weekend.

Click on the video so that you can watch it full screen. We hope you enjoy!

Wow - what a year!

It is hard to believe that this first year of dorm parenting is over. We had an amazing year with some amazing guys. We made our fair share of mistakes, but overall it was a great year. We have learned a lot of things and we are planning to do some things the same and some things very different. This summer we are going to be doing a little bit of everything. We are going to be working in some villages, relaxing at a friends house, working in the dorm and going to be the beach. Ron will be finishing up his practicum for his MDIV for school and we will be trying to focus on language this summer as well. We will keep you guys posted on all of our summer adventures.

Being in Africa is great most of the time, but it is hard in regards to family. I will miss a big family birthday party this month. My dad and his twin brother are turning 70, and my grandmother turned 95 in April. Although I can't make it in person, I'll be there in spirit.

Fine Arts Festival

Luke and Zach were in plays!

Luke playing handbells!

Zach won third place for his flamingo!

Luke drew this djimbe (drum).

Zach won an honorable mention for his dragon cup.

This has been a really busy time for us as the semester comes to a close. School finishes June 4th. We have 5 seniors graduating - a bittersweet thing. We are looking forward to finishing out the year, but at the same time will really miss the kids. Pray for our kids as they have grown really attached to some of the seniors graduating. I have some more pictures to post of field trips and other events here on campus. We continue to thank you for your prayers for our family and for your notes of encouragement.