I was in Senegal!
Oh, man! I loved that place! I went with a group of wonderful people from Dauphin Way Baptist Church, in Mobile! We worked with the Wolof people group to share the story of Jesus. It was an awesome experience. I pretty much had a consistent flow of sweat from the time we landed in Dakar until we got back on the plane to go back to the US but it was totally worth it. One day I hope to go back!
I received an email today, one year later, from a guy we worked with who was one of the few believers in the entire country. Hearing from him got me to thinking about that experience and how it changed me. My eyes were opened to the poverty of this world. At the same time I saw children and families who were happy with little to nothing and called you family after only knowing you for a few hours. It is a crazy thing to have a conversation with a women who know nothing about the Bible or Jesus. Then they want to hear why some crazy Americans fly and then drive hours to their village when there is nothing and want to love them and learn about their culture. The women there are strong...they don't have all the things we take for granted. One day I watched a girl wash clothes with her hands, a bucket, and a bar of soap. Those clothes were cleaner than any washer and dryer could come close to cleaning. What's so sad about the women in the West Africa region and the Wolof people group is that they have no say in their lives. They have no voice. They answer to the chief of the tribe. If the chief does not turn to Christ then nobody will. If someone decides to step out of a limb and follow Christ they are kicked out of their family, community, and tribe. To follow Chirst is to literally leave everything you have and know. It brings a clearer understanding to what Jesus said in Luke 14:26-33,
26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." -ESV
The men work in the fields. All day. Every day.
Team Two-Bob (minus Terry) wearing our clothing made for us by a local seamstress.
My favorite picture of the entire trip. Omar was my buddy. He couldn't play like the other kids. He had something wrong with him. Maybe a heart defect. He was retaining water all over his body and getting the proper medical care was next to impossible. Omar passed away in October after his family was unable to get him to a doctor in time. What I love about this picture is that he wouldn't smile for the camera but every time I showed him the picture of us on my camera he would laugh.
The kids love to have their picture taken. They would follow us until we took a picture of them. Of course, you have to show them the picture on your camera, too. They would laugh and then run away.
To find out more about the need in West Africa go here!
