New City

We have made it to Thies (pronounced chess).
I like it so far. When we came back to Dakar from the village, I realized I had forgotten how crazy and busy it was. Thies is a big city but has less hustle and bustle. There are no big highways and it has more space! So now we are in the middle of our two experiences from Dakar and the village.
We are staying in a place that is a school and community place. There is another group here from Boston, so that has been nice to see some familiar travelers. We are accompanied by our friends Eddie and Jean-Jacques, and we are working with Pastor Innocent (pronounced inno sont without the n and the t) and the church he has started here. They will have their first Sunday morning worship tomorrow. We are excited to help in anyway and be here for it. So far we have visited the neighborhood around the church and met the families there. We have also met the children of the church that we will help start a kids club program for so they can come to the church on a regular basis to play games and learn about Jesus of course and build our good ol Nazarene community :)!
This morning we went to the art market thing. It was so great. It is pretty much a place for tourists so we had a little fun seeing all of the stuff. Luckily our friends negotiated the price for us so we didn't pay too much for something. This evening we had activities with the children. It was sort of like a VBS time were we had games and songs and activities and a story at the end. They have been great kids so I think this week will be very fun with them.
We eat dinner at our friend Pastor Myga's house. His wife is an amazing cook. wow. It has all been so wonderful. There are two medical students from England staying at his house for a while, so it has been fun to talk with them about their experiences at the hospital so far. They are nice girls.
Thies is a great place for God's kingdom to grow grow grow. Please pray for God to reach them and encourage them!

Discussion

We talked about Luke 12 in one of our devotion times: the parable of the rich fool. In the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan talks about this passage like it is so simple. He compares the rich fool and his life to the definition of the American dream, and how we save up for retirement to relax and enjoy ourselves. Chan says, “We shouldn’t worry about our lives, what we’ll eat, buy, or wear. God says the American dream is absolute foolishness. It’s exactly what Christian are doing and defending. God could take your life at any time. Don’t conform to the patterns of this world.”
I know that not everyone who has saved for retirement is a fool or disobedient to God’s teaching, and I know that it means different things for different people, but this kind of rocks my world and everything I have known. I have been taught to save my money but why? Then I think about all the money I spent in the past on things for my self. Maybe this is simple. I must make sure I am “rich towards God” and I must have my faith in God in order to not worry about my needs. Verse 22 and 23 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” As simply as that is put, I have serious issues with that. With my indecisive nature I can’t count how many times I have had serious trouble trying to find something to wear or eat. I will stand and look at the menu for ten minutes at taco bell and end up making someone else choose for me. The village was nice because it honestly didn’t matter. I didn’t have so many choices to make about what to wear or eat because we didn’t have a whole lot and it was great! I loved it. I wore the few clothes I had and ate what they gave me (fortunately it was soooo good. I love Senegalese food). So with all of that I just want to know what you think about it all. About the rich fool, the American dream, your thoughts and meditations on anything I have said and wondered about.

The Village

Toubab!! Toubab!! (toobob)
This was our name for the week. It means white person in Wolof. Every time we passed through a village or by any children on our horse and cart they would yell it while running toward us and waving. I didn't know how to take it, so I just smiled and waved back.
For the past nine days we have been in a small town called Fissel. We stayed in a community center they have there. We did not have running water or toilets, so that was an experience, but a good one. Our YIM team was accompanied by our friends Salomon, Pastor Jean Beunoit, Moses, and Aida and her children. Eddie came for the last couple of days. Pastor Jean Beunoit goes to the Nazarene church in Boabob, but really invests in the ministry in the villages. Moses is from another village but knows Pastor Tim because he used to live in Dakar. I have never met someone that laughed so much at the same story. Him and Pastor JB talked about some policeman story the entire time. It was hilarious seeing how he thought it was so funny. Moses spoke good English so he was our connection to the rest of the group, but the comprehension/translation process was sometimes a little difficult. But we got through and learned a lot from our fellow teammates. Salomon is pretty good with English and we are starting to learn more French! Our new friend Aida is a wonderful lady that lives in Fissel and is studying to be a pastor. She knows the language of people in the villages, so she was translating the entire time from either French or Wolof to their language or from their language to ours. She was amazing with all of that. She is also learning English too. She has two children that were the cutest little things ever. They were so fun to play with and love on.
Throughout the week we went to four villages and did a VBS program. We rode on horse and cart as I mentioned earlier, which was fun and eventful. We got to name the horse and we picked Henry for some reason. Moses liked it I think. We went to the villages either in the morning or the evening because it is just too hot to be traveling during midday. The villages were so welcoming and friendly. They were thankful we were there to play with the kids and to fellowship. We would first greet all of the elders and adults that were present and then we would sing songs in their language. Sometimes dancing would break out and they laughed with us at our attempt to African dance. We learned silent skits so we would perform those and Aida would talk about them. After that it was game time. The children were split into four groups according to age and gender and we had a sport station, craft, story time, and an activity station. Sometimes this worked really well and sometimes it turned into mad chaos very quickly, but either way the main goal was that they had fun. We had all sorts of games like football (soccer, of course), we wrestled one time (wrestling is very popular in Senegal), steal the bacon, an intense version of duck duck goose, we played with a huge parachute that we brought (they loved that), and other various activities. In closing we would sing some more and Pastor Jean Beunoit would preach.
The lifestyle we had for the past week was definitely different than what we are used to, but we embraced it for the short amount of time we were there. Everything we saw and learned has made me think about things differently. In a good way, a challenging way.

Downtown! everything's waiting for YOU!

I'm starting to feel at home in this faraway land. It has been great to be here at the church and continue building friendships. The children of the neighborhood now know that we live here so they come around often to play. They love to dance and it is fun to watch. I think they have a dance for every song. They sometimes pinch me or touch my hair. I'm not sure if that is good or bad (haha). They are fun.
Thursday we painted the roof walls of the church all day. They use water based paint so it doesn't stain! I think that is great.
I'm continuing to love being here. Friday was our prayer day. That was so neat to see how they do things like that. We continue to go on prayer walks because that is one of the main things they do here. On Saturday we experienced downtown (hence the title, the song was in my head). It was so fun. There was one guy on my right trying to get me to buy and bag. On my left there was a guy who wanted me to buy sunglasses. And then walking towards me was a guy with cages of birds! Oh, it made me laugh all of the random things I saw that day. We had our first bus ride and taxi experience! They were both successful. Our first taxi driver was an absolute gem. He laughed at my french and had me name my price for the ride. He was very nice.
Pastor Danny spoke at church about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. He made some great points and we had a translator so it was easy to follow. We knew some of the songs too. Today we went to the beach after church. There was so many people there, and the waves were crazy!
We have also been preparing for our trip to the village. We leave tomorrow and will be there for 8 or 9 days. We will travel to a few villages and do VBS. I'm excited for this experience, and I feel we are ready and prepared to take a step deeper in the culture. Only by the grace of God am I in such wonderful spirits. He has truly made this mission a blessing and privilege thus far. Prayer works miracles. Faith moves mountains. God Bless.

Turn Down the Music

This is an amazing song about listening to God and being sensitive to the world around us. There are sooooo many distractions in life that divert our attention from some of the most obvious needs of this world, our community, our family, and our friends.

If you were hungry would we give you food?
If you were thirsty would we give you drink?
If you were a stranger would we let you in?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

And if you were naked, would we give you clothes?
If you were an orphan would we give our home?
And if you were in prison, would we visit you?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

Let it be our worth shared
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of
Holding on to our confessions
Let it be our worth shared
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of
Holding on to our confessions

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in
A new song rise in
A new song rise in us

Shane & Shane

Wednesday

Today was busy. Whoooo It was great though. We have really become close with our African friends. We laugh a lot and even though speaking is difficult sometimes we are all patient and understanding. They have an amazing joy about themselves. They are also very helpful in teaching us about their culture. They show us the good food that you can buy right on the street, and they take us anywhere we want to go. What fun people!!

Today we had our French class where we learned many questions and phrases. Jean-Jaques (pronounced john jack, I think I misspelled it last time) is very helpful with translation. Lunch is usually around 1:00 or 1:30. We have been going to the same place all week and they serve a different dish everyday, which is usually some kind of fish. It is about a dollar a plate to eat and I am always full. The dish for today was interesting. I think I liked the others better. Then pastor Tim got us some mini ice cream cones on the street. It tasted like strawberries and cream. Needless to say it was very good. It was very sweet which is unlike normal Senegalese food. Usually they don’t like really sweet things. The people here prefer sour or spicy tastes. Jean-Jaques thought we should taste a fruit that they have here called mad (pronounced mod). It has a hard outer shell and then the inside has the texture of a mango and seeds that are the size of acorns. The fruit is very sour so you add sugar and it kind of taste like sour skittles. I liked this. We also tried these things called coconut cakes. They handed one to me and Pastor Tim told me that they were baby cockroach balls. I didn’t want to be rude so I did not freak out because I am up for tasting anything really, but as you know I am NOT fond of these creatures. No not at all, but how often are you in Africa? The joke was one me. I never know when to take him serious or not. They could definitely pass for baby cockroach balls by the looks of it because the coconut was discolored probably because of the sweet stuff on it, but these were wonderful as well!

We tried to do a little planning in the midst of our food tasting. We talked about going to the village next week and Tim laid down all of the very important things about their culture. They explained that greeting people and saying goodbye is extremely important. It is rude if you do not acknowledge people. Hospitality is to the max here. In the U.S. we sometimes just forget to offer drinks, but they don’t have AC many places, therefore it is hot and people are usually thirsty. Makes sense huh.

After our culture lesson we got to help with the kids club they have here twice a week. The kids were so fun. They were kind of crazy, and more on the tough side. You could tell they had to hold their own or they would be left out. We sang many songs and they had tons of awesome dances. We played some games and we got to give out children’s boxes that had been sent in from different places. This was such a fun time.

For the evening we played some soccer and volleyball on the roof of the church and then we decided to walk to the beach. Our friends Salomon, Etenne (pronounced eh chin), and Eddie accompanied us. Eddie is in the youth group. He is so fun to be around and does not speak much English, but we still can have fun. The beach was nice. On the way we would stop for peanuts and talk. We would sing songs or they would show us some of their favorite songs on their phone. They would break out in really neato dances. They are so full of laughter and life. On they way back we realized we didn’t have dinner (around 11pm), so we got some fatiyas. That is not the right spelling, but it rhymes with papaya. I don’t know what I ate, but it was very good. It was kind of like Chinese food in a toco beuno muchacho shell. So anyway today was full of Senegalese culture and just a great time!!

Tuesday

Being here is a whirlwind of activities and emotions. When I sit here and think about what has happened or what I have done, all I can think about it how God is carrying me. I would be nothing without His strength.

Our team has moved to the church/district center here in Boabob (the name of the neighborhood) where we are on our own comfortably residing in a one room apartment with bunk beds and a little kitchen. I killed two cockroaches today (sorry to all of you bug lovers. I am not one of those people). It made me want to cry, but only for a second. I overcame my fear with success. We are not completely on our own. There are two guys that work at the church that are upstairs. They are our guides for most of the time that we will be here. It has been so fun getting to know them. There names are Salomon and Eh-chin (not sure how to spell that). Salomon grew up in the south of Senegal and he moved here to go to school. He is now studying theology. Saloman loves to laugh and he loves music (but not country music haha). Eh-chin is going to art school. He plays many instruments and loves volleyball and soccer.

Over the past two days we have moved in and started our french classes with our friend John-Jacque. He knows English very well and is so fun to be around. We are trying to learn enough French so we can get around the city and just know the basics. We have been introduced to some popular Senegalese dishes. Poisson is fish. We have a lot of that with rice and onions. It is difficult to explain. Only a picture could do it justice. That has been fun. We have also gotten to explore the neighborhood. There is a soccer field and basketball court that we played volleyball and babyfoot (Foosball) at the other afternoon. It was fun to interact with the kids. Today we went to an orphanage type thing where they have school and they are provided with food and clean clothes. The lady that ran is was a joy. She was so happy. Everything makes me smile here.

Tonight we learned a few songs in Wolof and French so we can sing them on Sunday. They are so fun. I will copy what a wrote down as the words or sounds I guess you would say to the tune of "Awesome God": Ya la, a jee kaw waee gee mow de. soo noo by mome breck. la new woo loo die toe poe toe so peh-ee. Of course that is not the real language, but just the sounds to remember it by. Then Pastor Danny, the Pastor here at Boabob did his bible study with the singles of the church. It was about three hours long and mostly in french, but I learned so much. I learned about their culture and they learned about ours. It was so interesting to see some different perspectives and then to talk about them. The main verse was Genesis 2:24 which talks about leaving your family to be one with your spouse. I never knew that this same verse is mentioned three other times in the bible. Must mean it is important.

At night we took a walk. They do prayer walks a lot where they just walk around and talk like on a normal walk, but you also pray for the church, the neighborhood, the community, the people. There is so much power in prayer and they take it seriously here. To be frank, spiritual darkness surrounds this place, but we must take heart for "You're is the God of this city." Keep praying for the hearts of these people.