Luke and Alex in Senegal: Week 1

Yangi nos?

We are writing to you from Dakar, Senegal to give an update on everything that has been going on here! The Lord has been at work over the past 5 days using us as instruments for His Name. We arrived at 8:30pm on Monday and got settled into our hotel room. That night we enjoyed a local Senegalese dish called Yassa (chicken and rice with an onion sauce) and hit the sack. The first day we got on our feet and met with R, an IMB missionary, and O, a Wolof believer who will be our translator for the majority of the time. Many of you will know that O has been a believer for less than a year and a half, and I tell you that God is at work mightily in his life giving him a hunger for the Word and a zeal for the Gospel.

On Tuesday we met with S, a very nice woman who lives in SC3 and seems to be interested in what we have to say. Then on Wednesday we met with a believer that lives in SC3 that has been hosting a Bible study on Saturdays. We spent time with him and met his whole family who are all very strong believers. His wife used to be a Muslim but is now a believer and follower of Christ. We enjoyed a time of prayer, Bible study and worship at his house.

After D’s house, we began to meet with other contacts that we have within the neighborhood to give them pictures that Yaya and Fatu (a couple from our church that has been to Senegal twice now) gave to us as gifts for them. We met with M, P, K and others. An interesting meeting that we had was over lunch when we met a guy from Milwaukee that is involved with Peace Corps and has mostly been working with the Mendinka people.

That night we met with a local friend from Gambia who works as a night guard a few blocks from our hotel. This guy actually gave Alex his Senegalese name Abdou Jassey. We opened up a conversation with the night guard that works next to Y every night and were able to share the whole Gospel with him. He listened intently as we told the stories of creation, Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, and the coming of Jesus Christ along with His death and resurrection. We focused on sin and how it separates us from the holy Creator of the universe.

Throughout the week we have met with many people and shared the Gospel with quite a few. We continue to look people who are open to the Gospel are truly interested in the life of Jesus. We have met several believers within the neighborhood that have come from other countries and we felt God leading us to have our first Bible study in SC3. D, one of the believers, allowed us to meet in his home on Thursday evening with 6 others (8 of us in all). We planned on this just being a meeting of believers so we could discuss how we could work together and best reach the neighborhood with the good news of Jesus Christ. But God had different plans. We started the meeting with 7 of us being believers, and one Muslim man that our church had met during a previous trip. After a time of prayer, Bible study, and hearing the testimonies of everyone in the room, we turned to S, the Muslim man, and explained to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God was definitely at work. That night S gave His life to Christ and confessed Him as Lord. HALLELUJAH! We were humbled and amazed that God works all things together in His own timing for His glory.

What amazes me most is how God has been working through an entire church, CFBC, in reaching this neighborhood of Wolof, Serer, Pulaar, Nigerians, Muslims and Catholics alike. Every trip that has come has had a significant impact on these people and has had a hand in the fruit of this ministry. We have been encouraged to know that there are so many praying back home and interested in what the Lord our God is doing here in Dakar. Continue to pray that the blind would see and that dead hearts would be brought to life by the sovereign hand of the Most High God.

In Christ,

Assan ak Abdou

(Luke and Alex)

O also helped us translate a song into Wolof!

Li mooy bes

Bes boo Yalla sake

Béke na ci lo

Yalla moko def

This is the day that the Lord has made

I will rejoice and be glad in it!