Luke and Alex in Senegal: Week 5

Yangi si jamm? (Jamm rek!)

We wanted to give a quick update on what has been going on this week. Monday, we had a very good

devotion and have been working through 1 Timothy with O, our translator. We have been explaining the true meanings of the words grace, mercy, and propitiation. We continue to share the gospel with people in the neighborhood. That night we visited our friend Y, who is a night guard, and had a deep spiritual conversation with him. He shared with us that God has sent him a dream 6 times telling him that he must go and tell others in another country (his home country being the Gambia). He said that he is just waiting for the right time as right now he does not have the means to go. Our question is, why does God only appear to Africans in dreams?!? He shared with us how God appeared to him in a dream at his salvation. Y shared with us that he could not say no to the Lord’s calling. Wow, God is powerful changing the heart of even a Muslim man.

Playing guitar

On Tuesday we met up with our French speaking friend from Quebec, Helene, again and visited several homes. The first family we visited was M and his sister. We had no idea what would turn out from it, but his sister spent much time talking about her beliefs. We shared the good news with them and had a very long discussion. Please pray for that family. After that we visited our old friend, S, but she wasn’t home, so we sat down with her mother (who has a really weird name we can NEVER remember, so we call her ‘Mama’). She shared with us that she had converted from Catholicism to Islam since she was a child. We shared with her from different Bible passages and we think that she is slowly seeing the truth. Pray that she will see the truth and not worry about how long she has been following Islam. Many times people end up like this: “Okay, I see that is truth… but I am Muslim, and I cannot change.” Please pray that people would count the cost and see that Jesus alone provides the spring of water welling up to eternal life, and that God would change their hearts.

Luke and Helene with our new friend

The most significant event of our week was Tuesday night. We met up with our friend G and M. We

sat down to dinner together and began to discuss scripture. Both are from different countries and speak French, so Helene did the majority of the sharing. She walked through Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 3 focusing on how salvation is by faith alone and the importance of the new birth. We broke out in joy when she asked M if he had been born again. He replied, “Yes. Tonight, when I believed that I am saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ.” It was so awesome to see how he understood the scriptures and how the Words of Jesus brought His soul to life. Pray for him and pray that we are able to continue to meet with him and disciple him.

Sunset off Ngore Island

On Wednesday, we celebrated Alex’s birthday and went to Ngore Island. The island was beautiful and

we went swimming with a bunch of people off the rocks. It was a nice break and a good experience. Leave it to Luke to step on a sea urchin… (we think)

On Thursday, we went out and were able to meet up with M (from Tuesday night) and walk through some scripture from Romans with him. G brought some resistance to us sharing with him these foundational truths (we were in his shop), so please pray that God would give us further opportunities to share.

That evening we had our 5^th Bible study. A local believer, T, lead us in a study on how Jesus is the Lamb of God. That night confirmed in our hearts that God wants us to leave D’s house and find a new place to meet with the Wolof that are coming. There have been quite a few things that have hindered the Bible study at D’s house, so it looks like the Spirit is telling us to trust in the provision of another place.

Swimming off the rocks at Ngore Island

So, the most important part of this blog is our plea for prayer. We need a place to meet so that T and O (both Senegalese believers who have shared that they want to continue this Bible study when we leave) can continue when we leave in less than a month. We have listed our very specific prayer requests below. God’s plan could be to grow this small Bible study into a church one day, as we know that a local church is a body of believers meeting to worship and study the Word in obedience to Jesus. We are here to share, disciple and trust that the fruit and future are in the hands of God.

Our plans this weekend were to visit O’s village about 3 hours outside of Dakar, but God changed our plans for several reasons. So, we are planning to go next weekend. Pray for that trip that God would open doors to the Gospel.

In Christ,

Assan ak Abdou
(Luke and Alex)

Prayer Requests:

-God’s provision of a meeting place

-Wisdom on how to make this transition

-Preparation of T and O to keep this going when we leave

-Further discipleship and continue Gospel sharing with already made contacts