Luke and Alex in Senegal: July 2012

Sa fass menul dowal! (A Wolof proverb "You are late!)

Who is like our God!

We are writing to give you an update on what has been going on here in Senegal over this past week. God has been at work and is teaching us many lessons through everything. We just got back from the village today, but we will write more about that towards the end.

Making disciples, don't worry Luke is holding a bible

We continue to share the good news in Sacre Couer III. We have been meeting up with some good friends that we have made and we continue to meet new people. God has blessed us with some good relationships that we can share His truth with. We are praying that God will do what only He can do and grow these seeds that they will one day produce fruit.

Last Saturday Luke got a bunch of little pieces of a sea urchin taken out of his foot that had been there since Alex’s birthday (whoops), but everything is as good as new now. God is good! Sunday we got to go to the church of one of the believers that translated for us last time we were here. It was incredible. We were able to worship the One true God of this universe in spirit and in truth with believers from all over Africa. We got to sing “How Great is our God” and “You are Great.” To hear everyone in that room declare the greatness of our God in their native tongue (while we were doing it in English) reminded us how truly great our God is. He is great. He does miracles so great. There is no one else like Him! After church we went to the zoo, and since it was an African zoo they let us feed all the monkeys. It was a good day.

Yalla aji kawe ji

One of the most exciting things has been making a disciple of S, the new believer. We have been spending a lot of time with him and have been sharing many things from scripture. Every verse that he reads he is able to explain and comprehend. It is amazing to see his growth in such a short time! We have worked with him on memorizing some key verses and he even shared the Gospel with one of his older friends here in the neighborhood! He is still planning on returning to his country, so pray that God would give us the time we need to encourage him and that God would give him power to share his new faith without fear.

On Thursday, we had our 5^th bible study. God has been faithful in guiding us and giving us wisdom with it. We had the Bible study in the lower part of the neighborhood at a local believer’s house. Three Muslims came and Luke led us in a study on the story of David and Jonathan’s son from 2 Samuel pointing to the grace and mercy Jesus and the riches of eternal life that we do not deserve. The King has offered to adopt us as sons! We had a long discussion afterward and closed in prayer. Please pray for this Bible study. We are trying to encourage the few believers here to continue it as we leave. We continue to invite people and a few Muslims come each week. Usually they do not return, so pray that God would bring people who are truly interested.

Best cooks in town!

One awesome story: on Thursday we called M, a Senegalese that we shared with and who is researching scripture, and he did not answer. Then we got a call from one of his friends who wanted to come to our Bible study. O translated and told us that this friend said that he wanted to come and hear more about who Jesus is. Isn’t that awesome?! We had nothing to do with this! Only God can do these things. This friend did not end up coming, but we have his phone number so pray that we can meet up with him sometime this week!

Wednesday morning we were able to go help at a Talibé Boy center. These centers help the children that beg on the streets. The children have all been given up by their parents to an Islamic teaching system here. They must beg every day and study at the feet of their Muslim teacher. These centers help provide care, love, and food for them. We spent the morning there talking with some of the boys, handing out food, and talking with a local believer who has been called to children’s ministry here. It was a humbling and heartbreaking experience.

1, 2, 3... jump!

We left for the village on Friday morning with O. We arrived in Gundiaye and met his Grandfather and his grandfather’s children. They have 6 kids who are all very young. We ate and lived at their house over the weekend. Village life is much different than city life and we both learned a lot from the experience. We enjoyed the squatty potty! We had the opportunity to share some of God’s Word with O’s family and some of his surrounding neighbors. We stayed from Friday to Monday and on Saturday we went to a very small village to visit and share with O’s mother.

On Sunday we went to a very small church on the edge of the town. That day we were 3 out of the 7 people that attended. The pastor said that many people were farming and gone for the three months of vacation, but the church seems to be struggling. The people of the village do not seem to be interested in the Gospel at all. Pray that God will open doors for this church, for O, and for other missionaries to continue the good work there.

Bathing during the rainy season

The village was exhausting and trying, but we got to see much of God’s glory in his creation: the

beautiful sunsets, climbing the huge baobab trees, cool African rains, and the starry night sky. It was amazing to see God’s glory on display in this land.

Pray that Jesus’s name would be glorified among these people and that his truth would shine as light in the darkness. Again and again God reminds us that he DOES NOT NEED US to complete his work here, but He is pleased to use us as his servants. And how glad we are to be here!

Specific prayer requests:

-Bible study- encouragement of believers to continue it when we leave

-S- discipleship

-We have 2 weeks left, for guidance and wisdom

-That God would give us the DESIRE to share the good news when our flesh is weak