The Bridge Senegal 2009

This past week we had the privilege of being a part of 'The Bridge Senegal'. It was a team from the African-American Association of Churches in the C&MA. Building up until the visit, I just thought it would be like everything else and wasn't really anticipating much excitement. However....

My Uncle Bob (Fetherlin) came into Dakar on Thursday morning. It was so great to have him here to see our neighborhood/ministry and all that we're involved in. It means so much that he spent the day with us. We had a great time and we schedule a lunch for him with our Bambara neighbors. It was so awesome to hear them speaking. Uncle Bob is very intentional in his relationships, so we also had some really good heart to heart talks about our struggles and other concerns here - it was SO good to have him pray for us and give us challenges and encouragement on our journey. We really needed someone like that to speak into us! 

Friday morning we left with the rest of the team who arrived at the airport at 6:00am. We headed to Savana Hotel in Saly (about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Dakar). Friday-Monday was like a conference with different topics and services. It was INCREDIBLE. We were so blown away by this group of people - their passion, style, enthusiasm that it seriously was a huge encouragement. On Friday night, Terrance Nichols started worship and I just couldn't stop crying....to sing in ENGLISH with a group of believers. It was so meaningful. In all of the services, I felt God really speaking to my heart - that I have been living a defeated life - that's what I kept hearing over and over again. I asked for forgiveness and honestly have felt alot of freedom since then. Often times I can get so wrapped up in my circumstances, what I do and don't have, the challenges and stressors of being here that I end up being defeated. Thank you Lord for speaking to me. Another thought is, I'd love to be a part of an African American church back in the states - we just LOVE the style and feel a good fit with us! 

Monday night was a day that will go down in C&MA history. We had a reconciliation service. In 1952 the C&MA made some decisions to not permit African Americans to serve overseas. There were 3 different rulings that were very hurtful, disrespectful and just wrong. Donna Baptiste discovered these as she wrote her thesis on African Americans in the church. It was SUCH a moving time. I was so amazing at the humility of U.Bob & Dr. Benedict. Never did they say that these decisions were made before them or somehow not take responsibility for them. They apologized and it was so moving. After the service, Dr. Benedict washed the feet of Donna Baptiste and Terrance Nichols. It was such a beautiful picture. Many people were weeping so much. I couldn't help but cry. Many people on the team lived through the era of segregation and lots of racism - to see this white man washing the feet of two African Americans was so powerful. I am so thankful for the privilege to be apart of this service. 

On Tuesday, our Prison Team returned to Dakar. This started our crazy, but awesome week of visits to Prisons. Tuesday afternoon we visited the Juvenile Detention Center in Dakar. There were about 70 young men under the age of 18. We sang, Floyd Wheeler gave the story of the Good Samaritan, and we handed out milk powder, soap, & cookies. 

Wednesday, we had a training all day on Prison Ministry. There were Senegalese there who are doing that sort of ministry now. It was a neat day and our team enjoyed their first experience of eating out of a big common bowl. Then, we went and listened to a worship concert by the Music Ministry team. It was so awesome to Praise the Lord in 3 different languages (English, French, & Wolof). That night we went to a local Jazz Club (Just 4 U) to hear Kelvin Walker and the Music Team perform. It was incredible! There were tons of Senegalese there and they did such a great job of sharing God's word through music. The owner of the club said that she would do just about anything to bring Kelvin back! She said she would give him a Friday night and do full publicity for it....Also, the hip hop rapper that was on after our group came up to Kelvin as we were leaving. He told him that what he's doing is really important and spirituality is really needed in this culture. He encouraged what they were doing and thought it was awesome. AMEN! 

Thursday morning we went to a Women's Prison in Dakar. It was a great experience for me as I was able to connect with a couple women from South Africa (who speak perfect English). One of our teammembers (Lucille) did a drama of the woman who washed Jesus' feet. Women in the Prison were crying and cheered so loud when she was done. We all danced together and handed out the same items. Then, we ate another Senegalese meal! In the afternoon we wanted to see the land that Tante Ndeye Diouf has for a potential halfway house for women. It was really out in the bush and the van wouldn't make it. We got stuck in the sand twice. We got pictures and found a spot of land that we could pretend was the land. It was quite the adventure and excitement for our whole team. 

Friday we went to a men's prison in Sebikotane. It was just a short visit but we had an opportunity to pray for the men. They had alot of crafts that they had made (flip flops, decorative jars etc.) so the team wanted to purchase them. Then, we went to the Thies Prison. There were women, men, and young boys. It was by far the worst conditions that we had seen. There were no beds, it was filthy, a very small area for 40 women. This visit felt different than the others. The Presence of God was there. We all could hardly keep from weeping as many of the women weeped. They were so thankful that all their problems seemed to go away while we were there. They begged us to come back and were so happy to have us. I translated this whole day from French and Wolof into English - it was really fun and a great experience. 

Another huge bonus from the week was the beginning of a relationship with Tante Ndeye Diouf. She is a Senegalese believer who stayed at our house the whole week. She does prison ministry and we loved our time with her. She is a huge encouragement and a hero! 

We will never forget this team and group of people. It was a wonderful week. We were so tired at the end but it was totally worth it. We are so thankful that the Lord allowed us to be a part of it! 

For pictures of the whole week: 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061136&id=161500513&l=080213f980

practicing presence

there is a quote that i hear from time to time that is attributed to st francis of assisi:

“preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

this quote has become more real to me given that fact that i literally do not have the words to use.  my wolof is coming along much better than my french, but there is still a line in conversation, that once crossed, i am lost.  because of this, i am learning the importance of “presence” and allowing Jesus’ light to shine through that.  to borrow a couple quotes from a recent read:  i am learning to “release myself from the compulsion to do in order to take time to be”  i am learning to “enter into the ministry of sitting around.”

a couple weeks ago our neighbor boy was in the hospital because he has a bad heart.  lizz and i went to visit him at the hospital with his grandmother at about 4pm.  upon arriving, we realized visiting hours didn’t begin until 7pm.  my natural reaction was “okay, lets go and well come back.”  but we decided to sit.  i must admit, i did try to get them to go get some ice cream with me.  but no, we just sat.  we spent two hours with the boys mom, grandmother, and aunt.  we talked some, but for the most part just sat.  and then we had the opportunity to see, omar, and sat with him for about an hour or so.  throughout our time with him, omar kept looking up at me and then with a huge smile on his face, he would just shake his head and say “ryan,” as if to say, “youre really here.”  we were able to pray over him in Jesus’ name, but more importantly, he know that we had come to sit in Jesus’ name.

sometimes when i don’t have much to do, i will head down to one of our neighbors houses to sit and hang out.  every time i go to visit the house of marie, who i call my mom here, she asks me the same thing.  i will have been standing there for 5 minutes or so and after the greeting she asks, “where are you going?”  to which i respond, “here, i came to visit you.”  and every time she busts out in laughter because she cant believe i have come just to be with her and her family. 

the other day our power went off, so instead of sitting in our house and sweating we headed down to our neighbors house.  for a few hours, we sat in their home talking and laughing.  at one point, i asked if they wanted to play cards, so i ran home a grabbed our deck.  so there i was, sitting on the floor of their home, playing cards with two 10 year old boys and a 75 year old women.  the next day, i went into their home to just say hi and greet really quick and grandma says to me, “where are you going so fast.  i just want you to play cards and sit and talk with me all day.”

i don’t have much here.  my language is limited.  my knowledge of development is scarce, so i am not able to get any big project up and going.  but i am here.  and for our neighbors, most of the time that is enough for them.  but my presence is not enough.  through my presence, may the presence of Jesus be felt and transform their lives.

grace.peace.//.ryan

An exciting moment.

On Wednesday night, we had our Pastor and his family over to our house for dinner. They have 7 kids, but they chose 4 to bring. We're not sure how this works culturally but have noticed it before. Often children are chosen to attend certain things and others are left at home. We don't know why some got to come and others had to stay. Our pastor said one of his daughters was crying because he wouldn't let her come. We don't know why he wouldn't just let her come.

Anyways, it was a wonderful time to have them in our home. About 20 minutes after they got here our power went out. So, it was very dark and very sweaty. We ate bread for an appetizer and had coke and juice with it. Soon after dinner was ready. 

Many Senegalese don't feel that they've eaten unless they've eaten rice. So, I knew I wanted to make a dinner with a rice base with meat and veggies. I went back and forth a couple times in my mind on what exactly to make. But, I found a good recipe and went with it. They seemed to enjoy the food. I had to finish cooking it with a flashlight over the bowl. I made lots of white rice and then baked a beef filet with lots of veggies around it with a red sauce (with garlic, curry, cinnamon, salt etc.) 

We had a great time with them and he prayed a precious prayer in Wolof for us before they left. They are both so humble and sweet. As they were leaving we wanted them to meet our neighbors because they are both Serer (a people group). They greeted and began talking up a storm in Serer. I was happy because I've talked about our Pastor and now they got to meet him. We walked them out to the main road to get a taxi. This another cultural thing that we've learned - you always walk the person all the way out to the road. You would rarely just say goodbye at the door, but they often walk for awhile before you say your goodbyes. 

When we got back our neighbors were all outside. They asked me what I cooked for that Senegalese family. I told them I made rice, meat & veggies. There is a special way you say this in Wolof and I had just learned it from our househelp that morning. I was so thankful I knew the right way to say it. They asked if I had any left over. They wanted me to bring them some. They said they wanted to know if I could cook. They said they would tell me if it didn't taste good!

So, I was a little nervous but more excited to be able to have a chance to prove myself. I thought it tasted pretty good, but I didn't know what they would think. Cooking is such a huge deal here. If a woman can cook, she is truly a strong woman. It's not like our culture where sometimes the man is the good cook or going out to eat is acceptable. A woman must be good at it. 

I prepared a bowl of rice and put the meat and veggies on top and poured sauce all over it. I walked outside and set the bowl on the ground. The women started screaming! My one friend Ndiaye, literally started doing log rolls on the ground laughing. I think they just thought it was so funny that it looked like THEIR food, that surely this TOUBAB couldn't have made this dish! haha I was just howling with them. I knew this was like the equivalent of them carrying out a beautiful pizza to me that is so counter culture for them. 

Well, the women all started yelling and calling the other women out of the house, shortly there were 5 women gathered around the bowl. They passed out spoons to everyone. Sat down on the ground. It was silent. Everyone put their spoon in the bowl at the same time. No one talked. Their spoons reached their mouths and everyone turned and looked me. They started moaning. One lady yelled.....

'ELIZABETH, SENEGALE LA'! [Elizabeth is Senegalese now!]. They all started cheering saying, this is so delicious, the flavor is wonderful, it tastes so good. They were so happy and clapping. I honestly was fighting back the tears of happiness. 

This group of women are my friends but they also correct me, tell me I can't do anything, and always try to give me instructions on everything. Often they say a phrase that translates "You can't do anything". If I got outside to sweep our front stoop they say I am doing it wrong. SO this is HUGE that they are cheering for my cooking! 

It was such a rewarding moment. It's hard to describe how much it encouraged me. 

The next day, I walked past two ladies that were coming home from the market. They each had huge bowls on their head. I had never seen them before. I heard them talking quietly to each other. They were talking about me. They said, "I heard she can really cook!". HAHA. News travels fast. 

This story isn't to be prideful or show that I am good, but merely to show how one little good moment can boost a humiliating, difficult situation! 

English Class

We started English classes for adults at Teen bi three weeks ago. We meet every MWF from 6:00-8:00pm. Obviously, this schedule would never work in the States because of dinnertime, but this is a prime time for the adults in this culture. If they have work, they are just getting out of work. And, dinner is between 8:30-9:00pm here. We started with only 4 showing up on the first day. By the end of the first week 15 had signed up! The class is 6 weeks long. It is $6. We are really enjoying getting to know our students. It’s a great group. We love the materials that we are using “New Bridges”, which was recommended by another worker in the Middle East. They’re all downloadable files online so we didn’t have to receive anything in the mail. We’re using the beginning level. The numbers in our class have started to drop. We’re not sure if it’s because the class is getting harder or people just don’t want to stick to it. But, we’re hoping they will stick it out for the last 3 weeks. There is one Wolof couple in particular that we really like. He runs a photocopy business in our neighborhood. It’s a great contact and friendship – we’re hoping that continues after the class is over! Pray for us as we continue to teach. Ryan & I are both really enjoying it and it has been a great way to get to know people. 

First Hospital Experience

Thankfully, we were not experiencing the hospital personally, but we experienced a Senegalese hospital for the first time on Sunday. One of the boys in our closest family’s house is sick. He’s 14 years old and he has a bad heart. They said he’s had a bad heart since he was 6. We noticed he was getting worse and worse when we were in their home, and they eventually took him to the hospital. We went with his grandma and aunt to visit on Sunday. We got to the hospital about 4:15 and visiting hours weren’t until 7pm. In our culture, you would go home and come back when it was time, but here, waiting is no problem. It actually gives you a lot of great time to talk and spend together. So, we sat for those next hours waiting. First, we were in a big room with no furniture with mats on the ground. All the mothers of the children in the hospital were sprawled out on the floor sleeping. We all sat in a little circle and talked. Ryan was the only man in the room. Then, we went up to his floor and sat in a waiting room. Thankfully, Omar came out to visit us before 7! He was so thrilled to see us. He looked pretty good – just really skinny and frail. He has a permanent IV thing in his arm. He said he’s receiving blood transfusions often. He feels really weak. We don’t know how serious Omar’s condition is. We know he’s in the ICU for kids. They said he needs an operation, but they don’t have the money to do it. It’s the equivalent of about $6,000. It’s crazy because in the states, it seems that people just do whatever it takes to survive. But here, if you don’t have the money, people just die. The hospital bill is $100 a day. We have no idea how this family will cover the expenses. They hardly have any income at all. Death is perfectly normal. Although it is normal & common, they do not talk about it openly. They don’t use the word died/death but other ways of saying it. It was wonderful to sit and visit with him. Prayer came up and we told him we wanted to pray for him. Ryan began to explain that we were going to pray in the name of Jesus. He explained that Jesus is alive and is able to heal and touch our lives. They seemed to really understand and were happy that we wanted to pray for him. Ryan and I both laid hands on him and prayed. We tried to pray a little in English, Wolof, & French just so they could get some of what we were saying. While we were praying, I just had this flood of emotions, that God CAN heal him. I wanted it so bad. Just so that he would display His awesomeness and they couldn’t deny His power! Who knows what happened when we prayed, but the Lord knows. We were really thankful for the opportunity. After that time, went into the ICU room. It was so sad to see all of the children. Many were so skinny and looked horrible. We’re not sure if many have AIDS or cancer. As we hear so often here of children dying (a 19 year old boy died the other day in our neighborhood for no reason, doctor’s didn’t see anything wrong with him – we’re wondering if it was something spiritual), we are reminded of the brevity of life and the urgency of the gospel. We are thankful for the opportunities we have gotten with Saja & Fatou’s house and pray that we will continue to be a light in this dark, dark, place.

Car Accident

When Scot & Kevin came to visit, we scheduled a trip up to Lampoul. It's a touristy excursion place where you sleep in Mauritanian tents, ride camels, and sleep out in the desert. We were excited for them to experience that part of Senegal. 

On the way to Lampoul it started pouring the rain. We were on a 2 lane road. A semi truck was pulling off of the side of the road to the right, and for some reason stopped in the middle of his turn (we still don't know why he didn't just turn!). In the driving rain, by the time Ryan saw the trailor in the road, he hit the breaks and we started to hydroplane. We slid what seemed like forever and smashed into the back of his truck. As soon as we hit the truck, Ryan said, "I can't believe this is happening." You see, it's Ryan's biggest fear of getting in a bad car accident in someone else's vehicle. We were driving Jeff's truck. 

We all 4 sat in the truck for a couple of minutes trying to figure out what to do. Ryan just kept saying I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do. I immediately started crying with the shock of it all. It was pouring buckets of rain, but eventually we got out of the car. The man in the truck immediately started yelling at Ryan. Ryan began pleading in Wolof that the man can't be angry with us, we are foreigners and we don't know what to do! We told him you have to help us, we don't know what to do. As soon as Ryan didn't show any retaliation and told him we needed his help, he warmed up to us and never hassled us. 

We stood in the rain - called the police, and waited. In Senegal you can't move the vehicles after an accident. So, the truck was on the 2 lane road in the driving rain. Huge buses were wizzing past us. One bus started to lose control while slowing down to go around us and began fishtailing back and forth both sides of the road, totally horizontal to the road! Scot & Kevin were still sitting in the truck and we both began screaming for them to get out of the car!! They ran out of the truck, having no idea why we were screaming! We thought the bus was going to totally drill the truck. Thankfully in the last second, the driver regained control and the bus flew past us. Oh my word, I was freaking out! It felt like we were on a movie. 

The police eventually got there and took down their measurements of the accident. They were in a huge hurry because there were so many other accidents on that stretch of road. They said, they had to go as soon as possible because other public transportation vans had flipped and people were dead. Others saw them pulling dead bodies out of vehicles. We saw at least 10 accidents in a couple kilometers around the site of ours. Something must happen with the roads here that they can't handle the rain and there is also so much grease and pollution that makes for an 'ice effect'. We were thankful that the police were so busy because we have heard horror stories of the police hassling that can take place. The man that we hit NEVER asked us for money. This is unheard of. We thank the Lord. 

The rain eventually let up and we were able to push the car off of the road. We sat and waited for Joel Bubna and Andy Babyak to come and pick us up. We were so thankful they hadn't left yet for their trip to Cote d'Ivoire. Joel is the calming kind of person you want around you after you've had something traumatic take place. Andy and I went with the guys to figure out how to get the truck towed and Ryan went with Joel to the police to try and get everything figured out. 

Scot & Kevin soon saw how different things operate in a third world country. There's no AAA to call, no tow trucks, no nothing! So, we drove around the town trying to find someone with a big enough truck to tie a rope to it to pull us in off the main road. Joel & Ryan had no problem at the police and got things finished up quite quickly. 

Well, we arrived back to Dakar that evening about 9:30pm. We never made it on our camel riding trip. We were so shaken up, disappointed, angry, confused, & scared. But, we were so thankful and rejoicing that the Lord had protected us. Life in Senegal is taken so lightly. As I was crying outside of the truck after we first hit another man was so worried that I was crying. He just kept saying, "Don't cry, Don't cry, It's the will of God." The fatalistic mindset in this culture is so strong and everything is seen as God's plan and intentionality in every situation. Although we see that God has a plan for us, it is very different. 

I had some whiplash for a couple of days, but other than that everyone was fine. The next day Ryan had to go up to get the truck from that town and bring it back to Dakar. That day was equally traumatic for me - in that it was pouring the rain even harder than the day we had our accident. It was one of the scariest times I've felt - feeling as though I am sending my husband off to die. People die in accidents all the time here, and I just prayed the blood of Jesus over his truck. Praise the Lord he made it back with no problem. The Lord has shown us in so many ways that he is taking care of us and he will continue to. 

We are still waiting for the appraisal from the Toyota dealership, but we believe everything can be repaired. We are thanking God for his protection, love, kindness, and provision in this situation. Thank you for praying for us! 

YRX '09

My brother, scot, and best friend, Kevin, just came to visit us. They were with us nine days, and it was an amazing time. Some memorable moments with them: just getting out into the neighborhood and having them meet our neighbors. They ate rice with peanut gravy with Kone and his family, and rice and fish in a red sauce with our friend Fatou and her family. We played soccer a couple times on the beach. This was an experience for them, given that it was about 110 degrees and extreme humidity, while dodging dead fish, spiky fish bones, nails, and literally a knife on the playing field. All the Africans were impressed, so much so that they clearly pointed out the fact that they were both much better than me. We enjoyed sweating a lot together. They learned quickly my routine of shedding off as much possible clothing as I can the second I walk into our home. I have a mini ping pong set that we play on our dinner table. It was quite amazing the amount of fluids that flowed from our pores just from playing ping pong. We showed them all over Dakar, from the beautiful ocean side views to the shanty villages by the railroad tracks. The common question from other expats who live here is, “So, what do you guys think of Dakar? What are you thoughts and impressions.” Their answer was consistently the shock of how dirty, poor, rough, and underdeveloped the capital city of a country could be. And the response of every expat was a chuckle and smirk, showing that no matter how long you live here the same amazements still exist. There was much more that we experienced in their short time here, good and bad, but one of the things I was most excited about was a soccer tournament we put on.



I gathered 20 boys from our neighborhood and set up a tournament for them at Dakar Academy, the missionary school here. We split them up evenly into 4 teams of 5. Here are the team names and their players:

ASC Cool Boys
Douda Sarr, Ameth Cisse, Amadou Diop, Babacar Cisse, Mustapha Ndour

ASC Ousmane Dione
Babacar Mbaye, Eric Babou, Omar Gueye, Matar Toure, Moussa Dia

ASC Ryan
Boubacar Diop, Yahya Babou, Demba Babou, Abou Barro, Ousmane Niang

ASC Teen Bi
Moussa Samb, Ablaye Barro, Souleymane Kane, Maodo Toure, Moussa Diop

The day was beautiful and we had a blast. It started by cramming the 20 kids and 5 adults into one minivan. Spatial concerns are quite different here. Then we played a round robin tournament with the boys, 6 games in all. The two teams with the best record then played in the final, Cool Boys vs Ousmane Dione. In the final, Cool Boys got off to a big lead in the first half going up 4-1. But Ousmane Dione (pictured below) hiked up the shorts and shut out their opponents in the second half, and by scoring 4 unanswered goals won the first annual YRX Cup (yrx being the abbrevation of the name of our neighborhood, Yaraax).



But I also took the opportunity to speak with the boys about my life and theirs. I shared with them a bit of my story, specifically about how growing up I had 2 major interests, basketball and girls. But I explained to them that during this time, I was only living for myself and lived with a great sense of emptiness. But after committing my life to following Jesus, he changed my view of women and what I wanted to do with my life. I then challenged them to consider their views of women and think about only taking one wife when they come of age and love her with all they have got. In a society where the scale is tipped heavily towards men, it’s never too early to get them thinking about these issues. And then I encouraged them to continue dream big and have goals, but above all commit themselves to the Lord’s will and carry out the two greatest commandments. Love God. Love others. This was all done in Wolof, but I think I got the point across and am continuing to pray the God will be at work in their little hearts.

The talk took place before the championship game, and after the talk we awarded the MVP of the day, Omar Gueye, with the game ball and then gave every boy a shirt that I designed and Scot and Kevin brought with them from the States. It was a great day. I know seeds were planted. And fun was definitely had.


(click on photo for larger view)

grace.peace.//.ryan