Life in Senegal and Prayers Needed

The time here is Senegal has been flying by! I cant believe I have already been here for two weeks. So far my roommate and I have begun to build relationships with our family, started working with some other girls from the ESL team teaching about 12 teenage girls English, teaching our family English, and have been diving deeply into Gods word. We have been learning so much! My Wolof isn't the greatest, and I get frustrated with not always understanding people. But God is good and will translate what he wants translated!

Life in Senegal is so different than life in the U.S. Here are a few of the differences:
- there is no need for an alarm clock here, the random calls to prayer throughout the night wake you up early!
-cleanliness is a relative term, if your clothes don't stink, wear them. if they do stink, still wear them!
- if you use the bathroom or take a shower and you aren't accompanied by some sort of critter, its a good day!
-goats are natures garbage disposals. dump your leftover food and trash at the beach and they will gladly take care of it for you!
-flies are your constant companions.
-cooking lunch is a 2-3 hour ordeal.
-here, you never forget that you are white, the kids in the street always point at you and say TOOBAB!!!!! (that is Wolof for white person!)
- not sweating is a luxury

Though life is different, i really am enjoying it here.

Here, they live life on a day to day basis. They buy enough rice for that day. They worry about the food and money for the next day and then the next day. In Senegal, there is no planning ahead.

Saturday night I went to my first Senegalese futbol (soccer) game! it was a blast! I got to see some of my American friends. It was definitely a blessing to be able to have a conversation with other "Toobabs" in English!

Here is a little bit about each person in my family, and prayer request for each one!

Nday: Nday is the oldest woman of the house. She is the Aunt of all of the people that live here. She works hard, cooking and cleaning, and overseeing everything that goes on in the house. She is a strict Muslim and always does her prayers. Pray that she would experience dreams and visions from God revealing his truths to her! Dreams and visions are a huge thing with these people.

Yanday: Yanday is a beautiful girl in her 20's. She works so hard around the house, she cooks lunch every day, and sometimes dinner too. She is super sweet and she is a blast to hang out with. She loves dancing, and dances every time music comes on TV. She doesn't do her prayers everyday and we aren't sure why. Pray that we would be a good witness to her. Pray that her heart would be softened to God's word.

Check: Check is in his 20's. Is isn't around the house a ton, except for around meal times. He says he wants to learn English, but he hasn't really been around too much to learn. Pray that we would have opportunities to teach him and in the process share Christ's love with him.

Miaita: Miait is crazy! She is probably in her late 30's, or early 40's. She always has us laughing. You never know what crazy thing she will do. She sells breakfast at a shack on the side of the road for money for the family. Pray that she would ask us questions about our faith!

Kodu: Kodu keeps to herself mainly. She is married to a brother of the other people in the house, and we think she feels like she doesn't quite fit in with the family. Her husband is away working, I haven't met him yet. She cooks for herself and her 4 children, Meti, Mama, Papa, and baby Njaka. Meti, who's about 13 helps her cook a lot. Mama and Papa, about 4 and 2, respectively, are my good friends. I can communicate with them! Pray that they would ask questions when they see us reading our Bibles.

Anta: Anta has a very special place in my heart. She is about 11, and is my best friend in the house. She is such a hard worker, she has to do so much work around the house! She is the errand runner, and does the grunt work no one else wants to do. she doesn't get to really be a kid. Her family makes her do her prayers every day. She wants to color with us, and we have a bible story coloring book, so pray that we would have opportunities to be bold and explain the stories!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, they are going to great use!

Also keep my other team mates in your prayers as they build relationships as well. Also pray for our health, some of the Toobabs aren't adjusting as well as others!

Thank you!

bon bennen yon, until another time,

Xati Silla
(My given Senegalese name)

May 30th Posting for Brooke

This is Brooke's mom posting.

We spoke with Brooke on Wednesday. She is doing well and seems to be really enjoying her time in Senegal.

She is living in a village with her African family. She says that it is very hot and she is sweating alot! She has learned to really appreciate her bucket showers!

She has started teaching English, mostly so far in the home that she is living in. There are quite a few people living in the home, she said that it changes daily, but usually 6-8 women and 2 men. They have TV and the family likes to watch it. The funny thing is it is dubbed in French. So they watched Extreme Makeover in Africa dubbed in French!

Brooke says that she is picking up the Wolof language. She said that she communicates well with the preschoolers since they are on the same language level! She is also doing some work in the medical clinic too.

She has gone to the market and is learning to barter for goods. She is very excited - she bought fabric and a tailor is going to make her an African outfit. She has been on a taxi ride and a horse and carriage ride to get to different places.

A very cool thing - the family that she and her roommate live with are Muslim, but they know that the girls pray for before meals. Brooke said the family pauses and waits for them to pray before they begin eating. She is planning to translate a prayer into Wolof so she can offer her grace in their language.

She is healthy so far and says the food is fine. But, of course, Brooke is one of the most unpicky people ever! There are right on the coast but she says the beach there is not very clean. Too bad since Brooke loves the beach so much.

Please continue to lift Brooke up in prayer. It is still a long time until she comes home! (At least it is to her mom!)

Senegal here I come!

Senegal. In 3 days!!!! I am so excited that it is finally almost here! It hasn't fully sunk in yet that I am actually going to be gone for 64 long days.

I am so excited that I am finally getting to live my dream and go to Africa. I have been longing to serve God in this country for forever it seems like! I can't wait to meet all of the people and see what it is like.

I will be posting on this blog as much as I can this summer to let everyone at home know how things are going. Thank you all so much for being so supportive and faithfully going to the Lord in prayer about this trip. I am forever thankful for your prayers!

Here are a few prayer requests I have for the next coming week:
* Pray that the people would be willing to hear about our great God.
* Pray that all of the teams would arrive safely.
* Pray that we wouldn't have any problems with the airlines or making our flights
* Pray that we also would be well rested and ready to serve God where ever he leads us!

Thank you SOOOO much for your prayers! God is going to do such great things!


Brooke

Oh yeah.... here is a little bit about the people that I am going to be working with.

Quick facts about the Lebou

• Location: Senegal
• Also Known As: Lébu
• Status: Engaged by the International Mission Board
  
• Population: 150,000
• Primary Religion: Islam
• Number of Christians: 15-20
• Language: Wolof, French, Arabic

• The Lebou are West Africa's fishermen and are located in villages sandwiched between the Sahara desert and the Atlantic Ocean.
• The Lebou love to laugh, love to play, and love to spend time with friends.
• Although many have heard the gospel, few are willing to leave Islam.

They Lebou need to know about the everlasting and freeing love of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are enslaved by a faith that is dependent on their works. Pray for their freedom!

I got the info from www.gowestafrica.org. They have loads more info about the people of West Africa as well as lots of prayer requests.

Thank you all so much!