Malika - Day 14 - Last Day

Beht-see-cunnum. This is the phrase in Wolof for "see you later". I said a lot of these today. Maybe I'll come back. Maybe some of the guys will eventually come see me. And perhaps the next time I see these "monkeys" will be when we are changed into a heavenly glory. Either way, I will see them later. I have faith that the ministry Dany and Herma are providing will produce much fruit for the kingdom. Their ministry is one that provides the guys with something they can see and touch. Beyond that, the love that they show them extends into the spiritual realm. Many of them have already made a profession of faith. Some of them are nervous to tell their families they want to be baptized. Others are certain they want to put their trust in Jesus and are learning to walk in the faith that Dany and Herma are exemplifying. Today it made me sad that my Wolof lessons are going to be put on hold, but the thought of being able to see my family made it all better. My thoughts have been reaffirmed that God, our Father, has shown us a perfect model of how we are to love others. In the story of the prodigal son, the father continually looks for his son to return to him; regardless of his past, and, in the case of the older brother, regardless of how close they appear to live together. Our Father does the same for us. We can do everything we can to displease Him and still be reconciled. Likewise, we can do everything we can to "please" Him but still not be reconciled to him. What the Father wants most of all is fellowship; not just with Him but with each other. It is true that He desires us to spend time with Him but that comes in many different forms. The body of Christ is made up of people. We together form the church. However, the body is not complete without the head, which is Christ himself. Therefore when two or three are gathered in Christ's name he is in the midst of them. This means that when two or more people, who love Jesus, gather together they have a friendship and a fellowship that will grow and increase. If you are looking for friendship and fellowship with a group of people that will accept you the way you are and love you unconditionally then accept Christ and get together with others that have. If you have never accepted Christ into your life let me help. Because the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, He desires us to have a relationship with Him. If you invite someone into your house, wouldn't you want the same thing? Having a relationship with the Father means that He requires two things: to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as yourself ... period. ( These are the only two rules in Keely's and my house as well. Ask Julie. She'll tell you. ) There has not been a single person on this planet that has ever followed these rules all their life ... save one. Because God is just he must punish sin. If there were no punishment, there would be no such thing as sin. Because of his great mercy and grace he has punished sin but did not require that we pay the penalty. Instead he sent his own son to earth to live as an example of what His two rules looked like. Because there was no sin in Jesus, when he was put on the cross, he became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This means we are no longer held accountable for our sin thus there is no condemnation. In order to recieve this you must accept it through faith by humbling yourself before God. That's it. Once you have recieved his gift, talk to Him and ask Him what He would have you do next. If He wants you to fellowship with us, our door is always open. If He wants you to go to Malika and experience community like you never have before, let me know and I'll get you in contact with Dany who would love the help. Thanks for coming with me on this journey. Your prayers have availed much and for that I thank you. Beht-see-cunnum.

Malika - Day 13 - Rest at its Best

Today will be very short because we rested. My wife and I comment on how our Sundays escape us lots of times because of how much we do. Today was definitely a rest and relax day. We did spend a while at the table after breakfast talking about the word and fellowshipping with one another. After that it was reading Corinthians and napping and I did get to help Abdoulaye with some revit questions. I spent a little bit if time trying to figure out Base in Open Office with minimal results. The rest of my time I read the last half of 1 Corinthians and all of 2nd. It was a great day. We were planning on going to Goray tomorrow in Dakar but with it being the last day I'd rather not travel to Dakar twice. We'll see how it goes and take whatever comes and rejoice always ( deleem beg ).

Malika - Day 12 - Just Another Other Day at the Beach

Had another good night sleep. Thankfully, we reminded Stephan ( correct spelling ) to bring a jar of peanut butter so I was treated to a piece of toast with PB and jelly. After breakfast I went with a friend of Dany's to a couple different construction sites and was able to learn how they build the foundation, frame the walls, and put on a roof. Because wood is so scarce here they've done a great job of using their resources. Everything is concrete and rebar and sometimes they use wood slats to keep the concrete from falling through the cracks. It was interesting walking around with him because we finally stopped using words and would just start drawing pictures in the sand. After we had a realization that we could communicate through pictures we could communicate much easier. We made it back to the compound and had lunch which consisted of rice, beef, and some cucumbers which were a welcome sight. We all hung out after lunch and took naps, talked and Stephen and I even tried to oil a fan that bothered us while trying to watch LOST. =) at about 3:30 we all headed down to Aziz's surf camp, picked up a couple surfboards and hit the waves. Needless to say, my first try didn't go so well. I would either be too far forward on the board and it would nose dive into the water or I'd be too far back and wouldn't be able to get forward enough to ride the wave. I was finally able to ride the wave a little bit but wasn't able to stand up at all. We left Aziz's place and went to a home of a friend of Herma's named Barbara. She was extremely hospitable. She had snacks, champagne, and something else I can't remember the name of but tasted pretty good. She is German nationality but is learning French more and more. Herma and Dany were gracious enough to translate for us ( im starting to lose count of how many languages Dany speaks ) and after a while she played the piano for us too. We went back to the house and Stephan and I rode on the back of the truck because there wasn't any room in the truck since Herma and Dave walked there. Dinner was exceptional as always and afterward instead of watching LOST I got to talk with Dany one on one. We talked about the shop and his vision for the guys there. He said that he is ready to expand because he likes the opportunity for the guys there but the structure isn't ready. I told him that I'd like to help in any way I can. With the web skills and the organization skills that God has blessed me with I feel like this is a good ministry to get involved in. I'm not sure what that will look like back in the states or if I'm going to get to come back here but I know that if I keep following the Spirit's lead, He will move me in the direction I need to be going. Please pray for guidance and an open ear and heart. Time for bed so I will stop now and hope that when you go surfing that you will be more successful than I was my first time. =)

Malika - Day 11 - Some Clever Title

Woke up at 8 this morning and felt pretty good. I was sitting on my bed feeling the coolness of the fan until suddenly the power just shut off. ... Trust is an unusual thing. It isn't instantly gained, but once you have it you can easily feel disheartened if it is compromised. We, as Americans, have lots of trust. We have been conditioned to trust our credit cards, running water, electricity, etc. Senegal has taught me that trust in anything, except God, will leave me disappointed. Things are very unpredictable here; traffic may stop at any time, the water may stop running, your car may not start, and, like this morning, the electricity may go out without a moments notice. When I'm at home I trust in these things to work all the time. Of course I still trust in God but I've been conditioned so much to believe that if I plug something into the wall that it's going to work, no matter what. I now realize that if I expect something and it doesn't happen then I feel cheated and Senegal has certainly taught me to lower my expectations of my surroundings in order to keep my priorities straight. The one thing I haven't lost trust in is God. As a servant we are called to trust in our Lord and believe that He will be faithful to His word. He has not promised to make our lives easier but He has promised us that He will be glorified and that if we put our faith in Him and live by that faith we will be joined with Him throughout eternity. Ok, now it's time for breakfast and it better be there ... =) After breakfast I needed to do some accounting work based on the sales from last night. Let me say what a difficulty it was to go from Microsoft Office to Microsoft Works, but I trudged through it. =) I got Herma's sheet all ready for how much each guy in the shop gets based on the sales. Afterwards we had lunch and then I was able to show Abdulaye a quick tutorial on how to use Revit. I got through drawing walls, inserting doors and windows, and drawing roofs and then his brain exploded. He said he was ready to stop for the day and I don't blame him. ( I forgot to mention a humerous thing about our drive yesterday. While stopping for gas, we were bombarded with people wanting to sell us all sorts of items; oranges, limes, cookies, tea leaves, etc. Herma did buy some oranges from a lady and you would have thought that all the people selling oranges would have left us alone. Quite the contrary. It was funny to see Herma explain to her that we didn't need anymore. ) Dinnertime came and we were treated to barbeque chicken again. I enjoyed dinner even more than usual because I was able to fix a problem that I created with Herma's Internet. Everyone has been using her wireless capabilities and I wanted to download something and I thought it would be faster to use an Ethernet cord instead of the wireless. It wasn't working at first so I got the address to her router and started up the wizard. Unfortunately, I didn't have the username and password to connect to her ISP. So Jeebs was gracious enough to help me get a hold of them and ask for someone in English. I actually had to call them twice. In the end it all worked out but if I knew how to spell in French it would have gone much faster. ( BTW - if any one says the letter "jee" in French, they actually mean "j" ). After all that, watching LOST and getting to talk to my beautiful wife on skype, I'm ready for some reading, then off to bed. Good night world and "day-lehm bek".

Malika - Day 10 - One More Monkey

I woke up at 5 this morning but this time it was on purpose. Dave and Dany had to leave for Dakar this morning to pick up the next addition to our monkey group. They just wanted me to set my alarm to make sure they woke up. Luckily I moved out to the living room where the overhead fan kept me cool all night long. After waking up in the morning for breakfast I was greeted by the new member of our extended family; Steven. We all had breakfast together and then started reading James. It was great to add another believer to the table. Breakfast was soon over and I had the task of getting ready to leave this afternoon for a "business" trip to take some of the merchandise the guys make and sell it to a group of medical missionaries that are getting ready to leave back to the states. The accounting process is a little different over here since you have to deal with American dollars and CFA at the same time, but it seems to all work out in the end. After a scrumptious lunch of fish ball surprise I was able to sit with Jeebs and read the Bible in Wolof. We started with my favorite verse 1 Thess. 5:16. I should have realized sooner that the work of the Spirit, through the Bible, is something else that bridges the language barrier. He also showed me some of the alphabet and while we were reading I was starting to get the hang of it Around 4 we started to load the car with all the boys' merchandise. Then around 5 Herma, Jeebs, Dominga, and I loaded up in the truck and headed to Theis which is a city about 70 kilometers away. We arrived in the city just fine but then I realized that Herma had no idea where we were going. We would drive up one street and then come back down. We finally got a hold of one of the policemen ( I think ) and he took us to a couple different locations and we finally found one that knew where we were supposed to go. We took all of our stuff inside and the people were extremely nice. Jeebs was nice enough to show off his djembe skills with the missionaries, and they were all very impressed. After a long ride home, I'm ready to go to bed. Good night all.

Malika - Day 9 - Dakar Again and Drum Strings

Dany woke me and told me it was time to go to Dakar again with Herma. After two visits already, flying in and day 3, my expectations of Dakar are non-existent; and, usually, I'm pleasantly surprised that way. First we stopped at the post office to grab Herma's mail. This consisted of a huge room with rows and rows of mailboxes. The neatest thing we did while we were there is stop at a drive up fruit stand. They were setup on the sidewalk and we just drove up on the sidelak next to them, rolled down the window, gave them our order and after paying were on our way again. We also stopped at a market place. The outside looked like a circular stadium and the inside consisted of rows of fish, meat, and produce vendors. Outside were more vendors of jewelry, baskets and many other crafts. The traffic seemed to be lots worse than it has been before. At one point we had to go from a three lane road to a one lane road. So Herma and I just sat in the car and talked about how blessed we were to have air conditioning. I noticed a lot that there are street vendors everywhere just waiting for a traffic jam. When we got back to the shop my djembe was ready for the next step. There were two iron rings that were prepared and ready to be wrapped with ribbon. I chose blue cause it's Keely's favorite. After that I had to thread both iron rings to make loops around the perimeter. Once that was complete I threaded the rope from the top and bottom ring loops. Tomorrow is when I will finish the rope part and make it tighter. I laid down for a little bit and then woke up and helped Herma fix dinner which consisted of something like spring rolls that she and Dany called Nems. Afterwards we talked about the best part of our day and Dave, John, and I all commented on how neat it was that we were starting to be accepted by the guys in the shop. We know lots of their names and have had lots of time to share with them. We prayed for the opportunity to share Christ with them before we leave. Anyway, hope this finds you well, and may the Lord bless you. IXOYE <>< - Lee

Malika - Day 8 - Just say NO (to Arabic tea)

I guess it's officially day 8 even though I haven't slept yet. My ear is aching but I'm pretty sure it's the tea that's keeping me up. Maybe that and God wants me to help the missionaries who are staying with us tonight get on the road easily. I think their flight leaves early in the morning like ours does. It's interesting trying to learn a new language, especially when your this old. ( 31 is considered "old" right? ) I was thinking about my little girl and realizing what she has to go through to learn English when she doesn't have any language background like I do. I think it might be a good idea to get a kids book with lots of pictures in it and have each picture translated with the actual word and then the phonetic spelling next to it. Seems like that would allow people to, not only, pronounce the words correctly but would also help them to recognize the spelling of the words in the Wolof language. It's odd how indescribably comfortable I feel here. Everything is different than it is at home; the food, the city, the sleeping arrangements with my own princess bed. Even the English spoken by Herma is , sometimes, hard to understand. In spite of all that I feel at peace here. Maybe because I haven't been here that long and it's still a new experience for me ( Nadine, Dany's wife, calls it the Senegal honeymoon ). It could also be the slower pace of life coupled with the intense relationships and friendships that can be formed, in spite of the language barrier ( but yes, honey, I'm still coming home ). By the way if you ever sit down to play cards with a group of guys at night and they offer you Arabic tea, please say NO. Didn't get a wink of sleep last night. Ate breakfast around 9 and had a small Bible study and then crashed till about 2. Luckily I woke up just in time to have a dish with rice, beef, and a sauce with peanut butter. Kind of reminded me of mole' sauce. Dany is expanding the eating hut so I'm getting a closer look at the building process. Should be an exciting week. I worked on my drum a little bit. Saw how they take a goat skin and shave it, then stretch it over the drum bowl and make it as tight as possible using two iron rings. After the initial skin is tight and the excess is cut off they have to let the drum sit and dry for 3 days. During that time, I was invited to a game of volleyball with the guys. It's interesting some of the things that the guys here know and somthings they don't. I was surprised to see that they knew how to play volleyball but didn't know how to throw an ( American ) football. One of the guys from the church that stayed here last night pulled his out and you'd have thought the guys at the shop had never seen one before. I was surprised to see how good they were at volleyball. After drenching my shirt I took a quick dip in the pool and when I got out the electricity was off again. It's odd how fast I've adapted to this idiosyncrasy of Malika life. You just know that at any time you should have a candle and matches nearby. Tonight's dinner consisted of roast beef and french fries, which was welcomed with open arms. Got to talk to my wonderful wifey on Skype and now I'm going to bed.

Malika - Day 7 - Drum and Drummer

Woke up at 8 this morning, much to my surprise. Ears still hurt a little bit but not as bad as they did. After breakfast we continued reading in 1 Thessalonians. After that I finally was able to post yesterdays journal on facebook. I write these posts throughout the day on my iPod and then copy and paste using the facebook app at night. For some reason the wifi was still working but not letting me access the Internet. Probably some kind of malfunction with this confounded apple product... I mean apple product user. After a successful attempt at creating a static address I was beckoned by Dany to join him in the shop. The djembe shells were ready to be sanded. After picking out my very own shell I had to decide if I wanted a smooth or rough cut finish. I decided on a rough cut on the top and a smooth on the bottom. The process for going from a rough cut to a smooth finish consists of hours of painstaking scraping with your fingernail to get it as smooth as possible ... actually they take an electric drill and put a sander on the end of it and start sanding away. After sneezing for the umpteenth million time while one of the guys sanded with the drill I was done with rough sanding my shell. One of the drum makers started to fill in some of the small gaps in my drum by taking, what looked like, Elmer's glue and mixing it with the "sand" residue from sanding the shell. He would spread it all over the drum in the places that needed filled and then took a razor blade and scraped the excess off. While waiting for the glue to dry I was intrigued by another process goin on nearby. One of the other products that are made are these little drums ( about 3 inches high ) and used as keychains. After making the shell and adding the top skin they would take long pieces of wire and thread them through a black string; almost like a shoe string. They would then wrap the wire around the top of the drum and make a circle and then manuever the string around the wire so it would appear seamless. They would do the same thing around the bottom of the drum bowl. Afterward they use needle and thread to pull each of the wired string closer together. So here is your first Wolof ( native language ) lesson. Dany says that the national language is french but your better respected if you speak Wolof, which is the biggest tribe in Senegal. How are you - nahn geh def'. I'm doing well - mahn gee fee'. Thank you - yeer' de yuf. Yes - wow. ( This is kind of funny because Jeebs has been teaching me different phrases and whenever I would say them back to him he would say "wow". I always thought he was impressed until I learned he was just saying "yes". ) Your welcome - no ko bo. Praise God - sahnta Yallah. While checking email and facebook, Herma asked me to help her with her frequent flyer miles. I quickly realized the value of skype overseas since it only cost me about 2 cents per minute to talk to the customer service lady. Now we are just waiting for a group of baptists who have been in southern Senegal to join us for dinner and rest before they leave tomorrow morning. Dinner was excellent and was followed by a Senegalese card game called U'-tee-go. Took me a couple hands to get the hang of it but I finally started winning. It's played with 4 people to start and the object is to get rid of your cards. When a player plays all their cards they are in the next game and the last player with cards has to sit out and rotate with the others. This along with some Arabic tea, which is known for being sweet, loaded with caffeine, and served in a shot glass made for a long but eventful night. I learned how to count to five in Wolof which is all the numbers they really use because 6 is just saying the number 5 and 1 together. Then you just have to learn the number for 10, 100, etc. I also learned the names of the symbols on the cards and am finally recognizing some of the guys names too Now that it's 1:15 in the morning it's time to hit the sack. Please pray for my ears still if you would. Good night all, sleep well, and may you have pleasant dreams. IXOYE <>< -Lee

Malika - Day 6 - Far Trek

Perhaps I'm not as used to swimming as others but I didn't get to sleep until around 3 this morning. My left ear was so clogged that it was either putting a sharp pain in my ear or it felt like the left side of my face was going to implode depending on which side I slept on. Luckily the Lord had mercy and I was able to get some sleep. After breakfast Herma decided to take John and Dave and I on a walk that was supposed to only take about 45 minutes. Like I've mentioned before, Herma loves to entertain guests. Once she welcomed a couple that were guided out into the forest and were robbed and tied to a tree. The first place she said she was taking us was ... the forest. I was a little hesitant to go at first but she assured us that we wouldn't end up tied to a tree. Of course being so close to the desert it is extremely hot here. Thankfully the forest was pleasantly breezy. With the shelter from the sun and being so close to the beach the forest provided an excellent temperature for walking. There were some evergreen trees and eucalyptus trees growing there. Unfortunately, because if the trash dump being so close, there were piles of trash everywhere, which is commonplace around Malika and Dakar. Coming out of the forest we ventured onto the beach of which there were no trees to shade us. I did have a hat which I kept switching positions to keep the sun off my neck. Needless to say, the beach was beautiful again. The waves would crash off in the distance. The surf would slide along the smooth sandy beach and reach your legs and provide a quick moment of coolness before the tide would sweep them back out to sea. Jeebs came with us and tried for a while to catch a crab by laying a loop of string around the top of a crab hole and waiting for it to peek it's head out. He tried this for a while to no avail. We started the hike back to the compound which was not covered with trees. There would be an occassional building that would provide some momentary shade and it was welcomed whenever the chance arose. What was supposed to take 45 minutes took almost 2 hours. Just like returning from Dakar, the compound was an oasis of refreshment. We had a quick glass of water and then put on our swimming suits for a dip in the pool. Lunch was served outside by the pool and consisted of a ring of salad on the outside and some chicken on a bed of noodles. Following a quick siesta after lunch was a mosque prayer call like I've never heard before. Most of the time it is someone singing solo into a microphone with ,usually, a soft tune. This time there was a duet of what sounded like a couple of teenagers that were expelled the first day of choir. Well let's hope I sleep better tonight. Good night.

Malika - Day 5 - Just Another Day at the Beach

I think I'm finally getting used to the schedule here; wake up at 10, go to bed at 12 or later. We usually eat lunch around 3 and dinner at 8 or 9. After breakfast I started drafting another building that Dany wants to get going. It's a circular hut with 2 stories. The first level is just a kitchen and living room and the second level has two bedrooms and a bathroom. It's a little difficult to get used to the metric system. Normally I will equate a meter to a yard and that works out to be pretty close. After finfishing the rough draft, Herma took Dave and I to the beach. We were greeted by the sight of men from a local village fishing, though their definition and my definition are slightly different. A fish net consists of a long ( probably about 3-400 yards ) rope. In the middle would be a net about 100 yards long that would hang down. 20-30 men would hold on to one end of the rope and the rest would be put into a boat. The boat would then head out to sea and make a big horseshoe shape and come back to shore. It would then drop off the other end of the rope to another group of 20-30 men. Both sides would then start slowly pulling the net into the shore. They would start at one end of the beach and have to walk down the beach while pulling because of the motion of he waves. After watching them for a while Dave and I finally jumped in the water. It was an excellent temperature. There were lots of little waves, but nothing to write home about ... but I'm going to anyway. We had the priviledge of having a private drum lesson from Jeebs. He would show us a particular beat and we would continually botch it up. =) It's interesting though because Jeebs would start out a rhythm and we would follow his lead. After a while we would finally catch on and we would sound really good. Sometimes we would mess up but he would keep on playing in rhythm and we would have to stop for a second and find it and then we would jump back in. What an amazing parallel to the Christian life. If we are not following Christ then we are just living to the beat of our own drum. However, if we let him lead and follow his lead we can create quite a beautiful sound to the world. If a brother next to us gets out of rhythm on accident we don't laugh and point fingers you just smile and keep on playing the beat that has been started and they will eventually find it again and if they don't then you sit next to him and guide him out of love. Because Christ is the head of the church and since there are different churches throughout the world, I've noticed that there is a different rhythm here. Not a different leader, just rhythm. As long as we are following the right leader those around us will be drawn to our sound and will want to be a part of it. Dinner consisted of some scrambled eggs with sausage, tomatoes and cheese. Good stuff. Watched some LOST, last part of the world cup and now it's off to read and bed. I bid you all, fondue. IXOYE <><. -Lee

Malika - Day 4 - Drums and Drafting

This morning the guys all sat around a table in the shop and read out of first John chapter 3. Although they didn't say much you could tell that they all respected the scripture. After that Dany showed me his plans for the dormitory. I remember him saying before that rarely does anyone get a mortgage or building loan over here which made me appreciate the way he wanted to design this building. He wants to start with the bottom level and add onto it later when he has the finances. The first level consists of a staircase and three rooms; an office, a sewing room for Jeebs ( which he currently works out of Dany's house ), and a room for living quarters. Dany and Herma love to entertain guests. Many times they will have people knocking on their door asking for help and they always try to accomodate them. This is one of the purposes of this building as well. The second story is comprised of dorm rooms and the third story is an apartment loft with two rooms for a family if necessary. While drafting today I was greeted by the sound of drums. There are a stock pile of djembes and a couple dumdums ( long u sound ) that have a more distinct bass sound. I went out to the shop and was handed a djembe. One of the guys would start a simple rhythm on the dumdums and then those on the djembes would start in following the given rhythm. It was very easy to get lost in the sound and even harder to keep from dancing while listening. Thankfully, I've been reminded so many times of my dancing abilities that I restrained myself with little effort. Luckily ,the power didn't go out today. We have to keep candles and matches close at night because there's no telling when you'll be happily reading along and all of a sudden you're in complete darkness. However the moon has been beautifully bright lately. Although, because of the humidity and clouds it always has a slight haze around it. Instead of my usual cup of tea tonight I had a nice cup of cappuccino. Instant of course but still good. I'm half way through another book called "The Prodigal God." I like it so far. Using an alternate definition than we're used to of "prodigal" the author ( Timothy Keller ) wants his readers to understand that it was the brother that left that was found and the other brother, that lived at home, was not. If we live our lives serving God and obeying his commands hoping to get something in return for our good deeds than we have missed the gospel message altogether. Our lives are to be spent in submission to the father, knowing we are his children and completely loved. The son who left was reunited with his father and brought back into the house while the brother who had lived his life in selfish submission was still outside the house at the end of the parable. I recommend it to anyone if you get the chance to read it. As for now I will say good night and pray that you will rest in the arms of the father and know that he loves you and wants you to join him. IXOYE - Lee

Malika - Day 3 - Surviving Dakar

Thankfully, I didn't wake up at 2 in the morning this time. Although I would have been worried if I did since I didn't get to bed til around 1. (Dave, Dany and I decided to take a moonlight dip in the pool.) After breakfast, Dany had to go to Dakar to take care of some business. John and I hopped in the car with him and took off. If you've ever seen "A Bee Movie" you might remember the part where the main character and his friend were standing in the middle of the road and commenting on how amazing it was how everything flowed around them. That's exactly how it is over here. Cars, trucks, people, bicycles and mopeds all crowd in the street. Sometimes there is a median between the two sides of traffic. For the most part if there is a lane open that's where you are driving. Of course you are supposed go drive on the right side of the street but that's not the most efficient when you have a wreck or a broken down truck on your side of the road. Gas is equivalent to about $6 a gallon. Thus you see lots of public transportation and very few SUV's. When I say "public" I mean some guy who bought a bus and has another guy standing on the back bumper letting people get on for a fee. The guy on the back will yell the name of the city the bus is going to and anyone who wants a ride will hop on the back, give the guy some cfa (local currency) and go in the back door and find a seat. Many of the busses called car-rapids ( with a long ee sound for the i ) will have the phrase Allahumdoulalihi which means God is great. They also have a saying here, inshallah which means if God permits. Which is another way of saying that God is sovereign but is abused in order to do what you want and then say the phrase and then you're off the hook. For the most part the city is pretty dirty and trashy but it's just the way things are. Lots of street vendors and guys carrying things to sell; tissue, phone cards, peanuts, and we even saw a guy that was selling remote controls. We stopped at a local food vendor and had chawarmas ( pita, meat, french fries, and hot sauce) and a semi-cold beer ( I guess you could say it was semi-warm too ). Construction there is completely concrete everywhere. I don't know that I've seen a carpet except for the occasional prayer mat. There are certain laws that are existent but not enforced. ( when transporting something on a truck you are supposed to have a cover on the back but rarely anybody does) There are others that are enforced but not strict. ( all vehicles have to pass a certain inspection but if you have enough money you can pass as long as you have at least 4 wheels). After a fun-filled day we got back to the compound and had a nice swim, shower, and reading time. In the illustrious words of Judy Garland, "There's no place like home." Even if it's a home away from home. If you want to see the pool that we swim in these are the coordinates that you can plug into google maps or earth. (14.794598, -17.33513). Dinner consisted of freshly cooked shrimp, pasta, bread and salad. You would think in a country where the average temperature is equivalent to the fires of ... an oven, that you would want nothing to do with anything else that is remotely warm. On the contrary, I find myself enjoying the comforts of hot tea every afternoon and evening. I find that in this country of extreme poverty ( in relation to what I've always known ) the people here are content. Perhaps it is that they are not weighed down by possessions or it could be their devotion to Allah and relying on him to provide. Maybe their families they live with bring them joy and contentment. ( I recently learned that the men of the family stay at home much longer than Americans. They are also allowed more than one wife of which Keely would be more thankful of than I would =). All in all, I am continually impressed by the sweet nature of the people here and could only wish that others could have this same joy as they have found it and as I have found in Christ. For now I will continue to learn the language, swat more mosquitos than I did in Missouri and take in the experience. Good night my friends and remember 1 Thess. 5:16.

Malika - Day 2 - More of the Same but Different

Waking up at 2 in the morning is not my idea of fun. Worse than that is not getting back to sleep till 5. After much prayer and Bible reading on my infamous iPod, I rejoined the land of the unconscious. I forgot to mention that the electricity went out in Dany's house last night so trying to get back to sleep when the air around you is 85 degrees is rather difficult. After waking at 9 I went to breakfast which included a hard boiled egg, bread and jam, and some muesli. Waiting for Dany to wake I read another chapter in my book. The day went merrily along with no real startling events. Lunch went the same way. It was a plate with rice and fish surprise balls. Very good again with a siesta to follow. Dave and John and I followed Jeebs down the street a little bit outside the compound to the market to buy some more material. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb. After a little while I was able to hook up my computer, getting ready to work tomorrow on the dorm plans for Dany. While sitting and chatting about nothing and everything the infamous power outages that were described to me suddenly took place. Fortunately the moon was light enough for me to make it to the other house and find my wonderful iPod that serves as a facebook interface, Bible, journal, and flashlight when necessary. Retrieving my trusted friend made it possible for Dany to find his flashlight as well. Dinner consisted of pasta and an amazing type of chili, followed by spiritual conversation which seems to be the topic of most discussions these days. My mind was then set at ease by an episode of LOST season 2 and a creamy cup of orange spice tea. For now it's off to bed hoping that the electricity will stay on long enough tonight so that we will stay semi-cool. Interestingly enough sometimes my ipod can connect to the internet and sometimes it enjoys being stubborn. C'est la vie. For now, au revoir my good friends, and may the Lord bless you in all that you do and may He be glorified forever. IXOYE <>< -Lee

Malika - Day 1 - The Wonderful Shock

First day in Senegal. We arrived at the airport at 4 in the morning and it was just like being at home in Hermann. The humidity was almost refreshing. The smell of diesel and body odor reminded me of Saudi Arabia. Not a bad smell, but distinct, to say the least. After gathering all our luggage (Dany, Dave, John, and I) we headed out of the airport to look for Herma, Dany's mom. After finding her we were welcomed by a barage of young Senegalese men who were eager to help, realizing that their help came at a cost. =) Herma and Dany climbed into the front seat of the truck while John, Dave, and I piled in the back; squished, mind you but not too incredibly uncomfortable. That is, until, we realized that Herma was not alone in picking us up. Jeebs, one of the guys from the shop, needed a ride back too. Now we were uncomfortable. I had asked Dany before we left how far Malika was to Dakar, the capital city, and he said only 20-30 kilometers ( 15 miles, i think). He also said that it could take about 3 hours to drive it, mainly because of the traffic and people that crowded the streets. This is one of those moments where the Lord made His face to shine upon us because it only took us about 20-30 min. to get to the compound. At 6 in the morning everything was dark. After being showed our rooms, my head hit the pillow and I crashed. I woke up to a breakfast of bread and jam. Dany showed us around the compound and his house, the pool, the Malika monkey mascot, the basketball/futball court. it is like an oasis in the desert; eucalyptus trees, coconut and date palms, and beautiful flowers. After meeting the guys in the shop, Dany took John and I to our new rooms at his house on the compound. John and I unpacked and talked for a little bit. I started reading "a wrinkle in time" and fell asleep again. This time I woke to John telling me it was lunch time. Luckily, I remembered Dany telling me where the "lunch hut" was. I was greeted by a circle of Senegalese men and a large (2.5 foot in diameter) plate filled with rice, fish, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables. Each person had their own imaginary pie slice of the plate and you ate from that section. After lunch, Herma and Dave and I talked over a nice cup of tea and biscuits. I was then commissioned to replacing a separate VCR and DVD player with a combo unit. while the exchange was taking place I was greeted by the familiar site of LOST season 1 and 2 on DVD. Even better was the snow filled picture on the TV set of Locke and Ben speaking to each other in french on one of the local stations. After finishing this project and reading another chapter, I joined in a friendly game of futball with the guys. This consisted of a partially inflated, half-size soccer ball and two man teams. If you scored, you and your teammate stayed in. If not, you rotated in with the others on the sideline. Being hot and extremely thirsty, I treated myself to a cup of water and a dip in the pool with Dave and John. I then took a shower and sat down to write the first part of this entry. Herma solicited my help to try to get the DVD player to output to the surrounding speakers. Unfortunately, to no avail. Without the luxury of air conditioning, a local wal-mart, and a commonality in languages with everyone, I feel at peace. Siestas are a common occurance. After lunch all the guys head to the work shop to sleep and rest in the heat of the day. Dinner is almost ready, so I will say au revoir for now. Love you all and thanks for your prayers. In Him, Lee