A quiet Friday

I needed to get out of the office for a bit, so I went around and took a few photos of what is happening right now.

I found Trudy Hess with her cute middle daughter at the swing. Forgive me. I forget her name right now. The Hesses are here along with three other New Tribes families. NTM held their all-field meeting Monday through Friday and though they have a very large guest house, they needed overflow room. We took some in. It has meant the place has echoed to the sound of lots of happy children each evening and all of last weekend. Very nice.

I also found a group half-a-dozen talibé boys at the shelter in the middle of the day. They were doing their laundry, washing and hanging it up to dry on the line we set up. Without access to water in the place where they live, they really appreciate being able to do this. It wasn't just older ones, to my surprise. One little guy, maybe 6 or 7 is in this photo, standing naked in broad daylight talking to the guy hanging clothes. I doubt you can make him out, but he just got out of the shower, I think.

Near that cute little one on the swing, I found Patrice weeding around the banana plants. We've really thinned them out and I don't know how happy Mbaye is! What is left will grow much better in the end, but he didn't see it that way! Anyway, here is poor Patrice slaving in the hot sun. Well, OK. It's actually a pretty nice day. And Patrice will quit shortly for a siesta to avoid the worst mid-day sun!

It’s actually been a key couple weeks for training here. But the events weren’t high profile ones.

Last Wednesday José, Rodney, Balla and I met to discuss curriculum for the Discipleship Experience Training Program. We began the process of laying out our educational objectives in detail and we found ourselves just naturally of one mind. This meeting was a key step in moving forward with filling that training niche that Maurice Vuaden left behind at his retirement. We are very excited. We have most of the money. Balla, our discipler, has given notice with Campus Crusade. MIS has a half-dozen students waiting for us to just pull things together. It seems that our dream is coming true.

Also last week, there was a second roundtable / consultation about creating a training program for church planters here in Senegal for local evangelists. Many missions sent reps. Most of the key Senegalese leaders were there. They spent two days together. Not only did this expanded group continue to hold the vision set last spring, they actually established a working committee to start getting practical! That is nearly a miracle! Folks love to dream and talk, but committing to actually doing something is another story. No one currently is doing this kind of training. Pastoral training, yes. Leadership training, yes. But cross-cultural evangelist and church planter training, no. Everyone involved sees this as a key piece for the Church. All also think that we need to do it together. Wow. Praise the Lord.