Place to debrief

This place is used for a lot of things, that is for sure. One fun and interesting aspect is its being used for 'orientation' and 'debriefing' of short term teams that come to work for MIS and the Beacon of Hope. Being located just miles from the airport, it offers a convenient place for people to crash on their way to and from their destinations.
Tonight a team that just spent a week in the bush was able to talk in depth about their experiences and how it impacted their hearts. Our team leader, accompanied by Jane and Jose, asked just the right questions to get these people reflecting on what they saw God doing in and around Senegal and even more profound, how they saw Him work in their lives.
One guy told us how he had been sitting outside on the sand, last week, looking up at the stars, when God gave him this sort of fast moving, PowerPoint flashback of his life up to now. He saw how all the pieces that seemed so random actually fit so perfectly, and how it all lead up to this point. Then he proceeded to explain that as he walked along, talking with the Lord, he saw the lighthouse, and God reminded Him that He is the one that directs our path, He is the lamp unto our feet. God assured this young man that He had a purpose, and to keep following that light. I loved that story. Not just because of the imagery, but because of the simple truth that God does have a plan. In the midst of all that is going on around here, it can look a lot like its our plans, or 'their' plans, or our strategy, etc. It's all good to plan and strategize, but it gives me peace to know that ultimately its God's work and His design that will rule the day.

Busy again

It's buzzing around here. People everywhere taking up all sorts of space. The Wolof Consultation has started and from what I can tell its generating lots of good discussions. People from all over the region have come for a 3 or 4 day conference that focuses solely on the Wolof people. This morning and this afternoon they were playing Wolof praise songs and it was so cool to hear.
A friend of mine who works in a small village told me that they brought along with them a couple of people who have known the Lord for a short while and are really wanting to grow, but because of the lack of support at home its difficult for them. Being here, amongst so many firm believers is a great encouragement to them and she hopes that God will really stir things up in their hearts and draw them even closer to Christ.
Also, its the next to last week for the discipleship students. Wow, how time flies. These guys have been fixtures on our campus for three months now. We've had the pleasure of praying for them, getting to know them a little, having them for supper, etc.
When they leave, we're certainly going to notice.

Inspiration and Progress

We had the privilege of a visit from Maurice Vuadens yesterday. He is the retired Swiss missionary whose 3-month intensive school inspired us to start our Discipleship Experience program. He was able to spend some time with the students and Balla, giving a bit of his own history and a pep talk. We named the school after him last year because we are trying to fill the hole that Maurice left behind when he returned to Europe! Although we have refocused the program slightly, the basic idea is still the same: intensive Bible training for emerging leaders in an intimate setting. Maurice was a manual laborer whom God lit on fire to come to Africa. He sought to birth a generation of lay leaders, knowing his own time in Senegal would be limited. He taught over 110 Africans in his decade here.

While we were chatting, he wondered if I had any video of the new road work out front that he could show his son. I showed him this site and promised to post my most recent clip. As you can see, the road crew even planted bushes in the center of the circle before the heads of state come last week!!

I also thought I'd show you a few photos of what Jane and Antoinette are up to these next weeks. Scabies has taken hold again among the talibé boys, in all of their various living situations. It's been a couple years since the ladies did a general war on scabies, so each week for the next two months they have arranged to "paint" all the boys of one "dara" three days running and to boil all of the clothes and bedding the first day.

Last week Jane and Antoinette started this campaign with a group of 20 talibé who all live together.

What a job! The painting with the medical insecticide isn't too bad. The older guys do each other and the smaller ones make a game of it. But boiling all those filthy shirts and sheets and pants and all to kill the little microscopic critters takes a lot of time and also a lot of arm strength.

By God's grace, Jane had a couple volunteers respond to her appeal for help this week. So, yesterday, the second round and another 20 talibé, the job of boiling cloths wasn't so overwhelming.

One really fun development with the boys in the last weeks is that Sara has introduced art in a big way. On the wall outside at church are all sorts of sketches by the boys. Last week they added stampings to the collection. And not in dull blue or black ink. These guys got to use bright primary colors and they had a wonderful time with them!

Contruction Dust

I just walked outside and took some photos for you all. There isn't any seminar or other activity on site at the Phare today. But it is very noisy, nonetheless! The construction equipment out at our entranceway is rumbling away and creating quite the dust storm for us.

In one week representatives from all the Muslim nations will be gathering in Dakar for a Grand Summit. Thursday and Friday of that week (13-14th of March) the heads of state are slated to be here to sign whatever agreement the foreign ministers are able to make earlier in the week. This is the much-delayed conference that the government of Senegal has been preparing for during the last several years. This is the reason that the Kuwaitis and the Saudis gave so much money for road and hotel development in that time. The by-pass road to downtown (the "Corniche" as they say in French) was paid for this way and it isn't quite done yet! The pressure is on, to say the least.

We here at the Phare are also preparing for a construction project, though of quite small a scale in comparison. The Wheaton football spring break mission trip includes us again this year. We will have 30 players and coaches with us for the week. Each day some will be at Dakar Academy to help over there. A small group will go with Guy Penney, a missionary friend of ours, out to a village for three days. They'll help with construction on a church building. Another group will paint a school classroom in Ouakam. The rest will work with us here removing and rebuilding the basketball court!

The court was built by Peace Corps volunteers back in the early 70s as the orphanage was setting up here. It has been a wonderful resource for the mission and for the local community over the years. It is old and cracked, however. In fact, Aaron lived here at the Phare in the 80s as a child and says he doesn't remember it ever not having cracks! We're going to try to fix that. And we're also going to try to lower its elevation closer to the alley next to it.

We'll see. Who knows what boulders lurk beneath that surface!!! Next week we'll find out as we remove the entire thing.

For now, we're stocking sand, cement, gravel and wheel barrows!

Actually, we did just host a church team for the weekend. It was the North Way Community Church's medical team who are spending the week in villages doing clinics. This is Paul and Kate Carter's church. They had a team here in January '07. Most of them went out to do medical work last year, but a small group stayed with us at the Phare and helped with renovation. They were our first team of that season and worked on H (Louga) and started the job of creating our new Women's Room.

Vonnie from that group asks in the comments for photos of the various changes. The folks that were just here were amazed at all that we had done and wrote to her. I hate to repeat what we've already shown over the last year, but here at least is a photo of the new Ladies Room, Vonnie. I took it this afternoon as I walked around. Remember that empty storage room we started with? Cool, huh? Come back soon and see all the rest in person!