Blood, sweat and bulldozers!

Preparations for the resurfacing of the basketball court started last week. For four days, a handful of guys hammered, chisled and wheeled away loads and loads of cement. Then we had an epiphany! Forget all the sweat and manual labor get out the big guns! With this monster what would have taken four more days took only a few hours.
Check out the video clip below. In it I'm freaking out a bit over the new orange pots that are in harms way. And a poor little tree that Aaron planted gets squashed.

To all the Teams we've loved before!

I'm really late on writing this post, but it's been rattling around in my head for a while. I think it had to come to just the right fermentation so that it slides down smoothly. I don't know what I mean by that, but anyway...
Teams, teams and more teams. It would seem that a huge role the Phare plays at this time in the scheme of God's work is hosting teams from the States. Teams that are coming to work in the village with M.I.S. usually make their first stop here. Many times this is the first impression that people have of Senegal. Actually, first is the scary airport, so maybe the Phare is truly what it's supposed to be to these weary travelers...a Beacon of Hope.
I have really grown to appreciate the teams that pass thru. They bring an energy and they sort of make those of us who have been here for awhile (or those of us who just arrived) excited again about what God's doing in this land. Sidenote: they also bring GOODIES!!!
The most recent and memorable team was a team from NY that came for 10 days. Instead of heading out to the village they stayed around Dakar. Their project was to work on renovating the Oukam Church.
A more vibrant and loony group you could not find. They had itchy feet as well. Always on the go. If they weren't walking back and forth a dozen times a day to the store across the street just so they could raze the poor guy behind the counter, they were traversing their way up the lighthouse hill, down to the ocean, etc.
Blessings abounded with their attitudes of servanthood and generosity.
Teams that come add a spark each time that I know God uses to bring light to this part of the world. Whether or not deep relationships are formed, the nationals here remember these men and women. They talk about them years later. They laugh about experiences they had with them as they worked side by side.
Thanks for coming out here, all of you who have made the journey. We know that you are touched by what you see and experience during your stay in here, but you also leave so much behind ie. your kindness, humility, your testimony, your love for Jesus.

WFMP Project Begins

The 30 football players from Wheaton were not able to come in March as planned, but they were able to reschedule with us for a smaller group to come next week. So we'll have a dozen fellows here staying in the dorm and working on refinishing the basketball court. They can only stay for a few days at the Phare because there is a big training conference scheduled to start on Monday the 18th with 60 or so people attending. So we'll shift them over to Dakar Academy for a few days of work over there.


In anticipation of their arrival, Aziz and the crew from Jean Gomis has started to break up the surface of the court. The concrete is not really that thick, three inches or so and underneath is a fair amount of sand. When I asked today, however, the guys whined about how much their shoulders ached from the stone that is hiding under the sand! Come on THUNDER. We need your energy to show these guys what to do with stubborn rocks! They started working Monday and haven't broken up and hauled off but 5 yards of the length of the court so far!