an attempt to fill you in

the days are a little jumbled together right now and without my journal (its wherever all our luggage is) it is hard for me to recall somethings. so i'll attempt and catch you up when the luggage makes it. then i'll add some pics, that junks also in the luggage of course.

the arrival:
we arrived in dakar late on december 21. exhausted. we went straight to the yoff apartment (again, with no luggage.) patty had so thoughtfully set up a Christmas tree in the living room for us, along with some pretend presents. it was nice. a good toothscrubbing and then sound asleep. nothing weird about being back. felt so natural. almost like 'home.' the same ol same ol. sheeps and cats talking thru out the night. chanting in the background and planes overhead. peaceful sleep, at least for me. even without luggage, (ie, deo, shoes, clothes, food, etc) we were thankful to have arrived safely.

what is all comes down to:
thursday night the team (mcintires, mr and mrs johnson, carrie, papa, mom, and i) went Christmas caroling in yoff. to begin with we actually rode on a horse and wagon. now, don't picture the pretty, well-taken care of horses and carriages from central park or new orleans (like mom did) it was one of the poor, starving, over-worked horses, with a plywood wagon. literally pieces of planks nailed together, with one bench. the driver could not have been more than 12 years old. mom and dillon let out a few squeals throughout the ride. we stopped at several houses and sang about six carols. then papa explained what we were singing and why. we only made it so far on the wagon. it kept getting stuck and then we went down 'streets' too narrow for it. abandoning the horse and wagon, we walked around the rest of the night. mostly we stopped at compounds we knew, but when there were crowds awaiting the singing toubabs of course we had to stop. altogether it was a hoot. people poured out of their homes to hear. kids and adults alike. (oh yeah i forgot to add that cal played the guitar and trumpet while we sang). it was all bizarre to them. in the end, a blessing!

Christmas day was like no other. mom and i started out the day by going to meet and invite a family i had never met before. i know their son and his wife who live in NJ. then last minute preparations for the party. we put on our senegalese best and went to the roof. people of all ages came. young and old alike. hung out for a while. lots and lots of greeting. lunch was served. yassa poulet. the best senegalese dish. (you have to go to try this meal) announced the showing of the Jesus film in wolof. then we realized that a senegalese Believer had come to the celebration (remember tho she isn't Lebou). she gave her testimony and led some songs. enjoyable. mom and i entertained the kids on the roof while the adults went downstairs to watch Jesus. over 40 saw it.

we also showed the film monday, tuesday, and wednesday nights.

one afternoon i had maggie come along with mom and i to discuss the film with a few girls who had watched it and who i have talken to on many different occassions this past summer. essentially they both said the film was great, that Jesus was a good person, that they believed what they saw and what i had previously taught them, but that they did not want to have to choose between the two religions. in the end, they even said they believed in the Trinity, which is pretty much blasphemous to a Muslim. i left disturbed. heartbroken more than anything. it hurts me to know that i can't do anything else but to continue to pray for them. i believe they had heard all that needs to be said. now their hearts need to be softened by my Father and they need to know of his wonderful Love. uuuu, please pray for these girls and their entire family.

the night that mom and i flew out of dakar, we had a "girls nite out." we invited the women/girls of my family for dinner and a story. dinner went well. but they were nonetheless unentertained by the story. they are definitely more distant from hearing about my Savior. again heartbreaking. they have not heard all that they need to, because they don't want to hear any of it. their hearts and ears are pretty much sealed for now. uuuu, please pray. that's all i can say. (now do you know why i am continually drawn back to yoff?)

random stories:
the first day we were there, mom and i rode out to a village outside of dakar with the mcintires. it was just to go, i wanted mom to be able to see more than dakar since we had journeyed all the way to senegal. we saw where the journey(wo)men live and drove thru what most of you would think "africa" looks like. grass huts and all.

Christmas evening the team gathered for an American style Christmas. turkey dinner and all. the mcintires had stockings stuffed for everyone with all sorts of things. then we did a homemade gift exchange. it was a fun night.


one afternoon the couple who own the building that we rent came upstairs to inform me that there was a problem with the building. i wasn't quite understanding what they were talking about so they took me to see for myself. yeah, definite problem. they had sewage packing up into their apartment thru a toilet. (we are the only building in the vicinity with toilets, so as you can imagine the sewage system, septic tanks, etc. are not high tech). they kept saying the problem was due to our usage of 'coton', which i assumed was referring to toilet paper. eventually i went to get mrs johnson to help me out. it wasn't until the older senegalese man kept talking about 'coton' that we realized he was not talking about toilet paper, but something else. (you guess) nonetheless, the whole situation was a bit embarrassing. then it was really all unneccessary because they are suppose to 'lift and stir' the septic tank once a month and had failed to do so, thus blaming it on the 'coton.'

one day mom, mrs. johnson, carrie, and i went out to Goree Island. i had been there the previous summer but wanted mom to be able to go as well. Goree is the 'slave' island, with the 'door of no return'. the last stop of slaves leaving west africa for wherever. we spent the whole day there pretty much. then comes the taxi ride back to yoff. we got this man who was a pretty large senegalese man compared to most, dressed in white, who made fun of our wolof. but he was nice. a little down the road there was a huge traffic jam due to road construction, an accident, and people driving without common sense. what can you expect? well our taximan gets out of the car. leaves us in the middle of the intersection and begins clearing the traffic out. he moves an accident out of the way and then continues to direct the traffic for a good ten minutes or more. i sat out the window and watched him. it was pretty amazing. i almost got behind the steering wheel, but mom was being a punk. eventually he came back to the car and drove like it was nothing. we applauded for him. he laughed the rest of the way. we gave him an oatmeal cream pie and mini oreos as a tip. he loved them. taxi rides are always adventurous.