Recap

Taken from my prayer letter:

I wanted to start off by thanking you so much for supporting me in my trip to Senegal, Africa this summer. This trip would not even be possible without your contribution and even though I had quite a difficult time trying to raise all the money, God provided it all and really demonstrated His love for me and the people of Senegal through that process. I really wanted to spend some time telling you what I experienced and learned from my time in Africa this summer. My team consisted of 26 college students and staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ from states such as North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Texas. Once we were in Dakar (the capital of Senegal), we walked from our hotel to the University of Cheikh Anta Diop every Monday through Friday where we met up with the students and built relationships with them. At first I was hesitant to the whole situation of walking up to random students who might not even speak English and talk about Christianity. Within the first day or two, that stubbornness was quickly thrown out the window. It was so amazing meeting up with the students and experiencing how genuine and hospitable the people of Senegal were. They loved talking about religion (Christianity or Islam) and they could sure have long conversations! For the first couple of days, we built contacts and met with new students. After the first week, we had enough contacts that we could continually meet with and share the gospel with. One of my main contacts was named Jamil. I had met him the second day we were on campus and we bonded greatly from that day on. Although he was Muslim, he was also very open to Christianity and really wanted to learn more about Jesus. So for about 5 weeks I met with Jamil as much as I could and we went over the Bible and the main differences between Islam and Christianity. During one of our last few meetings, he came to a decision. He was going to take what he had learned about Jesus and the Bible, as well as read more of the Koran, and pray that God would make the right way clear to him. Even though Jamil didn’t take that step into becoming a follower of Christ, I believe that God worked tremendously through me and the other members of my team to truly show the love of Christ to Jamil and all the other students we talked to. I know that even though I am not in Senegal now, my friends that I made over there are continuing to pursue God and trying to find out who He truly is. In total, we shared the gospel over 500 times with the people of Dakar and we saw 5 Senegalese students form a true relationship with Jesus. During this trip, I grew so much in my faith and can’t wait to use what I learned back on campus. I had the most amazing time in Africa and saw God do the most amazing things with the people of Senegal and all 26 members of my team. I just want to thank you again for making this all possible! If you want to know more about what happened in Senegal or have any questions, please call me or shoot me an e-mail. I would love to tell you more

Can't think of a good title

Last week and weekend flew by and now it seems as if this week is going by even faster! Last week I continued to meet up with my contacts and got to know them better as well as meeting new people and sharing the Gospel with them. I am growing really close with my guys on campus and really don't want to leave them having them believe what they believe! Nevertheless it has been a blast just hanging out with them. Thursday I went to the market by the ocean and the market downtown with a member of my team, Tim, and a contact (Jamil). We were on a mission to find a Senegalese jersey which would not be possible without Jamil arguing with the vendors in Wolof. We rode a car rapide (painted, decorated mini buses with crazy drivers and people hanging off the back...google it) downtown which was an experience and decided to walk an hour back in ridiculously hot, sunny weather. Friday we watched the opening match of the World Cup with all our contacts which I shared my testimony at. I wasn't quite prepared for it but I believed it went well. I had a student translate it into French so that the locals could understand. Some things might have been lost in translation but it definitely sparked some good conversations. That night I went to a local Senegalese rap concert with a couple of guys from my team and Jamil. Once the concert started 4 and a half hours late (about ontime for Senegal) it was nonstop craziness till 1am. Saturday our whole team spilt up into teams and went out to the markets. It was a lot of fun going out and bargaining with the vendors at all their shops yet very tiring. We got djembes, jerseys, wood carving, paintings, and so much more. However by the time 6pm rolled around, I had enough of beating off people trying to sell us stuff and couldn't take the heat anymore. The 1-1 draw the US had with England helped a little. From Saturday night to Monday morning, I had a fever and was not feeling all that great. A doctor came and visited and said that it could be bacteria so I have been taking medications and drinking A LOT of water. Now I feel 100% and ready for our last day on campus tomorrow! I am going to Jamil's house tomorrow for our last day so hopefully we will have some great conversations. Thursday we will be wrapping up everything here in Dakar and getting ready for the villages and debriefing in Mbour. I doubt I will be on a computer again for the rest of the trip just for the heads up. Keep up those prayers for these last 10 days! Specifically for our ministry the next five days on campus and the villages and safe travels home! If I get internet at debriefing I will post what happened at the villages and if not...see you all in America!

The Final Stretch in Dakar!

Only 9 more days here in Dakar until we move on to the villages for the remainer of the trip! This past week has been full of excitement and fun. This past weekend our whole team went out to Goree Island which is this small isalnd right off the coast of Dakar. It was so beautiful and a great day retreat for our team. We all got some great souveniers and some amazing food. This past friday we had our first party in which we invited all of our contacts to. It was a dance party which started off slow but once our friends started coming (about an hour late) it really took off. Everyone had such a great time and all of our contacts got to listen to some American music I know they are not used to. I feel like that party and just our time on campus everyday has been so beneficial. We all have gotten so close to our contacts which makes sharing the gospel with them so much easier. And the more I get closer with them makes me want to continue to share the gospel with them so many more times. Also realizing that we only have 6 days left on campus makes me want to pursue all the guys so much more. However, we are having another party this Friday where we will be watching the first match of the World Cup. I think that I am sharing my testimony at this party so please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me in my words and show me to the right things to say. Also please continue to pray for all my contacts (Jamil, Marcel, Amadou, Tidiane, "Obama") and everyone on my team. Pretty much everyone has been sick in some sort whether it's malaria or dehydration but everyone I believe is getting to be 100% so praise God for that. Thanks for the prayers and I will try to get on before next Thursday since after that I think that we will no longer be able to get internet.

Toubabs Galore

First off, I apologize for the past post with very little detail and very little substance. I was using the computer cafe and the keyboard was quite difficult to use. With that out of the way...

Project is going wonderfully so far. It is a lot of work and quite tiring but soooo rewarding. Everyday we walk to campus (about a 5-10 minute walk) and meet up with students from about 12-5pm. Most days I am meeting up with the same guys but sometimes people just walk up to us and start talking for instance today a student just walked into us and asked if we speak English so we responded yes and went to his dorm room and shared the gospel with him. I never thought talking about Jesus would be so easy. Everyone on the team has made some great contacts and we can really see God working in the students lives as they continue to ask about the Bible and continue to listen to what we have to say. Other than that we eat a lot and play football (soccer) a lot. We have played a couple of games against the students and locals which has been extremely fun and very tiring at the same time. It seems as if all Senegalese people workout throughout the course of the day. They run, lift, and play soccer whenever they have free time. This past weekend we went to "Magicland" which is Senegal's version of Six Flags and we often go to the beach which is about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. All of us enjoy the local food here which is very good! Yassa guinar (rice, chicken, and an onion sauce) is a personal favorite along with many other filling dishes. We are going to stay here in dakar for about 2 more weeks then we go to a village for about a week which is about a couple hours away where we will be showing the Jesus Film. After that we are going to go to an island nearby for debriefing then it is back to the states! That is it for now but I will try and put up another post soon. Please continue to keep my team, the students of Dakar, and myself in your prayers! Thanks so much and I hope you all are enjoying your cold drinks and traffic laws!

T.I.A.

Sorry for the delay. The internet has been down in our hotel and I finally got on a computer. The past week was amazing! I am continuing to meet up with contacts I have made and continuing to share the gospel with them. I am learning a lot about the culture and growing closer with the students at the university. We have played soccer with the locals which was amazing and eating some very interesting dishes. (Most Senegalese dishes involve an assortment of rice, oniony sauce, vegetables, and some sort or meat/fish/or chicken) As far as ministry is going, I am continuing to meet with Jamil who I believe is very close to accepting Jesus as his personal Savior. I still meet with him most days of the week which has been so amazing. There is still so much to talk about but I am using some weird foreign keyboard and I need to let others use one of the three working computers out of the 15 here. Hopefully I will be able to get on before the week ends.

What a week it has been!

What a week it has been!! I will try and summarize it. Thursday was our second day of ministry and was the start of a great relationship with a couple of guys. Two of their names are Jamil and Amadou and I forgot the other names but they go by various nicknames such as Usher, Obama, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, etc. We talked with them quite a bit and got to know them a lot. Thursday night we had a public screening of the Magdalene film which was based on Mary Magdalene and the Gospel. I met up with Jamil there and he said that the movie "moved his heart and he felt for Jesus." This perked me right up and we decided to meet the next day, Friday. So Friday we met up with him and the other guys and talked about Jesus with them. For me it is really hard trying to get Muslim students to understand the Gospel. They are so based in their religion and it is such a family motivated belief that it has blinded them from the truth. We spoke with the guys for about 4 hours or so which was very tiring. I believe that we learned a lot as well as them. We are going to try and meet up with them regularly and continue to share the truth with them as well. We are also going to try and meet with Jamil by himself because there is something different about him. He asks certain questions that makes him seem very interested in Christianity and he is very open. Hopefully this week we will get to catch up with them and continue to preach the good news!

P.S. Don't take iced beverages and air conditioning for granted. And a washer and dryer.

Gno farr!

I am in Senegal!!! This is my first time on the internet since before briefing which has been very nice! Dakar is amazing. All of the flights ran smoothly. We were at JFK for about 5 hours on and off the plane but eventually took off and made it here to Dakar. Our first couple of days consisted of getting over jet-lag and getting to know the city. There are five members of a STINT (short term internship) team here who have been here since October so they have been a lot of help to us. We met Pascal who is the campus director of Campus pour Christ (Campus Crusade for Christ) which was quite exciting. Last night was our first encounter with the students of the university. It was very interesting talking with them but very challenging. Most of the students are very strong in their beliefs as Muslims but at the same time, they LOVE talking about religion. None of my conversations have lasted shorter than 2 or 3 hours. They could talk forever if they had the chance which is a nice change. Today we actually went onto the university and just started meeting students in pairs. It was a lot easier starting conversations than I expected. You could seriously just say, "What do you think about Jesus?" and the conversation can go from there. I talked with two guys today who are very passionate about their Muslim beliefs. I shared the Gospel with them but they didn't budge at all. Neither party swayed one way or the other but I definitely learned a lot more about the Islamic faith and I grew so much more in my faith. I can't wait to see what God does here in Dakar this summer with the Senegalese and our team. PLEASEEEE pray for the students we talk to that they may find the truth in Christ and want to start that relationship with Him! We will be doing campus ministry for the next 4 weeks then we are going to go to a village nearby just for a time line for the rest of the trip. I won't be on a computer much so expect another update in a couple of days. God Bless!!

Senegal, Here I Come!!

So as of today...I raised the rest of the $5,500!! I can't believe how much God has provided for me in these past couple of weeks. I shipped off the rest of the checks and now that raising support is out of the way, I can focus on preparing for my 6 week adventure in Senegal, Africa! I want to thank everyone that helped me reach this point. I would truly not be able to go unless all of you supported me. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this summer. Our briefing is from May 12th-15th at a hotel near RDU airport. We fly out about 1pm on Saturday (5/15) from RDU to JFK then from there we fly directly to Dakar. I can't wait to get there and start doing God's work! My next post will probably be from Dakar so get pumped! Please pray for safe travels and my packing abilities.

Almost There!

Wow. In about 3 days, I have received about a little over $1,300! This has been truly eye opening. I have about 2 more days to come up with the rest of the $700 out of the goal of $5,500 but once again, I KNOW God will provide somehow. Keep praying for me! We're so close!

"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre!
He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love."
-Psalm 147:7-11

One More Week!

I want to thank everyone again who has decided to be a part of this experience by either donating or praying! You guys rock! I have about $2,000 more to raise in one week till I am at the goal of $5,500. It seems like a lot to raise but seeing how God has provided for me in the past, I know that He can do it! The deadline for all of the support is May 9th (1 week from today) so this week is going to be crazy as far as raising support goes. Apparently if all $5,500 is not in by May 9th, I can't go on the trip. Knowing the urgency of this has helped me become more proactive when trying to raise support which has showed to become very beneficial. A lot of money has come in these past couple of days and I just pray that the rest will come in within the next week. The idea came up a couple days ago regarding selling textbooks for people going on Summer Projects. If someone wants to help out people in need of raising support, they can donate a textbook and have the proceeds go to that person's Summer Project. So please pray that lots of people will want to do that and please pray that God will provide the rest of the support this coming up week!

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." -Hebrews 11:6