December 28: morning at N'Gaparou

December 27: Ngaparou evening

Enjoying our two days away with Joey and Jacob...

December 26: beach at N'Gaparou

Wonderful!

December 25: Merry Christmas!

We had a great day, a turkey dinner at Bruce and Julie's, followed by dessert and carols at Mark and Leigh's!

Blessed Christmas to you all!

December 24: Christmas Eve

We are blessed here in Senegal to be able to celebrate Christ's birth with friends here who have become like extended family. We miss our families and friends from the States though, especially on these special days. Tonight was a cozy time at home with Dave, Joey, Jacob and me. We watched It's A Wonderful Life (which they say they've watched every year, and I don't think so!!) and ate a special dinner of "raclette"-- melted cheese with meat and potatoes,with chocolate fondue for dessert...

December 23: fun with friends

It's been so much fun to hang out at home, playing games with friends and family, and just enjoying the break from school!

December 21: enjoying the beach

This isn't my favorite beach but it was "someone's" vote for where we should spend the afternoon...

I'm enjoying the sand, the ship in the background, and two of my three boys being together with us!

December 21: funny road sight!

On our way to an afternoon at the beach, we saw this funny sight out the car window! Many sheep are being transported in various ways these days as Muslims prepare for their holiday. But this is the first one I've ever seen on a motorbike!

December 19: arrival!

Joey arrived and we are so happy to have him here! Our tradition is a bonfire on the roof, with attaya, on nights of arrival and departure...

December 9

Sorry for the long absence. Life has been full and busy and I haven't quite gotten back into the routine of updates and blogging...

Getting started again... at least with some pics. Here's a photo I really like of Dave and Jacob, taken by a friend last Saturday at one of the softball games.

December 4: Outreach Update

Outreach Update (from the D.A. Chaplain)

We would like to thank you for praying for our Thanksgiving weekend outreach to the Koulouck area. We returned from the weekend physically exhausted but spiritually invigorated by the experience.

Our school theme this year is "Refresh!" and we pray that this outreach weekend brought spiritual refreshment to dry and dusty Koulouck. We were able to minister to over 1800 people through drama, childrens Bible clubs, a medical team, and evening evangelism campaigns. The medical team set a new record in providing healing care to 260 people. We did meet some resistance in that the drama team was refused access to 2 villages, and in another village, after receiving initial permission and setting up for their program, they were told to leave. But they were able to present the Gospel in 6 villages during the course of the weekend. In addition to the ministry teams, we had teams that painted 2 different churches, a team that built and placed roof trusses, a team that built 23 benches, and a team that cleared, leveled, and installed goals for a soccer field. We initiated the soccer field by having a soccer game on Sat. afternoon between the DA boys and the village soccer team which ended in a tie. At half time, we were able to present the Gospel using the wordless soccer ball. We left uniforms and 2 wordless soccer balls for the village soccer team. In addition to all this, we had teams working steadily on hauling and filtering water to keep us hydrated for the whole weekend. You can imagine how much water a group of 120 people can go through in such a dry and dusty area. There was no electricity or running water where we camped.

Before we left the DA campus, we reminded the 120 going on the weekend of the need to be FLEXIBLE. This ended up being the key word for the weekend as we faced all kinds of glitches here and there. We had vehicle break-downs, a couple of items were inadvertently left behind, and our planned schedule had to be revamped as we went along. But in spite of the inconveniences of these curve balls thrown our way, the attitudes of the students were exemplary and God's name was still glorified and lifted high in the Koulouck area. In fact, many times when things do not go as planned, it's then that we are able to show God's supernatural grace in the face of difficult circumstances.

The weekend culminated in a combined worship service involving Dakar Academy, the International Baptist Church from Dakar who have also been ministering in this village, and the local African believers. Following the worship service, there were 5 believers who were baptized. This was a special celebration. There will be a small team that will return to Koulouck to finish off roofing the church, hopefully before Christmas.

Please continue to pray for the believers in Koulouck. We heard a number of times of how encouraged they were by the ministry of our students and staff this weekend. It is a privilege to be a part of what God is continuing to do in advancing His Kingdom in Senegal!