Jamm rekk.

It's hard to believe that we only have one day left in Africa. It has been an eye-opening and interesting week of experiences in Godel, Dakar, and Thies. It's strange to think that a week ago we were all visiting the Goree slave house and witnessing the sad and awful history of the slave trade. In contrast to the experience at Goree, the time in the village was uplifting. I couldn't have imagined the people in Godel to be as relational and caring as they are, and I enjoyed a lot of time getting to know the young boys and the young men, some who were about my age. One of the best parts of being in the village was the meal they made for us and the singing and dancing in the celebration in honor of our visit. We all have benefited from this trip--emotionally; physically; spiritually--yet I hope that we have made as much of an impact on the people in Godel as they have made on us. I have found God to be revealing of Himself to me here in Africa, but maybe it is because I'm looking for Him a little harder right now. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and support.


Dave Berka

Au revoir Godel

Today we said our goodbyes to the Village of Godel. There were some laughs and some tears. It has been a great time with our new friends in the village. We worked on Women's ministry, Children's' ministry, agriculture and schooling. We met with the Chief, and the Church leaders. Some of the children had a hard time to say goodbye.
We had a wonderful time here in Africa and will have a hard time leaving but can't wait to tell everyone back home about our great experience. We highly recommend the experience for everyone.
On our way home our bus actually got stuck on the sand! But we had a great time singing "Born in the USA".
We'll be home on Monday and will enjoy every minute till then. This journey has changed us all except for Dave Colwin-he's still a whack job.
Please pray for our safe journey home on Monday. God has doe great things here.
Peace, Dan Zeleske

God is Everywhere

It's amazing how God has shown us this beautiful country. It might be very poor, but we see God's face in the eyes of the people. Today we spent part of the day buying school supplies for the children of Godel. When shopping today for school supplies, it amazed us what the village asked us for. One thing they had asked for where small chalkboards that the children would write on because they don't have notebooks. Such a simple thing we Americans take for granted. In the village on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was totally amazing. There was a story to be told in every one's eyes. God is working in the village and we are blessed to see what he is doing. The women of the village are talking about starting a women's bible study group. They will hold it in one of the leader's huts.
The children have a wonderful choir. It is lead by a young boy who is about 12 or 13 years old. The children of Godel seem to grow up so fast. the people of the church love to hear about God and to praise Him with loud voices. I would like everyone back home to pray for all the hurting people in the village of Godel. In closing I would like to share a story that I learned yesterday.
There is a young woman with two small children who has become a Christian, and wants to know more about our Lord. this woman's husband will not allow here to attend or enter a church. Why, you might ask? Her husband is a witch doctor and he thinks it would look bad for him to have a Christian wife. So please pray that the Lord has His way with both her and her husband.
Peace and Love, Darcy Zeleske

Senegal Day 4

Here we are -- It's Monday in country and we've had a busy day once again. After breakfast we were off to the Barthimee Hospital where Dr. Ted gave us an extensive tour. What a contrast to what we're used to, what with fancy tile and wood floors and all the most modern equipment. What a blessing that is, but I believe there is an even greater blessing here. The equipment is hand-me-down and somewhat out of date, but the spirit of the staff is strong and their mission is sure. This truly will be a beacon in this city and a place of hope for those who need it. Dr. Ted told us that the "Jesus Film" plays in the waiting room, a wonderful testimony.
We also visited MIS (Mission Inter Senegal) and went through orientation regarding some cultural issues, some language training, issue. The staff is wonderful and they have all been so warm and inviting. They are great! Tomorrow we take more of what we've been taught and apply it in the village. We've been told to expect perhaps hundreds of people who will travel a long distance to see us. Not all are believers, but we will still be fishers of men tomorrow. Keep your prayers coming for us.
Lastly, we had a wonderful dinner with Jose and France Lise (isn't that a beautiful name?) and some MIS workers once again. One shared his testimony about how coming to the Lord meant forfeiting his family, who were Muslims. He has little contact with his father's family now, so we have decided to adopt him into ours. In fact, our mission now is to find him a Christian wife. We're serious, too.
Until next time.

Lorna Slager

Our first visit to the village of Godel

Today, Sunday, we spent our first day "in de bush" visiting the village of Godel. I don't know how to describe the trip except that we saw lots of goats, sheep, and horses grazing on the open range; a hut here and there and lots of open space and huge bao bob (?) trees.

When we got to Godel, we were greeted by smiling children who were shy at first until we brought our cameras out and then everyone wanted their picture taken. They were so cute. We had fun trying to communicate with them. Another major milestone in the village is that one of our young team members experienced the thrill of outdoor hole in the ground lavoratories.

We had the privilege of attending their church service in the building that our church helped them build and listening to the drums that our donations help them get. Dr. David Bruning of International Children's Foundation of Appleton, who has been with us since Saturday, preached a powerful message. We joined in singing and dancing in their worship songs. What a great Lord that we serve! I am awed by the powerful testimonies that we have heard so far. Please pray for Patricia, our translator on Saturday, and for her son Ali Noel. She is praying that he will return to the faith of his childhood.
Kathy Bonde

The Point of No Return

Praise God for a wonderful day! God has blessed us with positive attitudes and the ability to take everything in stride. We were able to experience a lot more of the culture today as we were out in the city for the majority of the time. Even taking a bus ride through the city of Dakar, most of us were wide-eyed at the sites before us. We experienced Goree Island today, an island that was used for the slave trade. Taking a short 20 minute ferry to the island, we stepped onto land with deep history. We toured (and were given brief history in French and English!) a building where captured slaves were taken to be examined and an approximate amount was determined based on their health, etc. It was a pretty powerful experience as each of us were able to walk down the stone hallway to the door of no return where slaves stepped onto the slave ships where they knew no real knowledge of their fate. The caption above the door states, "This port starts the voyage of no return. They left, eyes fixed infinitely with suffering."
Our voyage here to Senegal is also at a point of no return. We are here to do the work God has called us to do, no turning back. God has given us all great attitudes as we encounter many things contrary to our own culture. He is widening our world view and view of Him as we see Him at work miles away from our home and comfort zone. What a wonderful place to be!

Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

Kirsten Decker (and the rest of the team!)

Safe aNd Sound

We had a great trip starting from Community Church and the friends and family that sent us off. What a blessing it was to have a send off like that!

We get to O’Hare and we get the news that our flight was delayed by an hour. With a hour 20 minute connection, this could be the worse news.

The check in lady at Delta said they would call Atlanta and ask if they would hold our flight and that she could not guarantee it. We had 10 minutes to catch our flight.

We assembled as a team as we prayed specifically for two things. One is that the plane would be delayed in Atlanta and/or they would hold the plane.

God had a different idea. He moved the departure time up a half an hour. We now had to time to catch our flight.

God is good.

We arrived at 4:30 in the morning (Senegal Time). We then loaded a Senegalese version of Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine. See Photo.

This baby has red curtains and it looks like a mystery to us. We can’t figure out what it is?

Today the team slept late and then had an orientation with the United World Mission staff. They went on a scavengers hunt which included buying bananas from the fruit market, make a phone call, bought candles from a La Boutique ( Little store in French), and find a mosque.

We had a marvelous dinner and now we are just wrapping up our day.

Thanks for being part of this team by praying for us.

for the team,
rick

Our Schedule

DAY AND TIME	EVENT
FRIDAY 23	6.00 am. Arrival in DAKAR 7.00 am Breakfast at BOH REST TIME 1.00 pm LUNCH at BOH 2.00 pm Orientation at BOH 7.00pm DINNER at BOH
SATURDAY 24	8.00 a.m BREAKFAST BOH 9.00 a.m Goree Island LUNCH Sandwiches “Chez Tantine” 3.00 pm Departure to go to Thies 4.30/5.00 Settle in at Massa Massa 7.00 pm DINNER at Auberge du Ciel
SUNDAY 25	7.00 am BREAKFAST at Massa Massa 8.00 am Departure to Godell- Church LUNCH Sandwiches Dave need to go back to Dakar 7.00 am DINNER at Massa Massa
MONDAY 26	7.00 am BREAKFAST at Massa Massa 9.00 am Visit of Barthimee MIS presentation and Orientation 12.30am LUNCH with MIS staff 2.00am Visit to Soma 7.00 am DINER at OLIVEIRA’S
TUESDAY 27	8.00 am BREAKFAST at Massa Massa 9.00 am Departure to Godell FEBE team - Women Ministry LUNCH : Sandwiches Visit Turandoos - Reconnection 7.00 pm DINNER with Elders – Naming Of the newcomers
WESNESDAY 28	BREAKFAST in Godel Painting – Building relationships LUNCH – Sandwiches Kids’s Club with Ibou and Philippe DINNER at Auberge du Ciel
THURSDAY 29	7.00 BREAKFAST at Massa Massa/Godell 1.30pm LUNCH : Les Delices – Fast Food Rest and shopping 7.00pm SUPPER at Auberge du Ciel
FRIDAY 30	9.00 BREAKFAST at Massa Massa 10.00 Visit to Doutki LUNCH – Sandwiches for all Kids club at DOUKTKI DINNER – Auberge du Ciel with Philippe and Noemie
SATURDAY 31	9.00 BREAKFAST at Massa Massa Check out with luggages 10.00 Departure to Dakar 12.30 LUNCH at BOH Artisan VIllage 7.00 DINNER at the Recif ?
SUNDAY APRIL 1st	8.30 BREAKFAST at BOH 10.00 Church service in Dakar 12.30 LUNCH at Bethany Restaurant Afternoon – REST ?, Beach Packing 7.00 pm Debriefing and Pizzas at BOH 11.30 pm Departure to go to AIRPORT

Senegal Trip March 22 to April 2

Asala Malekum!
This is a Arabic greeting that we will be using quite a bit for our 10 day in country trip.
We will be leaving Community Church at roughly 5:50 am on Thursday morning and flying out of O'hare at 11:55 AM. We then travel to Atlanta and then fly to Dakar, Senegal and arrive at 4:30 AM Senegal time. (they are 5 hours ahead) From the time we will be leaving Chicago and arrive in Senegal it will be only 11 hours! My usual trip through Madrid is a 23 hour trip.
We arrive back in Chicago on April 2 at around 11:30 Am...
Mission Inter Senegal has a great schedule for us. Here are some of the highlights of our trip;

• Visiting Gore Island- a slave island that has the 'infamous door of no return'
• Visiting Barthimee Hospital and seeing the work there
• Visiting the church in Godel on Sunday for our worship service
• Spending 3 days and 2 nights in the village of Godel. This time will include doing woman's ministry, children's' ministry, and youth ministry. We will also be painting the well covers and pumps that were installed last year as the paint as worn off already. We will also be laying groundwork for the next four years as we look to build a 2 room school house with library and help with a community garden that will include irrigation... and of course building relationships....Asala Malekum!

I will ask the team to blog one day while we are there and here is the team;

Yours Truly-March 23
Kirsten Decker- Second time to Africa and recent grad from UW-O who is getting married this summer!-March 24
Kathy Bonde- First time to Senegal and long time attendee of Community Church-March 25
Lorna Slager- My aunt through marriage. First time to Senegal and Lorna attends Harvest E-Free in Beaver Dam -March 26
No post on Tuesday and Wednesday as will be in the bush!
Darcy Zeleske- A Seasoned vet of many CC trips and her first time in Senegal-March 29
Dan Zeleske- An agricultural guy who will help us with input for the Community garden and a first timer to Senegal-March 30
Dave Berka-A Fondy high senior who is a darn good drummer...first time to Senegal-March 31
Allecks Mitchell- A Fondy High senior as well that has a heart of gold...first time to Senegal-April1
Dave Colwin- Fourth time to Senegal for Dave and is co-leading the trip- Dave will wrap up the trip on April 2 or 3

Prayer Requests

Pray that we will represent Christ well
Pray for the village of Godel and the church there
Pray for Mission Inter Senegal and all that it takes to pull this off for us
Pray for team unity
Pray for patience as we dwell in a slower culture
Pray for safety
Pray for the food we eat
Pray that we will know our creator richer than we have ever before
Pray for our families that are at home

Keep coming back for posts and keep us in your prayers...they are heard and appreciated

Annual Pilgramage to Touba

This story is from All-africa News....Thought you migt find it interesting...

Senegal: Thousands Converge On Touba for Grand Magal

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The Gambia Echo (Raleigh)

March 8, 2007
Posted to the web March 8, 2007

Alpha Jallow
Touba

Thousands of worshippers from the world over have been streaming in the Senegalese Holy Town of Touba for the Grand Magal 2007.The Magal is the anniversary of Sereigne Touba's landmark journey into exile. Our Dakar correspondent Alpha Jallow is in Touba and sends us this report.

Every year, the Holy town of Touba celebrates the "Grand Magal"-Wollof for Grand Anniversary. The 'Magal' constitutes a demonstration of gratitude to the Al-Mighty Allah. The late Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba a man who, in his period (late19th. century and early 20th. century), promulgated this when he gave up mundane affairs and concentrated his entire life to worshipping Allah. Legend has it that at the time, the faith of Bamba's people was staggering under the blows of paring-iron of a triumphing colonialism and evangelists. Sheik Ahmadou Bamba accepted Allah's mission of rehabilitating the message of the Prophet.

Armed only with faith, knowledge and work, Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba took pleasure in this mission, accepting with courage the tests for the triumph of the religion, until the day when the Lord let him know that he fully achieved the mission, which was entrusted to him. It is against this backdrop that Muslims all over the world converge on this historical and Holy town to celebrate the Journey of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba into exile.

About three million followers of Mauridism and non-Maurides are all in Touba for the Grand "Magal". Touba is jam-packed making it even difficult for journalists to acquire enough space to do their work.

However, what is quite remarkable for this year's "Magal" is the fatal road accidents which have claimed more than twenty lives and more than one hundred and fifty people have sustained serious injuries.

Other problems include the lack of accommodation and the shortage of running water, which have terrified health workers and bring memories of the potential for a cholera outbreak.

Ironically, while the real believers are honouring this big day in Touba, many other people are languishing in bars and brothels in Mbakeh a town situated some 7km from Touba.

Another striking thing I observe here is the number of dead people buried almost every two hours in Touba. The cemetery here is one of the biggest in Senegal and has no more space for burial.

"I have never seen in any Muslim burial where five bodies are buried in a single grave" one terrified young man told me after attending a funeral service in Touba. Believe it or not, but in Senegal most people are of the belief that only those buried in the Holy town of Bamba's Touba will see Heaven.