Homesickness and my home

As I told y'all on my last blog I went to the capital city of Senegal, Dakar, to hang out with a friend and spend some of my vacation days. It was really fun and a nice time that I had in Dakar. The thing that I enjoyed the most had to be the food. Since the city is a little more developed I was able to eat some food that I can’t find in Kolda. The pizza, bacon, huge hamburgers, and even apples gave me a huge smile. But over this trip I learned a lot about myself. It’s hard to explain why but I had many experiences that let me know I’m where I'm supposed to be right now. First example would have to be how I got to Dakar. I took a set-plas (that’s seven people in French, 7 people one driver). I drove for 12 hours in a station wagon and I was hump seat in the back row, and for some reason that didn’t bother me??? Also the other big thing that surprised me was that I got home sick. Three months ago I had some of the same feelings about the things that were missing. I was missing speaking Pulaar, sitting under the shade tree and talking, and yes I was even missing the heat. I don’t know why but all I can pull from it is that I’m in the right place. If you would have told me two years ago I that I would be homesick from a small town in West Africa I wouldn’t have believed you, I might not have even believed it 3 months ago.
Now that I have internet at my house I’m able to spend a little more time uploading pictures and stuff like that and I thought that this blog would be a great time to show y'all a few pictures of my house. So….here you go, my home in West Africa

Here is a view from my front door. It’s also where I play soccer right out in the middle of the street. The big tree in the background is the one that I sit under and hang out with the Sheriff.

This is my kitchen I don’t use it a lot, but I do
cook in it!!!








This is my bed room, perty simple. Got a bed, dresser and that door in the back it to my bathroom.

And this is my living room. I got some nice couches and as you can see it is where I have my computer. I also use it as my desk. I have a guest room and another room that you are welcome to come visit anytime. I store my bike, washing machine, and my drying rack in them but when you've seen one room, you've seen the others. Thanks for taking the time to look at my house.

THIS BOOK MAKES ME SO HAPPY!

If ya’ll remember, I have asked for prayer for me and my language teacher as communicating with each other has been such a challenge. I am pleased that the rocky start we had was the beginning of what I see to be a long relationship. The last 30 minutes of class every day we spend reading the book of John. I have it written in Pulaar before hand and then we read what I wrote. Next, I rewrite in English, just above what I wrote before in Pulaar. As we read, sometimes I have a language question and we stop and look it up in one of my dictionaries or he would explain it to me. I’ve told ya’ll before that his best friend became a believer a couple of months ago. I remember asking the new believer if he talks with my language teacher about the Bible and he gave me a response that I never will forget, “He’s my best friend. We have known each other since we were young. I talk about it every time I see him.” That really inspired me. My teacher always tells me that he is very happy when his is reading the Bible. I decided to be very direct and ask him if he believed the Bible and he answered a very direct and quick, “Yes.” So then I asked him, “So, you’re not a Muslim, you’re a Christian?” He had a short pause like he never thought about it before and then he pointed to the Bible and told me that it’s the truth and the only way to get to heaven. I was very happy to hear those words but I was also saw that with this new decision there are a lot of circumstances that will greatly change his life now. So, I did the only thing I know to do; I continue to be his friend and continue to pray for him.
The other day he surprised me greatly and told me something that I will never forget. He was very excited and was telling me about “the last days” and how Jesus was going to be the Judge on that day. I told him about another story that talks about that and opened up the bible to Matthew 25. I told him to read the parable of the sheep and goats and that we would talk about it the next day. Being African I knew he knew a lot more than me the differences between goats and sheep and he seemed to understand the parable very clearly and sounded very proud. He said, “I am a Sheep owned my Jesus.” Beautiful, huh?!
On a lighter side I will be spending the next couple of days on vacation. I will be taking a bus to the capital city and will be spending about 5 days with my friend Roy from training I had back in November and December. On the way back, instead of the 12 hr drive, I will be taking a overnight boat and a 3 hr drive. I’m super excited to be able to talk with my friend Roy again and can’t wait to see what God has in store for me over the next couple of days.

I'VE BEEN ORANGED!

If ya’ll remember, back in February I told the story on how I got a bill to get my phone line set up. Over the past two months there have been many tries to get everything fixed so I could get internet at my house. And if you wondering, the phone company here is called Orange, that’s why I’ve been “Oranged”.
I just want to share with you the African experience that I’ve just been through. In the middle of March I got the phone line installed. They came out and connected it to my house. The company told me everything should work and left, but I had no dial tone! I made a trip to the phone company, and after waiting an hour, I was able to tell them that my phone was not completely set up. A couple of days later my phone rings!! I pick it up and the guy tried to speak French. That didn’t work so I tried to speak Pular. Eventually I figured out that my phone was working and that I needed to go back to the phone company to get stuff set up for the Internet. I went, waited, and then was told they will call me when they “get everything worked out”. After some time, I realize that I can receive calls on my phone, but I’m not able to make calls. So I go back to the phone company, wait, and then tell them what’s going on with my phone. (Let me remind you this is going on in either my broken Pulaar or the worker’s broken English) They tell me they will check on it and let me know. Six more weeks pass and I get a call from the phone company telling me that there’s a problem somewhere in the city and they can’t find it. As soon as they find the problem, they will be able to fix it.
Finally, I got a call that they fixed it and soon after that I was able to call out on my phone. Now it was my boss’s turn. And after about a week of trying to contact people here and in the capital city, Scott got what we needed. I still wasn’t there yet since their program didn’t have the updates for Windows Vista yet. I don’t know what Scott did, but he got whatever was needed and shortly after that I was able to get the Internet set up in my home. It only took four and a half months, but now I am happy!
So now I have Internet and I don’t have to go to the cyber café. I’m able to take my time and get a lot more things organized. Now that I have Internet I will be able to do more things, but as of right now, I don’t know where I should start. If you have any ideas please let me know. What do you want to know about Senegal, the Fulakunda, and what pictures would you like me to get so I can show y’all? You can let me know by leaving a comment on this blog or emailing me at erk2p@hotmail.com Thanks again for all your prayers and support.
If you want to know, the coolest thing about having the internet at my house is being able to listen to some American radio. And yes, that means that I have been waking up at 2 in the morning and listening to the Spurs games on the radio. GO SPURS GO.

YOU'RE GONNA START SOME PROBLEMS!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been having some conversations with my friend. He first told me that the Koran and the Bible are the same, and he seems very fascinated that I would not agree with him on that statement. I tell him that the Bible says things that I know he doesn’t agree with (like Jesus being God’s son) and I ask him, “Does the Koran say that?” About a week ago we stayed up until almost 2 in the morning talking about this subject. He would ask a question and I would explain to him what I believe and why I believe that. Personally, it’s very hard for me to believe that I can say that much in Pulaar and have someone understand me. There was a couple of times that I had to repeat myself but all in all I’m sharing my faith and I love it. So anyways I was talking to this friend the other day and he told me something very truthful that I knew took some thought on his part. He told me that when I start my job I will go out and talk to and meet all the people in the villages and if I find someone that wants to follow Jesus, it will mean problems. He reminded me that if the family continues to follow the way of Islam, the new believer might even get kicked out of the village. “What do you plan to do about that?” he asked me.
I stood there a while and then told him that I don’t know. I told him I would ask around and get back to him and then I tried to explain to him that things on this earth are not as important as eternal things. He didn’t think I understood his question so he then told me again…and I then repeated my answer back to him. We were both clear on the question, and then the Holy Spirit reminded me of a story of some believers of a “sister people group” in the country of Nigeria. I told him that there are some believers that are having their houses burned down by their families and all their livestock is being slaughtered because they are following Jesus. I then asked him, “What’s more important, your house on earth or God’s house in heaven. He quickly responded, “God’s house!” and the conversation changed because someone else walked up.
Persecution is something that is real and something that happens everyday for the local believers here in West Africa. Persecution has claimed many houses, cattle, jobs, and yes, even lives. Please pray for the work that is being done here in West Africa. Pray for the local believers that they can stand strong in their faith. Pray for the ones that have felt the persecution - that they can be assured of their salvation and that they can find the courage to still proclaim. Pray that the walls of persecution will not hinder the spread of the gospel but will open even more paths that lead to God’s Son. Also pray for the seekers, for the ones looking for the truth, the one that may even believe it, but can also see the consequences of this decision. Pray that they know what they’re getting themselves into, but also that they also know the reward that’s waiting for them at the end.
“I have come to set the world on fire…..” Luke 12:49 NLT