Month: October 2023

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3 Year Anniversary of our First Day in Senegal

I love journaling. I could write a whole blog post about that (and I probably will at some point). I love it because of how helpful it is in the moment, but also because of how helpful it can be days, months and even years later. When I read an old journal I get a glimpse into what I was feeling and thinking at that time, into what kinds of questions and concerns I was pouring out to God and into how He was working in my life at that time. I also get to see how He has continued to work in those areas. I just came across an amazing example of this when I found a journal entry I had written the very first night of our vision trip to Senegal.

October 2020. We had chosen Avant as our mission agency, done several phone interviews with various teams around the world and had felt that Senegal was the most intriguing. Avant and the team on the ground had encouraged us to take a vision trip to get a feel for the location and ministry. Mia was two and Desmond was only 5 months old, but we had decided to leave them with family so that we could spend the most amount of time getting to know our potential teammates and the place we were considering.

We arrived in country after an overnight flight. I was desperately trying to pump in the hopes of continuing to nurse Desmond once we returned home. We showed up in the height of hot season. Both of us felt run down and Adam especially was struggling with a cold that was much worse after not sleeping on the plane. We spent that first day napping, getting to know our potential teammates and going out to a dinner on the beach. Then we settled in for the night in our AirBNB apartment. At 2am I was up pumping and wrote this journal entry:

10/19/20 2am pumping

Adam and I talked in bed last night and are on the same page about how tough it would be to live here. This is not to say that we think this is not for us but that it would be hard, especially trying to think about this on Day 1. A lot about the way of life is just SO different. It would be hard to raise young kids here, hard to figure out the ins and outs of cultural norms and how to get by. We would lose so much that we are so used to and hold dear, but what is worth losing and what are things we are holding too dear? I think about things like going out and about comfortably as a family, family walks, seeing our family almost daily, a familiar home and access to things easily. These are things that are currently integral to our family. But are they the most important things? What do we want to teach our kids? What do we want to model to them as being of the most importance?

I think we are both a little stressed thinking about all of this; we miss the kids, are jet lagged, tired, sick and feeling inadequate. We also are struggling with feeling like we are failures if we decide not to come here. This is also not a motivation to decide to live here. Pride one way or another cannot be why we make our decisions. But neither can comfort or fear of the unknown.

Lord, wherever we end up, whatever You lead us to it WILL be hard. We WILL be uncomfortable and displaced for awhile. But we want to pursue Your will, we want what You want for us and our family. Please Oh Lord make that clear to us. We have confidence and eager expectation of how you will make this clear to us over the coming days.

I pray we can also intentionally connect with the Cousens and be wise and transparent with our words and feelings.

As I write all this out and journal and pray I think the coolest thing, and a great comfort to me, is how much all of this is drawing us to You. It is SO easy to forget just how dependent on You we are when things are easy and comfortable. That would not be the case here. It won’t be the case for the rest of support raising or language school or adding more kids or moving away from family or settling into a new culture, wherever it ends up being. But being pushed past what we thought was possible is not necessarily a bad thing, for in our weakness You are strong. Less of me Lord, more of You. Amen.

As I read this today I am just amazed. The raw emotion of that first night is clear and to be honest, many of the things I was wrestling with were spot on. It is hard to live here. We deeply miss our friends and family in the States and so wish that we could just go for a walk around the block as a family. The culture is something we’re still trying to adjust to and probably will continue to flounder in for a long time. Support raising, though a sweet process, was intense. Language school was grueling (especially for me). Adding in kids is always an adjustment. And so on.

One of the coolest things to me though is to see the verse that God brought to mind as a comfort that night. In my weakness, He is strong. If you’ve read some of my other blog posts than you know that it was that verse that I leaned heavily on all through language school last year. God has spoken comfort and assurance to me through that Scripture countless times since I wrote that journal entry. Man, He is faithful.

Another cool thing is that I came across this journal entry as I worked on our October newsletter. I just finished writing part of it about how affirmed we have been feeling about our calling and purpose here. We have felt such affirmation that we are where the Lord wants us and He has work for our family to do here. This is especially sweet to think on in light of our uncertainty when we first visited.

-Selina

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Clarity of Call

I recently joined a men’s Bible study in which we’ve been studying the Gospel of John. As I was reading through John 1, I was really struck by the actions of John the Baptist.

In verses 6 to 9 we are introduced to John the Baptist as one who was sent by God to tell people about Jesus, “…the true light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9), and prepare them for His arrival.  

Later in verses 19 to 28 we see John being questioned by the religious leaders about who he is. He openly denies being the Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet and instead responds to their questions by quoting the book of Isaiah saying, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert: ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (John 1:23). John had a very clear understanding of who he was and what God had called him to do.

Verses 29 to 34 describe to us the scene when Jesus approaches John in the wilderness and John realizes for the first time that it is Jesus (his own cousin!) who is the Messiah, the Light that shines in the darkness and gives light to all people. John calls out, “’Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29). Though not described in this gospel, we know it is at this time that John baptizes Jesus, after which the heavens open up and John sees the Spirit of God come down like a dove and land on Jesus and then the voice of the Father declares from heaven the pleasure He has in His Son Jesus.

It’s a truly remarkable scene. This is the moment John has been waiting for, the revealing of the promised Messiah, about whom John says, “’He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’” (John 1:27). This is the One the Israelites had been waiting for for hundreds of years. This meeting is made even more incredible by the fact that Jesus requires John to baptize Him, after which John is a firsthand witness to one of the clearest examples of God’s Triune nature that we have recorded in the Bible. He baptizes the Son. He hears the Father speak from heaven the love He has for His Son. He sees the Spirit descend from heaven and alight on the Son. What an incredible scene this must have been to take it!

What really struck me though in studying this passage was what happens next. John 1:35 says, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.” John had just had this incredible experience. He met and baptized the Son of God. He heard the Father speak and saw the Spirit descend like a dove. What does John do in response? He wakes up the next morning and goes right back to where he was, doing exactly what he was doing before. Even more, verse 36 tells us John sees Jesus passing by and so he calls out, “’Look, the Lamb of God!’”. The two disciples that were with John then leave and follow Jesus instead.

I tried imagining myself in John’s shoes, thinking about what I would want to do here. There is no doubt in my mind I would want to go with these two disciples and follow Jesus. I would want to get to know Jesus, learn from Him and see what He was going to do. Instead, John stays. Not only that, but He points out Jesus to his own disciples so that they can leave him and follow Jesus instead. John continues in the role God prepared for Him, pointing people to the Light who was to come (and who has now come).

There is a very evident clarity of calling seen in John here. He knows what his role is and what his role isn’t (becoming a disciple of Jesus). As much as I think John would have loved to follow Jesus, to listen to Him teach in the synagogues, to be taught and poured into as one of His disciples and to see Him perform incredible miracles, this is not God’s plan for John. And John knows it. And because he knows it John has this incredible humility to stay and perform the role God has for him while at the same time sending off his disciples to follow Jesus.

Later in John 3:22-23 we read this, “After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them, and baptized. Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.” So John is still at work, proclaiming the coming of Jesus and baptizing. An argument breaks out between John’s disciples and another man, and they come to John saying in verse 26, “’Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan (they are talking about Jesus)—the one you testified about—look, He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.’” We read John’s reply in verses 27 to 30, “’A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.’”

In case we were wondering if John was embittered, feeling like he was left behind while others get to follow Jesus, these verses show us this is absolutely not the case. John is full of joy. He knows the role He was called to, and because of this clarity of call John reaps a harvest of humility and joy.

I have thought much about this idea of clarity of call over the last couple of weeks since studying this text. We have been in Senegal for nearly 9 months now, and are still very much figuring out what long-term ministry will look like for us. My prayer is that God would give me greater and greater clarity of call in the months and years to come, that I might serve Him in humility and joy in whatever work He calls me to.

-Adam

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Wolof Worship

As we mentioned in our August newsletter, we have decided on a church to plug into. It is a small (40ish people on an average Sunday) church with Senegalese leadership. The service is held in French and Wolof, the largest local language here in Senegal. While the sermons go back and forth between French and Wolof based on who is preaching that week (they are always translated live into the other language), most of the songs we sing tend to be in French. However, this last week all of the worship songs were in Wolof. The woman who usually leads worship on a keyboard just starts singing a song and everyone else joins in. There is no projector with lyrics and although they do have hymnbooks, the song being sung is not usually announced.

This last week, however, someone in the congregation shouted out the number of each song as it started which allowed Selina and I to follow along and do our best at pronouncing the words to the songs. Thankfully the worship is very lively and we are in a small room, so I don’t think anyone heard our voices!

Above is a picture of one of the pages from the hymnbook. While we had no idea what we were singing, it was a joy to stand alongside our Senegalese brothers and sisters in Christ, praising God in Wolof. It was a great reminder of why we are here. We know that amongst the Senegalese, there are those whom God has called, but who have not yet come to call on His Name and be saved.

As Romans 10:14-15 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”

We are so thankful to be here in Senegal, and to have the opportunity to proclaim the good news of the Gospel to the Senegalese. And we are thankful for all of you who have sent us. Without you all, we would not be here. Please join us in praying for the harvest here in Senegal, that many would come to call on the name of Jesus for salvation and that God would raise up local churches passionate about reaching their own.

-Adam