Veranda

Evangelism

I recently had the opportunity to pray and share Jesus with another Muslim friend from Harlem. His name is Semba, he is a cow herder and I met him the first month I arrived here. I have been spending a bit of time with him becoming friends and helping him learn English. Well, we had time to talk at length about Jesus and having a personal relationship with him. He was very excited about this and really wanted prayer. His whole family is Muslim and every time I am at his house his uncle is copying the Koran in Arabic. So please keep Semba in your prayers too. He will have some difficulties to face as he seeks a revelation of Christ. Also I had a really cool time of Evangelism with Gerard in his village of Kahinda on Sunday. We prayed with a number of people to start a personal relationship with God. One student had many interesting questions, and was really happy we took time to share and pray with him. The people have been extremely open.

Interior surfaces

Here is a shot of the interior parging. You can see the work on the ceiling is not too easy. It is real messy and they had to build a intermediate floor surface out of planks so they could reach easily. So far the finished rooms look great.

Update

Here are some more updated photos. You can see the exterior parging is mostly complete. Actually the interior is also close to being finished. Things are moving pretty well right now. Some of the workers have been away but have now returned so I hope to pick up steam and get a lot done this week.

UCF in Senegal

Well the team left today to head up north to Dakar and then fly back to the states. I am sad to see them go, but we had an amazing time of ministry here. It was a whirlwind tour of many villages, more than I can count right now. We saw many people give their lives to Jesus every place we went. God also confirmed his words with miracles and signs. The last leg of the adventure was in Ziguinchor as we ministered to a church in the center of the town. We spent two days walking and praying through the city. We also did some evangelism and then teachings for the church. The focus was the role and work of the Holy Spirit. Last night the presence of God filled the place as we prayed for the Holy Spirit to come and we saw manifestations of His work. People began to prophesy and speak in tongues. One boy shared after of how he was powerfully touched. As the presence of God came on him, he was overwhelmed and unable to move for a while. Others describes the sensation of water being poured on them, and others had visions and words from God. My friend Uffi, the pastor, was very excited and shared how God gave him a powerful word and vision for his church. I am very excited to see what God will do through them. Kristina and I are planning to return soon and do some evangelism with them. Please pray for this little church in Ziguinchor, and the pastor Uffi and his wife Olga.

Smoothing things out

As you can see the parging process is moving along now; note the smooth concrete surface. They will finish with the exterior first and then will move to the interior. Also pictured here is the roof terrace. You can see the low parapet wall. They will pour a reinforced concrete beam on top of it to tie everything together. Next we need to lay the waterproofing membrane on top of the slab. This should happen pretty soon. There is still a bunch of work to do, but the end is in sight. It is possible all will be finished in the next two months. But you never can tell...

A challenge / Friends are here

Work is moving again, this week the parapet wall was finished, which is the low wall surrounding the roof terrace. Soon we will put a topping of concrete on the slab and slope it to drain water. Next is the installation of the waterproofing membrane. Recently we had to renegotiate the contract and scope of work with the contractor. Although we raised the full budget for the project, due to inflation, the weak exchange of the dollar, and a few other factors, I am over budget for the finishing the building. I have been going through the budget and remaining work, and have been coming up with a few ways to cut costs and save some money, to meet the budget. We will still need to pray for Gods provision to build the enclosure wall on the property. We are not too far off, but things have been a challenge lately. On another note the team from Syracuse is here and God has been doing some really great stuff. So far we have prayed through six villages near Oussouye. We also spent two days in Diembering ministering to the church there and many people in the village. We had the opportunity to pray for many sick people and also see many people come to Christ. Some highlights were, one man came for prayer walking with a cane, and after we finished, he got up with a big smile, and walked away leaving his cane behind. Also a number of people who received Jesus took off their charms and amulets, which are used for witchcraft in the Animist religion. So many cool things have happened already and we have a full week of ministry planned. For the next two days we are going to a rural village called Youtou. We have to take a boat to get there, it should be an exciting adventure. Pray for us and that many people would come to personally know Jesus!