David And Michelle

This past Thursday and Friday night we were invited to go to Ngaparou where one of the missions has a beach house that is used for conferences but when no conferences are happening the missionaries can use it. We had a great time while we were there with the other missionaries. Today I went down to the beach to do my devotions and while I was there I saw a large group of kids who had been hanging out by our place just kind of watching us and playing around on the beach. As I sat there I thought "it would be really neat to share the gospel with these kids" but I am not really great at just walking up and talking to a bunch of people (especially if I can barely speak the language). Then I had the thought that it would be cool to just read my Bible to these kids. But again I decided that since the Bible was in English that just wasn't going to happen. After a few minutes I started talking to one of the little boys asking his name. Soon I had a group of kids all around and we were all asking each others names. I then asked if they knew what the Bible was. Some said yes but I still explained that it was the Word of God and talked a little about that. Then one of them just came right out and said will you read to us in English. I said "yes, of course." This is part where I realized that the thought I had earlier about reading to these boys and sharing the gospel was absolutely from God and that He was opening the door right then for me to do those things. I started reading and they sat and listened. A few were talking but the others told them to be quiet. After I was done they all smiled and I explained what I had just read. Then I told them about Jesus and told them that God loves them and that Jesus came and lived here and died for them. One boy was not impressed but the others listened and I believe probably understood what was happening. Then after a few more questions from them I asked I could pray for them and they yes, except for the one little boy, so I prayed. What an amazing experience it is to share God's love. It is really cool what He will do if I obey Him.

Posted by David & Michelle Walker at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

We have had regular power cuts here in Dakar (and presumably across Senegal) for the past week. The cuts have been anywhere from 2 hours to 12 hours. The reasons for the cuts are not certain but basically it seems to be a money issue. One of the 50MW generators broke down in December and they have been limping along since then. Now they are in a money bind because there isn't enough money to run all the backup generators (they actually had a backup plan?) and there certainly isn't enough to fix the broken one. There is also some dispute over money owed between the oil refinery and the power company. No one really understands what is going on but we are assuming that this will all be magically fixed just before the presidential elections coming up soon. For right now Senelec is claiming this will continue indefinitely. In any case we are surviving right now because it is actually not hot here at all. We have had wonderful cool weather which means we don't even need fans at night.
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Posted by David & Michelle Walker at 4:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

I am finally feeling better. I guess that the ear infection was actually fungal not bacterial and since the doctor was treating it as bacterial it was not clearing up. Thanks to all who have been praying for me! It feels great to be almost at full strength again. That was a long 7 weeks.

Posted by David & Michelle Walker at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

I don't know if you have ever heard the comparison between Missionaries and Coca-Cola; The thought is "if Coke can do it, why can't we?" Coke is everywhere. It is literally from Timbuktou China and everywhere in between. So all that to say that we had a fun experience relating to Coke. We were trying to get a Coke at the local boutique but we found that it was closed. As we were walking back to our apartment one of the night guards saw me walking with my head hanging (I am a HUGE Coke fan) he said "hey, I can go get you a Coke if you want." My first thought, quite honestly, was that this was somehow a scam. He was going to take my money and run off with it. I gave in and handed him the 700 CFA (about $1.25) and off he went. The other guards pulled up some chairs for us and around the fire and invited to warm ourselves up. We sat there hardly saying a word and understanding even less as these guards had a long discussion about the most recent soccer match (I think). After about 10 minutes the guard who ran off with my money came running back and handed me my Coke. "Wow", I thought as he handed me the drink. Here I thought this guy might be ripping me off and he just wanted to help. We talked to the guards for another couple of minutes then we headed home. So, if Coke can get it's message out why can't we? But more to the point; If that guard can be such a servant (he got me that Coke because he knew I wanted it not for his own gain) then why can't we?

Posted by David & Michelle Walker at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments