Last day in St. Louis (: (:

Wednesday night, July 24 and this should be my last blog from St. Louis.  Senegal, Africa

What can I say but "Wow!!!'  As you may have realized if you have kept up with us through this blog, what an awesome and blessed 3 months we have had. Not anything I would change. As I have said before, if anyone is considering a mission's trip, I would recommend Senegal.

We spent yesterday saying our good-byes but this morning my African friend, Douada came by one more time. He just hates to see us go and we feel the same way. He was a "special" friend who was genuine and sincere. Just wish the language barrier wasn't there.

We went to  the center for one last day with the kids. We did a puppet show for them with a recorded message, "The Good Samaritan". I think, from the quiet during the show, they were pretty thrilled with the puppets.

On the way to the center, I looked up and said, "There is a monkey on top of that bus", and sure enough, someone was taking their monkey somewhere because he was tied on and just looking around. Tried to get close enough for a good shot, but if you look at the picture the brown blob on top of the bus is the monkey.   haha    

We leave for Dakar in the morning, around 6:00am and we plan on going to Goree Island. This is the last land that the slaves would see before being put on the slave ships. Everyone says it is something to see so we decided since we are this close, we will go. We then fly out at 2:00am and should arrive Dallas around 10:27am. Friday

Now for my thank you to all our friends who have supported us in prayers, finances, food, emails, care packages and everything else I may have forgotten. We pray we have been good stewards of everything you entrusted to us. Know that every one of you was close to us daily in our thoughts and prayers.

To Bryan and Laura Davis and Ethan and Tea', thank you for your many meals at your home, for your knowledge and friendship. We are truly blessed to have been here with you.

To Pastor Omer and family, as well as the church family, thank you. May Jesus continue to shine through your fellowship as you reach out to your community.

And a "special" THANK you to Amy Farley, faithful servant who gladly (I hope) opened her home up to 2 intruders for 3 months. We loved seeing you daily, and seeing your interaction with the kids and grown ups. We especially loved you taking pictures of us even though we asked you not to,,just kidding.

We will keep all of Senegal in our thoughts and prayers, forever.

Love from Senegal,
Ken and Peggy
PS. We are already praying about our next trip to "wherever" God directs, US or overseas, we are open.

VIsit from Pastor & Wife

Tuesday evening:

           Our sweet Pastor Omer & wife Bertinene  came over to Amy's house tonight to say a "good-bye" prayer over the 4 of us as we get ready to travel back to US.    They were so happy to come and they brought all 4 of us gifts.   Ken & I received a carved African Woman carrying a pot on her head  and a key chain and a money pouch.   Both girls got the money pouch and Jenna got the African woman but Jessica got a small musical instrument..... Senegalese type.   So great for her as she plays the guitar.     Then sweet Bertinene made ea. of us our own container of her famous "Peanut Candy" !!!!
It is MORE than YUMMMMMY.    Ken and I are excited as we wanted to take some home to
US for family & friends to see it and taste it.  It is really something to make and so good !!
BLESSED !!!

Today on the way home from our walk..... we saw a young girl get hit by a taxi.   She just darted
out in front of the taxi driver and THANK GOD he had brakes and could stop,  threw her under
a parked truck, around the tire.    She was able to walk away.... but was hurt !   GOD BLESS her
tonight !

We had both planned to leave MOST of our clothes here when we came.... slowly we have handed
out a lot of them to different people that were in need or just "liked" what we had !  BLESSED

So today we made a trip to Pastor's house and took all the rest to them,  if they could wear them
or if not they can give away.   Tonight Sis. Bertinene had on one of the dresses we took and Pastor
was flat adorable ...... he had on Ken's green carpenter jeans,  Donald Duck t-shirt, and crocs !!!
and yes... a Royal Ranger cap from Ft. Meade Pow Wow we worked at last yr. in FLorida !
What a GUY !!!!    Pastor's oldest daughter was just elated with the "girly" stuff and our
sweet Grand-daughter, Ashley told me to leave her  BIG  colorful, Paris purse here for her and
it was like we gave her GOLD !!!!   Itito.... (smallest son - 5 yr.)  just laughed and laughed and
laughed at the purse..... we think he really liked the colors.   :)    Then I left my rain shoes and he
had them on before we handed everything to the Pastor..... of course they are for girls.. but he
did NOT care one bit.   Such a funny, cute little fellow !!!   Needless to say they just thanked and
thanked us.    So simple to be able to love and bless people.   As they were leaving, Pastor said something I couldn't understand. I didn't know if he was speaking French or if it was just broken English. I finally understood what he was saying,,,"You come to my chest, my chest is here, you come to my chest"...he wanted me to hug him.  So sweet and caring. I told him , "Pastor, we call it a hug"...

Be praying for the center tomorrow.... we will do 2 puppet shows for the children of the
"Good Samaritan".   We are really excited about this !   GOD is so good !   SAD  our last day
there !!  (:

God Bless and Pray for our safety in traveling
but we know   "Our God is in Control"...... I told Pastor tonight.... he has taught me well !
Peggy       & Ken's approval

 

 

Last Days in Senegal

This is Sunday night, and we have been fighting this slow internet. Isn't it amazing how something affects our lives so much. We didn't even have internet 10 years ago or so, and now it seems we can't live without it.

Saturday we had another good day at the center. There are so many kids coming, Amy has split into 2 sessions, and we had 33 in the first and 18 in the second. We are so blessed that they are all so well behaved and very little problems with so many.

When we got home, my friend Daouda came by and what a surprise. He brought us good- by gifts, how sweet. We are so blessed to have met him and he is so happy when he sees us. He brought a French book by and we studied French together. He made me repeat everything in Wolof,,what a chore. He kept repeating, "You are leaving Thursday?". I said yes, and he would ask again a few minutes later. He said he is so happy to have American friend and wants to keep in touch. We asked if we could pray for him when he left and he was happy and said yes.

We went to Laura and Bryan's for supper and it was delicious. Home made lasagna, salads and dessert. It has been a joy and a learning experience to be with Bryan and Laura and Amy for these short 3 months. It is getting harder and harder to leave, but we can always come back.

Francisco and Marta, our missionary friends from the village came by to tell us good-by,,,we will miss them. Just 2 of many people who have touched our lives while we are here.





Today was our last Sunday in church. Pastor Omer preached a wonderful sermon and then to our surprise, his 4 kids had asked him if they could do a special song, in fact they did two songs. We were blessed by them both. Sweet family, and we will miss them all greatly. Pastor said it is God's will that we come back.  Who knows? Then they had special prayer for us and Pastor shared how we have been an answer to some of his prayers that he has prayed for over 4 years. For those familiar with our MAPS projects, leaving a project is always teary eyed and sad,,,this is the case for us here. We have adopted a family of believers and friends while we are here,,,will miss them dearly.

Peggy had invited our barber, Blaise, to come to church with us about a month ago. He said he would come on our last Sunday. When we were in his shop, last week, he told us, (On his own), "I will see you Sunday". That made us both so happy. But during church, he texted us that it was raining and he couldn't come as he rides a motorcycle. Oh, well, we were happy with his intentions.

We started "practice" packing for our trip home. We came over with 7 suitcases, and now we are trying to get home with just five. I think we can, I think we can.

Power and water has been off more than on these past 2 days and it seems to always go off at the most inconvenient time. I am not complaining as it is a blessing to have them both,,just making a statement. Something you get used to over here and they say it is worse in Dakar. People have said they have been without water for 10 days at times in Dakar.

We have had some rain these past 2 days and it is really cool now as night comes. The rain today was a lot in a little time and streets were flooded and we found out that Senegalese people do not like the rain. Most of their homes leak and they can't sell on the streets and it just messes things up. Oh, well, the rainy season lasts 3 months so pray it is not too bad for them. I took a picture of the dry area behind the church, which is the catch basin for the run off, and now it is full.

Goodnight to all,

Ken and Peggy                                       

July 18, 2013 final days

Today started out in a mess, sort of. Couldn't access my yahoo e-mail and other sites. Spent the better part of the morning trying to sort it out and I finally did a refresh on my computer. Well, when you do that, you have to load all the stuff that didn't come on your computer as well as all updates that I had downloaded since December. Then after doing that, turns out the problem was with the internet provider. Well, at least we have email for now and I will try to do a blog. No promises on pictures, since internet is very slow now. Must be the rain we had 2 days ago.

Peggy and I went to my African barber and got my last African "do". Peggy really likes it because it is short, but I will like it better in 2 weeks.

We went to the center today and had 33 kiddos,,that's a lot of kids for a small space and on top of that we have lot of big boys coming now. It is a good thing these kids are all very well behaved and helpful to each other or else we could have chaos. Most of the new kids are just neighborhood kids who have seen the center and wanted to come and have fun. Amy is even having to turn some kids away because of their age and space. Pray for her  and the center for more staff and a bigger space. It is really becoming the focal point of the neighborhood.

Peggy had her prayers answered, again, when she opened up the door after the doorbell rang, Ahmed, the little Talibe boy who never smiled was sitting on our porch, just a smiling. He stayed for 2 hours and we drew some pictures for him and gave him something to eat and drink and then Jessica brought her guitar out and they had a song time. Some older boys from the school across the street told Peggy that this little boy has a hard life and a lot of abuse from the Marabou. It is a very sad system here and no one wants to buck the system to stop it. If Peggy stayed here, she would end up in jail or dead for trying to help the little ones. We hadn't seen him in a few days and around here that can mean they have been shipped to Dakar or somewhere else or sometimes they just die from sickness or malnutrition and you don't see them anymore. That is why she was so happy to see him again.

We had our farewell banquet at Pastor Omer's house. It was a home cooked feast (just awesome) of baked chicken, fried potatoes, fresh onions, tomatoes, cucumbers all cooked together and served Senegalese style (hands acceptable). Men at one table, women at one table, and kids at their table. Nothing left but scraps and bones. Then to top off our meal, we had a special drink made for special occasions made by Marmadou, the youngest. It is bissap tea and is a special drink for only special occasions and is made from the hibiscus flowers. It is made hot and served in small glasses. It was tasty, with a sort of sour but flavorful taste, kind of like cranberry juice and served hot. Pictures attached of the process, which is a long hand by hand process. The Senegalese learn to make it, as well as attaylla tea at an early age and it is the youngest ones responsibility to make it for everyone.
Pastor told me if I will come back, his next meal he will fix beef. (beouf). Very tempting, we will see.
Pastor's oldest daughter made Peggy a ring, bracelet, and necklace...all matching and so pretty.

Slowly putting our stuff in order for leaving in one week and heading home. Peggy and I could really stay longer if the Lord was to speak to us. Will be very hard on us since every time we go out, we seem to make new friends and see all our old ones.

Goodnight from here,
Ken and Peggy                         Little Ahmed, Peggy's boy

                                                 Pastor's wife, preparing our potatoes

                                                Before

                                              Kid's plate

                                              After the feast

                                       Preparing the bissap

                                           It's a long process, pouring back and forth

                                            All that is left, foam....

                                         Pastor's daughter with Peggy and her new bling

July 16th 2013

Hello from the McGowen's:

         Just a brief update of the day here in St. Louis.    Started off by going to the post office and received 2 wonderful packages !!!!      One from Michelle that had guitar strings and pick for Pastor's guitar  (that he is learning to play).   He was so EXCITED, he said  "Oh Thank you very much, I am HAPPY,  I am Much Happy, tell your daughter thank you ",  he was actually speechless and did not know how to express himself,  he finally said " GOD BLESS YOU,  it is finished,  meaning that was all he knew to say to tell us how happy he was.  

2nd package was FULL of surprises from Ed & Barbara Haberman from Alaska !!!  Yes all the way from Alaska,  in it included ( just a few items to mention, as there was so much):  Coffee (YEA), almonds for Peggy  (double yea) ,  Velcro ball and gloves (4) of them for the center  :),  plastic bags containers for center, powdered tea, peanut bars, emory board, chap stick, and the list goes on ! Also she sent me the cutest pink hat and I wore it all day!

Went to lunch with Amy and Jessica before going to get pictures made of a neighbor that wanted us
to take her "photo" and give to her.   She asked me 3 days now for the "photo"...  haha   so she will
sure be  :)  now.  

To the center to paint on the wall the logo for Club Leer Gi...... amazes us how MANY people, all ages stop and comment on the wall.   One of my favorite little fellows Mohammed, 4 yrs. old came by with his dad and we visited with them.   He spoke real good English and I asked him how
Mohammed was such a good basketball player to be so young?   He said they lived in Dakar and there was a b.ball court in front of their house.   They have only been here 1 month in St. Louis
and Mohammed can't wait from one day to the next for the center time.   Got up this morning and put on his Leer Gi shirt to come. His dad had to tell him "not today". His dad told us how good it is for the center to be open for these kids. They need a place to come and just play and have fun.

 A work in progress, will post finished product tomorrow.....

 

 Made Amy's day.

I will attach a few pictures from past 2 days and again Peggy asks that you pray for the Talibe
boys.   She said it would be great if we would all pray for them ea. time we pray for our own children.  That would be a lot of prayer.   She is really burdened for these children.

Blessings from St. Louis,
Ken      Peggy                                             Goodies from Alaska

 

Pastor is so happy,,,,

Days are Numbered

Monday PM:

       Our time is quickly drawing to an end.    We had a great sermon Sunday from Nelson and good service.    We are BLESSED  by Pastor Omer's children as they lead the worship or play their
instruments.   Jessica played her guitar Sunday too !

Ken & I went to the church school today to finish the work there, which was really minor but
we got a lot done in only  2 hrs. !   PTL !!   Will go tomorrow and look at electrical for the
add-on.

Amy is painting a new "logo" at the center on the outside wall, so last pm and tonight the 5 of us went to the center to start the painting.   Well I only cheered them on.   It is looking GREAT !!!!  Amazing how "many" adults, and children stop and watch or visit, the Talibe boys had fun tonight when Amy put some paint on their faces !   :)  Lots of laughter !   GOD knows these precious children need to laugh !

Ken took his computer today to Dou Dou to show him the 3 screen doors he made at the Village
for the missionary there.   Ken was so surprised at his reaction..... he just laughed and laughed with pure JOY  to see how well Ken did on the doors.   He liked what he saw and then he showed
him pictures of himself when we all went to Pastor's home to install his doors, that Dou Dou made.
Maybe he was just amused by the computer..... anyway he got a good laugh and ENJOYED the
visit.

Please join me ea. day in praying for the Talibe boys here in St. Louis.   Many reasons they NEED
prayer and that is truly something we can all do !!!   They are just so sweet and young.

We will post a few pictures of the center and the work done today at the church/school.

God Bless and Good Night,
Ken    Peggy 

 

                                   Painting the outside wall

 Pastor's "YOUNGEST" son helping Ken today  he worked an hr. with his little hands  :)

 Pastor's  2 sons helping Ken..... good workers....actually pretty good with their hands

 faces painted tonight...... what  FUN   :)

 He was not sure at 1st if he wanted to do this.... but he enjoyed  :)  they are just often so serious

BLESSED DAY !!

Saturday PM

     Today at the center we had 4-5 new boys come and join.   They had a "wonderful" time
there and all the kids were soooo   GOOD as they played.   It was the "hottest" day we think but
some of us played outside anyway and enjoyed it !!

After the center we were going to eat dinner at the Davis home and I opened our front door and 2
of MY "favorite" little street boys were just sitting on our steps.   Now you have to understand, one
of them has NOT  :)  smiled once in over 2 months, until this wk. when Jessica had her guitar out
playing and for the FIRST  time he  :)  smiled...... made me just CRY !!!!!!    Sooooo,  I open the
door and there he sat just  SMILING and  SMILING :).   I told Ken ..... ok  now I can leave since
this precious baby is smiling !!!  He is NOT a baby..... but to me  MOST of these sweet boys are
truly babies and need sooooo MUCH  LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!       So when he smiled at me I just
smiled and laughed and laughed......  the other one (they come together) is very verbal with us and
he will smile a lot,  well he had a new looking razor blade he was playing with ..... well I almost fainted when I saw that !!!!!!!!   I frowned and said Deedeet.... which is No in wolof and then he
showed me his little finger where he had cut a small place !!!   So I motioned for him to put it down
and he threw it in the street......  I told him GOOD !!!!   :)  Of course Ken picked it up and threw it away so no one would get hurt !!!

I told Ken and Amy this wk.  I was in the kitchen and just wondering if some of them just ring the door bell and sit on the steps just to see someone  SMILE  at them and to know that they will not be
hurt or in trouble and can get a drink of water if they want, as some of them do not even take the water they just sit there on our steps !!!!   :)   just a thought I had and it could be true !!

OK .... now we were on our way home from dinner (walking) and a real young, pretty lady with a 6 month old baby was sitting out and I smiled at her and said pretty bebe and kept walking.... she called to us and we went back and I knelt down to touch the baby and she spoke tuti  tuti  (little) English and so we talked a while.....  I told her I wanted to come tomorrow and take a photo of her and her beautiful baby.... she said OK...... then up walks a young man and spoke real good English and he said he has been watching us walk the streets ea. day and wanted to know about "Club Leer Gee" and our shirts..... Ken told him where and what it is and he was realllllly impressed and showed us where he sits ea. day at his little vendor spot, on our street.    He wanted to know when we will leave and why and how long we have been here.   He wants so badly to visit America someday !!   We told him if he does he will have to come to Texas and see us.   Oh WOW  did he smile when we said TEXAS !!!! sooo many of them know about Texas !!!   He sees it on TV and his map that he looks at.   :)

Almost to our door and Ken spots Douida,  his friend that comes and teaches him..... he has been in Dakar this wk. and busy with Ramadan.... so he asked Ken could he come tomorrow to visit us.  We told him absolutely, after  1 pm and we are home from church !!!   Funny we had not seen him all wk. and I prayed today we would somehow see him..... there he was !!!!
God is so gracious and kind to allow us to have such a GREAT,  PEOPLE day in HIM !!
We have said the past 2 dys....... we are soooo going to MISS these sweet people GOD has put in our paths.    ONLY  GOD  could have planned and ordained our steps on this trip and how we THANK and PRAISE Him!!!

May not seem xciting to you but it was more than wonderful to us for all of this to happen today !

BLESSINGS and HUGS  from St. Louis
Peggy...... Ken is out like a light.... haha  
( :  (:    sorry no pics tonight !!

Winding down !

Friday 7:55 pm and I need to play catch up on life here in Senegal.

Ramadan started 2 days ago and what a difference. They say it will get worse as hunger and thirst sets in after all day fasting but for now all is quiet. At 7:45 pm, they have the OK to eat and drink and the streets are deserted. Last night, coming home from the center after conversational English, there was maybe one taxi on the road and no cars to speak of. The streets are deserted, but you can see people on the sides of the road and in their homes, all eating.

We have been on coast mode for the last week and it may continue till we leave. Not a lot going on other than we are loving going to the center Wednesday thru Saturday now. Today we had 22 and a lot of new faces. One little boy came that Nelson had an encounter with. One day, he and Maite were walking and the little boy through a rock and hit Maite. Well to his surprise, Nelson chased him down and the little boy was terrified. Nelson wasn't mean to the boy, and there was a Senegalese man who stopped and Nelson explained what had happened. Nelson told the little boy, "I am not mad, but if I were Senegalese, I could hit you with a rock, but I am a Christian and I just want to tell you what you did was wrong." Nelson invited him to the center and the little boy has come twice and is so happy.
The center has really been awesome with Jessica and Jenna here lots of hands and lots of neat crafts. One day water balloons, today "pipe cleaner eyeglasses" and every day more really neat stuff for the kids.
Today, little Ooshman came up behind me and started squeezing my shoulders and patting me on the back. Very uncommon for boys and especially him since he is so quiet and much older. He really has come out of his shell as well as others like Mia and Achmed.

Mondays we go to the Church/school to finish up electrical and minor stuff before we leave.

Today, while walking home from the center, we heard someone yelling "Kareem, Kareem!. We didn't pay any attention until a man walked up and said "Are you Kareem?". Peggy then looked around and a young man whom I had a good conversation with a few months ago saw us and remembered us. He asked me when I was going home to America. I told him 2 weeks and he asked me if I still had his phone number so I could call him when I get home. I told him I did, but calling is too expensive from America and I believe that made him sad.  We made plans for him to come back next Friday for a longer visit.

I have a new shadow that follows me around in the neighborhood. His name is Moussa and he is 3 years old. We will leave the house and turn around and there he is even though we may be 2 or 3 blocks from home. I try to tell him to go home, but I end up having to take him as he will not go. Once or twice I had to pick him up and he begins kicking and screaming. He really hates to leave us. When we are home, he will come over and sit on our porch and I can hear him outside just talking away through our window.

Made my daily visit to Pap, my hardware man and he is counting the days till we leave also. Everyone we have made relationships with here are asking us to stay or at least promise to come back. While there, Pap handed out about 10 packages of chips to the street kids that come to his shop. He has such a sweet spirit and heart for the kids. Peggy said if she stayed here, she would work with him on starting a program to the street boys.

Going to include some random photos for the past few days.

Love
Ken and Peggy                                               Little Moussa

 

 

 

 

Ladder golf, kids love it

                                                             Miss Iesha, and her new glasses

 Little boy is quite the artist, he is the one Nelson invited to the center

 Little Mohammed, a new boy that I have worked with to get him to enjoy the center and quite the basketball player to be so young

 

Water balloon day

July 8th 2013

GREAT DAY IN THE LORD:

      Made a trip to the hardware store to buy some supplies to replace tile at the church.
Took Taxi without any problems to church and worked 3 hrs. and it went well.  Got thru,  Pastor's
wife and Peggy are happy...... Sister Pastor was right there sweeping up for me.  It did not turn out as good as I would have liked it but it is OK.

Great evening outside watching the children in neighborhood,  Jessica with her guitar, Jessica and
Amy playing games in the street with about 12 children !!!   Wish you could have heard the  :)  :)
laughter !!

Jenna, Peggy & I headed downtown to the grocery for a few things,  went by photo shop to make a few pictures to hand out to some friends.   They seemed happy with the photos and we were Blessed
to give them.     DouDou, By and Pap were the three photos we handed out.

Here is just a few pics. of the tile for today and Jessica playing the guitar (opps  photo of Jessica not loaded yet  will post later )

GOD BLESS
Good night,

Ken     Peggy

last village post

tonight I will post some more pictures of the village life as you have asked.

we are so blessed with the support, emails,  mail, prayers, and love we receive EACH day in one
fashion or another !!!   GOD is sooo faithful and good and we truly are BLESSED by HIM !!

Good day at the center here in St. Louis, then to Auji home for meat pies/dinner !  Pray for this
Muslim family !!!!   BUT GOD !

Really enjoying all the young ladies we are meeting and getting to know.  Awesome how GOD is placing these sweet, called, obedient ladies in our paths to meet and pray for ! 

Village life is just simply  "another"  world...... truly you have to be there to understand. 
We are praying to see if GOD should choose to use/send us to another part of Africa after September. We are open and would only go if door opens and GOD confirms in our hearts..... so please pray with
us about this direction.

pictures attached that are interesting of Village !
ENJOY!
Be blessed and Prayers for you all!
Ken      Peggy