We are on our 2nd day here in beautiful Dakar, beautiful if you like traffic, traffic and more traffic.
We went to the mission center this morning to do some more painting and maintenance. We had worked hard and late last night and I was too tired to blog, but a little explanation on the center. A missionary couple from the Netherlands run a community center which they had started in their home with over 110 kids. Now they have a compound and building right across the street from were they live. They have been here 7 or 8 years and have a love to teach these kids the good gospel. They told us yesterday the kids have a lot of hate and they are really concentrating on the good light of the gospel and how love is more important than hate. There is a man who accepted Christ who helps them and it was a 7 year process before he accepted the Lord. In this culture, you have to build relationships and through these relationships, sharing of the gospel can take place.
Peggy has been cleaning, cleaning, organizing, organizing right up her alley but tonight her sciatic is bothering her again. Keep her in your prayers as we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of roads to travel. Sitting really bothers her, so send up those prayers. I have been hanging shelves and shadow boxes and wood trees and just about anything that needs a touch. Tomorrow I have a small electrical job and some more odds and ends. Hopefully we will have a short day as the "American" store here in Dakar got in a big shipment of American food and we want to go and stock up.
Well, we have been here a month and a half, and tonight was the closest to a "disaster" we have encountered. We were taking a taxi from the center back to the home we are staying in and Nelson had a taxi hired. So when we started to leave, Nelson (Argentine French) explained to the driver (Wolof) were we needed to go and Nelson assured us that the driver knew. In case we got lost, Nelson told us just to say "Padwar" or something to that affect because that is the area we are staying in. Oh, one small detail, we have NO minutes on our cell phone so we cannot call anyone but we can receive calls, so I told Nelson to call and check on us in a few minutes. So off we go, and immediately we encounter MAJOR gridlock. No problem, our driver starts driving on the sidewalk and heads to the back streets of Dakar. When I say back streets, I really mean sandy paths. All along the way I believe he talks to every taxi driver, every person on the street and maybe a few goats, I don't know because I was trying to figure out where we where in case we had to bail out and make a run for the border. haha Anyway, we finally figure out there is an accident on the freeway ( the only way I know to get home) so we head to God only knows where, and the driver manages to say,, I think, "I give you tour of Dakar". Ok, might as well enjoy as we are totally lost. Our driver manages to drive in the middle lane, of a 2 lane road( you get it), and his passenger side mirror knocks off the driver's side mirror of a car next to us. He talks back and forth to the other driver, and off we go. Finally, we are in an area I have seen before, but don't know where I saw it, and our driver says, "Padwar" as if "Here you are"!. oh, by the way, the whole time we were in the car, I swear I heard prayers going up to heaven from the back seat because Peggy was NERVOUS...She tried to break the ice with our driver, by giving him 2 cookies which he smiled and took. He was polite enough to ask if he could smoke while we were sitting in traffic, and I told him sure..I wasn't risking getting thrown out of HIS taxi because I didn't want HIM to smoke. Any way, I think our driver kept asking me "Padwar east or Padwar west" because I don't understand a word he is saying and Peggy is interpreting for me.
Finally Nelson calls, to check on us, and I hand the phone to the taxi driver. He talks to Nelson, smiles and hands me the phone and points to a place 2 blocks ahead. Praise the Lord, I knew that place and that is where we turn in to our neighborhood. The driver kept asking, here, here, here? so I tell Peggy I know where we are so let's get out and walk from here. She gladly accepts my offer and out we get. I did give the driver an extra 1000 francs, even though he had been paid in advance but I felt like he earned it and he was very happy, and so were we to be home !!! PTL.
Well, that was our day...hope yours was as fun..
Love
Ken and Peggy
The Center "Teen Bi",,or The Well
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