Made it home (St. Louis, Senegal) from Dakar yesterday. It was a 4 hour trip and lots of traffic, again. Peggy did OK with the ride, but was oh so thankful to be home and able to lie down. She is doing a lot better today since she has stayed in and rested. Thanks to all for the prayers.
We actually saw 2 wild camels coming home in the desert. They are around, but you don't see them that much. Also, going to Dakar last week, we saw three monkeys on side of the road.
While in Dakar with thousands of people on the streets, we were driving along, downtown, and someone said, "That looks like Pastor Omer and Marmadou'". Well sure enough it was them. We were on our way to eat, so we asked them to join us which they did. They had been in Dakar for 2 days trying to get little Marmadou's paperwork so he could graduate from his nursing classes. Realize that little Marmadou is 6' tall, but to Peggy, he is "Little" Marmadou.
Well, it was quite an adventure when we got in last night. The power was off, except 1 plug was working. We thought it was (Senecal) the local utility with the problem. Amy called an electrician, and out he came. He was able to trace the problem to 2 underground circuits, one fed half of Amy's apartment and the other fed the upstairs apartment. They were both burnt in two, under the slab. Amy asked him to stay and fix it and he stayed till 10:30. He did a really good job on the repairs and I was able to loan him my meter to check the power. He said he would have had to go and try to buy a meter if I hadn't had mine here. Anyway, we lost all our meat in the freezer but God was so good, we had brought back another supply from our shopping in Dakar so I will still have my meat,,praise the Lord.
Then this morning, Peggy was trying to wash a load of clothes and the machine would not run. I was able to trace the problem to a blown fuse (probably from the power going off and on) and I was off to find a miniature 5amp fuse in Africa....but again,,,my local hardware guy said "No, Problem I will have you one in the morning" so am praying that fixes the problem. Again, when we face problems like this back home, you can always find the parts but over here it is harder to do. Just something else to put on our prayer lists for our missionaries because a lot of their budgets just don't have funds for unexpected things...but God is able.
Peggy and I took our evening walk around the block, just so she could get out and it helps her back when she walks. We went down to the river and I told Peggy to look at the middle of the river. There was a large boat with 4 little boys in it and one was bailing water as fast as he could and the others were trying to push it to shore. Well, the water won out, and they all abandoned ship but were able to push it to shore with one boy bailing, and the other 3 pushing. It was funny in a way, but also incredible that they didn't give up.
We went a different way home, and there were some men pouring concrete (one bucket at a time) on a roof of a local house. One of the men motioned for us to come down, and he began to talk to us. Again our limited conversation kept us there for a while. One thing I did understand from him was , it is hot in Africa and the work is hard. While I was talking to the men, Peggy yelled at me and told me she was talking "Grandma" with the lady from the house. She had 2 of her grandkids outside and she introduced them to us and then she called her daughter to come outside. Well, let me tell you, her name was Mary and she works at the tourism office and could speak somewhat good English, better than our French and Wolof. She asked where we were from and we said Texas. She told us that as a little girl, she watched "Dallas" on TV and any chance she gets, she looks at pictures of Dallas. You could tell she would love to be able to visit some day. When we left, she asked us to come back to visit again inside her home and we plan to do that before we leave.
One thing about traveling in Senegal, the police will stop you for any reason at any time and so coming back to St.Louis, our truck was loaded down like the Beverly Hillbillies, and sure enough in Dakar they pulled us over. All he did this time was check for insurance, made sure we were who we were and asked Amy to marry him since she was the only single person in the truck. She declined.
Well, God is so faithful to us and Peggy is giving her testimony Sunday night, with a translator, so pray for her that she speaks s l o w l y and they understand her heart.
Love and prayers to all,
Ken and Peggy
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