Friday 31st, and what a day. Way too much sensory overload to share all, so I will post pictures with explanations.

Went to the Atlantic side of the island, which I assume is the starting point of St. Louis since it is definitely a fishing village. You can actually taste the stench in the air. Took a taxi to the far south end to some nice looking beaches where most people (tourists) go to swim. Today was an extremely hot and windy day. I tried to take a picture of the haze in the air which is actually the Sahara desert blowing through every crack and crevice you can imagine. The air was so hot, you could feel the heat through the window glass and touching the frames was uncomfortable to the touch.

We did see a horse flip upside down, with his 2 wheeled buggy attached. Don't know exactly what happened, because we never saw the driver but the horse was definitely in extreme distress. But the Senegalese men came from everywhere and began cutting the horse's rigging trying to give the poor pony some relief. Nice to know that in a time of trouble, these people really jump in to help out.

Went to Pastor Omer's house and began wiring his living room, will finish next week. He is so happy and I am too that in this small way we can help this man of God and his family. When we are finished wiring, I think there are plans for all the church men to come and help plaster the walls. This will be a big step in the completion.

Happy birthday to my mother, if you are reading this I know it is tomorrow but I wanted to say happy birthday today.. Make me a chocolate cake when I get home and we can celebrate together..

Ken and Peggy

PS. Pray for our Amy, she is out of town and is very sick with some type of bug...

 Pastor Omer's youngest Itito, if he disappears look in Peggy's suitcase

 This is Pastor's living room now

 Pastor's kitchen and the girl's bedroom

 Kitchen and bedroom

 Pastor's 2 daughters

 More of Pastor's house

 Boys swimming in the river, the hotter it gets the more swimmers we are seeing

 WWI war memorial to Senegalese soldiers

 Atlantic ocean and beach

 Rental cabana on beach

 Fishing boats on the Atlantic, some fish in the ocean, some in the river

 Downtown butcher shop, typical throughout St. Louis

 One of several hundred trucks that transport fish throughout this area and they are not refrigerated

 Typical transport on the village side

 Hotel row at the end of the island, where most tourists go to swim

 Local pool on hotel row, prices are if you bring in a drink or not

 Campground on the island

 Campground

 Pretty end of the island

 Atlantic Ocean

 Local toubabs

 Local workers pouring cement, I believe they use a lot more sand than cement

 Pastor Nelson strikes up a conversation with everyone, and usually ends up telling them about the Lord

 More swimmers

 Our personal fruit lady, now she gives us free stuff and we try to see her every day and loves for us to visit

 2 of many boys at our doorsteps day and night, literally ringing the doorbell at all hours

 Tried to get a shot of dust storm all day today this is midday and sunny

Pastor's oldest boy

Thursday night 30 May, 9:30.
We just got in from helping with "conversational English" at the Center and let me tell you, our hearts go out to these sweet Senegalese people who are trying to learn English.  Our topic for tonight at each of 3 tables was "time capsules" past and present. It is a difficult subject when you think they do not know what a capsule is, much less a time capsule but they all did really well with the stories and grasped the meaning of future. Today, something as simple as "bake" was not understood by one of the ladies.

Spent the morning at the school, tracing out wiring that was installed by a Senegalese electrician on the third floor which is still being completed. Made a lot of progress but a lot more to do. For all the electricians back home let me tell you what I found (pictures included). One room they used green/yellow  or just green for hots (there are no neutrals) because they ran out of colored wire. The spliced different colored wires in the conduits because they ran short. They make splices in the walls, and cover over them with plaster. They bring 1 circuit to an area and then tie all plugs, fans, lights to that one circuit, with no overcurrent protection other than the meter. They sometimes will run a ground wire (color of your choice) but they don't take it to ground. And this is the norm for Senegal, not an exception.

I didn't have a step ladder, so Pastor brought a barrel and placed 2 boards on top and then a small student chair for me to stand on. It worked but Peggy was a basket case watching me on top. She told Pastor Omer that she was afraid I would fall but Pastor said "God is in control, my God is in control".
I told Pastor I believed that too.

We went to Laura and Bryan's home for lunch of vermicelli, chicken and onion sauce. Same taste and flavor as yassa poullet and was delicious. Had a devotion about God's saving power for one man in Senegal who had a dream about a church in the place where a mosque once was. Bryan had such a word of wisdom from the Bible that the young man really could comprehend as well as scriptures.

I then helped Bryan install a solar panel and invertor for when the power goes off in their apartment and I am so happy it was a success so far. Will test it for sure when I get some needed parts.

Tomorrow will be an exploration day on the far side of the island and then pizza at Nelson's house then we are headed to Pastor Omer's home to start on his electrical for one more room in his home. Hopefully, pictures will follow in a day or two of the completed project.

Peggy took random pictures so I will include those.

God bless you all and thank you for your prayers...we feel them daily as we witness the people and sights of St. Louis.

Ken and Peggy

                                         Boxes will be grouted in later, maybe

                                         Orange tubing for conduit, splices are just taped together

                                          Typical installation, boxes to follow

                                          Typical junctions, this is one circuit

                                          Welding shop in background, 3 muslims in foreground

                                       

 

                                           Lowe's delivery vehicle

                                          Pastor and Marmadou bringing my ladder

                                         Conversational English, "What color are my eyes?"

                                             Sweet lady who said her longest journey is every day to and from work

Wednesday May 29, one month on Senegal soil.

First things first, I am physically doing great but now we are experiencing some old fashioned Texas heat and humidity. Rainy season is coming, and with that mosquitoes.

I met Nelson across the bridge this morning and we went scouring the hardware stores for electrical materials for Pastor Omer's house, which is in a state of perpetual construction. I hope to get another room ready for plaster before I leave and tie up some loose ends. I will enclose pictures of the progress, haha, as we do this work. All my electrician friends will get a kick out of what I am working with here. Also, my next project at the school is to try to make some kind of sense of the electrical installation that is already completed before I got here. Pictures will explain more than I can tell.

Spent the afternoon at the center, playing Twister with the kids, and puzzles, and ball and more puzzles and more toys. Kids are really enjoying the center and when school is out, we will be going more days.

I have a job in progress, that God is blessing and hope to have pictures next week. We leave Sunday to go to a village an hour away and work with a Mexican missionary doing some work for him at his compound. Then in 2 weeks we go to Dakar for a few days to help at a mission outreach there with a Dutch Missionary couple.

Tomorrow we have our Thursday meal at Bryan and Laura's house and then I will help Bryan install a back up battery system for power failures that are coming as the weather gets hotter. Really hard to find the correct stuff here, just praying that what we find we can make work.

Am enclosing some local scenery as some have asked about. We are on an island surrounded by a river on one side and the Atlantic on the west. Friday, we will venture out on part of the island we have not been to and see the "beach". When I say island and beach, do not even let Hawaii or even Galveston enter your mind. This is Africa and although I think there are beautiful African beaches, St. Louis is not one of them. Think fishing village and fishing island and you get the picture, if not the scent!.

Peggy and I took our evening walk home from the square and made our regular stops to visit with people who have come to know us by face, if not by name. Peggy commented on how relationships are so important here, and just by us stopping in and with our limited vocabulary we can still feel the friendships we have here. They are always so happy to talk to us and we with them. Even some of the taxi drivers, we can tell, enjoy our attempts at conversations.

Well, so long for now. Keep us in your prayers that we will still be led by God for the next month or so.

                                                Twister with French directions

                                           View from mainland looking at island

                                          This area will be underwater when rains start

                                          Tree outside church 2nd story where boys come to listen

Ken and Peggy