The Senegal Experience: America

Home. We are home again. We arrived at Kansas City International Airport at about 6:00pm last night. We are all here, and we have all of our bags. Yalla baax na. The last few days of our trip were quite eventful...but quite quiet at the same time.... Wednesday, we split again. Tim and Kate took everyone except the Mbour team and Meg to Ngor to prayerwalk and to meet people. The rest of us went to Kayar. Our purpose in heading to Kayar was to pick up the small carved boats that several of us had ordered from John Wayne. We did that...and much more. We ended up not leaving Kayar until about 4:00 or so. We arrived before 11:30am. We spent the day playing with children in John Wayne's compound, walking around the village, and trying to find a way for Cal to get up into this "lighthouse" thing. Kayar is right on the beach and they have what appears to be a fireman's tower, but it is a "lighthouse." Cal has been trying for over a year to get a hold of the right people at the right time so that he can get up in it to get a better mental picture of the layout of Kayar. He will have to keep trying. We wandered all over and talked to several different people with the goal of ascending the tower, but it just didn't work out. However, while waiting for one of these several people, we did have the glorious opportunity to stand right next to the spot where all the fishermen dump their fish waste after cleaning.... Looked like tar...but it was composed of old fish parts...just imagine how lovely that smelled.... It was okay though, while there we sang Yalla Baax Na and Beesub Te Ji with some children. We had lunch with John Wayne as well. It was a fairly spicy version of Ceebu Jen prepared by John Wayne's wife. Very tasty meal indeed. Late that afternoon, we piled back into the Pajero and headed back to Grand Yoff. This took much longer than anticipated due to the heavy traffic coming into Dakar. But, we made it. The evening time was spent, once again, with talking, reading, journaling, etc.... Thursday...our last day. It was good. We headed off to Snake Island at about 9 or 9:30. We actually got to the island somewhere around 10:30 or 11. It was gorgeous and incredible. It is an uninhabited island composed of volcanic rock. There is no way I can find words that will aptly describe our time there, or even the view. We all had a blast there though, some for more obvious reasons than others.... We also got to swim in an ocean water lagoon near the spot where the boat dropped us off. The water was a bit chilly, but it was still an incredible experience. We left the island at 2:00 or so. We headed back to Grand Yoff and got our stuff together. At 4:30ish we headed to the airport for early check-in. By 5:30 we were all done checking our bags and had all received our tickets for the trip home. After this, we headed to Cal's house to pick up his family and some things, and then we headed to Caesar's for dinner. It was tasty. We spent a good 2 hours there. We left with just enough time to go back by Cal's house to pick up our carry-ons and then to get to the airport by about 9:30pm. We were certainly through security by 10. Our flight boarded at 10:45 or so. And thus began our trip home. The flights were all fairly uneventful...I think most of us slept more on the way home than we did on the way there.... We spent Friday morning at the Paris airport (horrible place, wouldn't recommend going there) and then we were off again. As I mentioned before...we arrived in KCI at about 6:00pm Friday night. A mere 25 hours after we stepped off of Senegalese soil. After we retrieved our luggage, we huddled, prayed, and left. And just like that...our team is dispersed. 48 hours ago we were all eating together at a restaurant in Africa... now I don't know of any two of us that are together. Such is the way of trip such as this. One moment you are swimming in an ocean water lagoon in an incredibly awe-inspiring place, the next you are shivering in the cold as you type out what is likely the last written recollection you will make of the whole experience. I certainly hope that all that were involved with this trip have learned much...much about God...much about the world...and much about themselves. God is working and moving in West Africa...we saw that. But God is also working here in America, and within each and every one of us. To my team: Thank you, you all were an incredible blessing to me, I can't imagine this trip without all of you. To our supporters: Thank you, there were some days there that I don't know how we would have survived (mentally at least) without your constant prayers. Thank you all so very much...and remember...God isn't the reason for missions...He is the reason for existence. God bless.