Blessed Assurance

Classic mirror shot - including a cameo of the photographer!

Mindee was on the cooking crew this year. She taught her fellow chefs a little trick - using a matchstick to help alleviate the used-to-be-inevitable tears from onion dicing!

We had to document this rare event - Mike and Mindee actually SEEING each other on Outreach! (Normally we have very different roles and are often stationed at different work sites.)

Mike getting a shot of the roofing crew while Mindee gets a shot of him!

(See bottom left corner.)

Here's the shot Mindee took of Mike from the above picture...

Side note about the evening evangelism campaigns: 1000 people heard the gospel over the weekend. 2 of those villages heard the gospel for the very first time!

(Exciting news: 100 people in all responded to the salvation message)

Strength. Joy. Assurance.

These were the characteristics of this Outreach weekend. Despite numerous obstacles, including two tire blow-outs, two vehicle break-downs, luggage lost and spilled on the highway (yet luckily recovered quickly), and scads of technical difficulties, we were still able to accomplish what God set out for us. IN SPITE of our short-comings!

Strength. Many staff and students struggled with exhaustion and sickness before going on this trip, yet felt a supernatural strength and energy during this gruelingly laborous weekend.

Joy. Despite the onset of stress that generally accompanies this busy time of year at D.A., numerous people testified that they were filled with a pervasive, all-encompassing sense of joy as they toiled, worked and ministered throughout the weekend.

Assurance. Several of our student leaders confessed that they had been wrestling with doubts before going on this weekend. One such student shared that not only did he lead a Muslim man to the Lord one night, but he did so AFTER God used him to heal the man through the power of prayer! This 17-year-old who, a few days ago had been expressing doubts, announced publicly: "Jesus exists. It's irrefutable."

Outreach Weekend is back!

Dear Friends and Family,

Tomorrow morning at 5:00 we head out for our second outreach weekend of the school year. There will be nearly 150 of us this time who seek to meet the physical and spiritual needs of thousands of Senegalese, all in the name of Jesus.

We will be in and around the same areas we worked in last November and look forward to reconnecting with some of the men, women, and children we have met before. In our last blog we told of how a village chief became a Christian at our last campaign. Since then his wife has also become a believer and we hope to meet more from his village who have since stepped out in faith to follow Jesus.

Please pray for us this weekend, for safety for us, for the Good News to be proclaimed and for people to hear and respond.

There are so many logistics involved in an event like this, and so many things that could potentially go wrong. We trust in God to provide for our needs and to work through us DESPITE any mishaps.

We also believe that this weekend could not be successful without prayer support from all over the world. We have a prayer chain here in Dakar where people have volunteered to pray during specific times of day and night AROUND THE CLOCK so we are bathed in prayer. We ask that you would consider doing the same and choosing a specific period of time during the next three days to lift this outreach up in prayer. Mark your calendar, set an alarm, and pray for us.

We can't thank you enough for your support.

We'll be sure and check in early next week when we get back!

Mike and Mindee

Outreach weekend report

Satan attacks, hopes we will falter
But we have all the power through the Father of Lights
And in that power of God’s Spirit and might
The victory is ours in Lord
So take up the sword and put on the armor
Watching always praying pressing on toward the mark
Standing firm, standing firm on the Rock

The lyrics of this song from ICA is very true to our experience on outreach last weekend, an outreach that was predominantly characterized by two words. The first word is DELAY.

We left on time on Friday morning, arrived to our camp site by mid morning and began dispersing to our various locations. It’s always slow going organizing 140 people to do anything, even if we are about as well oiled a machine as you can get for our size. The delays we had were not generally a result of poor planning on our part (i.e., we tested all equipment before we went) - they were out of our control.

The foundation/brick team, the largest group, charged with digging and pouring the foundation for a new church building, headed out with the medical team who would work nearby. A 12 km sandy road stretched between the work site and camp - about a 30 minute drive. By late morning virtually everything arrived, but there was a delay in digging as the foundation was not properly marked and had to be re-measured. The brick makers didn’t have enough water so a vehicle had to run back to camp to get barrels - a 1 hour round trip. The medical team’s original location fell through so they had to relocate to a new spot. They didn’t see their first patient until around 1 pm.

Meanwhile the drama team, delayed at first by having to drive the foundation crew’s equipment to that site before heading off to their assigned villages, made it half way through their day before their generator broke. They had to come back to camp for repairs.

The drama team, inside the van, and some of the foundation crew and
equipment above and behind the van, head off to the digging site.

The bench crew, which works at camp, found that not one, but TWO generators (the only two left at camp) were no longer working so they were delayed until another generator could be delivered to them.

The water crew, whose job is likely the very most important one - filtering well water so we can safely drink it all weekend - saw their filter irreparably break only a few hours into the first day.

The mural team set out to paint a mural on the front wall of a church we built last year. Upon arrival, they found that an important tool for their job had gone missing and they would have to improvise.

Mindee's paint crew had the fewest setbacks, but did have a delay when the truck delivering their paint thinner got lost.

Mindee's paint crew

The food crew had one propane gas tank that wouldn’t open, leaving one burner inoperable which was meant to cook a HUGE pot of food.

My sound team was delayed both nights while we waited for our guides to arrive and lead us to our locations for the evening campaigns. Each night we were mere minutes away from complete darkness by the time we were ready to start the generator and begin running our halogen lights.

Mike in the sound trailer running the board during the evening campaign.

Each night, aside from our main evening campaign, we try to send two more projection teams out to show a movie and give a message in nearby villages. The first night, one location fell through so the team couldn’t go, the other had a technical malfunction which prevented them from playing their movie, even after several hundred people had gathered to watch it. Dejected, they promised to return the next night and try again.

During one of my many trips between the camp site and the foundation site, I got a flat tire. In my Life Skills class back at school I teach how to change a tire. THIS was not the same thing. Changing a tire on a sandy road is harder. ESPECIALLY when the jack for your car is back at camp holding up the trailer whose hitch broke on the way out. After a 30 minute delay of waiting for someone to arrive with a spare jack, the tire took another 45 minutes to change. Anyone want to predict how the spare tire fared? You got it. Flat too. Another delay while we secured the car, left it in the bush, and piled into (and onto) the rescue vehicle. It took an additional 2 1/2 hours to get the tires repaired and get the truck back.

There are more delays to describe, but I think this will suffice to set the stage. We were facing some serious resistance to what we were there to do.

Now for the second word. DESPITE

Despite the delays in each of these situations, we succeeded in all our projects. Everything that broke was either repaired or replaced, foundation crew poured the foundation, brick crew made nearly 600 bricks, drama made it back out to their remaining villages, even if it meant a late dinner for them that night, everyone had their fill of food and water, etc., etc.

At our main evening campaign the results seemed discouraging, especially after last year when hundreds and hundreds of people responded. We had a few hundred attend each night, but the first night, when the pastor asked for anyone who wanted to make a commitment to come forward, only ONE solitary man came forward. Eventually the pastor coaxed a few more individuals to come forward, but it was no more than 6 or 7 total. The second night was similar. One young girl stepped forward and stood, alone, for several minutes. Then, two more children stepped forward. No more.

In these cases the disappointment is only due to the DELAY in pertinent information. DESPITE it only being one man who came forward the first night, the fact that it was THIS one man may be the beginning of something far, far greater. For that one man who stepped forward that first night... was the village CHIEF!

We also had a delay in hearing the other good news. Most of us didn’t learn until Sunday night back in Dakar how the projection team did. They returned to their village the second night to show the movie and give the gospel message. DESPITE all the set backs the night before, around TWO HUNDRED people responded to the invitation to receive salvation!

There are so many more stories we could share and countless more we haven’t heard. One thing is certain. God is on the move in Senegal. He is breaking strongholds and softening hearts. He is revealing Himself in new ways to men, women and children. And we get to be a part of it.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Keep it up, as we get to do this all over again in January!

Mike and Mindee

Mike accidentally distracts the kids during Sunday school. Oops.

Outreach weekend is here!

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a busy year so far. We can't believe it's already nearly December!

Tomorrow we leave for our Thanksgiving outreach weekend. Most of you know this is one of two major outreaches DA takes to villages in-country here in Senegal. There will be 140 people going. Here's a rundown of what we will be doing.

1) the drama team and children's ministry team will be traveling to a number of villages

2) a team will be painting a church in Bikol (the church of which we laid the foundation and made bricks by hand last Jan.)

3) a team will be painting a mural on the front wall of a church in Diofane (the church we built last Nov.)

4) our medical team which will include 3 nurses and a Dr. will minister in Diakhao

5) a team will be digging & laying a foundation and building bricks by hand in Diakhao

6) we will be staying at the YWAM center in Nakhar and a team will be setting up camp

7) a small team will be building 20 benches for the new church

In the evenings, we will be holding evangelism campaigns in the following villages:

Fri., Nov. 25: Diakhao, Gandiaye, Poukham Tok

Sat., Nov. 26: Mbelakadio, Ngouloul Peul, Mbouscene

(It might be fun to Google Earth those locations!)

We REALLY covet your prayers. We will be ministering in an area that is predominantly Muslim and we'll be ministering in villages that have just begun to hear about Jesus. Please pray for open doors and open hearts. Pray against spiritual resistance and that God will prepare the way for us. Pray for protection in travel and at all the ministry sites.

Sun. morning, we plan to worship on our way home in the church that we helped build last Nov. in Diofane. We're looking forward to the blessing of worshipping with our African brothers and sisters and seeing the results of our labor there last year.

We will send out an update after our return.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support!

Mike and Mindee

Prayer card and support letter

Click to enlarge. Hopefully you can read or print these as you wish. If you need anything more specific (better quality) let us know. Thanks!

ARMing up for the future

Last Sunday we had an opportunity to give an update to our supporting church in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We told of our ministry at Dakar Academy and how what we do allows other missionaries with children to do what they do better. We talked about how working with MKs and TCKs is a ministry in and of itself - how these are our future missionaries, future world leaders. We talked about our outreaches and how we are seeing unprecedented responses from the Senegalese.

When this church originally sent us, they agreed to a two year, short term trip. We just finished our fourth year and have told them there is no end in sight. We love the kids, we love the school, we love the nation and the people of Senegal and we want to be there for what God does next.

It was “Missionary Sunday” that week and we actually shared the stage with 3 other missionary families the church supports - one from Niger, one from Mexico, and one from Texas.

It was while our good friends from Texas were sharing that a light went on for me (Mike). This couple, Alan and Diane, have been missionaries for about as long as I’ve been alive. They’ve been involved in so many different projects and ministries, I can’t begin to name them. Over the past several years, they have been heading up a mission organization called ARM Ministries that partners with individual missionary families and their supporting churches and helps them accomplish their goal of reaching and staying on the mission field.

That light that went on is that what they do is specifically what we need.

For the past four years, Mindee and I have been direct hire with DA. This means that we have primarily relied on the small stipend DA provides and the support of a handful of dedicated families who have supplemented that stipend with one-time, occasional, or regular support. This worked well for our “short term” assignment, but now that we are looking more long term, we need to be realistic about our support needs. Joining ARM Ministries seems to be a wise and providential opportunity.

We are excited to partner with ARM Ministries as we continue to serve in Senegal.

Over the next few weeks we hope to write a new support letter that re-emphasizes our ministry goals and outlines new ways we can receive financial support through ARM Ministries. We hope to design an updated prayer card as well.

So please stay tuned. When everything is ready to go you will likely receive these items via snail mail, email, or by seeing them here on this blog.

Thank you to those who have supported us over these past four years. Thank you to those of you who will continue to partner with us in the future. We covet your support and your prayers.

Finally, thank you to those of you who actually read to the end of this blog. I know you have a lot to do. Thanks for spending this time on us!

Mike and Mindee
ARM Ministries
www.armmin.org

Easter in Senegal

On Good Friday, the view of the crosses on

the roof of the library at Dakar Academy.

In Senegal, Easter isn't really that big of a deal. A few stores may have a few "Easter-y" items for sale - the foil wrapped chocolates, plastic eggs, and pastel-colored decorations - but it's nothing close to what you see in the states. And while the Senegalese, world-renowned for observing every holiday they can (no matter with which religion it's associated), actually DO take Easter Monday off, it is nowhere NEAR the production they undergo in observance of Muslim holidays like Tabaski or Korite, during which nearly one million sheep and goats lose their lives as almost every family in Senegal engages in a fête (feast) for celebration. And while some Senegalese (even Muslims) will use this holiday as an excuse to have a feast, even without acknowledging the REASON for it, life will generally continue as normal here, despite the fact that we are observing the most important event in all of human history.

The DA community will have a sunrise service out on our school's basketball court. In traditional Senegalese fashion, we will be sure and crank our sound system as loud as it goes (just like the Muslim prayer calls we hear five times a day, including at 5 a.m. each morning). That way it won't only be the missionary community that joins together that morning to celebrate our risen King, it will be the whole neighborhood!

We continue to love being out here. Easter isn't the same old thing year after year. It's not over-commercialized. It hasn't lost its meaning. After all, how could something lose its meaning if most people here haven't found its meaning to begin with? Our work is not done in Senegal and we continue to live with the belief that "greater things are still to be done in this city."

As our school year comes to a close we become nostalgic of things past and hopeful of things to come. It was a good year, marked with significant change to our school and improvements to our campus. It's been a hard year with unprecedented power cuts and Mindee's knee surgery. But there is hope. Generators and batteries are allowing us to function fairly normally at work and at home even when our power company fails us, and Mindee's knee is on the mend.

Mindee is 4 1/2 weeks post-surgery and well into recovery. We flew to South Africa over spring break where she had ACL reconstruction and a torn meniscus repair. Since then she hasn't been allowed to put ANY pressure on her right leg, but in 1 1/2 weeks, she can slowly begin re-introducing that leg to walking (20% body weight per week). We look forward to June 7 because that is the day she'll be allowed to walk brace and crutch free. However, an additional 6 months of rehab are required before she's back to full strength. Thank you for your prayers and support on her behalf. It's a long, slow road to recovery, but we're glad we were able to start down it now instead of having to wait until summer.

We will be heading to the states this summer for a brief visit with friends and family. We will be in Klamath Falls, Oregon, for most of the month of June, then Pensacola, Florida for almost 3 weeks in July, during which Mindee's younger sister, Amber, will be getting married. We look forward to catching up with many of you in person during this time.

We'll be back here in Senegal on July 22, ready to start another year of school and ministry. Thank you so much for all you who support us in prayer and finance. We cherish your generous gifts and couldn't continue doing this without you.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating the incredible gift we have in Jesus.

Mike and Mindee