Itinerary

Here is a brief idea of what we will be doing in Senegal this coming week (we actually leave tonight!)

Thursday 11/29 - Drive to Moline, IL and spend night near airport (cry a bit when Addie leaves)

Friday 11/30 - Depart from Moline, IL at 6:00 am. Spend 7 hours in the Atlanta airport (shop, read, nap, eat etc...) and depart from Atlanta at 4:00 pm.

Saturday 12/1 - Arrive in Dakar, Senegal at 5:00 am (Senegal time is 6 hours ahead of Central) Have breakfast with the Penneys (WV team leader in Senegal) and then drive to Thies (about 5o miles). I will attend the women's classes going on this weekend, and we will both see the site where the Bible College will be built.

Sunday 12/2 - Attend church at Eglise Evangelique Baptiste du Thies (yes, it will be in French!) and then return to Dakar in the afternoon.

Monday 12/3 - spend the morning and lunch with Dan and Esther Penney. He is the team leader in Senegal and will be able to share with us the vision and goals of the team. In the evening, we will attend a class.

Tuesday 12/4- Morning - tour Dakar and shop for Senegalese clothing. Tuesday evening we will have dinner with the staff of ITES (the Bible College)

Wednesday 12/5 - Lunch with another missionary in Dakar.

Thursday 12/6 - Visit Dakar Academy (the MK school) in the morning and then have lunch and dinner with several other missionaries.

Friday 12/7 - Open so far (we might need it to rest from the busy week!)

Saturday 12/8 - Depart from Dakar at 3:25 am (yes, there is only one flight back to Atlanta). Arrive in Moline, IL at 11:30am where Addie will run into our arms and gives us big hugs and kisses (we hope!)

We will try to post a few times to let you all know how things are going for us!

"We are not normal..."

Here is our latest email update. If you are not on our email list but would like to receive monthly email updates, please send me an email at hilvdenny@yahoo.com

Greetings,

In the past year and a half, Wayne and I have come to a conclusion…we are not normal! Not many families spend half of the month on the road, shop for baby toys that travel well, and have babies that have been in over 20 states before their first birthday! But that has been our life thus far. Things are changing though, this week in fact! Our travel will be dying down as we transition out of Iowa, but in some ways, our life just gets stranger and more exciting! Wayne is in his last week of work at Emmaus and then on Friday, we leave for a week in Senegal! We are so excited that the time has finally come for us to go to the country that God has called us to. We have no doubt in our mind that Senegal is where He wants us - everything we want to do and are gifted to do is right there – but we also would like to see it before we move there for good. So Friday morning, Wayne and I will leave for Senegal, and at 5:30 am Saturday, we will hit the ground running!

Here are some things we hope to accomplish on our trip.

-We do not yet know which city we will live in, so we will have an opportunity to visit both Dakar (the capital) and Thies (about 50 miles inland) and look at both the benefits and disadvantages of both.

-One ministry that I hope to be involved in when we move there will be teaching weekends for women. They hold 3 of these weekends a year, and one will be the weekend we arrive! I will get the chance to observe and meet some of the people there on Saturday.

-The Bible college that Wayne will teach at is located in Thies, so right away this weekend, we will get to see the school.

-Addie just turned one, but we are already thinking about where we will send her to school! We would like to check out our options as that will probably help us decide where to live.

-We have heard nothing but good things about the WorldVenture team we will be joining in Senegal, and we are looking forward to finally meeting many of them.

-We are moving to Dallas 3 weeks after we get back, but we still don’t know what of our stuff we will keep and move with us, and what we will just get rid of and start over with in Senegal. On this trip, we hope to scope out what is available there and what we really want to bring with us.

-Meet Senegalese people and get a taste for the culture. Everybody that we have talked to who has been to Senegal has loved it there, and we want to get a taste of this for ourselves.

Please pray for us as we seek to accomplish these goals. Here are a few specific requests.

-Jet-lag. Our trip is short (we will be returning on December 8^th). Pray that we will adjust quickly to the 7 hour time difference and have the energy to accomplish all that we want to in that week.

-Addie. Actually, this is more of a prayer request for me. I know Addie will be fine, but I have a feeling I will miss her a lot (Wayne will too, he’s just done this before!). Pray for my emotions and Wayne’s sanity J

-Wisdom. We hope to gather a lot of information on this trip that will help us make some big decisions (where to live, school for Addie, what to take etc…) Pray that we would have wisdom in these areas.

-Excitement. We are already incredibly excited to be moving to Senegal. Pray that this trip will even increase our excitement and desire to serve God in Senegal. Pray that we would also develop a real love for the Senegalese people.

As always, we greatly covet your prayers and know that God does great things though the prayers of His saints. We would like to keep you updated as we are in Senegal, and will be posting on our blog to do this. Please visit our blog at www.dennysinafrica.blogspot.com if you would like to hear how things are going for us and how you can specifically be praying next week.

Thank you again for your prayers and support, and we look forward to sharing with you the great things God will do and show us in our trip!

In Him,

Hilary (for Wayne and Addie)

10 Day Weather Forecast...

Tuesday- 32F Sunny
Wednesday- 41F Rain/Snow
Thursday- 34F Cloudy
Friday- 30F Cloudy
Saturday- 81F Sunny
Sunday-80F Sunny

Yes...we're going to Senegal this week!

I am thankful...

...for so great a salvation.

...that God is worthy to be praised.

...that God chooses to use us in His plan.

...that God has given us a clear vision and plan for our future.

...for my husband who loves me and cares for me.

...that I have a husband whom I can respect and follow.

...for my baby girl.

...for my education.

...for my heritage.

...that God is not done changing me yet.

...for the Holy Spirit, the helper that Jesus promised.

...for technology.

...that we have people in Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas who get excited to watch Addie.

...for books.

...did I mention Wayne and Addie?



Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thankful for!

2 weeks to go!

Two weeks from today, Wayne and I will be on our way to Senegal! Yes, there will be tears from me as we leave Addie here in Iowa, but we are also very excited about the trip. I just found out today that they were supposed to have one of the retreats and teaching times for the women this weekend, but it was postponed until the weekend we get there! So, we will arrive in Dakar at 5:00 am on Saturday morning, then we will drive straight to Thies (about 50 miles inland). In Thies, I will be able to go and see the women's program (I'm not sure if it will be in French or one of the tribal languages, either way, I won't understand much!). I am very excited about this opportunity as this is one of the reasons that we chose Senegal. We will also get to see where the Bible College, ITES, will be built. On Sunday, we will head back to Dakar and then the team there has planned the week for us. We are so excited to finally be going and seeing where we will be living soon!

Please pray that the trip will be productive for us, that we will be able to meet a lot of people and get a good feel for the ministry and possible living situations. Please also pray that we will stay healthy and alert as this is a very quick trip! I don't think Addie needs any prayers as she will be spoiled here by her grandparents and aunt and uncle! Pray for me though, as I sure will miss her! (Wayne will too, but he doesn't cry like I do:)

And just in case you were wondering why it will be so hard to leave her, check out this cuteness.

I'm looking forward to Muslim culture

The latest issue of Time magazine has an article about the differences between Western cultures and Muslim cultures. The writer, Carla Power, quoted a Muslim scholar who once wittily remarked about the differences, "You Westerners make love in public and pray in private. We Muslims do exactly the reverse." Carla Power summarized the differences like this:

"What's decent to do in public? The French have no problem with bare breasts on billboards and TV but big problems with hijab-covered heads in public schools and government offices. . . In the Islamic world, religion is out of the closet: on the streets, chanted five times daily from minarets, enshrined in constitutions, party platforms and penal codes. Sexual matters are kept discreet."

What I found incredibly interesting and revealing about our Western culture is that after the article identifies the difference, it says nothing about why religion is private in the West. The article proceeds to discuss how Muslim cultures have responded to sexual issues made public, but ignores why we have such trouble discussing religion.

While I am painfully sorrowful that Muslims have not embraced Jesus for who is really is but just acknowledge Him as a prophet, I look forward to the fact that Muslims at least believe it's an important issue. So much is wrong with our culture when discussions about whether or not someone has come and truly conquered sin, or even what is sin are taboo. Religion is taboo but Paris Hilton remains newsworthy. I'm going on record right now as saying, I look forward to more news about religion than Paris Hilton.

Train up a child in the way she should go...

Today at noon, the Wolfpack will take on the Tarheels in football. Very few people in the country care about this game, but two out of three in this home do.

Please pray for the other member of this family.

Why Move Back to Dallas?

We really miss the traffic. . . . . Just kidding!

Actually, the reason for moving back surfaces a big prayer request. The main reason we're moving back is to focus on preparing for Senegal. We have greatly enjoyed our time working at Emmaus Bible College. But, the job has involved a lot of travel; which has made preparing for Senegal difficult.

I will be working part time in engineering and we will be living rent-free with some friends. That will help us to both save money and also focus on preparation for Senegal. Our main prayer request is for discipline as we transition into another phase of life. Some specific things we hope to get accomplished are:

• learning French
• spend more time meeting with people and casting our vision for what we hope to see God doing in Senegal
  
• finish our reading list from our mission board (we're probably half way)
• save money
• eat cheddar fries at Snuffers

We are also incredibly excited to reconnect with our home church. We miss our friends in Dallas.

Praise Update from the MBB conference

The following is a praise update from the Muslim Background Believers Conference that we attended last week. One of the specific prayers that we all prayed was that more Muslims would receive dreams and visions to lead them to Christ.

"Sunday we received a report from one MBB with a huge praise report. After joining in prayer for Muslims to receive visions and dreams, her brother whose body was broken down the right side due to a care accident, said he had dreamed of flying with a white bird and being baptized in a pool. When the brother awoke, his body was completely healed and he could walk again. He is now seeking a Bible and more answers about being baptized. Praise the Lord!"

Pray that God would continue to use this to draw people to Himself!

Cheddar Fries part 2 (really just an update!)

Our recent trip to Dallas for the weekend contained several exciting events for us. Our first stop in Dallas was for our favorite food in the whole world, Snuffers cheddar fries. If you live in Dallas and have eaten at Snuffers before, your mouth is probably watering right now just thinking about the cheese fries with ranch dressing. If you haven’t ever tasted them, I’m sorry. But even better than the cheese fries this weekend (which we were able to squeeze in twice!) was the chance that we had to connect with old and new friends at the first annual Muslim Background Believers (MBB) Conference put on by Gospel for Muslims. We thought that this would be a good training tool as we prepared to serve in Senegal, but were blessed beyond what we thought when it not only turned out to be good training, but great encouragement as well. We were able to meet with and talk to several MBB’s and missionaries who are or were involved in Muslim evangelism. Here are just a few of the highlights of the conference:

First, I was again reminded that, as Jim Elliot says, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The first session at the conference was on the cost of discipleship. I must admit that I sometimes still worry about moving to Africa, about taking a child to Africa especially. Although I have heard it before, and believe that God knows what is best for us and that the risks involved with what we are doing are worth it, I occasionally need to be reminded of this. I had tears streaming down my face as the speaker reminded us that God will always redeem the sacrifices we make and suffering we endure. It may not be in our lifetime, but He works it all for His purpose, and it is worth it.

Second, like I said, we got to meet and reconnect with many people who are interested in Muslim evangelism. One such person we met Saturday morning as we were walking up from the parking garage (yes, it was a huge church!) to the breakfast. Angelique and her family are planning on moving to Tunisia in 2009 to build relationships with people and plant churches. Through all of our conversations that day, it was encouraging to hear and share the struggles and excitement we are going through with someone who is in the same situation as us! We also had the chance to meet a couple who work at a church in Arlington, Texas, and who have made several trips to West Africa. The most exciting thing is that they told us they have a couple of people in their church who grew up as MK’s in Senegal and who know Wolof (the main tribal language). This may give us one more chance while we are preparing to go to Senegal to meet with and talk to someone who can give us insight and advice on living and serving there.

Finally, a highlight of the conference for us was hearing the testimonies of the MBBs. Their stories differed greatly – some came to Christ because of visions and dreams, others because of reading scriptures, others through the witness of friends – but all shared this in common, they were triumphant stories of people being led out of darkness and into a relationship with the living God! Most all of them came to Christ at a cost as well. Their families have disowned them, some were beaten, and many are still praying for the salvation of their lost families. It was so good to see their joy and zeal for the Lord.

Addie had a great weekend too! She was spoiled by her Aunt Kara on Saturday and her friend Katherine on Friday. We are so blessed to have friends and family wherever we go!

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for us as we continue our preparation for Senegal. Our big prayer request is our upcoming trip in December! Wayne and I will be heading over to meet our team and look at the college, possible cities we may live, schools for Addie, and anything else we can fit in in just one week. We are excited to be able to share with you what God teaches us through this trip!

Please also pray for us as we are beginning a time of transition. Wayne has only 3 more weeks left to work at Emmaus before we are finished with the ministry here. We will then take our trip and spend the rest of the month packing our apartment and deciding what to do with all our stuff (some we will pack for Senegal, some we will get rid of, some we will need in the near future). We are excited about where the Lord is leading us, but transition times can always be a bit stressful. Please pray that our faith in God will be strengthened through this.