Recent happenings

Kim asked me this morning if I had written on my blog recently, and it dawned on me that it has been over a month since I've done so! That inspired me to catch all of you up on recent happenings. I have been busy organizing school books and cleaning all day, so I thought I would take a break and cool off!

I have since moved houses! I am very excited to be in this new one. It is much bigger and there is no upstairs apartment (hence, no splitting the water bill with anyone!) I am forever indebted to my supervisors for working all this out for me. I know nothing about setting up a house in Africa - what needs to be done or how to get said things accomplished. Now I just need my soon-to-be roommate, Mallory, to arrive!

That is another exciting happening! As many of you know, I only have about 4 months left here in Senegal. Many of you prayed for someone to replace me and God has provided! Mallory is another Journeygirl currently serving here in Senegal, but with another family. Through some changes and reshuffling, she has been assigned to teach my kiddos when I leave! Please pray for her as she prepares for this change. She should be moving chez moi in a few weeks.

Like I mentioned above, I ONLY HAVE 4 MONTHS LEFT!!! I cannot believe it! It is a very bittersweet feeling. I am very excited to be going home (if you didn't notice!), but at the same time, I am sad to leave my friends here. I know I'll be back in Senegal one day - possible short-term mission trips, but I'm pretty sure long-term is not in the future. I am very blessed to have been here for this season. I'll discuss in another blog post how God has broken and changed me since I've been here. Now I am anticipating what God has in store for the future!

Anyways, other recent happenings - we have finished this school year. But I'm not planning on a lazy summer! Yesterday, I went out with Liz and a group of students to a beach area nearby for a day retreat. Liz and I taught these young ladies about purity and what God says about it in the Bible. This is a topic that not many people in this culture talk about. Many parents don't even discuss it with their children! I was very excited (and nervous) to have this opportunity. Now I just pray that these young ladies take the teachings to heart and truly apply them in their lives. As for the rest of the summer, I'll be doing some things with Liz to help prepare for the FOUR Hands-On ladies we have coming in August! Yes, four wonderful young ladies are giving five months of their lives to come serve God with us here! We are VERY excited! But there is a lot of preparation work to do. Pray that everything will come together and please pray for these four beautiful young women!

The one major thing going one right now is rainy season! It's not quite here yet, but it's on its way! People all over are getting ready for the potential floods. My new house is in an area that flooded pretty badly last year. I'm almost 100% that the water will not enter my house, but I know that the road outside my house will be completely full. Yesterday I was watching some lightning in the distance from my roof (sadly, the rain that was with said lightning completely bypassed us,) and I just started praying for all my new neighbors. My heart was broken when I started thinking of what will possibly happen to their houses when the floods come. No, my house most likely will not flood, but theirs will almost definitely do so. Please begin praying for the rains and for all these people. The rains are needed for the crops, but the flooding is an unfortunate side-effect.

That's about it for now! I'll have to begin posting more of my thoughts and insights now that school is out!