Wow! So much has happened in the last month!  Pictures have been posted on my FaceBook page!

Corey and Katie had a fantastic opportunity to go to a meeting of many of the international leaders of SIM in their role as International Advocates for Orality.  This role means they are tasked with raising awareness within SIM about the importance of using oral communication methods in evangelism and discipleship.  They went to Thailand for two weeks, leaving the three girls and me here in Kaffrine alone.  We had a lovely time, and actually were able to complete two weeks of school in addition to a lot of fun things!

A few unfortunate things happened while Corey and Katie were gone.  First, I fell on the steps coming into the house in the rain.  I severely injured my dignity (the two twelve-year-old girls, daughters of teammates, were with me and I fell into a big puddle and got soaked all over with mud!) and twisted my knee.  It has been a difficult recovery and I have had quite a bit of pain from it.  The worst part has been the loss of sleep from the night pain in my leg.  Thankfully, most of this is over, I am sleeping better and I can tell I am on the way to recovery.  I still have a ways to go before I can say my leg is healed, but there is significant improvement.  One of our teammates loaned me a knee brace that has been a great help in a speedy recovery.  Another tragedy is my glasses dropped and a lens broke.  I was able to get some super glue and a friend from the Peace Corps helped me glue the glasses back together.  I can wear them, but need another pair.

I have now had an opportunity to spend the weekend alone with each of the Garrett girls as well as having a weekend with the older twelve-year-old missionary girls who have now gone away to boarding school.  We have done extra special things together and had fun learning more about one another.

We are on our way to Dakar tomorrow for a number of different purposes.

First, there is a SIM Council meeting of all the SIM missionaries in Senegal for two or three days, depending on how the business items progress.

I will also be inspecting my shipment from Abu Dhabi.  I have heard that it has arrived in the port, but I’m not sure whether it has been delivered to the guest house where we will be staying.  Hopefully, I will be sorting through my stuff and selecting the things I absolutely need to have in Kaffrine.  We also need to figure out how to get everything carted out to Kaffrine.

My car still has the “check engine” light on, so we will be trying to get that repaired.  We also will try to get a replacement/backup pair of glasses.

If that isn’t enough to do in Dakar, we will be taking school to do in the mornings at the guest house.

Then when all these things have been tended to, Corey and Katie will go with the girls to the beach for 4 days of Bible Camp with the Wolof children they have been working with here in Kaffrine.  It will be a week of uninterrupted time to talk about the Gospel (see http://garrett.with.sim.org/prayer for more on the Kids’ Camp).  I will be returning to Kaffrine for a quiet time alone for the first time in over four weeks!  I will use these days for some quiet time and also to plan ahead for school!

Praise Prayers:

Praise for good progress in the schooling process, schedule and willingness on everyone’s part to work together

Praise for the good progress in my knee healing

Praise for the shipment being recorded as in the Dakar port

Praise for the good contacts made in Thailand for Corey and Katie and the special time that the girls and I had while they were gone

Prayer requests:

Safe travel to and from Dakar this week and next

All my goods would be present and accounted for

Wisdom in sorting through my stuff to select things to keep and things to discard

Continued healing for my knee

Easy solution to the engine light in my car

Easy and economical replacement for my glasses that will be correct and I will be able to take with me from this trip

Continued good progress with the girls schooling, adding Kindergarten in the afternoons with Wheaton