We got home from the workshop and had a few last precious days with my dad, before he began his journey home. We didn’t really have much time to dwell on that as we turned around and packed for our next trip. We had some veteran missionaries who were back for a few months, were willing to travel down to some of our newer works in Southern Senegal to offer advice, help with strategy and encourage them as a whole. Some of these missionaries were also in the process of learning language so we felt like it would be good for me to head down as well. Which meant that the trip needed to take place before the kids started school and before our new missionaries arrived. It was quite tight, but God is good.
The trip was not without its bumps. About halfway down on our 12 hour drive, Ethan tells me that he feels like there are hammers banging in his head. I touched his head and sure enough he was running a fever. Thankfully pharmacies are everywhere and so we stopped and got him some medicine. Tyler took his turn with it next, but even with being sick our kids were great sports the whole trip. During the drive they were crammed in the back seat with the luggage. We only stopped twice to get out for a minute or two before we pressed on. Yet the boys did amazing.
We visited 3 different teams on the trip. We met with them and discussed what plans they had and what direction they were heading in. We met with each team for 2 days which meant that we never stayed in one spot longer than a few days. It was quite the whirlwind of a trip, but also so good to be able to meet and connect with each of these teams in this way. Our kids enjoyed connecting with the families and Ethan was a great help with the younger kids. The highlight for them was a the stop in the middle where they got to connect with some friends that used to live by us. They built paper boats together and then went out in the pouring rain to let them float down the river forming in the dirt road to see whose would make it the furthest.
I was reminded of how important these trips are. These teams were just recently up in Dakar, but it is something different to actually come to their context into their home and have time with them completely focused on what God is doing there and how things should move forward. In between the meetings I got a lot of time with the wives to talk about how they are doing and the realities they are facing.
We came home and had a few days to unpack, wash laundry and repack to head up to Dakar for a week. It was time to welcome some new missionaries to our field!
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