Sicap Family

 

After 8 months of living in Dakar, Senegal, we have moved to a new neighborhood. We moved for a couple reasons but mainly to be closer to where our church gathers and to be closer to our host family. At first, the idea of moving didn’t sound that exciting. We had grown quite comfortable in Castor and after all, its all we knew. We knew where to go to get the stuff we needed and we knew a lot of the people that worked in the immediate area.

The first time we looked at the new apartment it was very dirty, felt very small and just the fact that it was in a different neighborhood made it unattractive. However, we did commit to the move and with the help from our host family and other NTM personnel, we began to make life in Sicap Liberte 1 work.

Starting all over again has been an exciting experience. What makes it so different from moving into the other apartment is that this time around we have some French language under our belts. It was fun to see what were capable of. For example, Cathren ordered some custom made furniture and arranged for it to be delivered to the house. I communicated with a plumber and an electrician to fix a ton of problems we had with the apartment, and figured out how to work a prepay electric meter to get power to our house.

Aside from work, we a

lso got to start right away with talking to neighbors. Please pray with us that we can establish deep and meaningful relationships. It will take leaving our house and our comfort zone to make this happen. It’s really no different then it is in the states. I just talked with some friends yesterday and they were telling me about how God has changed the way they view their neighborhood. It is no longer just the place that their house sits. It’s the specific location that God has places them to serve others and to be the hands and feet of Christ! That was big encouragement to me.

Now that we are settled and the house is in good working order, we love this place. I can barely begin to explain the difference between our old place and our new neighborhood. Our old apartment was in business district on a main road. Sicap Liberte 1 is almost completely residential and we are right in the center of it with a sand soccer field as our front yard.

Please pray for the girls also. They are sharing a room and after a month are still transitioning. We had our first full night of sleep just Saturday. It’s difficult for me as an adult to always remember how they might be feeling with all these changes.

Anyway, enjoy the virtual tour and feel free to ask us any questions!