Just before leaving to go to Senegal, on the Sunday previous of my departure, I sat in my pastor's office. There we talked for well over an hour, well past the 45 minutes we had initially slotted. I made him arrive at his meeting on appropriately African time.
Before leaving, he read me Psalm 121. The song based off of the Psalm, rendition by Kutless, is currently blaring in my ears over the headset that is plugged into my laptop. It's 6:15 pm, and I'm still at the office on a Friday evening.
Here I wait, hoping that Jesus will "come and give me life" in a way that I can relate to, that I can receive a sort of energetic, personal revival from. I'm quickly discovering that I'm masking my loneliness by my work. Mind you, my loneliness is still not nearly as intense as it was last weekend. But if I'm honest, I love my work right now because it's interesting but also because there are people, it is a social space. It's only when work is over that that social space dies.
And, bizarre as it is, I have yet to be able to find a place in this bustling 1.5 - 2 million person city where I can be entertained (like a theatre etc). I just don't know where to look right now, but I also don't want to do it myself at the moment. I'd rather go with people who already know. I was able to do some of that over the past few evenings, so if things don't turn out tonight, I'm sure I'll survive for an evening. Tomorrow morning, I'm going shopping with one of the staff for things like a fridge and desk and such for my room. So, I'm hoping to learn a lot from him then.
So, don't be too concerned yet for me. I'm just admitting that I feel like there's nothing to do that doesn't come easily (i.e. I can't yet just go to the local theatre and sit down and watch a movie. I don't know if they actually exist; I imagine they do, but since I don't know where they are or how to find them, then for the moment, they don't exist!)
Still, I wrote John (dare I say on blogger my best and closest friend) a 4 page email. Gave me a social outlet. And the "I lift my eyes up" song by Kutless lifted my spirit. I find in those moments a sense of excitment about the possibilities of what can still happen. I'm just impatient for them to happen. And right now, there's an element of personal laziness involved perhaps.
But whichever, I'm still overall enjoying my time in Senegal. My purpose here has been made more clear to me with the passing of time, with the passing of meetings. I'm feeling more and more like this could become a really cool experience for me, despite the seemingly rocky social start.
Whatever. I just need to trust God through it all. Believe He knows best, that He's guiding me in such a way to teach me new things.
NEways, sounds like people are packing up out of the office. We'll see where this goes. . .
5 comments:
"I lift my eyes up" Its a good song by a great band. I would also suggest "strong tower" by the same band.
(Dont know if you have the song)
When I wander through the desert
And I'm longing for my home
All my dreams have gone astray
When I'm stranded in the valley
And I'm tired and all alone
It seems like I've lost my way
I go running to Your moutain
Where your mercy sets me free
[chorus]
You are my strong tower
Shelter over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
Fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And Your face is all I seek
In the middle of my darkness
In the midst of all my fear
You're my refuge and my hope
When the storm of life is raging
And the thunder's all I hear
You speak softly to my soul
Hope all is well.
Prayers are with you.
Blessings. Johnny
(P.S Keep the blog going)
Hi Alex:
Just thought I would touch base and let you know that Mr. Boks and I are praying for you, and thinking of you often!! We pray that you will find someone there who you can talk with and someone who you can just hang out with and have some fun with! All work and play, you know the saying. All is well here, nothing major new which I suppose is a good thing.
Take care of yourself Alex, with all the prayers that people are praying I'm sure that things will turn around quickly.
Love: Mr. & Mrs. Boks
Hi Alex:
Glad to see you're keeping a blog. We will check in periodically to see how you are doing. Meanwhile, we are keeping you in our prayers.
The vanDokkumburgs
Hey Alex,
I have lots of places you can go to meet people:
1) CCF - le Centre Culturel Français. It`s downtown. All the taxis know it. They have a program of concerts etc. every month, and there is a library there as well. I had tons of fun here and saw some really fantastic bands.
2) Dakar Academy - this is the missionary kids school in Dakar. I believe it might be close to where you live (all the WV people I knew lived close to there when I was in Dakar). The teachers at this school are probably close in age to you and speak English. We played ultimate frisbee once a week when I was living there. Corey is a friend of mine - i believe she is still teaching there. I`ll send you her email when I am at home (don`t have it at the office)
3) Wycliffe, which is called SIL in Senegal, has a listserv for missionaries that is invaluable in terms of events and shopping (people leaving and getting rid of stuff etc.). Your WV staff should know about it. In terms of water purification, there is a mission agency Le Phare that makes filters out of plastic buckets and `candles` (ceramic filters). They are cheap - usually around 15,000 cfa, and work like a charm. The price may have gone up since I was there last. Solomon Mendy is the person to talk to there (at least he was when I worked there...)
4) WARC - the West African Research Centre, located in Fann Resicence near the DHL office (most taxis should know where it is). They have a canteen that is open for lunch during the week and it is a great place to meet American students as they run a university exchange program out of here. I enjoyed hanging out here during the week. They also have a library.
5) I`m going to send you the email of the Bowler family, Phil and Judy - they are good friends of mine and have 2 little boys that are crazy. They are also Canadian (we`re a small group in Senegal). I found it nice to hang out with Canadians once in a while. pjbowler@canada.com
6) the Baobab Centre located in Sicap Baobab. This school was started by an old Peace Corps volunteer to teach newbies Wolof, French, and any other language they wanted. There are also a lot of American students here. You may want to see if WV will pay for some language classes at this school. I found them invaluable and it was a great place to meet people.
Hope this helps! It is definitely tough adjusting to a new environment. Loneliness is probably the biggest issue for any missionary/development worker.
Drop me a line and let me know how things are going...I will try to think of some other places for you to meet people too.
-Valerie arwen59@yahoo.ca
Alex,
It is not without sympathy that I read your post. I hope that things will improve and that you will be able to share your zest for life with a friend over there in Senegal. Here in Honduras, I´m taking comfort that the Lord is my shade at my right hand--it´s very hot.
I´m praying for you.
Jillian
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