Celebrating Woman’s Day with the Senegalese

We attended a Woman’s Day celebration at the Senegalese Association in Yegua Verda, Spain. Yegua Verde is a small town in the middle of many green houses about ten minutes from where we live. Yegua Verde means “green mare,” and there is a statue of the green mare made out of metal parts in the middle of the round about in the town. We went to the Senegalese Association’s center to deliver some clothes and attend the Woman’s Day celebration. We enjoyed eating delicious poulet yassa, a spicy African dish made with chicken and onions. This time it was served on tiny pasta instead of rice. Nernah Todop! (Wolof for “very good.”) We also enjoyed listening to the introductions, especially the one from a funny lady from Senegal. She was thanking the Spanish lady officials for coming. She said, “Thank you for coming.” And a few other pleasantries, and then she said, “We need work! We have homes we are renting and children we are feeding, and we need work!” Everyone laughed, but they also knew the seriousness behind her words. Then she danced and other ladies joined in to dance the Senegalese type of dance.

Maria’s Journey

Several years ago Maria came from her home country of Romania to southern Spain. She was looking for work and a better way of life. While in Spain she had a beautiful baby girl and named her Rosa Maria. We met Maria through our “ladies in waiting” ministry. Now she and her baby girl and her husband are traveling back to Romania and then on to Germany to again look for work and a better way of life. Please pray for Maria and her husband as they look for work in Germany. Pray that the Lord will lead them to another line of work and to a personal relationship with Jesus.

The Women’s Class

Norma is from Ecuador and is a member of our Spanish church in Almeria. Every Friday she takes the bus from Almeria to “mi casa” in Roquetas to teach a women’s class. She is teaching ladies from Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, and Mauritania to read, write, speak Spanish, and sew. Norma also loves to talk with her new friends about many things including what she calls “the Word of the Lord.” We are thankful for Norman and her great ministry to these ladies from Africa. Please pray for the women’s class as they meet on Friday mornings.

International Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter we had an Easter party with our kids club at “mi casa.” We started with baking a cake in the shape of a bunny and the children decorated the cake with frosting, candy, and sprinkles. The children learned the American traditions of dying Easter eggs and an Easter egg hunt. The children loved the Easter egg hunt – once they got the hang of it. Our friend, Michiela, from Romania helped the children paint wooden Easter eggs based on a tradition from Romania. Then our pastor talked with the children about different Easter customs in Spain and asked the children about the religious experiences from their home countries, then went on to tell the Easter story which some of them were hearing for the first time. Please continue to pray for our Spanish Baptist Church as they continue to reach out to these children from Africa.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

We were about ready to kill Clara, the sheep, to feed her to our African friends, but as we took a close look at her, I said, “I think she might be pregnant.” So we waited and in about a week we had a beautiful brown lamb, named Clarita. So we decided to kill Randa instead. So today Joel and John came over to Malle’s house early in the morning to kill and cut up the sheep. After the guys chopped it all up in the kitchen we delivered meat to four different African households. Now we are having a bar-b-que at the first house. We are cooking the meat out on a grill near the sheep pen, while the children are picking grass and flowers from the pasture to feed to the sheep in the pen: an interesting African day. Cade just walked by and said, “I want to eat some sheep!”

Banana Boat Prayer Update:

• Please continue to pray for Segunda and her 5 children ages 7,6,4,2, and 4 months. They are from Guinea Bissau.
• Please pray for Christians in the country south of us that are being persecuted. Please pray for the orphans who have been again left without caretakers whom they know and love.
• Thank you for praying for Maria. She is in Germany and is finding work there. Please continue to pray that God would lead her to a better line of work and to a personal relationship with Him.
• Please pray for the African young men in our area as they look for work. Also pray for John as he spends time with them and seeks to be the presence of Christ in their lives. Pray that these young men might begin to understand about a personal relationship with God.
• Please pray for us as we begin to prepare for our time of off-field assignment in the United States. Pray for our Spanish church and other folks who will be carrying on with the ministries while we are not here. Pray that God would use them in a special way and that He would encourage them in this ministry to African immigrants in southern Spain. Please continue to pray for our children’s education adjustments as they study in the states and then return to school in Spain.
• Please pray for Anna. She will be coming to Spain at the end of May to work with us through CBF’s student.go program. She will be working with the African churches to help them begin some children’s ministries. She will also be visiting the African young ladies. Please pray for her as she seeks to be the presence of Christ in their lives