Pastor Dan's Blog Pastor Dan will be in Senegal from the 16th to the 30th of March. He will be speaking at a conference and meeting with the entire group of Alliance missionaries to see how we can work with them to bring the gospel to Senegal.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Final Thoughts
I am sitting in the Detroit airport just a little while from boarding my last flight and landing in Elmira. I have already stopped at Wendy’s and gotten caught up on American cuisine! I am very ready to be home! This will be the last post that I make and I’ll try to catch you up on the last few days and wrap this whole thing up. Saturday and Sunday were great days in Dakar but I am not sure that I was very good company! I was so tired and so ready to be home that it was tough to concentrate on my last few “appointments” with the missionaries. On Saturday, the Durbin’s took me to the local zoo. It was insane! You can literally reach out and touch the animals, didn’t feel quite as safe as a good old American zoo. I handed an ape my water bottle and he popped the top off and slowly sipped it until it was gone. It was fun to watch until the other ape started throwing things at us and we had to take off! After the zoo we did some souvenir shopping and then headed over to Jeff and Carrie Amstutz’s house for dinner. I got to have the unique experience of riding in a Senegalese bus which is really the size of a 15 passenger van and is stuffed with about 20 people. Everyone was giving us these really strange looks, apparently they don’t see many white people on these things and it makes them very curious. Carrie is an amazing cook and we had a great dinner together. After I beat Ryan at chess (I hope he’s reading this because we have very different versions of how the game ended!) we sat up on the roof and talked for about an hour or so. Jeff and Carrie work with CAMA services and they shared some of their heart and Vision for relief and development work in Senegal as well as the rest of West Africa. This is a great couple with great hearts and a passion for what God has called them to do. I am not quite sure if there is a way that we can partner with them but I definitely want to look into it further. On Sunday we attended the international church that the Bubnas now pastor. It was a great service and, because it was in English, I actually understood everything and could participate. The Bubnas treated us to lunch at an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant and shared a little more about what God is doing in their lives and in the church. From there I was shuttled off to spend some time with Andy and Lauren Babyak and their 3 little boys. Andy has a Vision for a training center that would begin as an English teaching center and develop into a business and leadership training institute. His heart is to reach the professionals among the Wolof people in Senegal and trust that God will work through them to reach larger groups of people. They are heading home in a few months for home assignment and will be Missionaries-in-Residence at Toccoa Falls College, an Alliance school in Georgia. Andy will also be starting his PhD degree while he is home. Sunday night I got on a plane and flew into Paris. I waited 40 minutes for a shuttle to my hotel and when it got there I asked the driver if he was going to my hotel and he gave me this weird look and just pointed off to the side. I had been standing right next to the door of my hotel; it was attached to the airport! I don’t think that I changed France’s opinion about Americans! I had time to shower and then jumped in a cab to start my day in Paris. I won’t bore you with the details but I thoroughly enjoyed the city and was blown away by all of the amazing architecture and history. Someday I would love to take my wife and spend a few days. The Louvre alone was worth spending a month in. Most of you know that I’m not a real artsy kind of guy but to see things like the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa, it was pretty amazing and I was very upset when the tour ended. After 8 hours of tours (two separate tours) I was able to meet with Liz Durbin’s brother, Tim Meier. He and his wife have been in Paris for the last few months as missionaries. I was blown away by some of the things that he shared with me. I have always kind of assumed that all of Europe was like America when it came to Christianity. In the back of my mind I always thought that missionaries in France had it made! Tim shared that France is one of the darkest nations in the world and that less than 1 percent of the population would identify themselves as Evangelical Christian. It is about the same percentage as the Wolof people in Senegal! Tim is a fiery and passionate guy and I came away from our dinner very excited about some of the opportunities that God has presented to him in Paris. I would love to explore things with him a little bit further and see if there is a place for BRAC to come alongside the Meiers and partner with them as well. So, it’s over and I’m back in the States. I still have a lot of thinking and praying to do and there is so much to process that it will take a few weeks or even months to have a clearer picture of what god wants us to do. I can’t wait to sit down with the Elders and hash some of this out. I think that we will be able to partner with a couple of missionaries in Senegal that are doing some very different things. I would like to explore things with Tim further and I certainly want to stay connected with the Banks family in Haiti and maybe formalize a partnership with them. This has been a great experience and I want to thank the Elders and all of you for allowing me this opportunity. I am not sure what things will look like in specifics but my prayer remains the same that God will give us a passion for the lost and for missions and that we will be able to make some very real connections with families that will help us to become a bigger part of what God is doing across the world. They are calling my flight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you all on Sunday!
posted at 06:56PM	comments

Friday, March 26, 2010

Sleeping
I just had a missionary that shared with me about the possible effects of the malaria medicine that I am taking. Guess what they included? Sleep issues and crazy dreams! Considering that the erratic sleep patterns began within days of taking my first pill, I'm going to take the leap and assume that this is the reason that my sleep has been so nuts! It seems to be every other night that I really struggle and sometimes it's easy to fall asleep and then I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall asleep again. Other times its impossible to fall asleep until I finally fade away around 3 or 4 and wake up again at 6 or 7. I feel better knowing that there is a reason and that it probably is not permanent! Thanks again for your prayers and e-mails!
posted at 10:27AM	comments

Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday the 26th
The last few days have been a blur. I have reached the point where fatigue and exhaustion have taken their toll and I am ready to be home. My erratic sleeping patterns have continued, I was up for good at 2:30 Thursday morning! I got some sermon prep done and finished a couple of books. Even last night (Thursday) I was able to only manage about 6 hours of sleep when i finally could have slept in indefinitely. I'm not sure how much longer I am going to remain upright! The sessions on Wednesday went well. On Wednesday night, the last session, I finally felt like I relaxed and just preached. My prayer is still that God would use His Word in some way to speak to each of these families. As a thank you, they gave me a couple of Senegalese soccer jerseys and an amazing bowl and stand (for the bowl) that I will show you and share the significance of with you when I get back. The gifts were very generous and thoughtful. I am so glad that these families were able to come and unwind at a retreat like this. I think that the temptation for some would be to question why the missionaries would spend 4 days at a gorgeous retreat and spend most of that time relaxing (and eating!). But after spending the time in their homes and seeing the work that they are putting in and the ways that they are immersing themselves int he culture and language of Senegal, I have no doubt that 4 days is probably not long enough for them. They were so eager to be together, to compare stories, to hear the reports of the other teams, and to worship in their own language. Please pray that the encouragement and rest that they received would be enough for the days that lie ahead for each of them. On Thursday morning I went to a local Animal Reserve with Stan and Jaynee Walker. They are CMA missionaries that work in Administration and Bookkeeping for the West Africa region. They have the most adorable little miracle baby that I have ever seen. They were told for 18 years that they could not have a child and then they were blessed with the happiest, smiliest (not sure that's a word), cutest little guy in the world. We had a blast at this park together. I got to see warthogs, giraffes, zebras, water buffalo, rhinos, and all sorts of amazing birds just living out in the bush. The first animals that we came across as we drove onto the land were packs of zebras and elk (I think they were Elk). I was still a little unsure of being as close as we were to wild animals and I was constantly making sure that they were a safe distance away from the car as I took pictures. I had the window down and the guide reached into the window from where he was sitting in the back to tell me to look at something. When he touched my shoulder, I thought it was one of the animals and I jumped so high in the seat that I hot my head on the ceiling! My heart just about stopped! I thought the guide was going to pass out because he was laughing so hard! Anyway, it was a great opportunity and a very different experience than an American zoo. We headed back to Durbin's on Thursday night. We were pulled over on the way back to Dakar. Apparently the cops are always looking to make a little bribe money on the side and I got to watch the game that gets played when they pull over a foreigner. He wrote us out a ticket for some trumped up offenses and we had to go and find the local police department to take care of it before Jeff (Jeff and Carrie Amstutz were driving) could get his license back from the cop. He finally got it all sorted out and they didn't make him pay anything but the whole process took the better part of an hour. I felt like the whole thing was my fault because I had prayed for the "full missionary experience!" The Durbin's and I grabbed dinner and ice cream out on the town. We were able to have a great time talking and comparing notes on different things. Then we headed over to the Dakar Academy dorm and watched my Syracuse Orangemen get the stuffing beat out of them by Butler in the NCAA tournament. Kind of disappointing! This morning we walked around the Durbin's neighborhood and I got to meet some YWAM missionaries as well as many Ryan and Liz's Senegalese friends. I am still blown away by how quickly Ryan and Liz have become an integral part of that neighborhood. They people love them and everywhere we went there were children yelling Ryan's name. What an amazing couple to be able to throw themselves into a new culture and figure out how to become a part of it. I'm gonna grab a quick nap and them head out to the youth center with Ryan and Liz. I love you all and miss you. Dan
posted at 08:50AM	comments

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Monday and Tuesday
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! What a blessing it was to open up my mail this morning and find so many e-mails from my friends and family! Keep writing, I'm lonely! I do not have the time to write to each of you but I want you to know how thankful I am. Monday was a fairly uneventful day. I spent the morning studying and then loaded into the car with the Davis family to make the three hour drive to the Field Retreat. I am definitely beginning to get a little bit homesick and I think that Skype makes things a little worse! I spent time online with the family late on Sunday night (midnight Senegalese time) and it is hard to see them and not be able to be with them. Catherine was tired and ever since she was a baby, when she's tired she wants her daddy. So she was sobbing into the computer that she wanted me to come home right then, broke my heart! I had another very emotional experience that I wasn't expecting, in the opening session, as we sang "The Old Rugged Cross," I was just overwhelmed again to be in Africa and to be surrounded by the entire team of Alliance missionaries for the country of Senegal. I got a little choked up,as a third generation Alliance pastor, this is just such a special experience. Monday night's message went well, I had to cut it way short because we'd already been in there for almost 2 hours and everyone was hungry! At dinner, we all eat in this pavilion that is used for the entire resort, there are probably a couple hundred other people here besides the missionaries. One of the missionaries pointed up and showed me that there were bats all over the ceiling! At one point in the meal the lights went out and it was pitch black, I immediately imagined that those bats were going to head straight for me! Thankfully the lights came right back on and the bats hadn't moved. I got to sit with the Stephens family(church planting in St. Louis), the Timberlakes(dorm parents at Dakar Academy), and the Amstutz family(CAMA services, that's the relief arm of Alliance missions). We played the traditional Alliance game of "find the connection" and I was able to find some link to each of the families I've met. The Alliance is truly a small family! I had another night of fitful sleep, I'm not sure my body has adjusted yet to even the short four hour time difference. I finally fell asleep about 2 AM and then woke up several times before getting out of bed at 6. Please pray that I will sleep! Tuesday I enjoyed breakfast on the ocean and spoke at the morning session. I had to cram two sermons into one and felt very disjointed and disoriented, hopefully God will still use it. They also had a time for the missionaries to say their farewells to Ryan and Lizz. What a unique opportunity for me to be able to hear the impact that this couple has had on the missionaries here. God has used them and I am so incredibly proud of that kid. After the session, as I was walking back with Ryan, we came across a whole bunch of monkeys running around. Ryan was laughing at me because I was so excited, I guess I acted like a little kid but I've never seen monkeys outside of a cage before! They were out in the wild and I had a blast watching them for a bit and I hope I can find them again before I leave. Ryan and I went out to play some basketball and I am going to use the climate change and the heat for the reason that I got beat by him and for the reason that I had to quit because I ran out of gas before the rest of the guys, including two "veteran" (read old!) missionaries. I got to eat lunch with Joel and Elin Bubna. They are pastoring an International Church in Dakar and have been on the field for 20 years. They had some great insights into this whole idea of building a relationship with the missionaries and partnering with them. They gave me a lot to think about and I really enjoyed getting to know them a little bit more. And that brings you up to date! I'm getting ready to study for a couple of hours and then do another session in a little bit. Please pray for: My family, I miss them and I hope they miss me! My sleep, if the sleepless night continue I'm going to be hurting when I get home! Wisdom for how God wants to use us to partner with Senegal. The food, so far it has been very seafood heavy at the retreat and I really don't eat seafood. Pray that I'll grow up and try new things! It's just hard when most of the fish still have eyeballs! I love you all and I miss you. Dan
posted at 09:53AM	comments

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Saturday and Sunday
If you are reading this, send me an e-mail please! It is weird to just send these off and not know if anyone is even following them! Plus, I am a bit homesick and would love to hear from some of you. pastordan@beartownroad.org It's been a busy couple of days. I was exhausted last night (only slept about 3 hours on Friday night) so I went to bed early and didn't get to write anything. We packed a whole lot into one day! Doug and Karen have been unbelievable hosts and I have appreciated all of the time that we have been able to talk. They have shared their hearts and their insights with me and I have learned so much from them these last few days. Actually, I've been surprised by the conversations that I've been able to have with all of the missionaries. They are all amazing people and they all have hopes and dreams but also frustrations and fears. I've been able to talk about things that you don't get to talk about during a Missions conference. I've been able to spend time with first term missionaries and hear about the struggle to adjust and the ways their children have struggled with all the changes. Being with the entire family, spending time in their homes, playing on the floor with their kids, holding their babies (probably not surprised by that one!) and eating with them has given me a glimpse at what life is like for them. You cannot learn this from simply listening to stories when they come home. To see them interact with the Senegalese people, to see them struggle to find the right word in French or Wolloff, to hear them as they talk about their vision, it is all a very powerful thing and I am convinced that the Alliance should make it a mandatory thing for pastor's to visit the field. I think what has happened is that growing up in the Alliance, I have always held missionaries up on a pedestal. Now, don't get me wrong, I still have the utmost respect for them and even a bit of awe at the sacrifices they are making, but for the first time I am getting to see them as people just like you and I. Again, it is a powerful thing and my prayer when I left was simply that God would open my eyes to what He wanted me to see and I believe that He is doing that. I'll try to capture the last two days quickly. Doug and Karen (this is what I started to share with you at the beginning but I got a little sidetracked!) took me to the property that the missionaries have purchased just down the road from the local university. The Vision is to use this as a place to teach English, among other things. The University here in St. Louis is where the best of the best of the Senegalese people go to study. The one in Dakar is more international, serving all of West Africa. This one, however, is predominantly Senegalese and these will be the leaders of this country. So, in a country that is solidly Muslim, where Islam is a part of who they are and a part of their cultural and family life, where people will not respond to an open presentation of the Gospel, how do you reach them? You look for any way you can to become a part of their lives. That is the idea behind the English Center. These University students desperately want to know English because it will open doors for them. It is the international language of commerce. They are open to the Bible being used as a textbook to teach English, it's a way to introduce them to the Good News in a context that they are open to! We need to be praying for this Center! It's also a project that we may be able to get behind as a church. If they can reach the future leaders of Senegal with the gospel, they can eventually reach the whole nation. It's a great idea but without God's Hand moving, it is only that, an idea. Only the power of God unleashed through the prayers of His people can take this idea and use it to change nations. For lunch we went to a hotel on the peninsula for little Brianna Snowdon's birthday party. On the way there we saw something going on in the street and saw a man pull a gun and threaten another guy as a crowd gathered. Doug didn't seem concerned so I tried to pull that off too and failed! I was a wee bit frightened. Doug said he had never seen that before in the time he had been in Senegal, I guess I'm just lucky. The party was fun and relaxing and there was a beautiful pool there. Unfortunately, I grabbed my swimsuit when I packed and failed to consider that last summer was 40 pounds ago! I changed into it and realized that it was not going to stay up! That was definitely not the impression that I wanted to make on the missionaries so I had to be content to just sit and bask in the sun. This was followed by a fascinating (even though I was now feeling the fact that I didn't sleep well the night before) tour of the city center by horse-cart. Then we (the Conkles and I) went to the Stephens (Mike and Valerie and their 4 boys) for a traditional Senegalese meal. It was fish and rice, with some onions and other vegetables served on two huge platters…on the floor! Being as super flexible as I am, this was not easy for me to get through a meal on the floor. It also went against every rule that I was brought up with to eat this meal with my hand (right hand only). The meal was incredible and incredibly messy. You took the rice and the sauce and rolled it up with the vegetables into a ball and then popped the ball in to your mouth. They said that in the Senegalese culture, it would be rude to finish and them wipe the excess rice off your hand, the hand needed to be licked clean. I was good until that point! I couldn’t bring myself to lick off my hand and offended everyone in the room (thankfully they were all Americans) by going in to the bathroom to wash up. Great meal, great fellowship, great day. Went home and crashed early! Sunday was a little bit more laid back. I went to church in the local Brethren church with a few of the missionaries and their families as well as some Woloff believers. A man from Niger brought the message and Doug translated for me. It was from Judges 6 , the story of Gideon and was a very good message. It was very frustrating to meet several new people and not be able to communicate with them at all, this is definitely the hardest part of these trips for me. I want to talk to everyone, I want to ask questions and interact and I’m left standing there with a stupid grin on my face and nothing to say! Imagine how it is for these missionaries when they first get to the field! After church I spent the afternoon with Brian and Michelle Davis and their four kids. This really felt like home and the way our dinners our as a family, it was great. What an amazing family and what beautiful kids (three boys and a girl). After lunch we talked and I got to play on the floor with Jacob and Jonathan’s Playmobile toys. When the adults would lose our focus, Jacob would remind us, “no talking, just playing!” The few hours flew by. The evening was spent walking around the end of the peninsula and picking up a few shells for the kiddos back home. Then a stop at a local pizza place. When we were there, I was able to catch the local wrestling match on TV. This is a huge event in Senegal and it is advertised on billboards and talked about by everyone. It is basically two humongous men inside a ring with seemingly no rules. You can kick, you can punch, and the first one whose upper body hits the dirt loses. It was over in about 20 seconds and immediately you heard shouting and cheering out in the streets and car horns were blowing. It reminded me of living in Ohio when the Buckeyes won the National Championship in college football, there was that much excitement! Doug and Karen and I spent dinner talking and sharing and then continued the talk at home until a few minutes ago when I began to write. They really are two of the most amazing people I have ever met and I feel like we’re old friends already. Well, I’m sure that I’ve written enough! Please pray, the retreat starts tomorrow. Still a little intimidated to be doing this but I am praying that God will use me to give each of these amazing men and women them words they need to hear from Him. I’ve included a picture that illustrates the darkness that can be found here in Senegal, how lost the people are…actually it’s just a girl in a Steelers jersey! I can’t escape it, even in Africa!
posted at 04:00PM	comments

Friday, March 19, 2010

Friday Night
I just had dinner with the coolest family! Jon and Fiona Snowdon are just wrapping up their first term and getting ready to head back to the US in about three months. They have three beautiful daughters who are definitely not shy and made me feel like their long lost best friend. The middle one (5 years old) crawled right up onto my lap and was filling me in on the important details of her life. It was such a blast. Jon and Fiona shared their heart for ministry with me and some of the struggles of a first term missionary as they try to adjust and fit in. What a blessing they were to me. Each missionary I have met has such a passion for the people of Senegal and for seeing Muslims come to Christ. They are willing to work even when there seems to be no progress. To convert from Islam is to give up and sacrifice everything. It means being disowned by your family and shunned by your friends and when you live in a culture that places such an emphasis on relationships and family, that is a devastating thought. Every Alliance pastor should have the opportunity to do this kind of trip. It is having an impact on me far beyond what I expected and I pray that I can bring a new perspective and passion to Missions in our church. I am going to bed. In the background is the wailing of voices from the local mosque as they broadcast sermons and prayers. It breaks my heart to hear and see such devotion to a god that cannot save. It's 10:30 here and I have no idea how long this will go on but it is LOUD and if I close the windows I will sweat to death! Good Night!
posted at 04:24PM	comments

Friday, March 19, 2010

Friday
Not much to report on today as it has mostly been a travel day. I was picked up this morning by Mike and we headed off to Saint Louis. It was about a four hour drive. I am now surrounded by a very different landscape than what I saw in Dakar. I am almost in the Sahara desert and you can tell, This area definitely has a more desert feel to it. There is sand everywhere and the plants are shorter and look much drier. I am right on the border of Mauritania, a country that is an Islamic republic and is completely closed to missionaries. If you remember, when Evan was with us he shared about a missionary friend of his who was killed by the Taliban last year, that was just over the border in Mauritania. I had a great ride up here, Mike has a great heart and a passion for the Senegalese and I loved hearing his Vision for this place. They are working with the upper class here in St. Louis as well as with the poorest of the poor, young boys who are given by their families to the "spiritual leader" who forces them to beg on the streets in return for teaching them the Koran. Of course, all of the money goes to the religious leader. These men are called Mariboos. (I'm sure that is spelled wrong but it's phonetically correct!) The way it works here is that the followers of Islam are devoted to an individual mariboo, he is the religious leader and when he dies, one of his sons becomes the new leader. This man calls all of the shots and his followers are wholly devoted to him. You see pictures of these different mariboos all over Senegal, on necklaces (imagine if I asked all of you to wear my picture around your neck! That's the reality here!), on windshields, and various other places. They give their money, their devotion, and as I said, even their children to these men. They are very powerful! The boys that beg for him sleep on the street, forage for food (often eating trash), and are beaten if they do not bring in their daily quota of money. The missionaries have begun to care for these boys, feeding them and giving them some basic teaching. The work here really covers both extremes. Every missionary I meet with has a slightly different focus and God is using all of them as a team to reach this hardened country. I am spending the next couple of nights with Doug and Karen Conkle and their church planting team. They are going to keep me pretty busy right up until the retreat that I will be speaking at. Thank you all for your prayers, I slept like a baby last night! Keep praying. Dan
posted at 11:28AM	comments

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Thursday the 18th
After another night of fitful sleep, it was tough to rouse myself out of bed to get ready for the day. Evan and Jewel had left already and I had to get ready for Ryan Durbin to pick me up at 9:00. I stumbled into the shower and after a few moments was thoroughly awakened by some kind of huge bug with tons of legs that tried to eat my feet! Thankfully the house was empty so no one heard me scream like an elementary school girl! I was now wide awake! Ryan showed up and we picked up another missionary, Mike, and headed for the ferry to Goree Island. This was a major port used in the slave trade. I have heard the history lessons, I have seen "Amistad" and "Roots" and I have visited many stops along the way in the underground railroad. None of these things prepared me for the experience that I had today. To be off the coast of Africa, walking through a house that was used to house and sell people, was an incredibly moving and powerful thing. My heart broke at the cruelty that those humans, created in God's image, were forced to endure. I could picture them huddled in the dark stone walled rooms, 20-30 squeezed into a space about the size of my dining room at home. The heat would have been unbearable, the darkness so complete and the hopelessness of waiting to be sold and shipped off had to be too much for even the strongest body and mind to bear. They showed us the room where they crammed the children as they waited to be sold and the room where they literally bred slaves, taking those with the most desirable qualities and using them to impregnate the female slaves. I stood at the base of the stairs where the slaves would have been led up to the platform to be evaluated and auctioned and felt sick to my stomach as I pictured the things that had happened in that place not so many years ago. I saw the chains that meant the end of freedom for so many. Finally, we came to a door in the back of the complex that led directly to the ocean. It was out this door, in the ocean below, where the sharks would circle and wait for those slaves that were sick or too small to be thrown out into the sea. It was out this door that many of the slaves were led onto a plank and directly onto a waiting ship to begin the new lives that were forced upon them. Some chose to jump to the sharks below rather than endure what they knew lay ahead for them. This was one of the most moving experiences of my life and it highlighted again for me the lostness and utter evilness of mankind. That is what we are capable of, that and so much worse and yet God loves us and sent His son to save us! It made the words of a former slave trader, that were penned long ago, seem so much more real to me. "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!" In his Grace, God saves sinners. The Pastor in me began to draw the obvious parallels between that human condition and our spiritual condition. The Bible says that we are all slaves to sin. All of us are lost and hopeless, huddled in the dark, with the shackles of sin weighing us down. While those slaves of Africa waited in vain for a deliverance that would never come, our Deliverance has already arrived. Romans 6:6 tells us that: We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. God has set us free. God has broken our chains and bonds. If the slaves being held on that island had been rescued and set free, would they have ever willingly gone back into slavery? Of course not! It’s a ridiculous notion. But Paul pleads with those of us who have been freed from our slavery to sin to make sure that we leave the chains behind, we don’t run right back to that which ensnared us. Galatians 5:1 says: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. God has delivered us! Do we live like that or are we still huddled in the darkness like those who have no hope? Anyway, I’ve got to learn to keep these shorter! I guess my final thought on the island was that the world has delivered the Senegalese from slavery, but they are still enslaved spiritually and only Jesus can free them from that. This is far more important! Pray for our missionaries who know the Truth, pray that they would be bold in declaring it to a lost nation that is very hard to reach. Quick Update: I spent the afternoon and evening with Liz and Ryan at the youth center that they run. I got to play basketball and other games with the kids, Ryan had them convinced that I was a former NBA player! What a joy to see the way that these two interact with the kids and the way that they love those children. For many, this is the only adult attention they get all day. The Durbins have shown the people that they desire to build relationships with them. They have learned the traditional language of the people, Woloff. You can tell that this means so much to the people that they come in to contact with. They see Ryan and Liz as one of their own. Great Dinner, checked the NCAA scores, talked to the family, now ready for bed. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again. Dan
posted at 03:47PM	comments

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Wednesday the 17th
I spent the day on Wednesday and that night with Evan and Jewel Evans and thoroughly enjoyed their company. It was nice to finally meet Jewel after all of the great things that I've heard about her. I got to sneak in a quick nap and then we headed over to Dakar Academy to watch the girls soccer team dismantle another school 8-0. It was really cool to get a tour of the school and the dorms and to meet some of the staff and the students. It was also neat to get to see an Alliance MK school and to get a feel for the atmosphere of the place because I have several friends who spent their school years in places just like Dakar Academy and it was great to actually be there and experience it firsthand. The soccer field was very interesting. I will never again complain about the field I played on at Nyack! Their field has no grass whatsoever and is a mixture of dirt and sand that just is a broken ankle just waiting to happen. There were several plays where you had to wait for the dust to clear to see what had just happened! Evans dream is to lay sod down but they do not think that they can afford to keep it watered and without that it would not last very long in the heat of Senegal. After dinner we sat around and talked for awhile and I was able to get a feel for the passion that Evan and Jewel have for the lost and for their own relationship with God. Senegal is a tough place to minister, the vast majority of the people are Muslim but this family (along with many missionaries from the CMA and other churches) are trusting that God will bring revival to this land. They are meeting regularly to pray that God would simply give them more of His presence. The rest will come but first, they need a fresh anointing and indwelling of the Spirit of God. What a privilege it was to hear the hearts of these missionaries. My prayer for them will be the same thing, that God will give them more. More strength, more faith, more grace, and more of Himself to complete His work here in Senegal. After talking with my family over the computer, I am going to attempt to get some rest. Good Night!
posted at 09:48AM	comments

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Day 1
My financial adviser is an old friend from my former church in Ohio. I called him up about a year ago looking for some investing advice. I was ready to plunge into the stock market and since it was something completely new to me, I knew I should ask for advice from an expert before I did anything that I would regret later. After asking a few questions he told me that the number one thing that I needed to know before I invested was that investments take time and I needed to be ready to commit for the long haul. He told me that the biggest mistake I could make was to check on a stock every day in order to constantly monitor the highs and lows. I was to make a good investment and then trust that it would prove to be a wise move over the course of time, even if I didn’t see tremendous results right away. This has proven to be pretty good advice over the course of this last year. It has also proven to be good advice for me when it comes to pastoring and the investments that I have the privilege of making each and every day in the lives of those that God has called me to serve. Like stocks, these investments can have highs and lows and there can be times where things look pretty bleak. But, I have to trust that I have made a wise investment and I must be willing to keep investing even when I don’t see the results, even when nothing seems to make a difference, nothing seems to change in the life of the one that I am investing in. Then, every so often, God gives me the great joy of seeing an investment soar. That’s what happened today. Ryan was the answer to my old youth pastors and camp counselors prayers. I can remember them saying to me that they hoped that one day I would have to deal with a punk like me! Ryan was that punk. As I entered into youth ministry, he was my boss’s youngest son, a sophomore in high school who was your typical pastor’s kid. Ryan was so much fun to be around, he was a great kid, but he was also the one that was going to break every rule you set before him and do it with a smile. He frustrated me like no other teen that I ever had in my youth group and there were days when I wondered if he was going to turn out alright. Ryan and I had many long talks, I used every creative method I could think of, I tried love, tough love, and straight up threats, all to no avail. By the time Ryan left for college I was left wondering if God would ever have the opportunity to use the tremendous potential that Ryan possessed. Fast forward 8 years. Ryan is now a missionary in Dakar, Senegal. There is still untapped potential there but He is using all of the gifts and talents that God has blessed him with to serve others with the help of his amazing wife Liz. As I walked down the street with him during my first hours in the country, I was blown away by the connection that he had with the people in his neighborhood. Kids adored him, grown-ups called out to him, old ladies beamed at him when he walked by. We walked down to the youth center that he and his wife have helped to start and I listened to his heart and his passion for the poorest of the poor. He was doing what God had created him to do! It was almost overwhelming for me to see. I truly believe that Ryan would have ended up alright if I had never been his youth pastor. He had a great upbringing with incredible parents. But what a privilege God has given me to have played a small part in his life, to make an investment, to wait when the investment looked pretty shaky, and then to be able to see it reach its potential. God is faithful!
posted at 06:02AM	comments

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Arrival
There is so much that is going through my mind right now. I am new to this blogging thing and I have never been a journaler but I will do my best to capture what the last few hours have been like for me. These last few weeks have been especially busy ones and I have jumped from one thing to the next. So the thought of my upcoming trip was something that was thrust onto the back burner and it was only as I sat in the terminal at JFK and prepared to board my flight to Dakar, Senegal, that it finally hit me. I was on my way to Africa. Growing up in a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, I was exposed to missions from a very early age and it always seemed like the missionaries with the coolest stories, the neatest souvenirs (usually including a huge snakeskin!), and the most passion were from Africa. I have longed for an opportunity to visit this continent for a very long time. God gave me the right connections, opened all the right doors, and I finally have the opportunity to go and see an Alliance mission field in Africa firsthand. I have been battling some sort of cold and had not slept well for the three nights prior to my trip. I was hoping to be able to catch some much needed sleep on the 7 hour flight from NYC to Dakar. That ended up being wishful thinking! I was stuck in the middle of the only row on the plane that actually had three passengers in it. That would not have been that bad by itself but when you couple it with the infant that cried for hours in the seat in front of me and the 4 or 5 year old that kicked my seat for the entire flight (how on Earth did he stay awake?) the conditions did not lend themselves to slumber. So, I arrived in the darkness of night and having been awake for almost 24 straight hours. I am not a good traveler by myself. I rely on my wife to get me where I need to go and as I stood there in the airport I suddenly missed her a whole bunch. After standing in line for almost an hour to get my passport stamped, I was able to grab my luggage fairly easily and head the doors, hoping that someone remembered to come get me. I heard my name and Ryan Durbin, a former teen in my youth group, was waiting there, a sight for sore (and incredibly tired) eyes. We drove to his house and I was not able to see much of anything because it was still so early and so dark. I sat and caught up with he and his wife Liz and when the sun came out, we went up on the roof for a while to get a look around. I was immediately struck by the contrast of my surroundings. It reminded me of when I have visited Haiti. The incredible natural beauty of the ocean and the land seemingly stands opposed to the squalor and poverty that I was looking out upon. Many of the smells and sights were the same as what I have experienced in Haiti. There was the beautiful green of the trees, the noises of goats and chickens. The people were out sweeping the dust and dirt from their porches only to have it settle right back down again. There was the sound of metal clanging in a local metal shop where art and souvenirs are being forged. And everywhere you look there are children, beautiful little kids who light up when you wave or smile in their direction. I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing as much as I can in the days ahead. I am spending today with Evan Evans at Dakar Academy. Tomorrow, Ryan and Liz are taking me out to a port that was formerly a hub in the slave trade. What a vivid reminder of the evil that we are capable of is left to our own nature. Then it’s off to the Northern part of Senegal to the city of Saint Louis (pronounced San Louie) to spend a few days with the missionaries there before heading off to the retreat where I will have the chance to meet all of the missionaries and share my vision for a partnership between Beartown Road Church and the field of Senegal. I am so excited for what God will do in the coming days. Please be praying for the following: 1) That God would use this opportunity to change me. 2) That God would use me to encourage and uplift the missionaries while speaking at the retreat. 3) That I would feel better. My cold seems to be lingering. 4) That I would be able to sleep soundly tonight. I have now been awake for 27 hours and only slept about 4 hours a night Sat, Sun, and Mon. 5) For Beartown Road Alliance Church in my absence. I am thrilled to be in Senegal but my thoughts are never far from BRAC. 6) For my family. Two weeks is a long time to be away. Pray that god would care for them while I cannot. Thanks!
posted at 06:01AM	comments

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pastor Dan's Trip to Senegal
We encourage you to follow Pastor Dan's Blog as he updates you on his trip from March 16th - 30th.
posted at 12:25PM	comments