Mission trip to Senegal

EDITOR’S Note: The following was assembled from blogs from Calvary of Neosho group who traveled to Senegal. Some of the members are back, while return on Feb. 8.

A team of more than a dozen people left Neosho for Senegal, Africa last month.

Organized through Calvary of Neosho, their mission was to reach the Mandyak people of Senegal through a medical mission and leadership training for the church there.

After a flight from Dulles to Dakar, Senegal the group drove to Kaolack, arriving the evening of Jan. 18. The next day they got up, repacked the trucks and left Kaolack by 6 a.m. headed for Sedhiou where they were welcomed by the chief and the entire community.

Although not all the team members will be home until Feb. 8, several members of the team blogged about their experiences in Africa.

When the team arrived in Sedhiou they received what Scott Forbes described as a true African welcome. Children sang, “God is so wonderful!” and “If you’re happy and you know it” and they visited with the chief and his community.

The medical team’s first task was to set up for clinic in Bamacounda, which began Jan. 21 and ran for several days. They prayed with every patient and distributed donated eyeglasses, ran a dental clinic and tried to help with general health needs.

The team held a medical clinic Jan. 25 in the only Mandyak church in the region in Dialadinghoto. The area is difficult to reach because of bad roads. This trip the team was thrilled to make the trip in only three and a half hours. They led two Mandyak women to Christ that day.

Dr. Sam and Bonnie Turner arrived on Jan. 25, as part of what the group calls the “leadership team” working to build local churches for the Mandyak people.

Sam Turner began his trip by meeting with Wycliffe translators for Mandyak and later met with New Tribes Missionary Jefferson Cordiero who planned to meet up with him again later.

Turner said the need is great in a country where Islam is the primary religion.

“As the dawn breaks and the sun begins to rise, you hear a litany of calls to prayer going out from the many, many mosques that populate the city of Dakar,” Turner said. “Prayer this afternoon has just started. One started their call about five minutes ago. Since then three more have started … at various times!

“God is very powerful to the Muslim, but they know very little about his grace. For Him to provide a sacrifice for us is unbelievable. It all about what they do for Allah not what God has done for us.”

On Jan. 26 the medical team traveled from Sedhiou through Gambia toward Dakar. On their last day, Jan. 27, the team visited with children the International Center of Refuge and Development, assessing and treating about 40 children and 12 teachers over a three-hour span, then they packed their bags for home leaving Jan. 28.

With the medical team on the plane for home the leadership team headed towards Sedhiou.

They drove to Kaolack, then stopped at a village market before heading for the Gambian border. The border crossing went well and after ferrying across the river they crossed back into Senegal to begin their mission trip. They have done health training with the villagers, discussing nutrition, dental hygiene, and female health and worshiped with believers at Pastor N’gor Ngom’s church.

“You do not need to know a language to be able to worship with other believers,” Turner said. “There is something in the Spirit that draws believers together in oneness to glorify God.
“We had a great time sharing the Word, singing that which we did not understand, praying for a young man who came forward for prayer, and participating in the Lord’s Supper.”

On Feb. 4 Jefferson Cordiero joined the group in time for a couple of visits: one to a family of some 140 in Bouno and a second in Kountoubou where they presented a “wordless book” soccer ball to a family, toured the town and gave a ride to a local professor who had heard about the medical clinic and asked them about their faith. They continued their mission on Feb. 5 in Dialangikoto.

Sunday the group will prepare for their trip back to the United States.

PRAYER REQUEST

The group asked for prayer for the health of Cindy Daughtery and a native worker named Joseph. Both have been slowly recovering from upset stomachs and aching joints.