5 things you may or may not want to know about me

First off here's an update from my previous post about our friend Cassius!

Rainy season is here in full force, which means that the amount of time we have to do ministry is somewhat limited. I recently saw a “6 Things You Might Like to Know About Me” by a fabulous fellow blogger and thought since nothing exciting happened this week other than my makeup being stolen (insert tears and heartache here) I might share some fun things with you. So here’s my 5 things you probably didn’t know about me (and sorry to bore you if you did)!

1. I am an uber SYTYCD fan: For those of you that aren’t fans, first of all you’re missing out. Secondly it’s So You Think You Can Dance. Because we live overseas, I can watch all the episodes in a row and not have to wait a week or two for a new episode. So I tend to wait until the season is over and watch the season in a couple weeks or more or less :) I’m also convinced that somewhere in this body is a fantastic dancer just crying to get out, but every time I let it out it’s not so fantastic. I tried to convince my teammates in 2011 to participate in the National Dance Day with a flash mob in the market here. I had no takers :(

2. I’m pretty adventurous. When we first moved here, B and I would drive down these random dirt roads, out of the city and just explore. We were invited to a lot of villages that way. I’ve explored the bazaars in Marrakech, traversed the streets of Vienna, wandered around Rome and Venice, and trekked through the streets and alleys of Prague. Mostly without maps or knowing where I was going.

On a swinging bridge in Morocco that had lots of holes!!

I will try pretty much anything once (not meats) and have rarely found something I didn’t like. But my favorite thing to do where we are is wander down the random dirt roads/paths. You meet some of the best people that way!!


3. I love love love women’s hair in this country. I wish they wore it naturally instead of in braids, but no matter what it’s always gorgeous.

Click here to check out the amazing Nigerian dress!

I wish that white Midwestern girls could pull off an Afro (yes I said it. I don’t know what else to call it and I’m deeply sorry if that word offends anyone. Please nicely tell me of a different word and I’ll use that!) because I would totally rock that!

4. I was paparazzi for a day! One of the days we were in Prague, a friend and I spotted Jensen Ackles from the show Supernatural and I think he was on a soap opera and we followed him around for a bit, got some pictures and then tried to figure out where he was staying.

Jensen Ackles in the flesh!

It was my only real celebrity sighting and I never thought I would respond that way, but I did. AndI’m not ashamed. He even smiled at me! Insert 12 year old girl scream here!

5. I’m pretty goofy when you get to know me. I think most people think I’m a serious kind of person, but just ask my husband. I’m not. My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. I much prefer comedies to drama. Goofy faces, funny voices and hilarious movie line are reserved for those closest to me.

Headlock!

So you know you’re in when I bust out the Napoleon Dynamite lines and speak in a very bad British accent.



So those are just some random thoughts about myself! What is something random that most people wouldn’t know about you?

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Real faith

Persecution. It comes in many forms. For many of us who live in Western cultures (what does that even really mean….Europe is considered Western but it’s east of the US, north of Africa….Western from what is the question….anyway…) persecution for faith boils down to words, criticism of belief, and arguments. But for so many other people it comes in the form of violence. It makes me sick, physically ill at times to think about people that are being physically persecuted for their faith, no matter what it is.

We thought we were fortunate here in Senegal to only see emotional persecution and minor physical (like not feeding someone) persecution. We’ve seen people steal from believers, lie to their faces, call them names and shun them. But we’d not seen physical violence. Until yesterday.

It was supposed to be a normal trip to the village but when we arrived we knew something was different. A young believer we work with, who is smarter than anyone I’ve met here, more intuitive and who has a natural understanding of some really hard spiritual topics, came up and we could immediately see that something was wrong. He had rope burns on his arms and the gaping wound that was almost completely healed on his leg from two months ago was open and bleeding. It turns out that his brothers had tied him up and tried to drag him around. He fought back and ended up not be drug, but still received wounds. They hit his leg and reopened his almost healed wound. They were mad that he was a follower of Jesus and they thought he was being disrespectful to their father.

A little back-story….”Cassius” has worked for his dad for several years, saving up money so that he could go to Europe and make the real cash. He trusted his dad with his money but after he accepted Christ, his dad refused to give him his money. We’re talking quite a sum of money. Then “Cassius” bought some oil that he was going to send up to Dakar and sell. He put it at the shop and the next day it was gone with no explanation. When he went to his dad to ask about where his oil was, his brother got angry.  Through all of this, “Cassius” has remained faithful, forgiving and respectful of his father and brothers. He’s turned his cheek, figured out ways to get other money, and continued to work every day for his dad.  His brothers sleep in the hut that “Cassius” owns and he refuses to kick them out.

We left “Cassius” last night in the village after begging him to come with us. He said he’d come into town today. When he showed up today, he had new injuries. They tied him up again and beat him telling him to renounce Christ. But he refused. He probably has a broken rib. When we asked him to stay tonight in town, he said that he needed to go back to show them that he wasn’t afraid. To show them that they could physically hurt him, but he would not turn away from Christ.

This response amazes me, makes me wonder. We all say that we would stand for Christ no matter what, but do we actually mean that? If I was tied up, beaten within inches of our lives, would be still cling to Christ? Or would I give him up to stop the pain? Would I continue to socialize with the people that did this to me? Would I continue to allow them to live in my house and feed them with my money? How long could I turn the other cheek? Would I be capable of this kind of real faith?

“Cassius” went back to his village a few hours ago and I’m afraid for him. I’m afraid that we won’t see him again. He says that they can’t kill him because the village doesn’t agree with how his family is treating him, but that won’t prevent them from trying to get as close as they can.  Please pray with me today. Pray for protection for “Cassius” tonight. Pray that his family’s hearts are softened. Pray that they don’t harm him tonight, but if they do that he continues to have the peace of Christ overwhelm him. Pray for his strength, for his endurance, and for Christ’s love to engulf him. Pray that he continues to seek out God and that he hears clear direction on where to go next. And pray for us, that we can be the fellow followers that we need to be, to support him without creating dependency, to love the people that are doing this to him and to continue to seek God’s direction as this is all new to us.

But more than anything pray that “Cassius’” family will come to know the Christ that has changed his life so that as a family they can worship God together.

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