by Katie Garrett | Dec 27, 2016 | Uncategorized
Last week, a group of six village girls spent the afternoon at our house. They asked me about the toy nativity set in our living room so I told them the Christmas story: how God had promised through the prophets to send someone, Almasi bi – the Messiah, to rescue us from sin and darkness and fear. Using the toy angel, I told how He sent an angel to announce to Mary and Joseph that Mary would miraculously have a baby, a baby who would be the promised Messiah. And then I showed the girls how Mary put Jesus to sleep in the animal feed trough and how poor local shepherds and rich foreign men came to see this special baby. They said they had never heard the story before. It is such a strange and compelling story when you hear it for the first time!
School kids here get a short vacation for “Noël” and many have heard of Santa Claus. In town, many Muslim families prepare a special meal on the 24th or the 25th and there are some decorative lights in the round point in the center of town. But otherwise, particularly in the villages, Christmas comes and goes with nothing to distinguish it from the day before or the day after. Most kids here don’t know what Christmas is….
“Mark” is one of the few Christians from the region of Kaffrine. He is now in his 20’s and attending university in a city six hours away from here. As a child, he heard about Jesus and attended a camp we used to do annually. Now, he wants other kids from this area to have a chance to hear about Jesus and to know the joy of Christmas too. So, for the third year in a row, in cooperation with the local Senegalese pastor and with us, he is spearheading an overnight Christmas Camp during his short break from school.
We expect 100 kids to come spend two days at the church school – December 29-30. We’ll eat out of 20 common bowls, play games, do crafts, sing fun songs, and hear what Christmas is about. The theme of the camp is specifically: Jesus, the Light of the World. For many, it will be the first time they hear about Jesus.
Please pray for God’s hand of blessing and protection on every aspect of the camp. We are excited that our teammates, Jeff and Amanda, who arrived in Senegal in November, will be coming to visit Kaffrine for the first time this week, so they’ll be able to help out with the camp. There is always plenty of work to do so we’re thankful for the extra hands!
by Katie Garrett | Nov 2, 2016 | Uncategorized
At 6 am on Thursday, November 10, both the Gallaghers and the Sanderfers are set to arrive in Senegal. Yes, both of the couples who are joining our SIM Senegal team are arriving on the same flight next week! This is such an exciting time for us and we are full of thanksgiving as we see God working out His good plan.
If you have been following our updates, you know that both couples have experienced delays. We know many of you have been praying for them; see how the Lord has answered! We will go to Dakar on Wednesday to be there to pick them up at the airport on Thursday morning. We’ll have just a short time together before we all separate: one couple will be with our SIM team in Dakar, the other with our SIM team in Thies for language study, and our family will return home to Kaffrine. By the summer, we trust both families will have enough Wolof language and cultural competency to be ready to move to Kaffrine.
We are so grateful for the Gallaghers’ and Sanderfers’ perseverance through all the trials and setbacks and hoops they have had to jump through to get to this point. And we appreciate your continued prayers for them as they begin to learn the Wolof language and culture, and for us as a team as we get to know each other. Please pray:
- for peace for the Sanderfers and Gallaghers through the goodbyes and the packing.
- for a safe, uneventful trip to Senegal on the 9th and 10th.
- for the Lord to bless our team as we get to know each other; pray that we will care for one another well and work together well.
- for God to enable them to work hard at learning Wolof and to make good progress so they will be able to communicate well and thrive here long-term.
- for the Lord to help them to adjust well to all aspects of life here.
- that God will already be preparing the hearts of those in the villages of KMN and NW that He wants to reach through our team with the Good News about Jesus!
by Katie Garrett | Oct 13, 2016 | Praise report, Prayer request
I ended up going to an Urgent Care center in Connecticut on Monday evening, October 3 because my three hip wounds were infected, red and swollen. They were healing well until I had an allergic reaction to some band-aids which caused them to reopen and get infected. I had gotten an antibiotic the Friday before but I had an allergic reaction to that (!) which left two-thirds of my body covered with an itchy red rash. The Urgent Care doctor we saw that night was a Christian and a huge encouragement and help. He gave me an IV with a cocktail of meds for the rash and a new antibiotic. He also suspected I might have scarlatina so he tested me for that; later, that test came back positive, which means a lot of my rash is caused by strep/scarlet fever. We got home from Urgent Care at around 2 am.
Armed with my new meds but splotchy and itchy, Corey, Wheaton, and I got up at 2 am the next morning to leave for Senegal and traveled until we arrived in Senegal just after 1 am EST (5 am GMT/Senegal time) on Wednesday, when we crashed into beds at a guesthouse in Dakar and slept. On Sunday we traveled to spend the day with Emma and Molly at their school and had a wonderful time with them. On Monday we made the trip home to Kaffrine. We were warmly welcomed by neighbors and friends.
Tamxarit meal from a friend–millet couscous on the bottom and a separate dish of meat and vegetable sauce.
Tuesday night was Tamxarit, a Muslim holiday, so three different neighbors brought us bowls of millet couscous and meat sauce, which was a sweet homecoming gift.
Prayer requests:
- It is in the high 90’s and extremely humid. I still have itchy rash all over my neck, torso, arms, and legs so I am pretty miserable. But the three infection points are now well healed. The doc said the scarlet fever can take several weeks to clear up. My main prayer request is for health and strength: for the itchiness to stop!
- We thank God for bringing us back to Kaffrine and for our guard and househelper who kept our home, our dog, and our rabbits in good shape during our four months away.
- We are beginning to gather what we need to do another homestudy update for our adoption. We are going to do the update without a home visit this time. The agency said that USCIS might accept this or they might require us to find a social worker to do another home visit. Please pray that we will have everything submitted by the Dec. 4th expiration date, and that USCIS will extend our approval without requiring another home visit. Pray too for things to move forward on the Guinea side!
- Pray for our readjustment to life here. It is hot and humid and there are many challenges in day-to-day living. We have less emotional and spiritual support here than we have in the US and the needs around us are myriad. There is so much work we want to do — please pray for the Lord to guide us moment by moment into His priorities for our time and energy.
- Wheaton and I started her 6th grade schoolwork on Wednesday. Pray for her transition back to homeschooling and for a good school year for us, as well as for Emma and Molly at their school.
- Pray for the Sanderfers and the Gallaghers as they work to come join us in the work here. We praise God for calling them and pray that He will bring them to Senegal very soon!
We are so grateful for and dependent on your sustaining prayers; we are so weak…
Katie
by Katie Garrett | Sep 29, 2016 | Uncategorized
Katie on crutches after surgery
Our flight leaves in the wee hours of the morning on October 5, so we are busy packing and weighing our bags and saying goodbye to our family and friends here in the States. It is a time of mixed emotions as we plan to be in Senegal for another four years before our next home assignment back in the USA. Emma and Molly are already back in Senegal – they flew with friends on September 6 to be there in time for the beginning of their school year – so we look forward to being on the same continent with them again!
My hip surgery on September 2nd was successful and I am off crutches and doing well. I have two more physical therapy appointments and a list of exercises I can continue on my own. I am so grateful to have had the surgery and I look forward to being much less limited physically this term!
Our hearts are full of praise and thanksgiving for all of the sweet blessings we received during this time in the States.
Every day, we had a vehicle to drive and a place to stay. We had precious time with friends, both new and old, and were prayed for and encouraged. God’s people also continue to generously support us financially; we are at almost 100% of our goal and expect to hear back soon from two congregations who may become new ministry partners.
The Gallaghers at SIM HQ
So, the Lord has provided all we need – and we are ready to return to Senegal to see what He will do next!
Delay of New Teammates’ Arrival
Some of you may have heard that we were excited about getting to meet one of the couples who is coming to work with us in Kaffrine who were booked to be on the same flight to Senegal with us on October 5. Jeff and Amanda Gallagher are coming from California and are fully supported — but they have just had to cancel their booking so that they can take care of a medical issue that has come up. Obviously, this is disappointing for all of us, but we are so glad that the Gallaghers are able to take advantage of the quality medical care available in the US and we trust and pray that the delay will not be a long one.
Our other new teammates, Kody and Jennifer Sanderfer and their three children, are poised and ready to come to Senegal as soon as the last 27% of their financial support comes in.
The Sanderfers
We trust the Lord is in control and will bring the Gallaghers and the Sanderfers to Senegal in His good timing.
We appreciate your prayers for both of these families!
Adoption Update
Three years into this process, we are hopeful that things are now moving forward with our adoption in Guinea. However, the US government’s approval for us to adopt from Guinea only lasts 18 months. Our adoption agency doesn’t think that the process will be completed before our approval expires again in December. So… we need to update our homestudy again. This is complicated by the fact that the American social worker who did our original homestudy and update no longer lives in Senegal. Would you pray that the Lord will work this out? Not only do we long to bring our children home, but it breaks my heart to hear that since the orphanage is full right now, when the police bring abandoned babies to the orphanage, they have to turn them away.
by Katie Garrett | Aug 4, 2016 | Prayer request
A friend recently brought some aid to a Wolof village near where we live that was devastated by fire. She sent us this photo of the chief–we were excited to see that he is holding his copy of Genesis in Wolofal!
Before we even left Senegal I started trying to get appointments in order to diagnose the source of the intermittent but increasing pain I have had in my left hip for the last 6+ years and what might be done to fix it. Our insurance company and the fact that it takes a long time to schedule medical appointments has made this a slow process. But I was finally able to get an MRI done on July 7. This test showed some tearing of the lining of my hip. This morning I saw an orthopedic surgeon and scheduled surgery (arthroscopy labral repair).
The surgery is scheduled for Sept 2 — the same date we had tickets to return to Senegal. Obviously, I won’t be flying that day! The doctor said I will need to stay in the US for one month after the surgery. So we are working to change our plans. Because Emma and Molly missed six weeks of school at the end of the school year, they really shouldn’t miss any more school. So we’re planning to send them back to Senegal with some close friends who are also in the States for the summer and who are returning to Senegal on Sept 6. The girls know this family well and are excited to get back to their friends at school. Wheaton will stay with us (and start homeschooling?). Lord willing, we will all be back in Senegal before the mid-term school break in October.
The doctor says this kind of surgery has a 95% success rate so I am very hopeful that this procedure will enable me to be more active again and to be pain-free.
We are so grateful that I can get this surgery while we are here in the US and that it will only mean a one-month delay in our return to Senegal. We need to do some shuffling of our plans and I don’t look forward to the surgery or having to use crutches, but this is an answer to prayer and I am really thankful! We already know that we can continue borrowing the van we are driving and that we can stay in the same house for the extra month. God is taking such tender care of us!
Financial support update
We came to the States needing to raise an additional $1,500 per month and we have been so encouraged as the Lord has provided more than half of that amount in just two months. Some supporters have increased their monthly pledges and we have also been blessed by some new partners who have committed to being part of our financial support team. Thank you for giving and thank you for praying!
We still need $600/month in order to return to Senegal fully funded in October. Please let us know if you are interested in supporting us monthly, bimonthly, or annually, as He provides, for this next four-year term. Don’t hesitate to email us if you have any questions about how our financial support works.
Last week, a group of six village girls spent the afternoon at our house. They asked me about the toy nativity set in our living room so I told them the Christmas story: how God had promised through the prophets to send someone, Almasi bi – the Messiah, to rescue us from sin and darkness and fear. Using the toy angel, I told how He sent an angel to announce to Mary and Joseph that Mary would miraculously have a baby, a baby who would be the promised Messiah. And then I showed the girls how Mary put Jesus to sleep in the animal feed trough and how poor local shepherds and rich foreign men came to see this special baby. They said they had never heard the story before. It is such a strange and compelling story when you hear it for the first time!
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