“When heavy traffic due to the ‘Magal de Touba’ festival changed our plans, we took a prayerful walk in Thiès to seek God’s guidance. Through our Zoom call with Marketplace Ministries and time with local missionaries, we saw how vital spiritual unity and international support are for growing communities. We prayed for God’s strength and grace to help build His church in this area.”
This morning we set out for Dakar to meet with the Marketplace Ministries International team at the Dakar Ministry Center. However we soon encountered unexpected heavy traffic that was coming in from Dakar to Thiès that made us reconsider our plans. Our hosts explained that the traffic was most likely due to the ‘Magal de Touba’ festival, a massive pilgrimage to the Grand Mosque in Touba this Friday, expected to draw around 9 million people! This festival that honors Islamic leader Bamba had already begun to impact travel.
Concerned about the potential for delays and our flight schedule we decided to turn back and have a Zoom call from the house with the Marketplace Ministries team instead.
Before heading the the house—our missionary hosts took us to a spot overlooking the skyline of Thiès. In this clear desert-like area surrounded by baobab trees and the vibrant green grass that has appeared during this rainy season— we could hear the sounds of African birds and took a prayer walk. Karissa and I walked and prayed together pouring out our hearts for the town of Thiès. After spending 10 days here observing and learning about the culture —we felt a deep need to seek Christ’s guidance for this area. We prayed out loud together and poured our hearts to God from witnessing the darkness and poverty in the area and also praise for the present light that comes through the church being built up here and praying for more and more people to come to Christ.
Returning back to the house—we joined the Zoom call with the international workers from Marketplace Ministries. Their work is about bringing expertise and resources to help local communities grow and thrive in businesses. They connect upper middle class and upper class, Senegalese, business owners and professionals with the tools they need especially as Dakar and other cities grow with new businesses. Short-term missions from the US teach business models and provide training that opens doors for reaching the Senegalese for Christ and creating supportive communities.
Later we enjoyed lunch with V and her daughter reflecting on our experiences and the profound work, needs, and collective efforts of the people we’ve encountered. As we packed up and prayed for our missionary host family—our prayers were packed with a deep sense of seeking God’s compassion and strength for them. We asked for His protection and support in their tireless work, the multicultural team dynamics in the area, and the need for more international workers and interns. What an amazing and vivid picture of how blood is thicker than water but the Spirit is even thicker than blood. Which is proof that this shared spiritual bond in Christ strengthens the multicultural teams working together. All our prayers go to God who brings hope and grace to build up the church in this area.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” – Joel 2:12-13
Thanks for sharing