Alxumdulilay

So last night we had our first meeting with Joanna, the missionary we are partnering with over in Senegal. We did some more getting to know you/fun games with our group, so we can start the bonding process. With that and a devotional the floor was given to Joanna. We started learning about Islam because in Senegal, Islam is the major religion. Christianity is only a minority, unfortunately. So we learned about Islam, and basics of their religion and how it differs from Christianity. Supposedly we are going to be hearing the Call to Prayer for Islams quite often, and very loud, and often obnoxious due to the fact that the first starts at 4:45am! Then we started to learn the basic rules about greetings and how to say greetings. Joanna told Brea and I, we are the youngest, we are both under 20, that we might have a couple of proposals while we are there. Joanna is going to sit down and talk with us on how to handle this. But back to the Greetings. Unlike in America when you are walking by someone and you might just say hi; in Senegal you have to go through a whole routine about asking about a person and their family. Here are some of the words we learned and what their direct meanings are:

Asalaamaalekum (Greetings or peace to everyone)
Malekumsalaam (Peace)
Nanga def? (How are you?)
Ma angi fi rekk (I'm here only)
Ma angiy dem (I'm leaving)
Yangi dem? (You're Leaving?)
Waaw, ba beneen yoon (Yes, see you next time)
Ba beneen (Next time)

These are only parts of the whole conversation between the two people. We are going to have a tape made into a CD for us to listen to so that when we get to Senegal we will hopefully be pretty good at what to say. You might be wondering what the title of this blog means, Alxumdulilay, it means Praise God! Joanna says its a good thing to say when you don't know what the other is saying :)

That is all I have for now, ba beneen yoon (See you next time!)

Alxumdulilay (Praise God!!)

Busy Bee

Yes, I am still alive. I'm sorry that I haven't blogged recently, but my life has been filled to the brim with all kinds of activites, school, church, and other related. We have our first meeting with Joanna Beske on Wednesday. Joanna is our missionary we are going to be working with. I have also had to go out to some local businesses to drum up some donations for an auction we are having at TUMC on March 20th. I am very excited because we have hit the 6 month til the trip mark. I am looking forward to everything that is to come. I will keep you up to date on all things Senegal related. God Bless!