Day 8- Mission Update and the Voyage Home

Christine Boissey updates our team on the status of the Senegal Mission Initiative.

Day 8 started with an update on the Senegal Mission from Pastor Joseph Bleck and administrator Christine Boissey.  The church has shown remarkable growth in some areas.  As District Superintendent, Joseph Bleck was able to tell us the current membership of all Senegal United Methodist Churches has grown to 1,044; it has grown steadily from the first 110 members in 1999.  They are currently 23 churches in Senegal served by 9 pastors and 40 lay preachers.

Pastor Mary Balson engaged in part of the discussion.

But this joy is not without some struggle. On our journey we saw significant growth in many ministries; particularly the skill center in Mbour and the agricultural project in Point Sarene.  Unfortunately, the mission in Dakar is not experiencing as much success in this season.  Dakar has not received enough funding to maintain the prison ministry, and the future of its skill center is very much in doubt.  We thank God for the season these ministries have enjoyed, and still believe God is very present in many ways throughout Senegal.

As we closed our meeting time, Pastor Joseph Bleck talked about the importance of being partners in mission together.  "If you are two and one falls down, then you have someone to help you up."

Shopping for treasures to remember our trip!

After the meeting our team in enjoyed some shopping in the markets in Senegal to bring home some keepsakes for friends and family.  But perhaps the most important thing we bring back with us is the story of how God is working in Senegal.  This is perhaps the biggest way that they can be helped.  There are many places in the world that need help and several worthy causes that need money.  The ministry in Senegal is also one of those places.  But God invites us to share in the story of life together.  Thank you for reading this blog this past week and sharing in the life that we saw; food for the hungry, freedom for the oppressed, and bright futures for women.

You can continue to share in the story by inviting someone from our Mission Team to your church, school, library, etc to come and talk about Senegal.  Agricultural missionary David Makobo will visit Wisconsin this summer and will be looking for opportunities to share his ministry.