A day or two ago,
I got a message to this blog site wondering if "A Lutheran in Senegal" had been discontinued,
since the last entry was in April.
Touché!
It’s true that I’ve been differently busy—with the end of doctoral studies, preparations for nearly four months away, then graduation, church visits, missionary conference, medical visits, family time, and all the other wonderful and at times challenging parts of a Home Assignment. I’ve never been big on blogging during home assignment—the blog is called a Lutheran in SENEGAL, after all—but then again, I’ve been back here for just over a month now. I could cite lots of reasons for the delay, all of them justified, in my humble opinion; but all of them excuses in the less positive use of the word.
- It’s hot. Really hot. Africa hot…
- It’s rainy season—the season when it might rain—which means showers that come out of nowhere, leaky windows and doors, flooded side roads, crowded main roads (people tend to avoid the flooded side roads), muddy cars, muddy shoes, muddy floors.
- There are power cuts every day, sometimes for 6, 7, or 8 hours, often during the hottest part of the day.
- Our home computer is not working and the only (reliable) Mac repairman in Dakar is backed up about 6 to 8 weeks.
- Roughly a third of Senegalese Lutheran pastors take July off, a third take August off, and a third take September off, meaning many of my activities (which involve getting pastors together) end up taking all THREE months off.
- Since being back I’ve had to do a bit of running around—out to Yeumbeul to get the car, around town for school supplies for the kids, downtown (several times) to get a new regulator for the washing machine (and to try to return it two weeks later when it suddenly stopped working), to Fatick for meetings with the leadership of the Lutheran Church of Senegal, and about five full days at the parish center in Dakar, since I’m now on a committee that is re-writing the constitution and by-laws for the church.
Like I said,
excuses; but all of them have conspired to zap my energy and my motivation—so
that when I actually do have time (and power and internet connection) I’m
feeling so crabby that I don’t think it would be helpful to write.
All that stops
today.
For several years now, I’ve adopted the title phrase from a song by
Green Day during these last days of the rainy season (which is of course also
the hot, muggy, power-cut, low motivation, bad mood season): “Wake
me up when September ends.”
Today is the last
day of September. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes
to rainy season (sorry about that mixed metaphor). The government has promised
no more power cuts by the middle of October. Kids are back in school. Pastors
are back to work. Cooler nights are on the way, with cooler days to follow.
October will bring a visit from our Regional Rep, November means a site visit
from our new companions from Wartburg College Study Abroad. December is Advent,
Christmas, and hopefully a family trip to Cameroon. January marks the beginning of a new
Pastoral Training Program here in Senegal, including for the first time up to
three women among the ten pastoral candidates.
This summer, the
Executive Director of ELCA Global Mission, Pastor Rafael Malpica-Padilla, shared
with us a great phrase he heard from Pastor Wayne Weissenbuehler, the former
Bishop of the ELCA’s Rocky Mountain Synod. He said:
“Hope is the
ability to hear the melody of the future.
Faith is the courage to dance to its tune today.”
This will be my new
slogan for October (and beyond) by God’s grace.
Jamm ak Jamm,
Peter
Comments