Paul and Sarah Hauth
Newsletter # 2
August 17th, 2016
Dakar, Senegal
Dear Family and Friends,
Bonjour and Ah Sala Malekum (Wolof/Arabic). We have safely arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Thank-You so much for your prayers and encouragement during our travels. By God’s grace, all 6 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 2 backpacks – the sum of our worldly possessions – also arrived in Dakar, Senegal safely. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we entered a world that completely contrasted everything that we had known in the United States. Driving the 5KM route between the airport and our apartment, we saw vendors selling everything from mangoes to used shoes, we saw motorbikes, busses, horse-drawn carriages, and hundreds of taxis all vying for the same narrow spaces on the roads, we saw children playing futbol on almost every dirt field in sight, and we saw a world where mosques not churches dominate the architectural landscape. By Dakar standards, our drive was uneventful. We only had to drive on the sidewalk twice and we never hit a single sheep.
Now, one week since our arrival, Sarah and I have begun the process of acculturating into this fascinating world. Our apartment is located in a part of the city called Hann Maristes. It is a place where middle-class homes and squatter settlements line the same streets, where smartly-dressed businessmen and destitute-looking beggars walk past each other in the same neighborhoods. It is a place where people desperately need salvation through a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Thanks to your prayers and support, we are now part of a team of believers who are working to bring the gospel to West Africa. Dakar Academy functions as a both a school and a spiritual hub for missionaries serving across the region. Over the past week, Sarah and I have met linguists who are translating the Bible into previously untranslated dialects, we have met local men and women working to restore the talibes (orphaned boys who are often exploited by local imams), and we have met educators working to establish seminaries in the interior of Guinea and Sierra Leone. Without a trusted place to educate their children, we are told that many of these missionaries would have to leave the field. Clearly, the impact of your prayers and support cannot be understated.
The view from our apartment roof. A mix of poverty and prosperity.
With most of the current media attention in the west focused on some guy named Trump, you are probably not hearing that since 09/11, more Muslims have come to a saving knowledge of Christ than during the previous 900 years combined. We are told that the rise in Islamic extremism has, paradoxically, caused some to question their faith. Without question, the fields are ripe for harvest throughout the Muslim world.
Despite all the many blessings, life is not easy here. Simple tasks in the west such as grocery shopping, laundry, or maintaining potable water can take hours of effort in Senegal. We live under constant threats from malaria, regional unrest, and harsh climatic conditions. All the same, we are thrilled to be part of what God is doing in West Africa and we are comforted knowing that we have such a great team at home.
We look forward to sending you more updates in the weeks and months to come. Please make sure to include us in any personal prayer requests so that we can include you in our daily prayers and devotions.
Paul and Sarah Hauth
Serving in Dakar, Senegal through RCE International
Thank-You