Persecution

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt. 5:11-12

A Senegalese evangelist and his family live in an apartment building here in Dakar. They truly love the Lord and want to see others pulled from the darkness into the Light. Often, they hold prayer meetings in their home. Most of their neighbors are Muslim and are antagonistic towards this family. They speak badly about them. They are trying to get the landlord to kick them out. However, if they lose this apartment, it would be difficult to find other housing due to their financial situation and the fact that housing is scarce here in Dakar.

Recently, one of the neighbor boys (who has caused problems before) forced his way into the apartment where the family lives. Only the daughters and young son were at home. He proceeded to destroy the apartment, some of their property, and to hit one of the girls. He finally stopped when the oldest girl began to hit him back. After this happened, the landlord was demanding that they pay for the damaged property or he would evict them (since he was looking for a way to pacify all the other tenants). Many of us have prayed for this situation and God has proven His faithfulness. The family has filed a police report which should make the family of the boy pay for the damages and either put him in jail or some other form of punishment. For now, they get to stay in their home.

So, why are we telling you this story now? There are many more families and individuals like our housekeeper’s family described above. We want you to understand what we mean when we say that people are persecuted for their faith. We want you to understand that it can be hard to follow Christ. We want to ask you to pray for the Christians who are living here in Dakar. We ask that you would pray for those who are on the brink of accepting Christ- a weighty decision – but are worried about the persecution they will face. Pray they will have courage and that God will sustain them. Pray that we would not take lightly our own salvation.

Thank you for your prayers for us and those around us. You are vital in the Lord’s work here.

Coincidence?

Many of you have heard the story of Ibrahima Dieng (Jaing) the taxi driver and have been praying for him. For those of you who have not, he is a driver that Crystal had known in Dakar when she lived here in 2001. He has been driving missionaries around since that time. Many of us have been able to share the Good News with him. His wife is named Fatou and they have several children. They are a Muslim family. They have listened to a few of the chronological Bible stories in Wolof. However, they have almost seemed to become more religious and have even sent their youngest daughter to a strict Muslim Koranic school. They are still great friends of ours and many other missionaries.

Here in Dakar most taxi drivers do not own their taxis. The owner has someone drive his taxi and gets a part of the earnings. A few weeks ago, Ibrahima had his taxi taken away from him by the owner who wanted to have someone else drive. This meant that he did not have a way to make money to support his family. We have been praying that he would find another taxi to drive.

Well, the other day, Ibrahima came by our house to show us his “new” taxi. He was so happy – and so were we. He proceeded to tell us how someone he did not even know just happened to call him to ask him to drive the taxi. He said it was such a coincidence. We said, “Coincidence?!?!?” We reminded him that we had all been praying, and asked him who he thought might have helped him. He said, “Oh, yes, God brought me a new taxi!” We thank God for answering our prayer.

PLEASE pray for the Dieng family to come to know our Savior. Pray that we will have wisdom as we continue to live out our faith in front of their family and many others like them. Many are watching us closely to see what is different about our faith. Pray that we will have wisdom. Pray that our reactions to many life situations will be Christlike.