Baby Dedication

Thank you so much for praying for the dedication ceremony for Caleb this past Saturday. God’s presence was very evident throughout the day as all of the details came together with the help of several Senegalese friends. They are such a blessing to us.

We had a very good crowd of people. We served breakfast about 11:00 (actually, we should call it brunch), which consisted of an oatmeal-like dish with raisins called ‘laax’ (lock) with either ‘sow’ (so), a yogurt sauce, or neteri (net-uh-ree), a peanut butter sauce. Senegalese eat tons of it. Crystal thinks it is delicious, but Chad and Chase aren’t quite sold on it yet. After all of the guests had eaten, Crystal went around inviting all of the neighbors to bring their bowls, and we sent laax back with them for their households.

A terrific lunch of ‘ceebu yapp’ (cheboo-yap) came about 2:30 and consisted of rice, vegetables, and beef. Everyone ate lots and lots. We drank local juices, called bissap (bee-sap) and bouy (boo-ee), as well as cokes and Fanta.

During all of this, we had drummers playing to let all of the neighbors know that a special event is taking place. For the ceremony, we began with a time of singing - Christian songs in Wolof, French, and English. Pastor Seikou (say-koo) then shared a wonderful message. He explained that this is not a baptism service, that Caleb will be baptized when he chooses to follow Christ for himself, and then he explained how God has a plan for each baby who is born. He shared the Gospel and how Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies that had been given. Finally, he prayed for us and Caleb, the children who were gathered with us, the children in our neighborhood, the children in the city, and the children in the whole country. It was beautiful!! Our hearts were touched as he prayed for Senegalese children to have enough food. You know, that is something that we take for granted in the United States. We know, however, that they have an even greater need – that is to know Christ.

Over half of the people who attended are not believers. Our time Saturday was a great opportunity to witness to these. Isatou (for whom you have been praying for awhile) was there, and after the prayer time, she leaned over to Crystal and said, “It is so important to depend on God to help with your children. Please pray that I will be able to have children and have wisdom to rear them.” Crystal promised that she certainly would – and for much more! Also, our neighbors were able to see that we are people of God and that we want to be friends with them. Please continue to pray with us that the seeds that were planted will take root and grow. We thank you for being involved in this work with us. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!!

>see pictures at www.thereynoldsrap.blogspot.com

Pray for Baby Dedication

We have an urgent (but not an emergency) prayer request. I have been hoping to write this email all week, but it did not happen as our week was very full. It was finally decided on Tuesday that we would have our baby dedication ceremony at our house THIS SATURDAY. This is a big event here. We have invited over 100 people and we will feed them breakfast and lunch. Around 11 am we will have a time of preaching and prayer. This will be done by the Senegalese pastor who was my pastor when I lived in Dakar previously. Normally, Muslims will have a baby naming ceremony. They have prayers, go to the mosque, shave the baby's head, and sacrifice a sheep. PLEASE PRAY that our Christian ceremony will be a witness to our friends and neighbors, and that they will ask many questions. PLEASE PRAY that we will be able to speak other languages clearly. PLEASE PRAY that pastor Seikou will have the right words to say, and that the Holy Spirit will move in the spirits of those attending. PLEASE PRAY that all of the last details will come together and that our friends and neighbors will know that we love them! Thank you so much for praying. We will post pictures of the event on the blogspot.

Petitions & Praises

We hope this note finds you doing well. Thank you for continuing to pray for us. At this time, we need all of you to help us in a little project. We have to discover how many people are praying for our family and our work here in Senegal. This is going to be a challenge since our emails are often forwarded or printed out and shared with groups. So, if only you read our emails, you don’t have to do anything. However, if you forward or share our requests in any way (and we really hope you do!), we need you to email us an estimate of how many people besides yourself are lifting us before the Father. We are being asked to report these numbers to our leadership. We really appreciate your help.

So, on to how God is at work! Thank you for praying for Isatou. She was finally able to come to learn how to fry fish in cornmeal. We just laughed because it is so simple. She thinks she will start serving it at their restaurant. She and Crystal had only about an hour and a half together, so they did not get to listen to any spiritual tapes. However, they were able to discuss the aspects that God sees and knows our hearts, He is faithful, and He forgives! God is building a relationship between Isatou’s family and our family. We trust that soon she will hear the Truth and believe. She has asked that we pray for her uncle who was badly burned during one of our many power outages when his clothes caught on fire from a candle. Pray for his complete healing and that God would be glorified.

We are preparing for how we can rejoice in what the Lord has done and is doing as we approach Easter weekend. We do plan to gather with a couple of missionary families for lunch that day after worship services. But, we also want to be able to share with our neighbors the joy and hope that we have as we remember our Savior. Please pray that we will be used by God to share His Truth that day in a way that they will understand.

Normally, we reserve our family news for our blogspot, but we just have to share that we are praising the Lord for two new precious babies in our families. Crystal’s sister, Sheri, and brother-in-law, Mark, had a baby boy on March 21st who is named Jackson Thomas Burgen. And Chad’s brother, Sonny, and sister-in-law, Ellen, had a baby boy named Waylon Dean Reynolds on April 10th. We praise the Lord for His wonderful blessings. We do ask that you pray for us and for our families as it is hard to be separated during these big life events. We will get to meet our new nephews when we are in the States for vacation.

Thank you for praying!! We enjoy hearing what is going on in your lives as well. We are happy to pray for any requests you have. Just let us know! Many blessings and Happy Easter! He is risen!!!!