I'm home!!!

Hey Guys!!!
Just wanted to let you know that I made it home safe!
I am home! And enjoying every minute of the USA!!
I also wanted to, once again, thank you all so very much for all of the support and prayers that I have received from you! It has meant so much to me and has really helped me survive my trip!
I will be working on getting some photos to show you all soon! But I'm glad to be home and can't wait to see you all face to face!
Thanks again!
I love you!
Lindsey

See you all tomorrow! : )

Woohoo! I did it!
Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers and love and etc. It means so much to me and it has really helped me get through these past 3 weeks! I can't believe that it is already over but at the same time I am happy that it is! I can't wait to get home and see everyone!
Just a few things:
I did get things situated with my transportation home. I have just enough money to get a private taxi straight to the airport. I am getting picked up at 7 pm tonight. Also, they were able to make a deal with the guy for me, and me only, because I had so little money left the guy lowered the price so that I only have to pay 20000 instead of 25000. Praise the Lord, he is good!
We went to nice burger yesterday and it was realllllly good! Really greasy though. Like, worse than MacDonald's! The funny thing is is that it made my stomach actually feel better.... that is kind of sad.
I am at school right now. In one of the classes they had a lot of free time and while I was setting up for a test in the next class, Mr. Brown told them that I was leaving today and that it was my last day. So they all decided to make me goodbye cards. It was so cute! I will have to show them to you all when I get home!

I don't think I will be able to get on a computer anymore today. So I guess I will see you guys at home! In Rochester! : ) Can't wait!
Please pray for my travels and that things go well. And I pray that God would bless your day and your life abundantly because He has blessed my life by giving me such great friends and family like you! : )
I love you and miss you all very much!
God bless!
In Christ,
Lindsey<3

Just one more day!

Oh my goodness. I'm so excited that there is only one day left until I come home! I can't wait to see everyone and give you all big hugs and kisses!
I know the Lord is good and that He answers prayers. I have enough energy today to make it through the day and I feel less stressed and worried because I know that the Lord will take care of me no matter what. He will get me home, safe and healthy.
I am at school right now. Today has been really good. The kids are being wonderful and we have been able to understand each other enough to get something done! Even one of the craziest classes were good today! My patience is high and I just pray that I am showing them so much love and compassion from God that it changes lives. I also get to go an hour early which is good because it gives me time to get a few things done!
The weather here is getting a little interesting. The sun is hiding and there is a nice, cool breeze. It is really damp out, almost like it's going to rain! Even though I like the rain I really hope it doesn't because I think it would make things messy. There is sand everywhere in St. Louis and if it were to rain, it wouldn't be good! It would definitely complicate things! AND in my house there is no roof in the middle of it so we would have to stay in peoples rooms, away from the openness. But I'm sure the Senegalese people know how to cope with the rain so it will be fine!
Please keep praying for me. That God would provide a way for me to get to the airport somehow. Even if it is taking a septplus by myself, I pray that he would provide me with people who can help me communicate and or a way to communicate myself! I trust, though that whatever His plan is is the right thing for me.
Tonight for dinner I have invited all of the volunteers to come to Niceburger, on Sor, for a farewell thing for me. Niceburger is like a burger joint here, I guess. And supposedly its really good? I don't know, I wanted to try it just for fun so hopefully it is delicious! That reminds me, I really want a milkshake! : P
Anyways I should get going. I might be able to come on tomorrow while at school to write one last journal while I'm in Africa, but if not, I can't wait to see you all in Rochester! I miss you all like crazy! See you soon! : )
Love,
Lindsey

So...

Happy Birthday Meaghan! I hope you have a great day!


I am unbelievably excited to leave this country! I have had a good time and it's been a good experience but I can't wait to leave! The work I'm doing is very draining but just trying to communicate with people is even more draining! Just imagine, your in a country where you don't speak the language, but al of the people your with do. And when a person does speak english, it is very very little and you have to speak really slow and clear so that they understand. And then even still they might not understand!
It is frustrating and I am exhausted from having to do that! I have very little energy left and 2 and 1/2 days left to use it all in. I need a big energy boost. It also isn't helping that my stomach is feeling unsetteled still.
I'd say it is perfect timing though. At least it's at the end of my trip and not at the very beginning! Anyways, today is my day off and I am relaxing and packing all of my things up. I am very excited that I will be able to fit all of my things in just one suitcase! This will make things easier for me to handle. I am leaving a bunch of things here to the other volunteers and one of the workers at projects abroad has a talibe center that could use some of it.
I had a bit of a shock last night when I was talking to Banda about riding down with him to Dakar on friday night when he goes to pick up another volunteer. He had no idea what I was talking about and apparently there are no volunteers coming friday night. And to add to it I don't have enough money for a private taxi which is the only thing I would take if I had to go by myself... since I don't speak french. I am going to talk to Claire about it today, but I trust that God has his own plan about how I will be getting home so I'm trying hard not to worry about. Things will just work out somehow! But some prayer might help ; )
Last night there was a birthday party for one of the volunteers. She requested that we would all dress up like tourists. Everyone looked so silly and stupid! But it was everyone looking that way at the same time so it was alright : P I wore the Phanny (?) pack that mom told me to bring. But thats all I wore, I was really underdressed. But the party was fun. We got this really good cake and they put it on top of chocolate mousse. SO good. I miss real cake though!
I should get going. Hope everyone's days are going well!
Love you and miss you all very much!<3

At School

Hello everyone!
Today I am getting some pictures of the students at my school so that you can all see the beautiful faces that I am teaching while here in Senegal! The computer I am on is so cool! It's a widescreen one! Anyways, today is going much better than Friday at school! I find that I have much more patience with the kids so far and when it runs low I am remembering to pray to the Lord who makes all things good! Thank you for the prayers!
As my time comes to a close here in St. louis I am finding that there are things I will miss when I leave. It is a different kind of missing though. Hard to explain. I will definately miss the good friends that I have met through Projects Abroad, like Maissa, Lisa, and Claire ( those are the ones I will miss the most!). I will also miss the host family I have been staying with. The children have been so fun to play with and I will miss seeing their smiling faces and hearing them sing to me. I will also miss Madame Diene, my host mom, because she has really been like a mother to me while I have been here.
I think the other thing I will miss is the beautiful sights you see around the city. Even though there is trash everywhere and flies all around you, there are certain 'Kodak moments' that I see that make me want to bottle it up and just take it home with me. For example the ocean view from Zebrabar, or the way the sun reflects off the water on the way to work! I took the most beautiful picture this morning of a boat that I see all the time on the way to work! I can't wait to show you all!
I'm sure there are other things too. But I miss you all so much and can't wait to get home and give you all big hugs and kisses!!!! Just a few more days! I know I can do it!
I pray that you all have a good day!
Love In Christ,
Lindsey <3

Urg.

So today is my last Monday! Yay!

I had to wake up early today, which is always hard after a nice relaxing weekend. But I ended up waking up really late and 30 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. The place I was supposed to go is about a 30 minute walk... so I sent a text to my teacher saying that I would be late and took my time getting ready! : )

I walked all the way there and didn't know where to go after I got to the school so I called my teacher... and what do you know, I didn't have to go in today because the students were just taking exams. Like Mr. Brown wasn't even at the school! Grr. It is really bothersome because he told me on Friday that the students would be taking exams on Monday but that I could still go in with him and that he would see me on Monday... but I guess not.

Whatever! I suppose I shouldn't complain too much because I was able to walk all the way home and get another hour or two of sleep! It is frustrating though...

Anyways! Here are some pictures from this weekend!

This is my friend Maissa and I on the boat on the way to the bird Island yesterday! Isn't she beautiful? Haha! She is like one of my best friends here! She really helped me to feel better this weekend and was really comforting and encouraging!

This is part of the bird island that we saw! It was really really cool! The Pelicans wer enormous! This is pretty much my favorite picture out of all the ones I took of the island! It doesn't even capture it all, but I think this is the one picture that captures it the most! : ) The picture below is my in front of the ocean! Isn't the water beautiful? It was so nice a calm there! I didn't want to leave and go back to St. Louis. I wish I could have just spent the rest of my trip there laying in the sun and enjoying God's beauty!

I hope these pictures give you a good idea of how my weekend was! Nothing really happened today so I don't have anything to talk about! Maissa and I are going shopping soon for our families! Hopefully we don't spend too much and get some good deals! I might come on again later today, but if not I will tomorrow! I hope and pray all of your days are going well! Thanks for everything guys! I love you and miss you so much! Not even 5 full days left in St. Louis! Can't wait! : ) Talk to you later!

Love in Christ,

Lindsey

Whoa...

Oh my goodness.
Altogether if I look back at the weekend, I have really enjoyed it, with the camping and all. But it has been really difficult! Friday I was going to go to this Raggae concert that was supposed to be really good, but I didn't end up going. I was so mad because I really wanted to hear it. Instead I was home being violently ill. I'm not exaggerating when I say violent. It was bad. I think it was because of the food that we had for lunch that day.
And then because I got sick the way I did I didn't want to eat anything at all! I stopped getting sick in the middle of the night, but I still felt ill.
Anyways, yesterday morning the volunteers met at the Patesserie to catch taxis and go camping. The place where we went (Zebrabar) was really beautiful! At first I was thinking that it would be a horrible weekend because I was to sick and tired to care about anything. But today was really cool! I feel a lot better but my stomach still feels a little icky when I eat things or smell any Senegalese food... I think I will be shying away from it my last week, but I'm not sure what I will actually eat if I do that... I'll figure something out!
Sorry for being so scattered. Yesterday I layed in the sun a lot and fell asleep on my stomach and the one side of my face and my back got REALLY sunburned. It hurts really bad but I think its getting better already. I just don't know how I managed to get sunburned like that because I did put loads of sunscreen on! I also have random spots on my body where you can tell that I missed... So I sort of look tie-dyed. Interesting. Today I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible to avoid making my sunburn worse.
Today was really cool because A few of us volunteers went on a short boat trip to go see this island with tons of birds on it! It was so cool! It was more like a small piece of land in the middle of the water. But there were so many birds! They were all so beautiful! It was mostly seaguls and pelicans. We got really close to where they were and then all of the birds started to fly up and over us! It was so loud and freaky at first, but then again really awesome! Its something that you would have to experience yourself or atleast see the pictures and videos that I took! : ) Nick I think you would have really enjoyed it! then we went to the ocean and it was so beautiful there too! The waves were so big and the water was so blue!
I was really glad that I went to see these things because before hand I was having a really hard time... I was so homesick and sad, and it didn't help that I had been sick again. Things are so much worse when you don't have a mommy and daddy to take care of you: ) Anyways, I started crying and my friend Maissa was really supportive and helpful! She made me feel better. I'm so glad that God has blessed me with another friend to help me get through this last week. But seeing the birds and the ocean just made things even easier for me to get through because what I saw was so cool and exciting, and I knew for sure that I would not be able to experience something like that ever again.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support. It all means so much! Please pray for my faith because I feel like it is getting weaker, and I am having trouble remembering to pray. Me praying is one of the most important things because I know that I can do good things things through God. And I also know that if I fail forget to pray or forget to be thankful to God things won't go well. So please pray that my faith would continue to grow stronger.
Also pray for my health and that I would not get sick anymore. Pray that God would also provide me with food that won't upset my tummy : ( And that my host family would understand that I won't be able to eat those things and that they would provide me with different food.
Thank you all so much again for the notes and prayers! It helps so much to know that I have a blanket of prayer surrounding me. I love and miss you all so much!!!
Hey, only like 5 more days until I come home!! : ) Looking forward to that! But until then have a great week!
Love In Christ,
Lindsey

Hello again!
Hope everything is going well at home! I miss a lot of things. I miss you all a lot but there are also many other things that I miss a lot! Here they are:
Peanut butter and jelly
Macaroni and Cheese
Fresh air smell
Comfortable bed
Nice shower and toilet
Quiet
Fruit and vegetables
Being able to know what I’m eating
Normal, non-spicy food
Cold water, juice
Cereal
Clean hand and feet
The list could go on and on, but the one thing I absolutely miss the most is being able to see and talk to everyone at home! I know that I am close to being done with this trip and that I should live every moment of it to its fullest. I am! But I SO SO can’t wait to get home! I know I shouldn't be complaining because Senegalese people have to deal with this all of the time! I am so lucky to be able to come home after experiencing this!
I washed my clothes today, successfully! But it was more like one of the 11 year-old nieces took every piece of clothing from my hand and did it 'better' than me! Psh. ha ha! I guess I shouldn't complain there either because not only was it done properly, but I didn't have to pay for it either!! Saweet!
For lunch today we had something really spicy. It had fish in it too. I didn't really like it, but I ate as much as I could because it made my stomach feel upset and made my hands smell like fish! Yuck. That is something I wont miss! The spiciness of the food! Mom, Dad! I want some plain old food when I get home! None of this spicy sauce and lots-o-oils concept! : )
I passed on going to the Hotel Mermoz, because I have been there plenty already this week and I was tired and wanted to be more social with other people. I saved money that way too!! : )

This weekend (mostly Saturday to Sunday morning) I will be going with the volunteers on a camping trip with windsurfing and hammocks! I can't wait! But because of that I might not be able to come on here tomorrow. : ( I will miss you all and hope you have a good weekend!
I love you all very much too!!!!!!
: ) <3
In Christ,
lindsey

A quick one...

Hey everyone!
Sorry for not writing yesterday! I didn't do too much but I didn't get a chance to come on here! I miss you all very much and I can't wait to get home : )
I have to make this one kind of short because the cafe will be closing soon for prayer I think...
Anyways, it is getting hotter here each day, it feels like. The sun is always a killer. But I hear that in Rochester its in the 90s??? I don't know what the temp actually is here, but I don't think its that high!!!
I will try to get on again and write another one so I can update some more!
As for now, please pray for me. I have had a very exhausting day so far. I lost my patience with the kids, and feel terrible about it... and I think I'm losing more and more energy as the days go by. I also am not feeling like I am doing enough in the city of St. Louis, and hope that I can do more to help out in the community. I don't feel like I'm making a difference. Please pray! And I will come on around 3 my time to write some more.

Love you and miss you all so much!
Lindsey<3

PS. Also pray for me because I'm about to attempt to do my laundry... Pray that I don't ruin my clothes!!! ; )

Hello Friends!
How is everything at home going? What's the weather like? Is anything different? I want to make sure I'm not missing out on anything! ; )
Yesterday was really interesting....
After I got home from the online cafe I decided to help make some fish dumplings.... I think that's what they were! It was fun! All I do is take dough and make it thin and round, and then the aunt from my host family put some fish stuff in it, and then I would fold it over and push the sides down.... and then they would fry it in oil. Hard to explain, I have pictures of me doing this though! I did that for about an hour or two.
After we finished the power randomly went out in the whole island. It was so dark! (obviously since it was night...) But it was nice to be able to see the stars, they were so bright since there was not light hiding them. We all got out our flashlights and candles and sat around making shadows on the the wall. It was really funny because that was something I don't they have done or seen before! They were so interested in it!
The power was out for about 2 hours I think.
Nothing else has really happened here! I'm kind of bored of everything here.... lol. I don't know what it is.... but anyways, I'm going to go!
I hope you all have a really great day! Miss you!!!

10 more days

Yea, I can't wait!
I hope you all are having a good week so far! I am definately having a better one than last week!I'm so happy that the days are starting to go by faster and faster. Next time you see me I will be a little tanner than usual! I can't believe how much I have tanned! Usually I'm this tan over a whole summer! But I guess its just because we're really close to the equater.
Things are going good here! I taught my first real lesson today in school! Mr. Brown said it went really well! I did it on activities. I would explain it all to you but this is something that could take a while to talk about... Sorry... : \
Anyways! I baught some nice pants today! They only cost 2500 CFA. They are really comfortable and I baught them for wearing on the plane home! I can't wait! I also got a free necklace from this really cool guy. Usually thats a tactic for them to pull you in and then try to get you to buy something from their 'works' but after he gave them to us (the three of us volunteers) he didnt ask us if we wanted to buy anything! I was really surprised but glad because it can get really annoying.
Other than shopping and school today, I didn't really do anything. It was nice, because it went by fast, but I was so tired! Last night we got home late (1am... late for a 7am wake up time) from the welcoming drinks for the new volunteers. There are two even newer ones that I met! One was from Germany, his name is Matt. He said he was from south Germany, but other than that w didn't really talk because he basically speaks just French and German. The other girl is 20 and she is from England. Her name is Maissa. She is genuinly (spelling?) sweet, and I think we might be doing an english club together on thursady nights. So that will be fun! Shes doing medicine here. I just think that is so cool! I was glad to meet her! Hopefully we can get together and hang out for a while!
This weekend the volunteers are taking a trip to Dakar. It would only be from Friday afternoon to Saturday night probably. I'm pretty sure I'm going to that, so that will be fun! We will just be touring everything and they say there are some pretty cool sights there! It will be a good way to make the weekend go by fast! That is just for the heads up!
I should probably get going! I miss you all so much and I can't wait to get home, even though I am having fun! Please pray that God will continue to give me the strength and rest that I need to get through the days and that I would continue to keep my eyes fixed on Him every second of every day, because really, that is the only thing that is keeping me going strong! Expecially since I can't talk to you all!
I love you and miss you!
Hope you have a good week! And thank you for the prayers and continued support!
Love Always,
Lindsey

Another day off....

You know, it gets a little hard to get through the day when your plans have not worked out. But I guess God had this all planned out anyways. I was supposed to go to Sor today to help my teacher in a different school. SO I got there in time (8 am) and everything and then I called him and he said he had been trying to get a hold of me to let me know that there was no teaching today because it was a national holiday. Alright, so I had the day off! But nobody else does.... so I was a little worried that I would have nothing to do!
It's been good today, having time to myself and all. Its been really relaxing.

Anyways, yesterday two new volunteers came. Their names are Sarah, who is 19 and from Tenn. (YES! another American!!!) and Rachel, who is 21 and from Austraillia. They are both really nice, but I was surprised to see how they were feeling! They didnt seem sad or upset at all. I guess I'm just something special!

Last night we had another surprise party for Claires brithday. The party was by the river, and the gift was a cow. All of the volurteers were convinced and afraid that they were actually going to kill the cow right in front of us for our dinner, but instead they dressed it up in Senegalese colors and put a hat on it. They told us that the slaughtering would not be until Claires goodbye party... Glad I'll be gone by then! ; )

I dont have much to do today, hopefully something interesting is put in my way. And also that the day doesnt slow down because I dont have much to do! Thank you for all of your prayers and help and support. I really do love hearing from you all! Its really comforting! I hope you all are having a great day!

Love,
Lindsey

Oh yea!!!!! Its June!!!! 12 MORE DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE!!!!

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Sigh....

Today has been going better. I apologize for worrying you so much yesterday!
I woke up and went to this nice restaurant to meet Lisa and have breakfast with her. Lisa is also a Christian and is encouraging me to keep going. I'm so glad God has put here the same time as me so that I could have some encouragment without having to call home!
Afterwards we went to a church for the service. It was all in french, so I didnt understand anything, but the music was so beautiful! I recorded some of it on my camera so I could bring it home and have you experience what I have. To my surprise there were quite a few people there, and a lot of children. It filled my heart with hope to know that there are people in this city that praise the same God that we do!
I will spending some more time with Lisa today, going to the flamingo to chat and relax some. I think that I've been having a hard time lately because it is the weekend, and there is not a lot to do to keep me busy. But I think next weekend the volunteers might go to Dakar and be 'tourists' there, so we can keep busy with that.

My mom wants me to tell you all about the Talibe' children, so I will.
These children are ones that you see on the street all of the time, begging for money. It's so heartbreaking to see them. They arent homeless though. Their parents cant afford to take care of them on their own and to have them go to school so they send them away to these teachers where they are taught the Koran. Some of these kids are even as young as 4 or 5. They stay in bad conditions and have to beg for money to pay for their schooling (but the money will just end up providing the teacher's family instead).
It's hard for us to know how to take care of them because if you give them food, it will help them not be hungry, but if they dont get enough money for the day they will be beaten by their teacher. But if you do give them money, you are supporting these horrible teachers.
It is such a difficult situation and I just ask for all of you to pray for these children. That God would come into their hearts and that they would remain safe and healthy. And also, that GOd would do something so that the evil would end in all of this.
These kids arent even being taught french or woolif, just how to read the Koran, so its not like they can survive on their own in the world either. : (
Its very heartbreaking.

Please continue to pray for the rest of my trip. That God would use me to make ripples in this country, one way or another. I love you all very much and I miss you all a ton. Thank you so much for the encouragment that you have given me this past week and even beforehand! I appreciate it so much and I cant tell you how much it helps! I hope you have had a good weekend, and that your week is good as well!

With love in Christ,
Lindsey

PS. Thanks for giving me that visual, Mom and Aunt Linda! I will think of it when I miss you all too much! In fact.... when I was on the beach yesterday I tried to look REALLY hard (haha) to see America... it didnt work though.... Anyways thanks! I love you!