Hawken's March Update - Praying for God to Revive us!

Hello Everyone! 

These last 6 weeks have made clear the fact that we have a place here at BeerSheba. The thought of saying goodbye to our friends in just two months is about as sad as eating plain oatmeal. Despite this, Em and I are trying to give 100% of ourselves to doing God's Kingdom work here in Senegal. 

Here are some of the ways that the Lord has showed Emily and I his favor these last weeks: (as a reminder, Em and I felt like God laid this word on our hearts for this year)

• Spending two weekends with our friend Wally at his parents' house in Dakar (for the story on this dear friend of ours, check out Emily's most recent update)

• Watching our garden grow each day

• Hearing from people how much better the animals look than they did 6 months ago

• Meditating more on God's desire for our spirits to be daily revived and filled with his Spirit

• Surfing fun

• Welding practice

• Learning to ride/drive the horsecart

• Welcoming our good friends - who left to get married the same time we did - back to Senegal

• Seeing the Lord heal people at Beersheba (check out Emily's March update to hear the story about that) and lead others to repentance

• Enjoying the incredible generosity from those who have given towards our wedding (we LOVE you guys)

• Healing me of a staph infection (mostly - see prayer requests)

• Giving Em and I the chance to go out and visit with the local pastor and his family, and to pray for a sick elder in the village nearby. It is so, so good to be able to get to know the community around Beersheba

The Beersheba team has been meditating on the word revival lately. We have spoken at length of our desperate need to be revived ourselves before we talk/think about a community of people being revived. We have asked ourselves 'what does revival even mean?' Water keeps on bubbling up to the surface of our conversations. The clay soil here is almost as hard as cement when dry - you can spend all your energy hacking away at the soil if you want to dig a hole. As soon as you add water and allow it to soak in, real changes can be made. 

I confess that in these talks of revival - I feel a sense of spiritual haughtiness and pride in asking 'do I even need to be revived?' "My walk with Jesus looks pretty good lately." YIKES. Those kind of thoughts are the exact opposite of what Jesus was talking about when he said to be "poor in spirit." They remind me a lot of the Pharisee who was praying to God about how happy he was that he wasn't like that sinful tax collector nearby. 

I confess also that during these talks of revival, I have been tempted to strive to somehow 'attain' a new level of spirituality on my own. 

I confess that I have been stressed about the mystery and newness that come with diving deeper into the Holy Spirit's work in my life, and the changes He might bring. Maybe He would ask me to do things that are uncomfortable/difficult for me! 

SO, after some good discussion and prayer...

- We've been led to meditate on the ways in which we see God at work among us. He is not far; in fact he is very close, and he is always working to lead us to himself. 

- At the same time we want to look inward to see if there are any 'rocks' in our lives that could quench the Spirit, or impede his work in us. 

-We will continue to practice cultivating a daily thirst of being filled with God's Spirit

I'm curious to know what you think about revival? Shoot me an email with some thoughts if you'd like. 

What's your exposure to/experience with revival? 

What is revival? 

Is it important for us to seek revival? 

Let me know what you think! 

Prayer requests:

• Pray that we would be filled with the Spirit, and that our THIRST for God's presence would increase daily. Pray that everyone who lives and works at Beersheba would experience Spirit-led revival.
• Even that the surrounding villages would be blessed and led to the Lord through Beersheba. I got to talk to a man named Michelle who lives just about 7 miles away. He couldn't stop talking about how blessed he was to finally come and witness the forest here. "It's a miracle" he kept saying, and "God has blessed this place." He left Beersheba with some free moringa capsules and a big smile on his face. 
• Pray that the Lord would lead Emily and I about our next steps after our time in Senegal ends in May. 
• Pray that the animals here at Beersheba thrive and are a blessing for the surrounding community. 
• Pray specifically against diseases that lead to death as we are still experiencing this. 
• Pray that God totally heals me from Staph - there are a few small spots on the back of my leg. 

Here are lots of pics. Many of them include the work-related things that I've been doing. Enjoy! 

All the newlyweds together back at BeerSheba! It has been such a blessing to go through the same life change as two other couples - Christian and Barbara (on our left; they're from Cameroon), and Dogo and Brigit (on our right; they're from Togo).

Three newly married dudes! We left Beersheba around Nov 2020, and now the Lord has brought us all back together and we are enjoying marriage!

Em and I with our good friend Robert. The other day, the Lord led me to sit with Robert for about an hour and a half one morning. We shared an encouraging time together seeking the Lord. For me, this is one example of how God is already answering our prayers for revival. 

These are papaya seeds! This picture excites me because they were all collected by the shepherd in charge of the goats and sheep. We are slowly making progress toward more natural parasite solutions - this is always a prayer request :) We grind the dried seeds and feed them to the animals.

Our garden is growing every day! We have asked God to bless what grows, and we are excited to see how he will answer that prayer. 

This is a little 'house' for the minerals that we give the goats and sheep! It is the first welding project I got to do on my own 

Em and I learned how to weld last month! This is our welding teacher Latyr. Here we are trying to make a goat grain feeder that will stay poop free (young goats like to jump inside). 

I learned how to drive the horse cart! Here we were collecting forage for the animals. Driving isn't too hard because the horse does most of the skilled labor... A bit different than the golf carts we drove around in Florida!

An awesome restaurant we got to visit with our good friend Wally. We had a great conversation here about how our hearts can only find rest in Jesus. Nothing else will lead our bodies and souls into a place of lasting peace.

Surfing trip! The water was FREEZING but the overly tight wetsuits do their job well

So much fun...

...for so few seconds :)

I'm on the right trying to stand up

at least it doesn't hurt to fall! 

Thanks for reading! Here are a few videos of some things that are cool - like the #1 surfer in Senegal riding a wave, or the animals that I get to work with. I'm not sure if they'll play - but it's worth a try! 

Love you guys! Your prayers are powerful and effective! 

Hawken 

    

Emily's Update: Everything's growing--trees, friendships, and God's kingdom

  

    Well, it’s been a month and a half since we have been back at BeerSheba! Update time!! I’d like to jump back into the FLOW theme that I was following before in an attempt to keep things somewhat concise. As a reminder, at the start of my internship I wanted to be focusing on Fellowship-ing, Lingering, Offering myself, and having Wonder for what God is doing here in Senegal. Here we go!

 

    You know you’ve sent roots down in a place when the thought of uprooting and transplanting yourself somewhere else makes you cringe a little. With only two more months left here in Senegal, Hawken and I have begun to feel the premature tugs and tears on the roots that we’ve sent down into this community. The goodbyes won’t be easy! I’d like to highlight a few of my friends that I will miss, and that I have been blessed to fellowship with and see God doing beautiful work in.

 

    Wally—I’m sure I mentioned Wally in one of my previous updates, but I’ll remind you of his story. He came to BeerSheba just two weeks after me as a last-resort attempt to be delivered from various spiritual strongholds in his life. My relationship with him was rather up and down as I battled against my flesh and the devil, who wanted to keep me far from loving someone who was in need of love and encouragement. It’s frustrating how the devil does that. He often makes it so difficult for us to love those who need it the most!

    Hawken and I both asked the Lord to give us love and open hearts to receive Wally, especially during our season of dating and wedding planning when he seemed to linger in our company in the few minutes of the day that we could actually get alone to focus on planning or just be together! I’ll admit that I really struggled to welcome him into our life and relationship with a good attitude! But, man, it is so beautiful to see how God answered our prayers for a change in heart and a blessed relationship with Wally. The change didn’t happen fast, but the more we welcomed him, sought after him, and offered ourselves to him, the more we enjoyed his presence. We both have so much love for this dear friend who God has healed and liberated in many ways over the last few months at BeerSheba. Wally is truly a changed man! And I believe it was by simply being in the presence of a community like BeerSheba, and being ministered to by the church here, that Wally met Jesus and was transformed by the powerful love of God.

    About three weeks ago Wally moved on from BeerSheba and returned to Dakar to have a fresh start. We miss him and continue to pray Wally comes to understand how much God loves him and that joy, purpose, and belonging can be found in no one else but Jesus. It has been really cool to see God use Wally in mine and Hawken’s lives to show the power of persistent and patient friendship. Is there anyone in your lives that seems difficult to love at the moment? Go out of your way. Love them. See what God does in your heart and theirs. It is a joy to be used by Jesus to reveal the kind of love He has.

 

Ndeye Ami—In the last few weeks I’ve made a very precious friend who I have seen God completely heal and restore since she arrived here at BeerSheba. God is healing and touching people before my very eyes here, and it’s beautiful. So what is her story?

    Well, I had noticed Ndeye Ami for a week or so. I had not interacted with her directly, but from a distance I could tell she was weak. Weak in body and weak in spirit. I saw her laying down in the eating area at meal-times, not eating. I felt as though I could tangibly sense her thirst for revival and healing when I saw her at church crying out to God during worship times and seeking intercessory prayer for healing. I wondered what her story was, but didn’t seek her out. And then one day, God brought her into the nursery! I think she honestly just wanted to figure out what this white girl was doing here lol, and I’m so glad she decided to linger.

    We got talking in Wolof and by the grace of God I was able to pick up on a few details of her story—she was here at BeerSheba to seek healing in the, “name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.” “Tuddu Yesu. Ci tuddu Yesu.” She kept stressing that beautiful name as if even saying it brought her one step closer to being healed. For the past decade she has hardly been able to keep food and drink down and has been to hospital after hospital seeking solutions, spending about $2000 dollars in the process. That’s a LOT of money here, especially for a mother who can’t work to support her 4 children. There was such pain and fatigue in her eyes as she told me about her journey, yet also a glimmer of hope and longing was there too. I could see it.    

    Somewhere along the way she heard of BeerSheba—a place where people are healed in the name of Jesus. So she traveled far to see what the talk was about. She was here to experience Jesus. To receive from His church. To rest. And she came with such faith! Her story touched me.

    With my broken Wolof, I told her that Jesus is her doctor, that He can heal her and that He wants to. And then I offered to pray for her. I was blessed to call upon Jesus and ask Him to bring healing to this woman who was so poor and weak in and body. She thanked me and slowly walked out of the nursery, where she ran into Hawken who was heading to work. I watched them interact for a few minutes and was blessed to see Hawken lay hands on her and pray for her as well. Ndeye Ami was thirsty for healing, so much so that she was just asking for people to pray for her in the name of Jesus as she crossed their paths. What’s beautiful is that BeerSheba is a place where people will stop and pray!

 I am overjoyed to share that Ndeye Ami has been healed in the name of Jesus. The week after meeting her in the nursery, she came through again one morning with joy in her face and light in her eyes. I asked her how she was and she said with a smile, “Mangi tane. Mangi tani ci tuddu Jesu.” I’m healing. I’m healing in the name of Jesus. “Praise God!!” I said with a smile. “You’re healing! Praise Jesus. God is good! Are you eating? Are you hungry?” I asked. She replied that she was, indeed, eating again, and I can testify to that! It’s been just awesome to watch her polish off the massive BeerSheba portions of lunch each day. It truly seems that with each new day, Ami has more strength. And she is testifying to God’s goodness publicly. She can’t keep quiet!

    This last Sunday she stood up and shared her story with the church and spoke of her desire for her children to experience this same kind of relationship with Jesus that has changed her life. Just this morning she stopped by the nursery again, which she does almost daily now, to my delight, and shared that she wants to spend her time going to the villages and telling everyone about the power of Jesus to heal. Praise God! She came seeking Jesus, and Jesus met her. I thank Jesus for allowing me to witness and have wonder for what an encounter with His people, His Spirit, and His church can do for a desperate, sick woman. I think of Isaiah 55:

 

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.”

 

    Ami had spent everything and had hardly anything left. And now she has all!

God is good!

 

    Well, I know I didn’t write much about my nursery work (which has been very busy!), but I feel as though what has happened within these friendships in the last month have been very worth taking up the space in my update. I’ll get to the nursery next time. :)

 

See the pictures below for a few highlights of the last month!

The lil' nursery is getting bigger and bigger! (And more organized, praise the Lord).

            

We made it back out to the ocean for another go at surfing! The wet suits were undoubtedly a necessity as the water was FREEZING. Thankful for this incredible man who has loved me and blessed me SO MUCH these first few months of marriage. I'm beyond blessed to have someone like him to adventure and do kingdom work with. (Couldn't help but share the pic on the left 😂)

We had a local bi-lingual school come by and learn about nursery things, and then plant some trees at BeerSheeba's brand new school! It was fun to interact with the students and try and get them excited about how cooooool nursery work, trees, and seeds are! 

Some gorgeous flowers that have bloomed since Andrew and I installed some new irrigation systems around BeerSheba. Flowers like these make the trench-digging for the irrigation worth it! 

Some happy dragon-fruit plants climbing their newly installed orchard-tower-things! 

The automatic watering system Andrew has put together. Genius! 

Six loquat trees I brought back with me from Kenya! They are stilllll alive.. mostly. Struggling. But alive :) 

Wally and Hawken at a BBQ at Wally's house. We have spent the weekend at his place in Dakar twice now and have been very blessed by his family's hospitality! 

Hawken and a papaya in front of the dragon-fruit orchard we installed. :)

The two Ndeye Ami's :) She brought some of her children to church this last Sunday. I'm excited to continue seeing how God uses this woman of faith!