A very overdue March-July Update :)

 

Hey family and friends!

 

Wow, I realize it’s been a very long time since I’ve sent out an update—sorry y’all! A lot has happened since my last update, all of which I’ll summarize in a few points below!

 

Departed Senegal :’(

Yes, it’s true! Hawken and I can hardly believe we are no longer in BeerSheba--that beautifully golden acacia forest where we made so many dear friends and memories. It really is surreal being gone, and it kind of hurts having it all feel like a dream. I don’t know how many of y’all have had that weird experience of eating breakfast on one side of the world, and then, less than 24 hours later, eating dinner with friends on the other side of the world…It’s weird. (Having that first meal back stateside be Chipotle with one of my best friends made it quite an enjoyable meal, but weird nonetheless.) It just feels like a whole other life we were living is so quickly over! And it’s been tricky finding the balance between lingering in the memories of Senegal and missing people there, and trying to shift gears and do life over here again. For a moment I’ll decide to linger and let ya’ll in on some of the highlights of my last few months in Senegal.

 

Trip to Casamance

Hawken and I went on a 6-day trip to southern Senegal! We spent some time in two different places—Ziguinchor and Cap Skirring. It was amazing to bike through some beauitfuuuuul forests with massive trees, kayak through some mangrove forests, and spend time on some very empty beaches (besides the cows, of course. Yup, cows. There were literally more cows on the beach than people. I know. Weird.)

One of the highlights of that trip was definitely getting to pray for our local guide, Demba, who had been having some serious diarrhea on both our biking and kayaking trip. Yeah, rough, right?

It was on one of the few “emergency” stops we made on the river while kayaking that Hawken and I asked him about his religious background before offering to pray for him. After he told us he was Muslim, we asked if he would be OK if we prayed in the name of Jesus for him to be healed. He eagerly welcomed it (as I’m sure anyone would after a few rough go’s in the bushes)! So we prayed for Jesus to take away his diarrhea and God totally showed up. From that point on, we made no more poop stops! And we were blessed to hear him declare, “Jesus is here,” after asking him how he was feeling.

 And that wasn’t the only time in the day God brought healing to him! After eating lunch, his stomach started hurting again. So we prayed again, in the name of Jesus. Minutes later, he said he was feeling better. Yoooo, God is so good! When saying goodbye, Hawken was able to share with Demba that God wants to do even more in his life and that the more he welcomes Jesus, the more life and joy and wholeness he will find. We praise God for opportunities to join Him in his exciting work of planting seeds and introducing the power and healing that Jesus brings to the sick and the lost. So next time you or a friend has a bad case of diarrhea, be on the lookout for God to be up to something…You never know how God might want to use it to reveal just a little bit more of his heart of love in the situation.

 

Aloise!

For the last 3 months in the nursery, I was super blessed to not be working solo! The Lord brought me an awesome friend named Aloise. He is a 30-year-old Senegalese man who is SO full of joy, song, diligence, and passion for Jesus. I was very spoiled to have him as a co-worker! He came to BeerSheba primarily to reignite evangelization efforts within the three villages around us. He even left a well-paying job that his college degree had gotten him in order to pursue ministry full-time. While that decision seems insane to his entire family, Aloise doesn’t quite see it as throwing away anything. He counts it all joy to obey the leading of the Spirit and spend the majority of his time telling others of how Jesus changed his life. And you can just see it! Such peace and joy radiates from Aloise because He is doing what his King Jesus has called him to do in this season of life, not what others expect him to do. “When I see so much pain and darkness around me, how can I not spend my time telling people about Jesus?” he said to me on several different occasions. Amen!

The man himself--Aloise. And me being... strange! We had so. much. fun together. I miss that smile. 

We spent the last three months nailing down a weekly and monthly schedule for the nursery work, collecting seeds, reorganizing the nursery, troubleshooting irrigation issues, learning Wolof songs, eating many jujube, having good conversations, and evangelizing in the villages with Mama Cathy and others. Dang, I miss his cheery smile and positive attitude. I’m glad he is such a reliable presence in the nursery and that I can trust he is keeping plants alive!

The nursery before.. on August 21, 2020.

The nursery on May 4, 2021. So fun to see the growth! Well, in the nursery, that is. Yes, everything else died in the dry season. 

Retail before... 

...and retail after! (from the other direction) All those plants are for sale!

One of my favorite memories with Aloise was actually made while attending a Senegalese wedding of a fellow BeerSheba friend. He volunteered himself to be somewhat of a cultural translator for Hawken and I for the entire event (which started at about 9 PM on Thursday night and didn’t end until Friday at 4 PM). This included pushing us out onto the dance floor in front of the entire village to give a go at some Serer dancing…at 1 AM… I don’t even want to know how many smart phones in rural Senegal have some very scarring videos on their smart phones of two toubabs (white people) attempting to dance their native dance… too many, I’m sure. But hey, they all cheered and laughed and clapped, so if we simply brought some more smiles and laughs to the wedding festivities, I’ll take it as a positive experience haha. It truly was a blast, however uncomfortable it was. Shout-out to my incredible husband who gives me such confidence to do crazy things like that! He definitely makes me more brave!

The threesome at the wedding! Yup, all matchy-matchy! Thankfully that's not a cringy in Africa. It's the way to go. Also, thankfully I never have to wear that dress again because... I couldn't breathe 😂

Ah! There’s honestly so much I could talk about, but I figure I’m quickly losing ya’ll’s attention, so I’ll try to move on from reminiscing about Senegal and share a little about where we will be starting our next season together!

 

12 Seasons

Hawken and I accepted a year-long contract as laborers on an organic vegetable production farm just 15 minutes away from ECHO in North Fort Myers called 12 Seasons. Yes, this is a job, and not another training program, as I’ve had many people ask me over the past few weeks (although, we will still definitely be learning loads and loads). Hooray! We praise the Lord for providing us such a great set-up for our first season of life together in the states as a married couple—a familiar community, familiar place, and familiar work that we love—farming! Why would we want to commit to sweating away for another year in Florida, you may ask? Well, other than the fact that we love the heat, love farming, and don’t mind sweating buckets, we want to gain valuable experience working on a for-profit farm to gain first-hand experience of what it takes to actually make a profit through farming. If we hope to be walking alongside more farmers in the future that also want to be making money off of the produce they grow, we want to experience what that is like for ourselves. Some awesome benefits of this new job is…

 

-I’ll be working another year with one of my besties and past intern buddy at ECHO, Emma Buchanan.

-We will be learning from an incredible, humble, hard-working farmer named Danny Blank

-Hawken and I will be eating all the organic veggies we can imagine, making up for our lack of them in Senegal. I’m PUMPED.

-We will be surrounded by incredible people and families who we hope to bless and learn from as newly weds!

 

I’m so happy to be back in Florida for this next year, working and growing together with my husband!

Our little trailer. Our home! It's... rustic. And cute! I won't even go into what the bathroom situation is. Let's just say... sustainable. DM me if you're that interested. 😂

 

IF you’re curious what we’ve been up to the last few months in the states... we’ve been road-tripping! Before starting work at the farm we went up to PA to see my grandma, back through Maryland (Baltimore, Ocean City) North Carolina (Durham, Aberdeen, Charlotte), Tennessee (Chattanooga, Whitwell, Cleveland), Atlanta, GA, and back to Florida! It’s been a wild whirlwind full of family, friends, and sweet potatoes.

A stop in Ocean City, Maryland to see my cousin, Gavin. We got Blue Maryland crabs, of course! So fun to connect with family.  

 

Not great quality, but a fun pic from Chattanooga! We got some dinner with Tyler, Lea, Chris, and Sarah Beth. It was fun to be in Chatt for a bit.  

Then in late June and early July we took a flight up to Cleveland, Ohio (where Hawken is from) to see his family and celebrate his birthday. We held a little, very chill celebration of our wedding at his uncle’s farm on the 4th for those who didn’t get to attend our wedding in Kenya. We also hit up an incredible amusement park called Cedar Point. That was a blast! Lots of quality time with his siblings in the long lines before getting on the rollercoasters.  I love his family! They have welcomed me so well. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of them better.

Hawken and his wonderful Momma, Sue. We had an awesomeee Ethiopian meal at a restaurant just 2 miles from his house in Cleveland. Yum.  

The meal was completed with a "coffee ceremony" of freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee beans and sandalwood incense. Delectable. Oh, and popcorn!

 

Hawken and I at a Lake Erie sunset. This pic was taken by a stranger! It was pretty rad she wanted to share it with us. 

Then we shot over to Chicago-land to see many, many of Hawken’s college friends. It was such a blast putting many faces to names that I’ve heard in countless stories. Hawken has some solid friends and I feel very blessed to be married into a new circle of incredible people. While I’m still getting over the caffeine high of too many cups of coffee in multiple living rooms of new faces, it was a blast of a trip up north!

Hawken took me to Wheaton! It was fun to see it through his eyes :) 

Hawken and a delicious Blackberry cinnamon bun--a Wheaton classic study spot. Gosh, he's handsome

 

Now we’re back in Florida, back to farming.

A mutated pickling cucumber I harvested today. Yes that's a cucumber growing out of a cucumber. 😂

Hawken and a farm-fresh salad (besides the tuna). We are LOVING the vegetablessssss

Sorry, had to post a close-up. Look at that color. The tomatoes taste like CANDY. If y'all haven't bought from a local farmer lately, go try it! Nothing beats fresh, local, and organic! Good for the body, the land, and the community. Woohoo!

How can you be praying for us?

 

-Open minds and hearts to how God wants to use this next year of farming and where He wants to take us next

-Growing intimacy, friendship, oneness, and delight within our marriage

-transition back to farming! It can be hard on the body! so prayers for taking care of ourselves, resting, and being an encouraging and hard-working presence on the farm.

-wisdom for where and how to engage with the local body of believers in Fort Myers

-opportunities to disciple and be discipled.

 

Thanks for reading and hanging in there. It’s a joy to update you all on my life! Until next time,

 

Emily Sawyer