Hey ya’ll it’s been a while! Last month I did send out my newsletter, which I will put on my blog as well. So go read that before this if you didn’t get the chance!
At the end of my newsletter, I mentioned some fun things that I was looking forward to. One of them was related to my work – teaching music! Part of my supervisor’s job is to go to the different Lutheran parishes around Senegal and teach them the new songs of the church. We went to Nioro back in October, and a few weeks ago we went to Mbour! Mbour is located along the coast, about an hour south of Dakar. The first thing I noticed when I got there was that I wans’t sweating, and it was only 85 out. It was magical. I was even cold at some points – thank you Texas for getting me acclimated! But the next thing I noticed was of course the hospitality, or teranga, of the people there. On special events, or even meetings and seminars, there is always really good food, special snacks, and special drinks. I even helped the women prepare the meal of Thieboudienne, the national dish of Senegal and my favorite dish here! I finally learned what makes the rice so good: boiling the fish and veggies in water, then removing the fish and veggies and cooking the rice in the same water. But mostly, we were there to teach. We taught out of the book of children’s songs, and there are so many songs that have the same melody as songs I already know, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb. This church had a keyboard, so I got to break out my piano skills (just kidding, I only played the melody and chords). When we had free time, I taught some of the people there new chords on the guitar, piano basics, and strum patterns. In exchange, I learned new rhythms on drum and how to play the guitar the Senegalese way, but very simply. Whenever I travel to another city, most of the people do not speak Serer. But people in the church do, so I get to practice that as well!
Pastors and people of the Lutheran church in Mbour and other surrounding churches
For those times I don’t use Serer, I’ve learned some basic Wolof words (Wolof is the most common spoken language in Senegal) and I’ve used my French. I’ve talked about speaking French on my blogs before, but let’s recap: I took French in high school and college, and I’m learning it here because my Serer tutor doesn’t speak English. I feel pretty confident with speaking French now, I can usually get the general idea of what people are saying if I don’t understand everything. Recently, 2 people on 2 separate occasions asked me if I was French after having a conversation with them, so I guess that’s a good sign! Also, thank you to Mme. Denton, my high school French teacher, for all of the little songs you taught me to remember conjugations! I still remember them!
Throughout my YAGM year, the YAGM Senegal cohort will have 3 retreats together. We just had our first one over Thanksgiving week in Saint Louis (located on the coast, really far north)! St. Louis also had pretty cool weather, which was a nice change while Fatick was still in the 100s. It is a big tourist town, which was strange since there are very few toubabs here in Fatick. We did get to participate in some tourist-y things, such as going to the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary. The land there was mostly mangroves that connect to the Senegal River, and all of the birds had started their migration to the south for the winter. The most amazing sight was the pelicans that owned their own island! They also had flamingos, herons, and something called a “snake bird” (it had a normal name but I like snake bird). We also got a tour of St. Louis and some free time to explore. St. Louis has a large fishing industry, where the fish gets shipped all over Senegal and even the world. On the island of St. Louis, everyone’s job is to fish. We saw the large stretch of beach where they dry the fish, as well as them loading hundreds of pounds of fish into large trucks of ice for transport. St. Louis is also full of history. It was a center for slave trade and where the first school and Catholic church of the western coast of Africa were established by the toubabs.
On a boat at the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary 
When we were not out exploring, we were hanging out at the house we stayed in or cooking our meals. We had a lot of conversations about the two books we had been reading, Waking Up White and African Friends and Money Matters, we had worship, we sang songs, we talked in English, and we had Bible studies. Our Bible studies were based on the season of Advent and waiting. We talked about how we wait for God and how other people wait with us, especially the people we have met in Senegal. Right after this retreat, I started reading (and finished reading in 4 days) Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber. She also talks a lot about waiting, and ways that God showed up in her life unexpectedly. One thing that she wrote really stuck with me: “The movement in our relationship to God is always from God to us. Always. We can’t, through our piety or goodness, move closer to God. God is always coming near to us. Most especially in the Eucharist and in the stranger” (pg. 49). WOW! The reason this stuck out to me was because a pastor in Senegal recently told me the same thing and had this idea in a song that he wrote for the church. Since it’s popping up everywhere, it must mean something. I’ve never really made this connection before, but I definitely experience God through people. Whether we’re singing, talking, listening, helping, laughing – often in the most unexpected ways. This is a perfect example of how God comes to us and lives in our hearts, even if we have to wait to know what it means. I’m so thankful for the people of Senegal and my YAGM cohort for showing me God through our relationships, especially while cooking a Thanksgiving meal together!
Our Thanksgiving Feast! 
I made stuffing and bissap apple cider!
Sarah in Senegal 