Our ministry assignment is to engage in community health outreach among the Wolof people of Senegal. During our first term, we spent several days a week in our target ministry village establishing trust and building relationships within the community through dialogue and gathering health information related to cardiac risk factors. During our time on each family compound, we used stories to engage in dialogue and to gain insight into cultural barriers, beliefs, and values related to health, healing, and God. We also used our time to give basic information about blood pressure and how it affects the body. As we gained a deeper understanding of how the Wolof relates to God and health, we shared Scripture and prayed with each family. Through this process, we prayerfully looked for people of peace whose hearts were seeking God's truth.

Receiving my grant from MedSend was one of the biggest blessings we received as we were preparing for our departure to our place of ministry. Desiring to be good stewards of the resources that we had been given through both our degrees and our jobs, my husband and I worked hard to pay off our school debt as much as possible recognizing that we wanted the support that we received from our supporters to be mainly used for ministry and not helping pay off student loans we had acquired. By receiving the grant, we were able to leave for the field early, by many years, than we would have been able to do had we needed to stay and pay off our loans ourselves. Additionally, due to having older children which can be challenging when transitioning to a new culture, delaying our arrival to the field would have made is very difficult if not impossible. I am so grateful and thankful for the donors who have made it possible for our family to serve God in Senegal.