We are getting ready!

Hello again PCA team! We hope that your training day on Saturday went well. We are so glad that Megan and Emma were able to join you and give you their perspective on Senegal! They said you had good questions which is great!

We have booked your accommodations for while you are in the city. You will stay at the same location the PCA team of 2003 stayed, and they loved it there! Also, you will be returning to work on the same property in the bush that the 2003 team worked on. They helped build the Pastor's home and you will help repair and repaint it. So, the PCA Missions legacy in Senegal will carry on!

We are also planning meals and excursions for you. Rice, pasta and lots of great French baguette will be on the menu for sure! Prepare yourself to drink lots and lots of water. It is a necessity in the heat and dry air. We want you to stay healthy while you are here!

If you have any questions you or your parents would like answered, please ask. You can send the questions by email or on the Facebook group we started. We want you to feel free to ask any question that comes to mind.

We are looking forward to your visit. We will work hard, pray hard, bond together tightly and have some fun too! See you soon!

Sharon & Will Radford, Jesse & Beth

God delights in our praises!

Greetings from Senegal! We have been so excited to read of the preparations the PCA team is going through in order to be effective ministers of the Gospel here in West Africa. We thought that you would also like to hear how we are preparing for your arrival and ministry! So, from time to time we will add our thoughts, plans and prayers to this blog. But first, enjoy this video of the children of Ecole Esperance Vivante, our newest Christian school, as they sing in French and Wolof of the goodness of our God! It is our prayer that each of these children will come to know God in a real and life-changing way! See you soon! Sharon & Will Radford

Push Ups and Testimonies

During last night's training session, Mrs. Paas led the students in a time of reflection and repentance. Employing the assistance of Josh and Thomas, she demonstrated the ease with which they were able to complete push ups. Then, using Philip as a weight to hold Josh down, she demonstrated the difficulty of doing push ups when we are burdened by sin. We were invited to privately confess our sins to Christ and find the freedom of knowing his forgiveness.

After this time of confession, we moved to the computer lab and began working on our testimonies. We trust that we will have many opportunities to share all that Christ has done in His life, death and resurrection.

Thank you for reading this update and remembering our team in your prayers.

Believe by Harmony of Hearts

Believe from Harmony of Hearts on Vimeo.

Gospel Paintings & Communication - January 2 & 4 Training

On Saturday, January 2, the students on the Senegal team had an early start to the year with a day long training session. We met at 9:30am at Markham Baptist Church. Jocelyn led us in a time of teaching about prayer and then in a time of prayer itself. I have found that the students are shy about praying out loud. However, Jocelyn was very clear in her encouragement to be courageous to pray. Perhaps, you can pray that the Spirit of God would do a work of revival in our team and that one of the fruits of this revival would be a passionate yearning to be with God in prayer. I long for that day when the love and fear of God would be more persuasive than the love and fear of our neighbor's opinion of us. Such a moment will come and it will come by God's grace. Please pray this into being for our team.

After spending some time in prayer, we moved to the church's gymnasium where we spent the remainder of the day. Paul McDonald, a street evangelist from the west end of the city, gave a very powerful exhortation around the preaching of the gospel. (Paul has a blog about his evangelistic ministry at http://goodnewsfortoronto.wordpress.com)

Paul explained what the gospel is (and isn't) and the joy and necessity of preaching the gospel. He then taught the students a very effective means of communicating the gospel by painting out stories on a sketchboard. The students were taught a lesson on Peter's walking on water, how Peter began to drown and cried out, "Lord save me!" Likewise, we are facing sure death and hell because of our sin. However, if we, like Peter, look to Jesus and ask him to save us, he will - because he has paid the penalty for our sin on the cross and has risen to life again.

I am very glad that Paul was there with the students, to glory in the gospel and provide very meaningful training in how to communicate it. I've attached a photo of Paul training the students in sketchboard evangelism with this email.

The remainder of the day was spent fastidiously learning the techniques behind preparing and presenting effective "gospel sketches." It was trying at times, to maintain the aesthetic quality of the painting while preaching. All the student had an opportunity to practice with each other. Hopefully, you will be able to view one of these presentations before our departure.

While the students were training on the sketchboard, Daisy and a couple of students were baking cookies for a Parent-Information session which concluded the evening. As always the parents were more concerned than the students were. However, they were genuinely grateful for the opportunities that their children will have to proclaim the gospel.

On Monday evening, Diane, came in to the weekly training session and exhorted the students around the area of communication, the importance of taking initiative and the avoidance of cliques, to name a few of the items she addressed.

As we approach the day of departure (February 26), there is still much work to be done:

We continue to raise financial support for the trip. To this end, Lord willing, Miss Kang's business class and the Senior team will be hosting a fundraising dessert night on Monday, February 15. It is a holiday (Family Day) - if you and your family are able to attend, we would encourage you to do so to support the team.

We have two more all day training sessions on January 23 and February 22. On January 23, the Radfords' eldest daughter will be leading the training and providing more background for our students on her parents' ministry and life in Senegal.

Needless to say, this is demanding work and we need you to continue to pray for us and the team. Pray that God would revive our spirits and give us a joy in Him that would pour forth in our ministry. Pray that we would have the same desire as the Apostle Paul, namely to know nothing except Christ crucified.

Immunizations & Outreach - December 18 Outreach Event

It has been a few weeks since I last updated you about the progress of the Senegal Project.

On Monday, of this past week, we took the team to the Missionary Health Institute's Travel Clinic where the nurse outlined the risks and precautions we should be aware of as we prepare to travel to Senegal. Hearing about some of the potential risks drove home the reality of the trip. After the health session, she began the painful task of immunizing our students. Our students are making a sacrifice of time and energy to communicate the gospel cross-culturally in a climate that is quite foreign to them. We pray that God would be gracious to us and grant us health, strength and joy as we share with those who need to hear about Christ.

To this end, the team spent yesterday afternoon in and around the Eaton Center. With gospel tracts, they asked people who are milling about to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. If the person was willing, our students shared with them a simple gospel presentation. This is the second year that we have incorporated direct evangelism into our training. It has been a joy to watch our students take a very definitive stand for Christ and be numbered with Him.

All of our students had had an opportunity to share the gospel with at least one person yesterday. They all returned with stories to share about how God granted them wisdom to speak with clarity and with boldness. Needless to say, I am very proud of our students and their willingness to step outside of their "comfort zone" and outside of cultural norms, to approach strangers, strike up conversations with them and ultimately point those people to Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, January 2, the team will be gathering together for a day of training and preparation. Each of the students has been paired up and is preparing a Bible lesson, craft and activity that will be used to point the Senegalese children to Jesus Christ. We will be going over these items on Saturday. As well, we will be receiving training from a local street evangelist who will be teaching our students how to present the gospel through interactive paint demonstrations. The day will end with a parent-information session.

Would you join us in praying for open doors for the gospel to be proclaimed in Senegal?
Would you join us in praying for sufficient prayer and financial provision to take us to and from Senegal?
Would you join us in praying that we would be a blessing, encouragement and joy to the Radfords?

Have a Merry Christmas!

Sharing the Gospel with Children - November 16 Meeting

This message is sent with great joy at the progress I am observing in our team.

During the training session yesterday, team members had to submit their support letters in which they ask for a team of prayer, encouragement and finanical supporters. While Jocelyn, Daisy and I read the letters, the students met in their small groups and began to share what they had gleaned from the gospel of John over the past week.

It was very encouraging to hear the students leading each other, encouraging each other and exhorting each other to be faithful in their study and meditation of the Bible.

Yesterday's session sought to address two critical issues: What is the Gospel? And, how should we communicate the gospel to children? (Much of our work in Senegal will be with children).

Jocelyn led the team in a deeply meaningful demonstration of sharing the gospel with children. She shared the principle of "Hook, Book, Look, Took.: "Hook" the children with a common object or story; "Book" refers to the telling of the story or explanation of the object; "Look" refers to the transition from the object or story to the person and work of Jesus; and "Took" refers to the appropriate response of the child to Christ.

In Jocelyn's demonstration she asked all the students to sit on the floor and pretend that they were young children. She shared the story of a Butterfly, explained how a caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis then demonstrated how Christ enables a type of metamorphosis in a person's life as he takes a sinner and makes that person a Child of God. Finally, she invited the students to respond by believing in Christ. It really was a very moving time to watch our senior students become like little children as they listened to and prayed with Jocelyn. The students were then assigned to craft three different gospel presentations using a picture book or common object which follows the "Hook, Book, Took, Look" model. They have 2 weeks to prepare this.

In closing, I am humbled by the reality that God allows us to be his ambassadors at home and around the world. The gospel really is the greatest gift in the world. Would you please pray that our students would be both students and heralds of this gospel?

Thank you for taking the time to read these updates. Thank you also for taking the time to pray for our team.

Prayer and The Word - November 9 Meeting

Today, Jocelyn led a very meaningful time of exhortation for the team. She shared her personal testimony and the critical role that intentional time of reading, meditation and reflection in the Bible have had in her life. We have made it a point to exhort our students to be students of the Bible, independent of their class time. Someone once shared with me that the breadth of my ministry should never exceed the depth of my ministry. This is true for all who are called to minister - adults and students.

To this end, Daisy has worked very hard to produce a self-guided study through the gospel of John for our students. Each verse is examined for its content, meaning, impact and application. In their small groups, they are going to be working their way through John's gospel, verse-by-verse. I am confident that the sustained immersion in the Bible will produce much fruit in and through the lives of our students. Would you pray that the promise of Isaiah 55:11 will be evident in our students?

We have received some preliminary plans from the Radfords, in Senegal, regarding schedule and program. Please have a look at the tentative schedule they provided...

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
						February 27 Team arrives
28 Music, skit, testimonies in Dakar church – Temple/Bethel/ Maristes	March 1 2 3 4 SIPS Dakar ministry ideas: Mural painting at Christian schools Children’s presentation at Christian schools Bible clubs assistance Possibly Youth presentation at a local church Possibly Youth Group presentation at Dakar Academy Thursday night After school interaction at Dakar Academy				5 SIPS Possible attendance at SIPS (Sports Invitational for Private Schools) activities for interaction with DA students and other non-Christian schools.	6 SIPS Leave for Thiadiaye (2-4 hour drive from Dakar to rural Senegal to set up for several days of ministry)
7 Attendance at and participation in a rural church. Evening evangelism	8 9 10 Rural ministry ideas: Work on Pastor’s home repairs Kids’ clubs in villages Evening evangelism in village Wednesday evening – leave for debriefing venue.			11 Debrief	12 Debrief in morning Leave for Dakar in afternoon Pack and leave for airport.	13 Team leaves

One particular item that they have asked for is a fascinatingly simple yet ingenious evangelistic tool called the "Evangeball." If you would like to learn more about these balls or purchase one on behalf of the team, please check out the following link:

http://www.africanazarene.org/wmafrica/RegionalServices/EducationDiscipleshipNED/JESUSFilm/EvangeBall/tabid/367/Default.aspx

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray that we would be equipped to preach the gospel fearlessly and clearly, as we should.

Raising Support - November 2 Meeting

Today, Daisy provided a very thorough overview of the Biblical basis for support raising and encouraged them to begin planning their support letters. Each student is needing to raise $3250. This is a large amount, to say the least. However, we are confident that God is able to meet this need. Would you join us in praying that each student would rise to the challenge of raising this amount and that God would provide each student with a supportive team of people who would encourage, pray and love them to and from Senegal?

Another item of prayer is the persistent concerns regarding the H1N1 virus. We would like you to pray that if it is God's will for us to be in Senegal, then the spread of this virus would not pose any danger or obstacle to us. We are working with our travel agent to identify specific policies around trip cancellation should an outbreak of the virus be detected in Senegal.

Finally, would you please pray that the students have the endurance to persevere through the training sessions? They are already putting in a full day at school and the energy needed to go through another 1.5 hours can be taxing. Yet, these sessions are so important for them. So pray that they would discover the Lord as their supernatural strength - especially on Monday nights.