Missions

Senegal

Here in CT my name is Pamela, but when I am in Senegal my name is Dagan Sall. Our church has adopted 2 villages there. Our mission: to share the love of God with our friends. Sometimes we wonder what God is doing choosing the people he chooses to do His mission work, that is the case with us. We are not bible scholars, we are not all that special, yet He chose our church to adopt them. Over the years we have answered God's call to provide them with tangible love in the form of mosquito nets, a health hut, food when their crops do not produce enough and then once a year we visit to encourage the church planter and continue developing relationships with the villagers. It is a true blessing to hear them say "We only see the Love of God when you come." That is a testament to Jesus, that is who they see when we come. Our next trip is being planned for April of 2024.

Senegal - April 2024

We are back from this year's trip and I am so excited to be part of what god is doing in places far from home as well as near home.

Soccer or Futbol?

Senegal loves their soccer and even in remote villages such as ours. A couple of our team mates put together a skills challenge for the youth. They had 2 age brackets and probably upwards of 40-50 kids in each bracket participate. At the end the 2 winners received some soccer items as gifts and first place medals. It was a fun filled afternoon. After that was done our team did present to the older kids their own Soccer Jerseys we had made back home and brought with us. My husband also collects soccer gear throughout the year to bring with us. We had 6 huge bags filled with soccer clothes, cleats, balls, socks etc.

The older youth was able to join us one night for dinner as an extra reward for him. Children eat last here. Men first, women next and then the children get whats left over. For him to eat with us, we hope and pray is something he will remember forever.

Solar Lights

One of our villages has asked in the past for lights as their village does not have electricity. This year our church raised enough funds for us to bring 2 solar lights per family, we carried 160 lights with us packed securely in our large bags and had a wonderful day to hand them out to each female head of the families. Last year when we gave them soccer jerseys for their team, one young man maybe 20 years of age stood up and shared how he believes we are doing what God tasked us with and is amazed that we do these things for them without asking for anything in return. He told us he felt appreciation deep within his heart. This year my husband responded to that by telling them that yes we follow what Jesus asks us to do, and that is to love others. This is a small way we can love them. One woman spoke up after it was all over and said "Thank you for bringing us out of darkness into the light!" A very prophetic statement I'd say.

This year our founding team leader made the very difficult decison that due to his health, he could no longer travel with us and decided to hand off leadership to 4 of the team members. My husband, myself, and 2 other ladies on our team who have been many years as well. So this year seemed like it was a year of firsts and a year against all odds. A first for 4 of us now traveling as leaders of the team and we had 2 new team members join us as well. We had many difficult things pop up before leaving that made this year seem like a daunting task to take on. One thing after the other rolled our way. The weeks prior to leaving got more interesting as my husbands job was giving him all kinds of trials that raised his stress level immensely to one of our team members getting pneumonia right before we left and he had to cancel coming with us. Not to mention issues on the other side of the ocean with the mission organization we go through having major changes for them as well. Yet God provided every detail as He always does. We came home and shortly after we got word from our church planter that He felt "this was the best year yet!" Whoa! That was amazing to hear and really a testament to the prior 18 years of groundwork that has been laid. There is so much more I could share so if this intrigues you and you want to learn more about what we do, reach out! I love to talk about what God is doing in Senegal!

The above photo is me with my namesake, the open fire they cook our meals in and on our last day we encountered a sandstorm. It looked exactly like the wildfires we experienced last year from Canada, but it was fine sand being blown about. We could barely see the ocean, it was so thick. We typically have a rest day at the end of our trip to prepare to come back home. This place was amazing before the sandstorm hit. Its a refreshing time for the team!

Sweden

This mission began in 2022. Luke and I traveled to Sweden to be the cooks for a missions conference for a team of full time missionaries who work with CRU. CRU, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ works on campuses all over the world connecting with students, giving everyone an opportunity to know Christ. It is an honor to serve these people with food for nourishment as they prepare to serve others offering food for their souls!

Sweden - Nov. 2023

This year we flew into Copenhagen, Denmark and then hopped on a train up to Gothenburg where we met up with some of the team to gain a little cultural experience in this city. We walked around a garden or 2 and enjoyed hearing about the latest stories since our time last year. There are 2 teams, one in Gothenburg and 1 in a town called Orebro. The Gothenburg team has gained one new little member which was difficult to not want to hold her the whole time and forgo cooking, but that's not why I went. LOL!

People walk all year long here regardless of the weather. People are used to the cold and plan accordingly. They use bicycles all year as well. In fact, the bike paths get cleared of anow before the roads do.

The gardens in Gothenburg were still beautiful with all the colors of fall and even found a few flowers still blooming.

This is near the house where we stayed. A gorgeous HUGE Lake and we only saw a smidge of it from our walk.

We walked here once during the 5 days we were near here.

The first part of Romans 12:7 says "If your gift is serving others, serve them well." So that's what we tried to do. About a month prior to the trip, we have to get the menu and shopping list to our coordinator. She looks the list over and then lets me know if anything on my list is not available there. I find it fascinating to learn there isn't an overabundance of items like here in the US. They are not a fan of preservatives in Sweden, so many things are sold in smaller containers and some things are just not available. Cake mixes...nope. Chocolate chips....nope. Half n Half...nope. Coffee Creamer...nope. Oddly enough though Maple Syrup, which I might add is imported from New England is cheaper there than it is here in the US. Go figure. We've tried to make each years menu a little different and it begins with seeking what the team might like and be interested in having that they don't normally get. The all encompassing answer is Mexican.... with queso! I suppose Sweden is a bit far from Mexico so there interpretation of Mexican is pretty different there and it is something the Americans miss. We tried...but it's not quite the same cooking Mexcian there with ingredients that are hard to find, but we did our best and I think they enjoyed it.

There is much to bring when traveling to a place like Sweden. The team members seek things they can't get there. Amazon is not quite affordable to ship so we bring as much as we can. The people we travel there with bring many things including this year a stroller handle to replace a broken one. One of our luggage's was filled with chocolate chips, refried beans, taco seasoning, spices and baking ingredients that are difficult to get there or impossible. We left everything behind and that left me with one whole luggage to fill with Swedish things to come home with! ok, I didn't FILL it, but I did get some nice things!

This is Mexican Night. Beef and Chicken Fajitas, Mexican street corn, guacamole, refried beans, salsa, homemade queso(first time making this and I thought it wasn't so bad), and roasted peppers and onions! One big difference in cooking there, is we are cooking in a fully Ikea Kitchen. Induction Stove Top, Convection Oven, these are things I am not used to using, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. and I swear the oven makes me a better cook.

Last year I made Cowboy Cookies and I was asked to please make those again!

Pudding mixes brought from home and some homemade whipped cream made this a special dessert.

A celebration to honor our friends means a table with flowers! Special touches for special people.

It is a true blessing to be able to do this together with Luke. We make a great team.

The week is intended for the full time staff missionaries to host a training conference for the new interns coming to Sweden, having committed to 2 years. We met 3 new interns who arrived just after last years conference. Sometimes as in their cases the Visa's they apply for get delayed and so even though these 3 new interns have been there almost a year, they had not gone through this training yet. Some classes are taught by the people we travel there with and some classes are taught by local pastors from Sweden. The days not only include training but also worship time next to the piano and prayer time. It is a sweet time with everyone and great training!

After the time at the retreat house, we would be flying out of Stockholm, so we took a train and spent a full day exploring and this time we went to Skansen. It is a place similar to Massachusetts's Sturbridge Village. It is replicating old Sweden from days past. It was a long day of a lot of walking.

A farmers pond

A typical city home

A home for people from the north country

For Hay to keep it off the damp ground

Scooters!

All across the city of Stockholm are public transportations like this. Download the app, load it with some money and then off you go. The app includes a map to follow wherever you want to go and where all the drop off locations are. We had to try it at least once. It was so much fun, although not warmer, makes the cold air coming at you colder.

We were very blessed to once again be on this trip and we praise God for His provision and for beautiful friends who helped get us there!

If you would like to donate to any of my mission trips please contact me and I can help you make a tax deductible donation through my church.

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