I wanted to update you all on what happened with Stephen, since I asked you to pray. I met with him today, and thanks in large part to your prayers and thanks in full to the Lord moving in his heart, you can now all rejoice with me that we have a new brother in Christ! Yes, today Stephen put his faith in Jesus Christ and began a life long relationship with Him. Now I know that when I leave Senegal, even if I never come back, I will see him in heaven =] I could not be more excited, it even happened early enough that I have 4 weeks left to teach him what it means to walk with the Lord. Hopefully I can show him what the Bible says about being called to share his new faith, so that I can leave someone behind in Senegal to continue to be a witness. He can reach his friends much better than I can, so pray for that! Thanks everyone! Love you guys!
In Christ,
Matt
Monday, May 30, 2011
God is Moving in Senegal
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Hey guys!
Here's the blog link: mdcoope3.blogspot.com
As always I want to start by thanking you guys for your radical generosity in supporting me, whether prayerfully, financially, or otherwise. You all are the backbone behind everything that I do here and even in the United States and I mean it when I say that I could not do any of it without you. I can't thank you all enough times and words can't express my gratitude.
Things have been going really, really well here. Most of the stories will have to wait until I return because having 30 minutes to write out this update is simply not enough to catch you up on what has happened over the course of the past week. I know many of you have been eager to hear what happened with Malick since I wrote about him in my last email. Unfortunately when I met with him the language barrier proved to be much more significant once I got past the surface level with him. He spoke great basic English but it was difficult trying to explain Biblical concepts to him, and whats more is that he was pretty closed to it anyway. He firmly told me that he did not want to or have time to study the Bible with me. That was a pretty discouraging first meeting. However, God is good and I did my part in stepping out in faith and my prayer is that hopefully I was able to plant some kind of small seed. Now, I want to tell you all about a guy I met named Stephen. Stephen said he was a Christian which of course raised my eyebrows, given the spiritual climate of the University. Stephen was even wearing a cross necklace, but when I asked what it meant to him to be a Christian he said it meant he "believed in God and was not Muslim." While that might have seemed like a loss, it was very good because it meant he didn't have background information fed to him contradicting the Bible such as that Jesus is not the Son of God, or a family who was totally opposed to him believing in Christ. I opened the Bible with him (he had never seen one before though he called himself a Christian) and he was very eager to study it and see what it had to say. He was confused about the fact that he couldn't be born a Christian, he had to make his own personal decision to receive and follow Christ. He was also confused that it was not doing good things that got him to heaven but that it was because Christ had paid his debt before God. We have met multiple times now and studied the Bible, going through passages in Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms, John, Ephesians, and even Revelations. Stephen speaks incredible English, that is what he studies at the university and he is a masters student (it is one of 8 languages that he speaks). Now when I ask Stephen to tell me how he believes he can have a personal relationship with God and get to heaven he says "By putting your faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins." This is amazing, this is a huge deal because of the language barrier here and the closed hearts, it usually takes a very long time to get students to the point where they understand the Gospel. He even tells me that he believes it is the truth, but he understands the gravity of the decision and that he will have to follow this for the rest of his life if he chooses to put his faith in Christ. He says he will make a decision of whether or not to put his faith in Christ, but he was not ready to make it right then. I meet with him again tomorrow at 2pm Senegalese time and 10am Eastern time and again Thursday at that same time. I really believe he is close to putting his faith in Christ!!!
That is the only story that I have time to share right now, unfortunately. However, I can assure you that God is at work mightily here in Senegal in even more ways than that. In fact, one of my teammates, Anna (many of you know her) was able to lead a girl to put her faith in Christ!!! He has also done tremendous things in my heart and I have grown a lot in my faith since being here. If you want to hear another story, there was one that I posted a few nights ago on my blog but I didn't get to email it out. Thanks again for all your prayers and please feel free to leave comment on my blog (even if it has nothing to do with my blog post) I'd love to hear from you. Email me if its of a personal nature.
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for all of my contacts that their hearts would be opened to the truth of God's Word, but especially for Stephen that he would have the courage to put his faith in Christ and that he would be able to see that it is worth putting his faith in.
- Please pray for my team, we have experienced incredible unity and close relationships but pray that that continues, and pray for our individual walks with God that they would continue to be strengthened.
- Pray that every Senegalese student at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.
In Christ,
Matt
Friday, May 27, 2011
A taste of heaven
So guys, the most amazing thing his happened to me and I could not sleep until I had blogged about it because I don't want to forget how I feel right now. This is why y'all should read the blog even I you aren't on my email list, because I'm not sending out an email update just unloading about an incredible experience. So here it is:
Quite a few of us from project were saying our goodnights getting ready to go to bed when we heard this very interesting Gospel music. It was in English but it had a very African sound to it and they were songs that we knew such as "In the Light" and even "Kumbaya." Bear in mind where I'm living is 95% Muslim. So after discussing whether or not we should o exploring after dark to find these people or not we decided to go for it. I'll save you the details of our search for them although it was quite entertaining it's not the point of this blog post. Th point is we found them and it was a taste of heaven. Let me tell you about them. They were all Africans, Senegalese Africans and they were the most incredible a Capella Gospel choir I have ever heard in my life. When we arrived they had just finished but they welcomed us in and aske who we were (it always goes in that order here). We explained that we were also Christians and had followed the music and we wanted to worship with them. Their faces lit up. We were already glowing at having found other believers and they were now glowing as well. We were both so mutually encouraged it was amazing. They began to sing for us and it became one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen and by far the most beautifully vivid display of the body of Christ that I have ever experienced. They sang with such joy and such passion it was unreal. However, more than that it was the fact that we were all worshiping together. It reminded me of the church in Acts where they were people from all over the known world at that time but the Bible described them as having everything in common. We were white, they were black, we were from north america they were from Africa, we had very different styles of music, but none of that mattered! We were all brothers and sisters in Christ ad had the same Spirit living inside of us. I know this was just a glimpse of what heaven will be lik one day when the entire history of the Church worships God together but it was so incredible I've never experienced anything like it. I just got a glimpse at the glory and beauty of God and His coming Kingdom in a very tangible way. I just tasted heaven.
In Christ,
Matt
Quite a few of us from project were saying our goodnights getting ready to go to bed when we heard this very interesting Gospel music. It was in English but it had a very African sound to it and they were songs that we knew such as "In the Light" and even "Kumbaya." Bear in mind where I'm living is 95% Muslim. So after discussing whether or not we should o exploring after dark to find these people or not we decided to go for it. I'll save you the details of our search for them although it was quite entertaining it's not the point of this blog post. Th point is we found them and it was a taste of heaven. Let me tell you about them. They were all Africans, Senegalese Africans and they were the most incredible a Capella Gospel choir I have ever heard in my life. When we arrived they had just finished but they welcomed us in and aske who we were (it always goes in that order here). We explained that we were also Christians and had followed the music and we wanted to worship with them. Their faces lit up. We were already glowing at having found other believers and they were now glowing as well. We were both so mutually encouraged it was amazing. They began to sing for us and it became one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen and by far the most beautifully vivid display of the body of Christ that I have ever experienced. They sang with such joy and such passion it was unreal. However, more than that it was the fact that we were all worshiping together. It reminded me of the church in Acts where they were people from all over the known world at that time but the Bible described them as having everything in common. We were white, they were black, we were from north america they were from Africa, we had very different styles of music, but none of that mattered! We were all brothers and sisters in Christ ad had the same Spirit living inside of us. I know this was just a glimpse of what heaven will be lik one day when the entire history of the Church worships God together but it was so incredible I've never experienced anything like it. I just got a glimpse at the glory and beauty of God and His coming Kingdom in a very tangible way. I just tasted heaven.
In Christ,
Matt
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Beautiful Storm
Here's the blog link: mdcoope3.blogspot.com
I am having a hard time gathering my thoughts to tell you all everything that has happened in the last 4 days since I left my house, its been a whirlwind to say the least. My last blog post for those of you that read it was pretty nostalgic and there was a sense of calm in writing it and you probably felt it when you were reading it. That was the calm before the storm, but it has been a beautiful storm. I spent 5 hours on the road to get to Washington D.C. then I spent multiple hours in the airport, finally 8 hours on the plane, saw my team for the first time in a couple months and then we all got off in disbelief that we were actually in Senegal. The feeling we all got when the voice came through the speakers on the plane saying "We will be arriving in Dakar in 10 minutes" was rather indescribable.
Then the storm intensified, as we were bombarded by a crash course in a new culture, beginning with very large African men in military uniforms and an immediate language barrier. Thankfully those men have not been everywhere, it was just airport security, but every moment since we stepped off the airplane has been insane, like drinking through a fire hose. We got out of the airport and were picked up by the STINTers (the Campus Crusade for Christ missionaries that live here) and they took us to a big beat up bus which can only be accurately described by a picture (which will be posted on my blog). The bus had to be push-started. I have been quickly learning the basics of 2 different languages to be able to communicate when ordering my food and etc. Those languages are Wolof and French. Wolof is surprisingly much easier for me to pick up. I have already begun to know and love my teammates, as well as the African people and the schedule has done a great job of giving my ample time to start developing both since I have been here. We went to campus on day one and got a quick tour, that has probably been my favorite thing that has happened since I've been here. The University is called the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) and it has about 68,000 students. As you know nearly all of them are Muslim. We got to see the students our age and begin to have conversations with them and God provided my first contact! His name is Malick and he is a first year student studying Law. His English is pretty good and I'm very excited to follow up with him tomorrow and begin to get to know him and start dialoguing about Christ. The STINTers held a party tonight which they invited all of their own contacts to. It was incredibly encouraging to meeting students who had already had many conversations with the STINTers about the Gospel. Some of them were believers! Others you could tell God had already begun a work in their heart, and we got to have conversations with them as well and continue that work. Ultimately the STINTers will continue following up with these contacts and we will be focusing on meeting new ones but it was cool to talk to them at least for tonight. Maybe the most encouraging thing here is that there are native staff members. There is a team here from the Congo! Believers from the Congo who raised support and came on an out of country mission trip just like us! In addition to that, there are actually Senegalese Campus Crusade for Christ staff members!!!!! Senegalese people who came to Christ, and gave their life to full time mission work, that encourages me so much. God is already at work in this country and I get to be a part of it.
I already have more stories than I can share in the amount of time that I have to write this email/blog and its going to be an incredible summer but I love it here so much and I miss all of you guys. Thanks for reading and for supporting me in every way imaginable. It's been a storm since I got here in every sense of the word but it truly has been a beautiful storm.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Malick! I'm following up with him tomorrow and hope pretty quickly to get to discussing heart issues and getting him to hear the Gospel the first of many times.
- Pray for the hearts of the Senegalese people in general as we go out tomorrow for our first day of work on campus, and pray for our team to be ready for what we'll come up against
- Pray that my team and I would continue to adjust well to this new culture and to the language and customs and everything else.
- Pray for one of my teammates Andy he has been sick since we got here and he is starting to get better and be able to stomach food but he hasn't fully recovered yet so that is a prayer request and a praise.
- Pray for our team to continue to build relationships and really love each other well
- Pray for our walks with the Lord, that they would remain solid, and grow. Pray that they would be the most important things in our lives here.
- Pray that every Senegalese student at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Full Circle
So in the past few days even as I prepare to do something I've never done before in my life (go overseas) I've had quite a few deja vu moments. Do you guys ever have those moments in life where it feels like no matter where you go or what you do or experience you come to a place and you can't believe you're back in that place again, right back to your roots. Its good to have places like that I think, things we can always come back to. For me I'm back in Apex, back in my house, and in a familiar situation. It seems like every time I come here any more its a hub on the way to somewhere else. It's pretty much accepted at this point that every time I come home half my bed is covered in clothes and other things that I know I'm going to turn around and pack up to go somewhere else within a few days. Just like the beginning of last summer, I've only unpacked from Raleigh long enough to pack to go somewhere else for the summer. Yet I'm so thankful for this place, I love my parents so much and all they do for me, if I didn't stop here on the way to everywhere else I'd never be prepared to go to those places. Many of you college students can probably relate to me that home is one of the only marks of consistency on our ever-changing, always on the move lives. The other day my mom told me she knew I was home because she came home to a full house. No matter how long its been since I've been here, I always come home to friends who are quick to come over (mostly to get the rare opportunity to see me before I move on to somewhere else) which is another huge blessing.
Speaking of which, last night I had a party over here, with Katherine Nieman? Who'd have thought haha, another deja vu moment for sure but yet totally unexpected, another thing had come full circle. Throwing a party with her was far from being a new thing, shes been my best friend since I was a sophomore in High School and we've thrown countless parties together. I know I have gotten her with at least 2 surprise parties (pretty good I might add) and together we've planned surprise parties for other people, birthday parties, graduation parties, going away parties, you name it we've probably done it. But then there was that year where we weren't on speaking terms, oh yeah that ended last month haha, and I thought our group of friends from high school who came to all those parties would never be all together again. All of those people in my house last night listening to music, joking, laughing, needing absolutely nothing but each other to entertain ourselves was such a familiar scene, yet so weird to see it again after I'd accepted that it was thing of the past. I was so happy, it felt like a dream, but it wasn't. And then there's the fact that it was in fact a goodbye party, and Katherine is moving back to Michigan. There's another thing coming full circle, her whole life. I can't even imagine. It's so bittersweet though that we're just getting back to being really close friends and shes leaving. I've had goodbye parties for her before, but never one where I had no idea when the next time I'd get to see her would be. I'm really grateful we fixed things before all this happened, that was totally God. Katherine, if you're reading this, you've impacted my life in more ways than I even know in these past 5 years, and I'm going to miss you so much. I'll be praying for you.
So here I am, unpacking from school and repacking for Africa, its unbelievable, and it hasn't even sunk in yet. Katherine is gone and I don't know when I'll see her again, that hasn't really sunk in yet either. And despite all that everything feels so normal, because I'm at home, and this is a recurring circle in my life. I'm so pumped for Africa, but after the party last night I can't help feeling pretty nostalgic (if you can't tell). Monday morning I go put all of this in the rear view again, only to be back in 6 weeks. Here goes the beginning of another circle. I wonder who I'll come back as this time?
Speaking of which, last night I had a party over here, with Katherine Nieman? Who'd have thought haha, another deja vu moment for sure but yet totally unexpected, another thing had come full circle. Throwing a party with her was far from being a new thing, shes been my best friend since I was a sophomore in High School and we've thrown countless parties together. I know I have gotten her with at least 2 surprise parties (pretty good I might add) and together we've planned surprise parties for other people, birthday parties, graduation parties, going away parties, you name it we've probably done it. But then there was that year where we weren't on speaking terms, oh yeah that ended last month haha, and I thought our group of friends from high school who came to all those parties would never be all together again. All of those people in my house last night listening to music, joking, laughing, needing absolutely nothing but each other to entertain ourselves was such a familiar scene, yet so weird to see it again after I'd accepted that it was thing of the past. I was so happy, it felt like a dream, but it wasn't. And then there's the fact that it was in fact a goodbye party, and Katherine is moving back to Michigan. There's another thing coming full circle, her whole life. I can't even imagine. It's so bittersweet though that we're just getting back to being really close friends and shes leaving. I've had goodbye parties for her before, but never one where I had no idea when the next time I'd get to see her would be. I'm really grateful we fixed things before all this happened, that was totally God. Katherine, if you're reading this, you've impacted my life in more ways than I even know in these past 5 years, and I'm going to miss you so much. I'll be praying for you.
So here I am, unpacking from school and repacking for Africa, its unbelievable, and it hasn't even sunk in yet. Katherine is gone and I don't know when I'll see her again, that hasn't really sunk in yet either. And despite all that everything feels so normal, because I'm at home, and this is a recurring circle in my life. I'm so pumped for Africa, but after the party last night I can't help feeling pretty nostalgic (if you can't tell). Monday morning I go put all of this in the rear view again, only to be back in 6 weeks. Here goes the beginning of another circle. I wonder who I'll come back as this time?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Blog Revived - with a new title
Hey guys! It's been a while since I posted on here, actually not since my trip last summer. Back in those days my blog had the super original title "A day in the life of Matt." I've revived this blog of course for my trip to Senegal, Africa. and hopefully will continue to use it into next year as I start a part time internship for Campus Crusade for Christ. The reason and heart behind my changing the title to "Don't Waste Your Life" is for a number of reasons, mainly because thats what God has been teaching me lately, and because that is the essence of my calling into full time ministry. Currently I'm working my way into the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper and on the back cover it says this:
"Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy."
This isn't what I want to do with my life, in fact I cannot imagine that being my life. Recently I was in a car accident, one that I easily could have died in, but I walked out with nothing but a sore shoulder. The song "Don't Waste Your Life" by Lecrae, one of my favorite songs lately, was playing in the car when I got in the wreck. I know without a doubt that the only reason God left me on this earth was to share the Gospel with the people around me. This is the message God has been drilling into my brain for the past few months, and this is the intensity with which I want to live this summer, and the rest of my life. Welcome back to the blog, thanks for reading!
"Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. . . .' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy."
This isn't what I want to do with my life, in fact I cannot imagine that being my life. Recently I was in a car accident, one that I easily could have died in, but I walked out with nothing but a sore shoulder. The song "Don't Waste Your Life" by Lecrae, one of my favorite songs lately, was playing in the car when I got in the wreck. I know without a doubt that the only reason God left me on this earth was to share the Gospel with the people around me. This is the message God has been drilling into my brain for the past few months, and this is the intensity with which I want to live this summer, and the rest of my life. Welcome back to the blog, thanks for reading!
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