Bittersweet Countdown

I jacked this picture from Anna, although I shared in the experience haha, this was AWESOME

Hey everyone!

blog link: mdcoope3.blogspot.com (I will try to put pictures up)

I miss you all a ton, and I hope things are going great wherever you so happen to be. Of course I will start by thanking you all for your ongoing support. I need it very badly. Your prayers especially, but also for your encouragement! Thanks so much to those of you who emailed me or commented on the blog, it was refreshing to hear from you and I hope you'll keep it up. For those of you that I didn't hear from, I'd still love to.

I just finished reading the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper and it was pretty good. He says countless times in the book that "He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." that's such an amazing thing that we don't have to choose between a miserably stoic and therefore unhappy life that pleases God and "doing things our way." We can be eternally satisfied in a beautiful God and experience unspeakable joy and in doing so make much of God. The apostle Paul's words will not leave my mind when he said "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I pray that I would continue to learn to live that way. To truly believe that God's steadfast love is greater than life.

Anyway, this is a taste of what God has been teaching me, on to Senegal stuff. If you can't tell from my last blog post, I'm trying to be transparent with these blogs and let you all see my heart. It's not all smiles and laughter all the time. I love it here, but to be honest sometimes I don't even really like it haha. I love the awesome cross cultural experiences that I would be missing if I hadn't come. I love the people. I love experiencing community with African brothers and sisters in Christ. I love the many many dear friends I have made on campus, Senegalese students close to my age and oh how I desire for them to know and experience a relationship with God. The sad reality is that most of them don't, and for many of them that might never change, though I'll never stop praying for it to happen. I can't describe to you what it's like to every day go past a massive graveyard full of people who never knew the Jesus that died for them. Many of them never even heard, never had the chance to know Him. Brothers and sisters, does that break your heart? It should, it breaks God's heart. It's a huge problem that EVERY believer in Christ is called to be a part of. I know that sounds crazy and maybe you disagree but for me having been here I know that whether or not God calls me back to live here (I don't think he has long term) I will always give and I will always pray because I am not okay at all with how many people die having never heard the name of Jesus, never seen a Bible.

In addition to seeing that tragedy first hand every day, there have been a lot of long, tough conversations that try my patience. As I shared last time, there are many discomforts. It's hot and dry all the time, you are constantly dirty and thirsty. However, in this environment growth in Christ is unavoidable which is beautiful. There are many beautiful things about this place that I will miss when I'm gone but to be totally honest there have been times when I have desired nothing more than to be just that, gone. 

Anyway, I can't wait to see you all. Pray for my friends Babacar (two of them), Usher, Musa, Hdiague, Arthur, Toumani, Saiv. There are many many others but these are the ones I have met with the most. Some are closer and more open than others but all of them don't know God and are in need of a Savior. Pray for me as I begin the bittersweet countdown of 16 more days. I will miss it, but I can't wait to leave lol. Hearing from you all is so refreshing, so make that happen if possible.

Prayer Requests:

- All the names I listed above, that conversations would go well with them and that they would come to know Christ

- Our team member Ben, he has been sick with a fever since Monday or Tuesday and so that's a pretty huge prayer request. We want to see him get better and back doing ministry as soon as possible.

- The guys from the Bible study I led this year. I really hope and pray that they are having strong walks with the Lord wherever they are this summer, and I can't wait to see them again. If ya'll are reading this, love you guys!

- Etienne (Stephen) and Patrick as they begin walking with Christ and experiencing His love and plan for their lives.

- That every student at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) would come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

In Christ,

Matt