December 23, 2008
“For 15 years Mame Serer watched her husband, Adama, live out his faith in Jesus Christ,” says Doug Conkle, who serves with The Alliance in Senegal.
“Adama became disillusioned with the religion practiced by his people,” Conkle continues. “He is a Wolof from Senegal, but he had worked as a government civil servant in Mauritania for several years.”
Because of a border dispute between Mauritania and Senegal in the late 1980s, the couple and their young children were forced to return to their families in St. Louis, Senegal. Leaving behind their house and all their material possessions, they arrived with just the clothes on their backs.
“Seek and You Will Find”
Deeply disheartened, Adama began a search for truth that eventually led him to Christ. Soon, the couple’s children became believers as well. But because she was from a prominent family, Mame Serer was afraid to become a Christ follower.
Soon after the Conkles arrived in St. Louis with their Alliance team, Mame began accompanying her husband to a monthly time of fellowship. She even ventured to a Bible study.
Language Creates a Bridge
“Since Karen and I have served in Burkina Faso, we could pray with Mame in the Bambara language, her mother tongue,” says Conkle. “Who would ever have suspected that we would be able to use Bambara while learning the Wolof language in Senegal?”
After one of these prayer times, Mame told the couple that she had had a dream in which she wanted to pray for her oldest son, a university student in Dakar, Senegal’s capital city. In the dream, her son told her that she could not pray for him because she didn’t pray in the Name of Jesus.
“While Mame shared this dream with her husband, Adama led her to faith in Christ!” Conkle exclaims. “This Christmas, Mame Serer plans to join the rest of her family by being baptized.”
Learn More
Read “No Language But Love” in the February 2008 issue of alife. Rev. Terrence Nichols, president of the Alliance African-American Churches Association, visited Senegal last year and discovered a message of grace and hope in this nation historically linked to the global African slave trade.
What You Can Do
Praise the Lord for the salvation of Mame Serer! Pray that her faith will continue growing stronger.
Pray for Alliance team members in St. Louis, Senegal, as they continue to learn the Wolof language that will reach into people’s hearts with the gospel.