Sarah and Dirk Stadtlander are ELCA missionaries in Senegal.

From left to right, Tall, Ellen, Eva, Soxna, Ndeye Fall and Ramata take a break to pose in front of their garden artwork.

“We are currently in hot season.   For us, that means dry, dust-laden winds and daily temperature highs of around 120 degrees Fahrenheit,” says ELCA missionary Sarah Stadtlander.  “It hasn’t rained since October and won’t again until mid- to late June.”

What do missionary children do during the dry season?  They beautify their yard!  Eva Stadtlander, age 7, and Ellen Stadtlander, age 3, invited their Senegalese friends to help with the project.  Their friends Soxna, Tall,  Ndeye Fall and Ramata joined them in designing and coloring an Easter-colored chalk mural for their garden wall.

“It should last until sometime in June, when the first rain falls,” says Stadtlander.

The Stadtlander family lives in northern Senegal, accompanying an emerging worship community of Fulani people, semi-nomadic shepherds and farmers.  Dirk Stadtlander serves as a pastor to this Pulaar-speaking congregation of the Lutheran Church of Senegal.  He also works with Senegalese who are translating the Old Testament into Pulaar as well as the evangelism committee of the Lutheran Church of Senegal.

To sponsor the Stadtlander family or another ELCA missionary, contact globalmissionsupport@elca.org or 800-638-3522, ext. 2657.  Give on-line at www.elca.org/4missionaries.