Winner Mon

We rarely sing in English at church, but today we did, and it was a clear demonstration of reggae influence on Senegalese culture. Everyone got really excited when a man from the worship team took the mic and started singing.

Winner mon winner mon winner mon winner mon winner mon

Then we all joined in:
Winner mon winner mon winner mon
Jesus is the winner mon, the winner mon, the winner mon
Jesus is the winner mon, the winner mon all the time.

This was so much fun! I can't describe the joy that filled that room. I was definitely dancing with the Senegalese woman next to me - sharing joy in the Lord! Ah it was so fun. We sang it in French too, but it wasn't a direct translation lol.

Jesus Christ est le vainqueur, est le vainqueur, est le vainqueur
Jesus Christ est le vainqueur, est toujours le vainquer.

We only did it in French once or twice because the English one is clearly more fun :)

We also sang more in Wolof today, and what was even better was the fact that I understood most of the words! Pretty sure worship is the best way to learn a language. Listening/reading the Bible in French has helped a lot, and French worship music as well of course.

One more thing about today was this, translated from French :

"If you have a song in your heart, don't hesitate to share it. If you have a word from God, don't hesitate. This isn't my worship service, this isn't your own service, this is the church of Jesus Christ coming together as one to worship Him"

There's so much freedom during the service - I love it. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to start Mangi Yekkati Sa Tur!

Anyway, today's sermon was about unity, from Ephesians 4, but tied in with the "verse of the year" for this church, which is Colossians 1:28. Everyone takes notes here. In the US I was one of few. Now I sit sandwiched between note takers. It's good because sometimes we miss things and then we have someone to look on with. The hardest part for me is catching the names of the books, because they're pronounced so differently in French. Premiere epitre de Pierre, Osee, Jacques, Esaie. But it's getting easier. It was really neat to be talking about church unity here, in a communal context. Just because people live collectively doesn't mean there's unity, it still has to be founded on the peace and grace of Christ.

Because you know, Jesus is the winner mon, the winner mon all the time!