A large yard sale to benefit mission work in Senegal will take place for the ninth time on Friday and Saturday, July 31 and Aug. 1, beginning at 8 a.m. at the home of Jill and Mike Edelman, 2449 Ridge Road (Route 23), Elverson.

The Edelmans are missionaries with the Global Training Network (GTN) and Mission Inter Senegal (MIS), the former of which trains pastors and other Christian leaders around the world. MIS helps missionaries connect with local towns and villages within the country.

The yard sale returned last summer after a two-year absence.

"It's really not a yard sale," Jill said. "It's more like a flea market. I call it a God sale."

Shoppers will find a variety of items at the upcoming sale, including antiques, lamps, artwork, furniture, jewelry, toys, baby and toddler items, fishing gear, sports equipment and household items.

All of the items available at the sale will be donated by members of the community. The couple said that prices at the sale are much lower than that of a typical community yard or garage sale.

"Most stuff is like a couple of dollars to five," Jill said. "Most things are probably a third of the price of if you went online. ... I'll Google something if I don't know what it is. I'll see what it sells at used, and then I'll take a third of that and I'll price it at that."

The sale will help fund a child sponsorship program, which is being offered through the partnership with MIS, which is a church planting NGO (nongovernmental organization).

The program allows members of the local community to directly help children in Senegal, a small, primarily Islamic nation in West Africa. Through the program, sponsors write letters to the children they sponsor, many of whom write back as they are able. A table for the child sponsorship program will be at the sale.

Jill and Mike became missionaries as members of Calvary Fellowship Church in Lionville. Mike served as the pastor of prayer and groups at Calvary Fellowship in 2007 until joining GTN. Jill and Mike each take between three to five trips to Senegal each year, sometimes together.

While in the country, which has religious freedom, the couple sometimes stays in hotels but will often find accommodations within the typical conditions of the local people.

"If we're doing training in a village, we'll sleep in tents or in a room in the church," Mike said. "Even in some of the places where there might be a hotel, sometimes there's not hot water. They're different than hotels you think of here."

Donations will be accepted at the Edelman home for the yard sale from Friday, July 24, through Wednesday, July 29. Those who have items to donate should contact Jill at mjclek@aol.com or 610-716-4999 prior to drop-off. All donations must be clean and in good working condition.

Items that will not be accepted include shoes, with the exception of sports footgear; computers; books, with the exception of children's books; clothing; large pieces of furniture, such as sectionals or armoires; old televisions; and VHS tapes.

Volunteers are needed to help set up the sale and on the day of the event, as well as for cleanup chores. Interested individuals may contact Jill for more details. Folding tables are also needed to house items at the sale.

Unsold items will be donated to local nonprofit organizations, including the Morgantown ReUzit Shoppe, Steeple to People in Honey Brook and Liberty Thrift in Pottstown.

The yard sale pulls in hundreds of people across the two days, Jill said.

"People have fun," she said. "They come back every year. We've had people knock on our door and ask if we're having the yard sale. That always blows my mind."