the little sprout

I am on my final stretch! With only 3 weeks left. The past few weeks have been full of trainings, going to the village, and story telling. With 10 new workers we are all learning and reviewing the art of story telling in order to best communicate the gospel to the people of Mali. 9 people will be here for the next 2 and a half years working on a storying project specific for 3 unreached people groups. The 10^th member is our new Sunni team member who will spend until December here working with us. His focus is the Sunni men we have come to know, to do research and to share stories with those who are seeking. This week we have been learning how to tell a “well told adult” story from God’s word. We are rejoicing for all the new people who have listened and obeyed God’s call to go to a hard place, to literally the ends of the earth, to tell His Story! Next week we will be heading off to their villages where they will begin the process of learning language, studying culture and being a light that has never gone to these places before.

News with our Sunni friends. Well… Moses as far as we know still has not left to go see his father, nor gotten married yet. But, we have not heard from him about crafting stories.  Abby and Michelle still have about 4 months left, but we are being at peace with knowing that God called each of us here, told us to pursue a chronological story set specific for our people, we have pursued that, but God never told us we would complete it. All three of us feel like we have followed God and He has allowed us to meet people we would have never had the chance of meeting if we haven’t pursed the story set or we would have never had some of the conversations with these divine encounters. I will start saying goodbyes very soon so pray for opportunities to share whatever it is God would have me and for comfort because goodbyes are never easy. Pray that I would be very diligent in the time I have left, that I would find rest in the remainder of my time, but that I would finish the race well.

• This weekend we are having 3 new Storying teams come our way. Each team will be working in a different village/ people group developing a story set specifically for those people. Over the next couple weeks they will be trained and adjusting to all the new things that will be their life for the next 2 years. Pray for them as they begin!
• Ramadan is coming to an end, so as the people here seek to honor God,  we are praying that God would reveal His truth to them. I am also praying that as conversations are had, God would give all of us here the words and break down language barriers so God’s truth can be shared.
• Pray for me and my time continues winding down. That each day i have left here, God would lead me to exactly what he wants for that day. For boldness that any conversation God wants me to have before I leave, would be had. For saying goodbyes here and readjusting to life in America. Finally, for Him to show me the next step.
• Sept. 7th we are having a volunteer come join our Sunni team for 4 months. His name is Ben. We are getting everything finalized for his stay here, so pray for that and that God would show us and him exactly where to go. It is exciting to finally have a guy here that can join our team specifically. There are so many Sunni men we know that are seeking and have questions that Ben will be able to spend time and share God’s story.

These past couple of weeks have been devoted mostly to finishing stories and beginning new ones. We have kept going to the “seller’s” house to test stories and they are still LOVING it. It amazes me how open they are and how much they enjoy it. Wednesday, we were testing an Abraham story and one of the ladies came in late. She asked what this story was about and told us to start it over so she could hear the whole thing. She kept telling us how much she enjoyed listening to the stories and that everyday we wanted to come over and play stories! If she only knew what we had planned for this house!  One of the ladies at this house has been sick for 2 years now. She has had surgery twice on her side and we aren’t sure of the what the problem is, but know it is some type of abscess or growth. She also told us on Wednesday that she is just so worried about it because she is not feeling any better, her wound has fever, they keep paying the doctor, but it is not getting better. She is the one who spends the most time with us and we are praying for a miracle. She has shared with us that people today cannot talk to God and God doesn’t show himself in dreams to people…I am praying for the opposite that God would show himself to her and heal her body.

We also have found out some big news recently about Moses, our story crafter. We have been trying to meet with him for a few weeks now, but he tells us he is very busy and doesn’t have the time to work on stories. Well, last week we found out he was going on a trip to visit his father, because it was time to tell his father he has decided to follow the Jesus road. No one in his family knows!!! He is going to tell his father because he is getting married and is going to tell the bride’s family. We do think the women is a believer. So I am happy he has decided to start sharing his faith,  but at the same time don’t want  him to marry and unbeliever. Also, we are not sure how long we will have to work with him for stories. Ask God to give Moses courage as he tells his father and is very likely to receive some sort of persecution. This is a huge deal for him to tell his Father!!! Pray for us all as we seek to do the task God has given us with all the events going on, that we would still put or trust in HIM.

Last week we dove back into the story set. We wanted to continue testing the stories with different houses, so one afternoon we had some free time and we have been wanting to go to “the purse man’s house”. Abby and I both felt that was where the Father wanted us to go, so we went. We  were sitting with  “the purse man” and his father and we asked if we could  share a story from God’s Word. They both agreed, so after we asked if we could ask some questions. Well to that the son agreed, but the father didn’t and in our culture that means No. We were not discouraged by this because we still felt like that house is where the Lord was leading us to, they did get to hear God’s Word, and now we know the son is seeking, but the father is not.

Well the next day we went to another house, who I have never mentioned on here. I will call them The Sellers. We know The Sellers from our village, Yosemite. Well after we arrived and sat for a while we told them we had a story from God’s Word and wanted them to listen to it, then ask some questions and talk about the story. The “mom” of the family said she would listen to it first to approve it, and after she heard it she instructed us to play the story for all the ladies. We played the story 3 times and then started asking questions. The women LOVED it. They said they understood it, wanted us to put them on tapes(which is the plan). A lot of the times when we begin to ask questions the women are hesitant to answer because they think they don’t know the answer and so they just say they can’t help us . Well the Mom starts empowering all the women “telling them to answer, it is easy you just talk to them about the story” so we had all sorts of answers and everyone was involved. It was great!  They are interested in the other stories too, so we plan to go back. We are so excited for these people and the plans God has here. He is showing us who is interested in His Word and who isn’t. People are hearing for the first time. Pray God will open their hearts to His Story, that as they hear the hard parts, their hearts would accept it.

Dinner with Eli

Last night Abby and I went to Dinner at Eli’s house. It is Ramadan here so they are fasting from 4/5am to about 7pm, and he invited us to come for their big meal. We had a great time, as always, but we just ask people to continue to pray for him. We gave him a copy of God’s Word in French because he has really been seeking hard and we believe he wants to follow.  He has told us he wants to follow, but can’t imagine the courage it takes to follow. Last night he said he has been reading and has more questions, but can’t talk about them in his home. We plan to get together soon in a “safe” place to talk more about the Jesus road. Pray God would open his heart too and would give him undeniable courage to follow.

The last week in July we headed out-of-town to the beach for a spiritual retreat time and regional meeting other personnel. First this was my first real beach experience since being here and it is amazing what that can do for a person. Second, I am always surprised at how much the Lord shows me when away from the daily routine here and can just be with Him without distractions. During that time I was refreshed and renewed about a lot of things. I am beginning to be more and more aware of how little time i have left here, 2 MONTHS! It is easy to get so distracted about finishing what I feel God has called me here to do instead of just walking with Him daily. During our meeting time we met a lot of new people and heard testimonies of people who have been overseas for 20 or more years. They have been through a lot obviously, but they are content with just walking with God and not having all the steps mapped out. They are in love with the people they are serving are just happy to be with God. It was convicting for me to see this because so many times since I have been here, I have wanted God to choose someone else or wanted different circumstances. I have been afraid to admit that it was hard or that I didn’t like it here, but of course there are going to be hard times. These times do bring me closer to God and the fact of the matter is God’s call on my life. As my term come to a close I am just starting to recognize the true joy that comes with living here, in a place where I am forced to rely on Him, in a place He has been preparing me for. Part of me feels like I am not ready to leave because I am enjoying my time here and there is a lot to do. There will always be something to do, until Jesus comes back. But, I know it is my time to leave and this is just a small step to whatever He is calling me to do for the rest of my life. Sometimes I feel like I sound like a broken record when I write these types of things, but I want to be able to share something with yall from all parts of my life here. Thank yall for everything! With out yall giving, we wouldn’t be able to come together to learn from each other, pray for one another and rejoice with one another, or have the spiritual retreat times! And without your prayers the hard days would seem lonely and overwhelming. I Love Yall! (and will see you soon)

Mom and Seth started their long journey home last night 😦 I know they were excited to get back to everyone, but sad to leave us here. The month they were here flew by! They did a great job jumping in and joining us with our work; from visiting at people’s houses to filtering water. They really did great here. We went to a little French getaway spot just the 3 of us for a weekend and we just had the best time together. It means so much to me now that they aren’t just my Mom and brother who live in America, but they are part of the Sunni culture. They know our names, our family and friends, our food, and are experts at the clothing! Thank yall so much for the prayers and support. We really had the best time and it is going to make a huge difference to me when transitioning back to the States! Love you all and See you soon!

Not only have I enjoyed mom and Seth being here, but our Sunni friends have really enjoyed getting to know Dupare'(Mom) and Adama(Seth). One day Moses left a list of hard questions with us. Questions a lot of people who follow Isl@m here have, he told us he was not doubting, but that other people were only trying to disturb him and he wanted to get other opinions and talk about things with other believers. One day we did sit down to discuss, Moses said that he really enjoyed being able to talk with Adama about those sorts of things and maybe he could again before they went back to America. This past week we all sat down together again and discusses and towards the end, the subject of Eli and some of the questions he has, the man who we believe wants to follow, came up. Moses then offered to meet with Eli and talk about the questions with him. This was a huge. Eli has been asking about a Sunni man who has chosen to follow so that he could talk with them, well Moses hasn’t told anyone yet that he has chosen to follow, and now both of these men will meet together to discuss about God’s Word! We don’t know when this meeting will take place, but hopefully very soon. Ask the LORD to open Eli’s heart to receive Him, and that Moses would be filled with wisdom and courage as he meets with another Sunni man who is seeking the Truth.

It has been a huge blessing to have Mom and Seth here. This past month has not slowed down one bit. We are still moving a long in our story set, but most importantly, we know we are where the Father wants us right now. Moses is still very willing to find time to meet with us to get stories crafted and then we are also starting to test the stories. Testing means we take a recorded copy of the story to a house where we try to play it in front of a few different people at least once. Then we play it back phrase by phrase and we ask questions to make sure the story is making the same point as God’s word and to make sure it is understandable.

Here is some of the really great stuff God has been doing with testing our stories. Our Aunt’s family, the same family with the premature baby a few months ago, we were fearful that we might have to eventually dust our feet of from that house. It seemed that many times when we would mention the Son’s name our family wasn’t too happy about it. Well after the doctors came and saw the baby, barriers have been broken down and we are closer to them now than ever. So as we finished the creation story and we were going out to test it, the Father closed the doors to one house but opened the doors to our Aunt’s house. The first time she heard the story she said ” I understood every word in that story”. We then proceeded to let the other ladies listen to the story and then start to ask questions. It went so well and brought up a lot of spiritual conversations. When we called her a few days ago to tell her we had another story she told us to come any time. Well we weren’t there 5 minutes when she asked us to play the story. The story we are testing now is the Fall. It ends with God sending Adam and Eve out of the garden and shows how the relationship between them and God was no longer perfect. I am so amazed at the Father’s timing in everything. He does soften hearts and leads us down roads that we aren’t sure what the outcome will be, but in the end He does receive the most glory.

Continue to remember and plead on behalf of our Aunt’s family. She left this morning to go back to Yosemite, but the other ladies that we plan to test the whole story set with, they will hear the whole story set which will include some difficult stuff. Our story set clearly says there is no other way to the Father except through the Son. This goes against everything that they have been taught. I also ask yall to start praying for me as my term starts to come to an end. We possibly could have said goodbye to our Aunt for the last time because we don’t know if we will have the opportunity to go back to the village or if she will come back to the city. I only have about 3 months left here and the goodbye will start to become more frequent. I know it is the right time to go home and I am excited to be with family and friends again, but I am also very aware of leaving the family and friends I now have here. It will be hard to leave this people group knowing that they are an unreached people group that needs a chance to hear and to leave a people group that has cared for me like one of their own.