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Today Amy and I got some sad news from our village. Our chief passed away last night. Some of you might remember that we have 2 chiefs in our village, this was Ba Ouattara - the head chief who we lived with his family. It happened last night so they are having the burial today. Everyone in the village, and many from surrounding villages, will come to visit with and greet the family. I was able to call and talk to Sedou, the chief's son, and give the traditional death blessings. I didn't get to talk to Mama or Awa, our 2 closest friends, because they were busy preparing food for all the people who would be coming to greet.
Ba had heard the stories from God's word several times. He had said that they were good but that he couldn't change. He allowed us to pray for and with him every morning while we were in our village. I am grateful that he was able to hear the Truth while we were with him. Now, only the Lord knows his true heart. Please pray for our family. Pray that even during this hard time they will be able to see Him. Pray for Youssouf, our story crafter, as he is with the family today. Pray that he will be able to speak God's truth to them. Pray for our village as things are going to be changing. Pray for Amy and I. Our hearts are hurting today and we wish so badly that we could be there with our friends and our family during this time.
Thank you for your continued prayers for the Syenara people!
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| Greetings from Mali one last time. This is my last update from Africa. We leave tomorrow night. Before I get into that, what have I been up to these last couple of weeks?
We went to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to finish up our stories with our crafter. Things with that went very smoothly. We now have 21 final stories in the Syenara language.
1. Creation
2. The Fall
3. God's promise to Abraham
4. God choses David
5. David and Bathsheba
6. Nathan's story to David
7. Isaiah prophecy of the promised Savior
8. Birth
9. Baptism
10. Demon possessed man
11. Jesus' teaching of Assurance
12. Jesus gives sight to the blind beggar
13. Triumphal Entry
14. Last Supper
15. Arrest and trial
16. Execution
17. Alive
18. God's Spirit comes
19. The Ethiopian
20. Lydia/Philippian Jailer
21. Christ's return (based on the letter of 1 Thessalonians)
Each of these stories are told in the Syenara language and in a way that the Syenara people can understand. We had to address any language/cultural issues that would make it hard for a Syenara person to understand, at the same time holding to what God's Word says. We also had to be sure that these stories are easy to be reproduced, someone hears it and can repeat it. Now our crafter is going to get tapes made and passed out. He also is going to get these stories put on the radio.
We praise God for the completion of these 21 stories. We pray that God will continue to use these stories to draw many Syenara to Himself. We pray that God will open the eyes of the Syenara people to see the truth.
We also praise God for the completion of 2 other OneStory projects: Suypire (Krystal and Monica) and Maninka (Connie and Amanda).
After we finished in Burkina we headed back to Mali to help train our new teams. We have one new OneStory team! Brittany and Amanda will be working in Guinea with the Konyanka people. Also at our training has been Rachel and Rachel who will be working here in Mali with church groups from America. They will lead church groups as they head out to villages all over Mali. It has been great to be able to get to know these 4 ladies as the begin their adventure here in West Africa. Please keep them in your prayers!
Now we are in Segou, Mali on our OneStory retreat. Sunday morning we head back to Bamako and that night Amy, Amanda, and I head out. Our friend Emily is also leaving then. Emily worked in our town through World Venture.
It's crazy to think that it has been 2 years. In so many ways it feels like I just got here. But when I look back at all that God has done over these 2 years, it's amazing. I remember back in those first few months when we didn't know what to think about our village... the time when we were considering if it was time to shake the dust off our feet and move on. Now I am able to speak Syenara. Now I have friends in the village. Now our friends have heard God's truth. Now there are 21 stories recorded in the Syenara language.
I am excited to go home. I'm excited to see my friends and family. I'm excited to start the next phase of my life. But at the same time it is hard to leave. It's not like this was just some trip I took. I picked up and moved my entire live to Mali. These people have become my friends. This has been my home for the last 2 years and now I have to leave.
These past 2 years have been the hardest 2 years of my life. There was nothing about it that was easy. But God doesn't call us to live a life of easy, he calls us to live a life of obedience. Those of us who have served over seas hear all the time "oh you are just so wonderful" "you're so brave" or "I could never do that." It is not about us being so wonderful or brave. It is just about being obedient. And we can not do it, I could not do it. It is only by God's grace that I have made it through these 2 years.
I fly out on Sunday and head to Germany to visit a friend there. I'll spend a week in Germany and then head home on November 3rd. I look forward to seeing everyone again! Please pray for safe travel and all luggage arriving.
If anyone would like for me to share with your church, Bible study group, missions group, school, or anything please email me and we can work out a time for me to do that.
Thank you for your prayers over these last 2 years. Believe me, I could not have done it with out you and your prayers for Amy and I. Please continue to pray for the Syenara!!
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