Joey Update Vol. 26

Mabrouk bar chiji! Happy New Year to one and all!

I should begin with thanks as I am very thankful for you all and to our
Father who brought you into my life at this time. I am one of His "spoiled
bairns" as Oswald Chambers would say. Thank you all again for your
generosity in giving to this work I'm doing. I am constantly floored but
then I rise up again in praise.

Ah, the narrative. Since you last heard from me, I and my teammate have been
plugging away at storying. Each week our storycrafter came by to record a
new story and we were all working hard on recording them. As I remember I
asked pr'yer for this very thing, that we would at least have all the
stories in this story set recorded by the year's end. This has been done!
The work which remains is to test the stories and smooth out rough spots in
recrafting them.

I had a few good encounters and now that we recorded the central Story, I
was able to share it in its proper context a few times. Although the work on
them is not done yet, the stories we have recorded are useable. Once I met
with a friend of mine and he took me to where he was staying. It so happened
to be with other N. people and I brought the stories with me. One of those
listening was a teacher of 'sl@m and we got into a good conversation
afterwards. Another time I headed out to a village for a meeting of several
villages together and so many people were present. I again played the many
stories we have recorded.

After a few short weeks in our town we again returned to the capital to
celebrate Christmas. So, we've been in the capital since last week, our week
of feasting. We gathered together a few times in fact to celebrate and sing
the reason of our joy. This week and next while we are here, we hope to make
inroads to other N. speakers who are willing and able to hear and retell the
stories. This is a big part of testing them, as a big thing we are looking
for in testing is that the story is understandable and retellable. Already
this week, we've had a few successes in testing some of the stories that
need it.

Hamdu's:
-Our time in NDJ has been restful and fun with the whole team of us
together.
-We have gotten all the stories in this first set recorded!
-We've made some headway already in testing the stories.

Dua's:
-That our time in the capital would be productive in more ways than one
-We have another consultant coming to meet with us next week and see how we
can use these stories further to start Groups. Lift up his time here and his
advice to us.
-There is a group of Followers of J. that is next week headed up north on
their annual trip by camel. I have been asked to send this along as a
Request so you all can help lift it up. Although this is not a direct part
of our work with N. people, they are doing kingd0m work just like us. Please
lift up their trip.

Thank you all again. I hope you all be blessed beyond your imaginings.

-Youssef