Joey Update Vol. 27

Hello everybody. I hope you’ve all been doing well in your various works and lives. Things here have since last time I wrote been going slowly along. I’ve been able to get out and meet many people and share stories with more than a few of them and Col. and I have been able to get into something of a routine of visiting villages. I was looking over the pr’yer requests of last time and this routine was included so thanks for lifting it up!

Our established routine has been to stay in town about half the week and meet with people there, like on the big market day in town when many people come from outside villages. The other days, midweek, has been given to going out to those villages and meeting with groups of people. So far, we have seen success, albeit small, in this area. This past week, we were able to share a few stories with a big group of people in a village not too far away. Also, we went to a farther village that we’d not visited for a few months. When we arrived, there were hardly any people in the village (they were out working).This was the exact thing that happened last time we visited it, so we walked over the hill to another nearby village! There the people met us and greeted us.

It is slow going and a particular difficulty to overcome is at this time in dry season, many of the people in these villages are now working out of town and live in the capital. One village we visited was practically empty of men because they had all gone elsewhere looking for work, which they’ll stay at until the rains come in a few months.

This leads me to a big pr’yer request. We are going to be going into the capital next month and hope to meet with some of the people who are there working from these villages. Please lift this up, for our wisdom in our time spent there, for meaningful contacts to be made there and for the people here as we continue meeting with them. We have been searching for contact information for those who have gone to the city for when we arrive there.

As of now, we have less than a month left in town here before we go to the capital, perhaps for a few weeks, so please lift up this time. We still have a few stories we need to have tested and retold so we can proceed with the next part of the project. We really need to have these tested and retold and recorded before we return to the capital. After we get to the capital, we’ll stay for maybe a few weeks so we can meet with some of the people from the villages nearby. Then, we will most likely come back to town until our next and final training in April.

Col. and I have been discussing our strategy again lately and trying to think of one that will work to meet the goals of 1story and fit the people well. I am not much of a strategist (ask those who play chess with me) and one of my fears is falling into a rut in the midst of routine. This I would like to avoid and go on with a good strategy.

Hamdu’s:
-I’ve been able to visit frequently with a faki who lives near me. One of his brothers has retold a story each time he’s heard one, without being asked! I’m hoping to work more closely with him, provided he’s willing.
-Our routine is going well so far, but pr’y that I don’t go into rut-mode. It’s happened before and is not pretty.
-A few people that we’ve been able to visit more frequently these past few days have complimented us in our work of learning language and visiting them. Greeting people and drinking tea with them goes a long way in a relationship.

Dua’s:
-The above praises come with their respective requests: for the faki and his brother, for the routine, for the visits
-Wisdom for the time in NDJ
-Gentle boldness with the people we tell stories with. It is a challenge when sometimes I sit down, tell a story and elicit little response from it despite my attempts to start a discussion. Sometimes I just need to push a little more, but I want to push in the right way without being forceful or alienating the groups I sit with.
-Always for people’s interest in the stories and the groups we sit with, that they will be open to hear and open to receive them and us.


As is my habit to end with thanks, I do again thank you all for your encouragement and the pr’yers you lift up on my behalf and on behalf of this project work. I still do believe that story is the way to reach people with the Truth and still believe that it is our Father’s intention to reach them. Pr’y His will be done!

-Youssouf