We are back! What a trip.

During the week, we were able to visit 5-6 Yalunka villages throughout the southwestern part of Mali. Many of these villages have a few or a handful of Christians in them due to the work of previous short term missionaries. These Yalunka believers have given their lives to Christ, but until now, they have had no one there to walk along side them and teach them in the ways of the Lord. They are just babies in their faith. They are thirsty and hungry for more.

We were warmly welcomed in each village. In the villages where we stayed the night, we were given a place to sleep and several meals throughout the day. One day, we had 4 meals in all plus a few “snack”  meals! We were quite full by the end of the day, but oh so very thankful to have been welcomed with such love, generosity, and hospitality.

We spent the days sitting, chatting, cooking with the women, laughing, and just plain sharing in life. Then each evening, the pastor who came along with us from Mali was able to teach from God’s Word in Bambara (one of the main languages of Mali) and lead us in songs of praise.

The common cry of the people was for us to stay there with them. They long for guidance in this new life they have found in Christ. They long to be taught, they long to know Jesus.

My heart broke as I heard their pleas. It seems so sad to have these beautiful people before us, longing to hear God’s Word, and not being able to get it to them fast enough while there are other people around the world that have God’s Word so readily available to them yet they deny it or have no interest.

We explained to them that eventually we hope to visit them regularly. At that time, we will thoroughly teach the Bible from beginning to end. We asked them to be patient with us as we still need to advance in our language learning before we can really dive in and focus on teaching. We also asked them to pray with us for God to send more people who can bring them God’s Word. The harvest is ripe, but there are not enough people to send out!

Will you join us in prayer? Pray for the believers who are already among the Yalunka. Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide, teach, and encourage them and that they would be united in prayer. Pray for our language learning, that it would continue to come along until we have reached a level of fluency and can switch to a teaching role. Finally, praise God with me for our 2 African friends (one a pastor and one a Yalunka believer from town) who have helped us in this task through translating and teaching God’s Word. These trips and the work that has already been done among the Yalunka would not be possible without them!

And finally, 4 quick stories/experiences that stood out to me from our trip.

(Sour) Milk
One of the most difficult foods to eat that we were offered was sour milk. I am realizing that tackling a task such as this is definitely a mind over matter kind of thing, but boy, it sure is hard.

Will You Tell Me A Story?
Shortly after we arrived in one of the villages, the man we were staying with ran into his hut and brought out a picture book depicting several different Bible stories. He looked at Troy and I and said, “which one of you is better at speaking Yalunka?” As in, which one of you can tell me the stories from these pictures. Unfortunately, neither of us were able to tell him the stories. We directed him towards our translator who was able to share it with him. There were several realizations I had from this. One of them being how excited and eager he was to hear the story. The other realization was how sad and disappointed I felt when I couldn’t be the one to tell him the story. Which is only motivation to keep on going. Finally, it was also an encouragement for him to think that our language was at a high enough level to be able to sit down with him and tell the story.

Language Differences Beyond Borders
Since I started language learning, I was a bit worried that the Yalunka we are learning in Senegal would be a bit different than the Yalunka in Mali. However, I am pleased and relieved to say that after this trip I have come to realize that there are only subtle differences. It is like the difference between me and my friend from Pennyslvania. She says lollipop, sneakers, and soda while I say sucker, tennis shoes, and pop. We speak a little differently at times, but we still understand each other.

Candy Wrapper
One afternoon everyone started chattering and gathering around this teenage girl. It didn’t take long for us to find out something was stuck in her ear. They tried their methods of blowing in one ear so that it would come out the other and sticking different items instead trying to get whatever it was out. After a little while, Gerri had the idea to get her tweezers. She had the girl lay her head on her lap and was able to see something red deep down in the girl’s ear. After a few minutes and tears from the frightened girl, Gerri was able to get a hold of the item and pull it out, only to find out it was a crinkly piece of candy wrapper! We have no idea how the wrapper got in her ear like it did, but I am so thankful Gerri was able to help her.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Romans 10:14

Check out this short video of our trip!