Praising God In the Midst of Trials

Thank you everyone who has been praying for Myanmar. We continue to receive updates and are disheartened by the senseless killings in the country. Our leader attributes every breath he has to the Lord. Many still suffer due to Covid and needed medicines are being withheld. Fighting continues every day. However, in the midst of these 2 crises, people, including Buddhists, are accepting Christ and showing their faith in baptism. Praise God that in just one month, eighty people put their trust in our Lord Jesus. 

Trainings continued all over Africa, including in the Sudan.

One missionary in East Africa wrote regarding the impact of the Two Prayers Bible story from Luke 18:9-14 on a local man. The local man said he would not look down any more on others like he used to do. This man would belittle people of low standing, such as poor families who do not have animals.

As the son of a local village chief, this local man was raised above everyone else. He always took the lead in the street, traditional dances, and church activities. However, this man realized from the Bible story that, he who lifts himself high before the Lord will one day be lower "and be put to shame but he or she who humbles him or herself will one day be honored."

This man, the son of the village chief, accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He cried before the congregation and many were moved by his testimony when he said that "he will not forget that there is chance for everyone who would pay attention to listen to the word of God." 

The Achan Story Speaks to the Heart

After a Sunday service where an Oral Bible School student shared the story of Achan from Joshua 7:14-26, one church member came to the storyteller for prayer. Prior to praying the church member confessed to raping a girl with a few other men and causing her death. Although other church members had prayed that those who had done this heinous act would confess, no one had ever come forward until after the story of Achan was discussed.

This church member lost two children in one week and said, “Yet, no one helped me see my own problem.” The other perpetrators lost animals worth the equivalent of the dowry for a rich man's daughter. This church member asking for prayer knew the other perpetrators issue was the same problem that caused him to lose two of his children. They were hiding their sin just like Achan.

The church member discovered that Achan's secret was thought to only be known by Achan, but he said, "There is no secret before God that man thinks he will do and God will not know it."

This church member advised the people to confess their sin. He knew that hiding his own heinous sin caused him great regret in life. This man then invited the church to come to his home for fellowship and for his family members to forgive him of the reckless life he had lived.

The storyteller who reported this testimony to us said, "I myself felt touched for his openness to confessed such issues in human life."

Encouraged and Motivated the Share the Word.

This praise report came from an STS workshop attendee in Africa:

"I have got to tell you, I attended an STS Workshop at the end of July based on your recommendation and it was amazing! This way of learning and sharing and leading discussion orally is a perfect fit for me. I love listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and YouTube videos much more than reading. I find it relatively easy to memorize or remember stories, and I have a great desire to share my faith. When you put all of that together, it basically equals STS! On my own personal time since the training I have learned about 5 or 6 more stories. I have already shared them in multiple settings including with patients at the hospital (I’m a nurse). I am so happy I took the training as it has encouraged me to share more now in English and it is a great tool I hope to use later overseas working with the <**> in their language! Thank you so much for recommending this training to me!"

Haircuts and Bible Stories go Together Like Coffee and Cream

One attendee shared a testimony of what happened after a workshop.

This woman entered a Supercut to ask about a haircut for her daughter. Her daughter grew her hair long specifically for the purpose of donating the hair. The hair stylist was not happy about scheduling another appointment since she was the only stylist on duty and very busy. In spite of being encouraged to return another time, the woman insisted on an appointment, and returned later in the day with her daughter.

The woman wrote, “While she cut my daughter's hair, I thought about our training of the talk to the stranger. Finally, I gathered the courage to tell her story. I was able to share a quick 5-10 min story to a hair stylist at the Supercut. I shared the Martha and Mary's story. And she said at the end, ‘it is God made that appointment for her indeed.’"

What Was Your Favorite Part of a Workshop?

One attendee said, "That's hard because so there so many things that I really liked about it! I guess the best thing may be that the facilitators stressed the importance of not adding to or subtracting from Bible stories."

Graduate? Why?

One of our leaders told me that an Oral Bible School in Kenya doesn’t want to graduate because they love spending time in the Word together. As a result of this and other similar reports, we plan to develop an Advanced OBS or Level 2. 

God's Story: From Creation to Eternity, more languages.

We just finished recording a few God’s Story languages in Ghana. We are working toward training more language specialists in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and East Africa as more than 20 languages are waiting to be translated and recorded for God’s Story.

We hope to record the Dutch God's Story in November. Please pray for the narrator and the whole team as they prepare. Recording is often the most spiritually challenging part of every translation project.

Paul, A Man with His Home Above.

Years ago during an outreach, Paul, a strong believer who was homeless, asked us to pray for him. We recently received a report from Paul. He shared that God told him to take communion believing Isaiah 53 that by Jesus' stripes we are healed. "While my neck is still very swollen the large mass that [the doctors] saw [and] left in a month ago is gone. They went to do the biopsy about an hour ago and they couldn't find it with an ultrasound. They looked at me and asked me if I was doing radiation or what kind of treatment I was doing and then told me they can't find it. They did a CT scan to make sure. They still couldn't find it and ask me again what I was doing for treatment and I told him God must've healed me. They looked at me and [said], whatever you're doing to keep doing it because it's gone."

Afternoon Nap Becomes Alive with Bible Discussion

One instructor recently shared several praise reports from Africa. "Yesterday afternoon I did the vision cast with the students and it was a very good time. It was in the afternoon, so when I started about half of the group had their eyes closed. But when I started to do the presentation of the Storm story they all woke up and were sitting on the edge of their chair and they were all very engaged! Everybody participated actively. And it stayed like that the rest of our time. God was really at work!"

What is the minimum age to teach from the pulpit?

Just imagine what Jesus might have said while teaching other people when he was 12 years old? One leader recently shared that his son taught the church congregation a Bible story and led the discussion. I asked, "What were the results?" He said, "They told me after his story he led them in to prayers for about 25 minutes of repenting and taking a new decision to serve the Lord."

Can you see this young preacher in the picture?

Heart Pocket Podcast

For those who wish to hear the Bible story we did on the Christian Car Guy and Kingdom Pursuits radio program, we have the program commercial free on Heart Pocket episodes HPP155-157. In October, Drew a missionary from Mozambique shares how amazingly orality fit into his ministry both overseas and at his home church in the USA. Tune in for a special podcast series on spiritual warfare from the perspective of the Yanamamo tribe in Venezuela. Truly an eye opening series. We have many more podcasts to share that God continues to give us. www.HeartPocket.org.

Thank you for your time and prayers,

Andrea & The whole staff of The God's Story Project (TGSP)

Executive Director