Forest Trips

The last two trips to the forest have been very encouraging! As always, I’m amazed and blessed to watch the Lord grow the group and use them to accomplish His good works! On the first trip in November, we actually crafted three stories in three days—this is great progress! We had several new people in the group also, which makes me excited to see the group continue to grow in the future.

In the story-crafting, our goal is to craft Bible stories that are truly in the dialects, born out of the minds and hearts and good understanding of the believers in the groups. In this way, the stories will be more clear and accessible to other dialect-speakers hearing them for the first time. As we worked on the first story during the November trip, I told it a couple of times first, as I usually do. It became clear that some of the new people in the group weren’t understanding very well, so Brigitta, an older woman in the group, came up with a plan. She said, “Tessa, I think it’s better if after you tell it, we retell it in our own words to help our new friends understand it better.” I was thrilled! She basically summed up our entire story-crafting goal in this one sentence! How exciting for the group to see the need for the work they’re doing, and also to see the results in their own community!

Then on the December trip, Pastor Jonoro and I were able to watch as the group members shared an overarching story spanning from creation to the resurrection of Jesus with a group of non-believers from deep in the forest. The story was clear, and our group did a great job leading the others in discussing it, and gleaning scriptural truths from it. Join us in praying for wisdom for our group as they seek how to continue their work with this new group. Pray for this deeper forest group of non-believers, as well, that the Lord would continue to open their eyes and hearts to truths from His Word.