The Stuff Prayers Are Made of…

So about a little over a month ago some of our friends met a “Nomad” woman, who I will call Anna. It happened when we were training our new team members. One of our assignments during the training was to go out and tell a Bible story to a new friend. We went out in pairs. One pair included Rita, an old team member, and Kendyll, a new team member. They saw a woman on the side of the road roasting corn, so they decided to strike up conversation and see if she would like to listen to a story. They talked with the woman through a translator and shared the story of the “Demon Possessed Man.” As they were beginning to leave the woman told the translator that she had a dream that white people would come and tell her about Jesus. This immediately caught our team members’ attention because this is what we pray for, this is the stuff our prayers are made of!

The next day at training we heard Kendyll and Rita share their testimony of Anna and her dream. As I listened to the story my heart leapt with joy. For the next week I thought about the woman a lot. We decided to give Rita a call to ask if she could introduce to the “Nomad” woman; Rita, of course, agreed.

Rita, a translator, and I went to meet her one morning. She wasn’t there when we arrived so we walked around the neighborhood until she came back from the market. Then the four of us sat down to talk as she roasted corn. Anna was very happy to see us. We talked casually for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Then we began to talk about the story she had heard the week before. She told us that she enjoyed the story very much. Then I told her that I had some stories in the “Nomad” language if she was interested in hearing them. She said she was and we listened to the Creation story together. Ever since this first meeting I have been thinking about Anna much.

This past week I could not get her off of my mind. I knew that the Father was urging me to go and share more stories with her. So this past Monday I went to her house. She was so excited. We talked for a long time. It was seriously just like I was talking to an old friend; we just chatted.

I told her I had brought other stories. She had this HUGE smile on her face. As we listened to “The Fall” together I watched her face and prayed for her understanding. Since my arrival here in Mali I have never seen anyone so intrigued in a story. Her concentration was undisturbed even though there was so much going on around her. When the story was over she immediately repeated it to me, every part. We talked for a little while about the story and what she learned. Then I asked her about the dream she had.

She explained to me that the dream happened about four years ago and she has thought a lot about it since then. She said in the dream she was sitting outside of the gate of her home talking to white people and those white people were telling her about Jesus. She then told me that she knew this dream would come true one day.

Today I went back to visit Anna. We listened to the “Noah” story. Tomorrow we already have plans to listen to the story of ” Abraham’s Calling.” Then we are going to visit some other “Nomad” families in the neighborhood.
As I pray for Anna I can’t help but think of the miraculous way God prepared her heart for the message of Jesus. Dreams and visions are something we pray for often for in this culture, because of their frequency and impact here. This is the stuff prayers are made of!!

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for Anna as she hears the stories from God’s Word in her heart language. Pray for her understanding and acceptance of the truth.
2. Pray for language understanding for me. As she hears the stories I want to be able to not miss a thing.

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