Ann Lives!
Prayer & Praise Report # 2 February and March 2023
What to do with Flight Delays?
Travel disruptions can be annoying. Imagine being denied a visa upon landing in a foreign country and being stuck in the airport for several days. It happened to one of our team members traveling to record God's Story languages in East Africa. He was denied entry because he is Nigerian. He spent several days in the airport while our leader worked in vain to get him entry. Our leader wrote, "And for the days he stayed on the airport, he was witnessing and 7 souls gave their lives to the Lord." Praise the Lord for such fruit!
How Does Simply The Story Impact Israel Tours?
Many years ago, 10 of our STS leaders were blessed with a tour of Israel. During that tour, we did a couple of stories where we believe they happened and discovered the impact on the listeners. We have experimented a bit more over the years while various instructors have been in Israel. This last time, STS coordinated and led a tour, but with greater involvement by the people on the tour, and 100% of the people said they loved STS as part of the tour and would definitely be interested in attending another tour with STS discussion opportunities as the main focus.
Pray for us as we begin to prepare for a unique advanced training in Israel.
Amazingly, God also provided funds that were specifically marked for the Israel tour so that 8 of our national leaders were able to go. Having multiple countries represented on the tour enhanced the discussions of the Bible greatly!
Ann Kavuo’s Testimony Lives On
“Ann Kavuo was not permitted to get an education, but soon discovered how she can learn, keep and share the Bible in story form building a repository in her "heart pocket". In her video she shares a well-known Bible story (which she can tell but not read!),” wrote Bryan Thompson on his Youtube station.
He continued, “When this plucky five-foot, 65 year-old widow could not get a ride to her Oral Bible School, she walked 10 kilometers daily to get there. Oddly, in her filmed testimony, she says that now, when she goes preaching, she does not have to carry her Bible because, "I have the stories in my heart pocket!"
“If Ann cannot read, why did she bother to carry her Bible before? (You who have been to STS workshops heard our instructors explain this oddity. We show and tell how non-literate people often carry Bibles and put pens in their pockets so they look "educated" and can gain credibility). Ann's comment may reveal even more. Could it be that her perceived "need" to carry a Bible to give her credibility has now been replaced by her new found ability to easily speak multiple stories from her heart pocket?
“Ann's boldness to speak in front of any one, should inspire many. In fact, consider the boldness it took for this non-literate villager to give her spontaneous testimony in front of 130 people, Westerners included, and mostly strangers to her—while being filmed!”
Bryan Thompson uploaded the video of Ann Kavuo’s testimony from a 2011 training in Kajiato, Kenya. The video link shows Ann's amazing testimony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLhbQPTljk or you can see the story on our vimeo station, https://vimeo.com/bibleforall.
We often don't know how our actions affect people years later, but recently we received this email from Ann’s daughter. “Praise God. My name is Everlyn Kanini from Eldoret, Kenya. On 22 April 2011 you took a video of an elderly woman, Ann Kavuo from Kinango, Mombasa and you put the video on you tube. She was giving a testimony on how the Oral Bible school had helped her, and she even gave a short story of Zacheuas the tax collector from the Bible. That lady Ann Kavuo is my Mother. I just want to say how grateful I am for putting my mothers testimony on you tube, I watch her video on you tube quite often. I just wanted to say thank you. My mother is late now. She passed on June 2015. But because of you, her testimony lives. Thanks and God bless you.”
Simply The Story Globally
We had several STS trainings over the past couple of months and look forward to sharing more in our next Prayer & Praise report. Enjoy this picture of a recent training in Brazil, which has opened some bigger doors. Pray for our leadership team as they discuss future possibilities with several groups in South America.
Also, please pray for the upcoming STS trainings in the DRC, California, Western Michigan, Thailand, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Illinois, Zambia, India, Philippines, and Mali.
God’s Story, YouTube, and Festivals!
Praise the Lord. The God's Story language of Lun Bawang (Lundayeh) that we recorded last October and uploaded in early March, has had more than 330 hits on our YouTube station already. The language is spoken on the island of Borneo in the countries of Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. Considered a language of the Murut people group, according to the Joshua Project, “Brunei statistics reveal that the Murut community is 58% Muslim, 30% "tribal religionists" (animists) and the rest Christian (mostly nominal).”
The language orchestrator wrote recently, “The Malaysian committee members have asked to show the movie at a special Lun Bawang festival in June. The president of the state‘s Lun Bawang Association agreed to show 40 minutes at festival.” Praise God, the committee asked for 30 minutes and they were offered 40.”
Pray for all the Lun Bawang speakers attending this major event to be impacted in their hearts by God’s Story.
Karakalpak Language
Nearly a million people speak the Karakalpak language through out Central Asia. We praise God that this language has been completed now in God’s Story.
Youtube.com/DoesGodSpeak
We have been uploading more than 200 languages of God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity on both our Youtube and Vimeo station. Some videos have needed upgrading, which requires more steps. If you have specific languages you would like to see released, please let us know and we will move those to the top of the list. Please pray for those who are updating descriptions and managing the release of the languages. Let us know how you would like to help.
Thank you for praying for our leaders, the trainings, languages, and the ministry,
Andrea & The whole staff of The God's Story Project (TGSP)
Executive Director