Yalunka Ministry Overview

WHERE THEY LIVE:

The Yalunka people live in remote, primitive villages in the far southwestern corner of Mali, West Africa as well as the neighboring nations of Senegal and Guinea.  The majority of the Yalunka population (over 100,000) lives in Guinea.  First Baptist Church of Keller has adopted the roughly 10,000 Yalunka people of southwestern Mali.

 

LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE:

Like all West African peoples, the Yalunka live in a highly relational society.  Their villages are governed primarily by tribal elders and chiefs who make virtually all of the decisions for the people.  It is almost unthinkable for a tribe member to do something against the will of the elders.  The Yalunka people live in compounds comprised of a leading man and his wives (polygamy is still common) and children, sometimes including grown sons.  Young women are married in their early teens, and they do most of the work in the village (getting water, preparing and cooking food, cleaning, laundry, taking care of the children, etc.).  The women grind their grain (millet, rice, and corn) and peanuts by hand using long bamboo or wooden poles.  They pound it— sometimes dry, and sometimes after it has been boiled— in deep bowls carved out of tree trunks.  The men primarily work in the fields during the growing season.  The Yalunka people are very poor, living in mud huts with grass roofs.  Their villages in Mali do not have electricity or running water, and their few possessions consist primarily of things that they have made themselves from natural materials.  Staple foods are millet, rice, peanuts, and a few garden vegetables.  The climate in Mali is generally hot and dry, but there is a rainy season from June to October.

 

OUR WORK WITH THE YALUNKA PEOPLE:

First Baptist Church of Keller officially “adopted” the Yalunka people of Mali on April 11, 2007.  The church now sends about four teams each year to teach the Bible, evangelize, and establish churches.  Access is limited to the months of January through May because swollen rivers make it almost impossible to reach their villages during and immediately after the rainy season.  We are also working to provide other tangible ministries to them as the Lord leads.

 

ADOPTION COVENANT

Being led by the Holy Spirit, we, the members of First Baptist Church of Keller, Texas,

hereby covenant before God

to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Yalunka people of Mali, West Africa.

As an engaging church that takes responsibility for this task,

we will devote our energy and resources to it until there is a viable, Yalunka-led

church planting movement among them so that the people of each village

have a chance to hear about Jesus personally and to become His disciples.

This covenant includes fervent intercession for the Yalunka people,

investment of our financial resources for gospel materials and other projects,

and sending our own members to disciple the Yalunka people directly.

We wholly depend on the power of God working in us to fulfill this covenant,

and we seek His glory above all else.  We will work alongside

the Engaging Team of the International Mission Board’s West Africa region

and other like-minded Great Commission Christian groups.

 

JANUARY 2007:

Though Christendom was unaware of these people, the Holy Spirit had been preparing their hearts.  As Keith Arnett and Lawrence Duhon completed the long journey (over 15 hours in flight and then at least two full days by road), they finally reached Yalunka village “F.”  They were welcomed hospitably by the chiefs of that village and offered a place to stay.  With local help the next day they traveled to the last Yalunka village at the border between Mali and Guinea.  There village elders gathered around.  “Why have you come here?” they asked.  “We come to tell you about God’s love,” we responded.  They listened for a few hours, then 12 men stood to say they wanted to know more about the Jesus Road.  Lawrence and Keith left rejoicing at the open doors they had found for the gospel.

 

MAY 2007:

On the next trip, Lawrence Duhon and Keith Arnett took picture books and recorded Bible stories in the Yalunka dialect.  The people of Village “Y” listened to those for many hours and understood enough to know that God has provided for their salvation through Jesus.  No one professed faith in Christ at that time.  We left the books and tapes for the people to listen to and share until we could return after the rainy season.

NOVEMBER 2007:

FBC Keller sent Mike and Pat Anderson, Keith Arnett, and Lawrence Duhon on our third trip to the Yalunka villages.  Because of high waters, we could not make it to the Yalunka villages in our vehicle.  However, God was at work.  The canoe ferryman received the message of Christ and believed, and he immediately shared Christ with his household.  After “hitching a ride” into the village area, the chief’s son said, “I’ve been in the fields when you were here earlier, but I want you to tell me about the Jesus Road.”  He listened intently, and we gave him a recorded New Testament and the Bible picture books.  God was working in his life … but we didn’t suspect that this young man would immediately begin to carry the gospel from village to village as he did!

FEBRUARY 2008

As Keith Arnett and Richard Harris approached the Village “F,” people in a smaller outlying village (Village “Z”) stopped them.  “You are the ones who are teaching about Jesus.  You must stop and teach us!” they insisted.  Sadly, they responded, “Our time is so short.  We will stop on our next trip and teach you.”

Shortly after we arrived in the base village, a foot messenger arrived with over 25 names on a sheet of paper – a petition asking us to come back NOW and teach them.  THANK YOU, GOD, FOR NOT GIVING UP ON US!  We returned to Village “Z” in a couple of days, and all the village gathered.  “We know we are in darkness, but we do not know the way.  Please stay 30 or 20 or 10 days to teach us about the Jesus Road,” they pleaded.  We taught them that afternoon and left materials … and the young man who, since the November trip, had taken on the mantle of evangelist.  God would work in this village.

Before we left the young evangelist (“Philip”) and two elders from Village “Y” believed and were baptized in a shallow river as a testimony that Jesus lives in their hearts.  One was so eager that he dove in headfirst!

 

APRIL 2008

This trip involved the introduction of more technology.  The team (Lawrence Duhon, Bobby Morgan, Jed Ford, and Jerry Kiser) carried in a DVD player, projector, and screen to show the JESUS film in the local languages in Villages “F,” “Y,” and “Z.”  For many, this was the first “movie” they had ever seen.  Their response was great!

Since the Yalunka language is not written and most of the people are illiterate, the only way they can hear God’s word is through oral means.  Jerry Kiser showed the villagers how to listen to the New Testament on the MP3 players that our church sent to them.  They listen eagerly and for long periods, sharing each set of headphones so that two people can listen at a time.

 

After a time of preaching the gospel in Village “Z,” almost everyone in that village committed his or her life to Christ late one night.  This was the same village that begged our February team to come and teach them about Jesus.  15 men from that village were baptized in a water hole the next day, and another 13 men and women from Village “Y” were also baptized before the team left.

With these believers, access to the Word, and local leadership by the evangelist and other believers, the Yalunka Church is being established!

 

JUNE 2008

The team (Keith Arnett, Alisa Arnett, Tim Dicken, and Jarod Pyron) found the people still listening to God’s word through tapes and MP3 players and also reviewing the Bible story picture books.  They communicate the gospel through the Storying Method – using narrative Bible passages taught and passed on orally to communicate spiritual truth to a non-literate culture.  One evening, the team asked a few of the local people to be actors in the story.  Not only did they enjoy participating, it also helped them REMEMBER the story so they could share it with others.  By the end of this trip, 2 chiefs and 1 teenager had been saved, local men were readily sharing the Gospel with their friends, and local leadership was clearly being established in the Church.

 

JANUARY 2009

The story continues as FBC Keller’s seventh team travels back to the same villages to share God’s word.

Pray for the January 2009 Mali Mission Team

TEAM MEMBERS:

• Tim Dicken, 
• Lawrence Duhon (team leader),
• Bobby Morgan,
• Doug Roberson (from FBC Midlothian)

PRAYER GUIDE:

• Pray for more Yalunka people from each village to commit their lives to Christ and to be baptized during this trip.
• Pray that the new Yalunka churches in Villages “Y” and “Z” will be strengthened in their faith and practice, staying faithful to God’s word.
• Pray for God to call out biblically qualified Yalunka leaders for each church body.Pray for Village “K”—that the first Yalunka people there would come to Christ, and that a new church would be established there.
• Pray that those in Village “F” who have previously expressed a desire to hear the gospel would come together for evangelistic teaching and commit their lives to Christ during this trip.
• Pray that God would give the Yalunka believers in each village a vision for personal evangelism and sharing Christ with other villages so that a “church planting movement” will begin among the Yalunka people of Mali.
• Pray that each team member would be filled with the Holy Spirit each day so that he can share exactly what is needed at just the right time.
• Pray for Oury, the team’s Muslim driver, to come to faith in Christ during this trip.
• Pray for clear communication of the gospel message and discipleship teaching through several stages of translation.
• Pray for safe travel in the air, along the roads, and through the river crossings throughout the trip.
• Pray that each team member will stay completely healthy during the trip.
• Pray for the team’s families left behind in Texas while their husbands/fathers are away.

Report from Asia III - David & Amy J

We met some people from the family [fellow Christians] here.  This brother and sister are so incredible.  They have writings from our book [Bible verses] right on their business sign and they often talk to people about our home [witness] from their store and even give out good books [Bibles] to customers.  We gave them some good news DVD’s so they can give those as gifts too.  They are so wonderful and the light of our adopted brother shines so brightly from them.  Sister, however, has pretty bad diabetes so we ask everyone to please remember her.  I call her auntie.

There is much darkness here, and many things and people to remember [pray for], but we have had 22 people so far that we know of who have been adopted into our family.  Father is definitely working here and we are so happy to be a part of it.  Tonight I got to be a part of our newest brother joining the family.  Please remember Andrew for us as well.  This was one of the most powerful experiences of my life with Andrew and I am thankful father let me be a part of it.

We also met a homeless lady and her child here that really touched our heart.  She was begging at tables in the night market for scraps of food for her and her 3 year old child.  We fed them but her story was so sad.  We asked her name and she said she was too poor and had no name (not unusual for older women from here who come from poor families).  So we asked her what her parents called her and my heart nearly broke in two when she told us her parents called her “a-ben” which means “stupid”.  She did have trouble comprehending and could not even grasp the things we told her about father.  It was doubly crushing to only be able to meet her physical needs but not be able to do anything about any other needs.  Her daughter’s name is Star.  I don’t want to refer to her by what her parents called her so I will call her Precious.  Her daughter’s name is Star.  Please remember Precious and Star and ask father to make a way to reach her with good news.

That is all for now.  This is probably my last note as email access is difficult to arrange and we will be returning on the 12th so please remember us and our travels and we look forward to seeing the whole family again soon.

Love,

David and Amy

Update from the Huffmans & Mattaw Children’s Village

RECEIVED January 02, 2009 3:39 AM

We still continue to have our home felloship on Sundays which is still about 15 adults and anywhere from 20-30 children.  This month we had a visitor from San Angelo, Jim Farmer.  He went all around Kenya but did house to house ministry with our house dad Isaac.  They reached many people during this time.  Maybe around 25-30.  There was a lot of restoration and salvations.

Also our house dad and mom continue to reach out into the surrounding village and minister to people.  A lot of drunk people are coming to the Lord.  There was a mother that died a few weeks ago and we were able to go and rescue her baby.  There were also three other children that we’ll take into house #2 when it opens.  Our social worker is going into the village and finding the most desperate cases for house #2 now.

we now have a borehole!  praise the Lord!  we also finished house #2 and a strip of bathrooms.  we’ve had a lot of car problems this month and are now looking to trade it in for a newer one.  our next fund raising for the project will be for a school house.  now that we’ll be adding more children, our two school huts that are one room, wont be enough.  But God is so faithful to bring the funding as we need it!

what were our major acomplishments this month?  getting our borehole dug.  having christmas with our children.  getting house two finished.  getting house #1 finishing touches with construction finished.  many salvations in our area.

our vehicle had a lot of problems.  i cant say the exact problem because I dont remember the language.  Bud was talking about it but something about having to weld a hole back in the block on the engine.

we are now in Texas and will return the end of February.  We will have a team lead by the Dempsey’s during the first week of March.  We hope to welcome children into house #2 with them. 

please pray for the project to run well while we are away.  a lot of our children and house mom has malaria.  many of them keep getting so pray that would stop!  also for our time here in Texas.  We have a lot of places to visit so we ask that the Lord would make it a restful time and a good time of reuniting with our supporters.

thanks so much fbc keller family!  we are so greatful for your support and prayers!

the huffmans (http://huffmansinkenya.blogspot.com/)

Report from Asia II - David & Amy J

UPDATE RECEIVED Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 6:47 AM

Anyway of the folks we told you about earlier, Lily is doing fine, Mr. John we hope to talk to again tonight, and the other gentleman is getting plugged in to a local club.

We have met several other people as well.  There are four people I would like you all to please remember for us.  They are all motorcycle cabbies which is a very dangerous job here.  They all welcomed us to drink tea with them and we made friends quickly.  We did get to share about our home and tell them all about Father [shared the plan of salvation].  They had never heard much about him before.  The leader, Fonzie, is a very smart man, but when we told him about our father’s rules, he seemed to understand that this was impossible to obey.  Another friend there was very eager to hear about our home and our father.  His name is Pumpkin.  He has been trying to have a child for a while so we all told him we would tell father about his situation.

The other two are Dow, he wasn’t very interested but he took a movie we gave him to watch about the whole of history to help him understand [this is probably the Jesus Film].  The last one, Greg, was very very friendly and listened intently to what we had to say.  He said he would like to come to our home and really wanted to talk to our father, but was not sure he could in the tea shop.  We told him he could go home and talk to our father whenever he was ready.  We gave him something that talked about the road to Rome and directions how to reach father if he wanted to talk to him and join the family [a salvation tract using the Roman Road].  We will follow up with these guys soon and hopefully can meet them for tea again and answer any questions they have.

I would ask you and all our friends at home to please diligently remember our four friends, Fonzie, Pumpkin, Dow and Greg.

Also we went yesterday to a big temple here and got to tell several of the monks about our home and our father.  Not sure they were truly interested but we met and shared with the oldest, most venerable monk there, who was 97 years old.  He climbed the 108 steps up to the temple to reach us and shared his secrets for long life and we shared with him the secrets to true life.  We will call him Grandfather.  Please also have everyone remember Grandfather and that the things we shared with him will have a hope to reach him.  We also shared with two guides who took us around and they were more receptive.  We left them with movies and information and hopefully they also will reach these young folks.

I will try to get another message out in a few days as opportunity is available but please do continue to think of us and remember the new friends we have told you about as well.  It is the deepest desire of our hearts that these new friends might one day come to our home and visit father.  Amy has already had the opportunity to talk to someone who is now adopted into the family [accepted Christ].  It was a precious moment for her and I am so pround of how well she is doing here.  They have split us up and Amy is translating for others with us and she had that great opportunity.

We miss you all and hope to see you very soon.

Love,

David and Amy

Report from Asia I - David & Amy J

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