OneStory workers plunge into village life
Krystal Hutchinson awakens before the sun is out and crawls out from under the mosquito net covering her cot.
Through the thatched roof of her mud hut, she hears livestock already stirring and the village women cooking breakfast over open fires.
Gone are the days of fresh-brewed coffee and steamy morning showers.
"The women expect us to join them in the fields," says the 25-year-old Kentucky native who has lived in this Mali village with the Senufo people over a year now. "It's harvest season."
She steps out of her hut, but there's no morning paper on her doorstep to tell her what's going on outside of this dusty sub-Saharan village. Most of the people here couldn't read it anyway.
That's precisely why she and her teammates came to live this life in West Africa as part of the OneStory project.
Beyond the printed page
The United Nations reports that only about one in five people in West Africa can read and write.
"Even if they had written scriptures, it wouldn't do them any good," Hutchinson explains. That applies to hundreds of other unreached people groups tucked in the fringes of the Sahara Desert, where Islam and traditional spirit worship reign.
That's why OneStory has sent nine teams of young adventurous missionaries like Hutchinson to live a rustic lifestyle among a people group in West Africa for 2-3 years. They learn the language and culture with the ultimate goal to craft a customized set of 20-60 chronological oral Bible stories that will speak to the hearts of the people group they are serving.
That's something few before them have ventured to do.
"The Gospel has not been shared in the outer parts of Niger and Mali because it is a tough place to live," explains Judy Miller, West Africa's OneStory supervisor.
Because nobody else will
Every day, recent college graduate Amanda Matthews bathes out of a 30-pound bucket of 
water she's drawn from a well and carried through the village on her head. Tara Lohwater from South Carolina eats soured milk mush for breakfast. Kentucky native Toby Fleming travels craggy roads for hours in the back of bush taxis--open trucks teeming with a tangle of people and livestock.
Their village homes generally have no electricity or running water. They haven't worn blue jeans in public or eaten broccoli since they've arrived. They have all been struck with illnesses from malaria to stomach parasites to typhoid.
"What keeps us out here is knowing these people are totally lost and have no hope without us," said Lohwater.
That determination is what will ultimately make a difference, said OneStory trainer Shawn Roper*.
"We've often been accused of asking too much of these 20-something-year-olds, but these guys in West Africa are exceeding what we've asked of them," Roper attests. "They are learning language and culture at a pace that is said to be impossible. They have obvious love for the people they are working for. That, and their trust in God, is how they get through. We need more just like them."
Leaving a legacy
Equipped with intense training, a laptop and simple digital recording equipment, OneStory teams work to leave behind stories on cassettes and in written forms. As they record, they're training native-speaking storytellers who can pass the story system to future generations.
The OneStory teams say their goal is to work themselves out of a job by empowering the nationals to perpetuate the Word and plant a church.
"If the stories are told in a way that they can retell them, then the stories can have an impact for a long time," said Lohwater. "That's what we're looking for, something that's going to impact them even when we're not here."
Benefits abound
West Africa's OneStory workers agree there are parts of this new lifestyle that they've learned to love.
Matthews relishes sloshing her four-wheel-drive truck through the mud to get to her village in rainy season.
Former engineer Monica Maxwell's new favorite food is the corn she roasts after picking it straight from the stalk. Reaiah Santos loves the biblical images surrounding her--the water wells, the harvest fields, the sheep that look like goats.
And most of them don't mind a bit that they haven't worn real shoes for months now--with the sandal-strap tan lines to show it.
Susan Johanningsmeier is just pleased she'll be able to tell stories about how God pulled her through it all.
"I can tell people from now on that I have eaten bush rat," boasts Johanningsmeier, a 24-year-old Indiana native. "It's not as bad as you think it is … And it is so incredibly worth it. I know [my people] are going to be able to hear the Word because I was able to give my time and live this life."
*Name changed to ensure security.
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-- Projects last 2-3 years
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