In May 2024, Joey met Sam, another American training missionaries in Nigeria. As they talked, Sam mentioned his colleague Daniel, who ran a small training center for African missionaries in Isiolo, Kenya. Joey took note of the connection, not knowing how significant it would become.
A month later, while sharing the gospel in Eastleigh, Nairobi—a neighborhood with a large Somali population—Joey met a young man named Yusuf. Their conversation was brief, but something about Jesus’ words stirred Yusuf’s heart. The next day, he reached out again, eager to learn more. By the end of their time together, he had put his faith in Christ and was baptized.
Yusuf wasn’t from Nairobi; he was from Moyale, a border town between Kenya and Ethiopia. His newfound faith filled him with a burden for his family and friends back home. Later that year, Joey traveled with him to Moyale to share the gospel. On the way, they stopped in Isiolo, where Joey met Daniel in person and visited the training center Sam had told him about months earlier. The small, dedicated team there was preparing African believers to take the gospel to difficult places. Joey left encouraged, not realizing how this connection would soon become even more important.
When they arrived in Moyale, Yusuf introduced Joey to an older believer named Ibrahim, a quiet but bold man from Yusuf’s tribe. As they talked, Joey was amazed to learn that Ibrahim had been trained at Daniel’s missionary school in Isiolo. God had already been at work, preparing the way long before Yusuf’s journey of faith had even begun.
Fast-forward to January 2025. While in Marsabit for a training, Joey received a call from Ibrahim. His voice was urgent.
“Brother, there is a young Somali woman in danger. Her father is trying to kill her because she refuses to deny Christ. She has been hiding in Isiolo at Daniel’s training center for two weeks, but she must leave today. New students are arriving, and there’s no more space for her.”
Joey immediately called a family on his team in Nairobi and asked if they would take her in. Without hesitation, they said yes.
His training in Marsabit ended on a Friday afternoon, and his team had to pass through Isiolo on their way home—the very day the young woman needed a place to go. They picked her up and drove south, praying for her safety.
That evening, they arrived in Nairobi. The family welcomed her with open arms, giving her the refuge she so desperately needed.
As Joey reflected on the journey—from Nigeria to Isiolo, from Moyale to Marsabit, from a chance meeting in Eastleigh to a life saved in Nairobi—he marveled. None of it was coincidence. God had been weaving these lives together, connecting each thread with His sovereign hand.
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