All the Way Home: The Incredible True Story of an American Aid Worker's Harrowing Seven Years as an Al-Qaida Hostage

If your heart is aching for proof that light is present in the darkest circumstances . . . that hope can emerge when all seems lost . . . and that love is still the greatest power on earth, Jeff Woodke's true story of survival and healing is for you.

In October 2016, a year away from retiring as a missionary and humanitarian aid worker with Youth With a Mission in Niger, Africa, Jeff Woodke was making plans to move back to the United States and make a new life at home. Then the worst happened.

On October 14, in the dusty town of Abalak in northern Niger, armed terrorists came at night and took Jeff captive. For the next six and a half years, he would endure unspeakable horrors at the hands of al-Qaida in Mali. Released on March 20, 2023, Jeff came home to his wife and grown children, two grandchildren, and memories coupled with PTSD that threatened to steal the little faith and hope he had left.

This is Jeff's incredible story--a story of loss and redemption, brutality and forgiveness, soul-wrenching questions and soul-deep peace. Most of all, it's a profound testimony of how God carries us through suffering, giving us a radical faith that can withstand this world's deepest pain and come out on the other side with hope.

All the Way Home invites you to discover anew the God who provides when we have nothing to offer, the God who is near those who wait and weep. The God who reminds us again and again that no darkness can overcome the healing power of his love.

Jeff Woodke is a speaker, writer, poet, and hostage advocate. He and his family worked with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Niger, West Africa, for decades and served their community by digging wells, establishing primary schools, assisting with land regeneration and famine relief, and advocating for climate change adaptation. He won a Sasakawa Award in 2009 from the United Nations for disaster risk reduction work in Niger. In 2016, he was taken hostage by terrorists linked to al-Qaida and held for six and a half years in northern Mali. Released in 2023, he returned to his wife, children, and grandchildren in California with PTSD and stories that needed telling. The rest is still to come.