You’ve been to church before a few times, but you never really
got what it was all about. You tried to listen! But the pastor always spoke in another language, called Swahili. Your parents speak this language outside the house, and you've started to learn it in school... but you're still learning. And while your parents tell you the message is important, it doesn't connect. The pastor may as well be telling you a story of the time the chicken crossed the road... now THAT you could actually relate to!
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| The Long Walk... |
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| The Gathering Place |
But then, one day, you and your parents get up early to walk a long, long way. You finally get to a gathering place outside under a tree, and sit down in the shade from the hot sun. You are prepared to hear more Swahili and get ready to be bored. But then, as you listen to people talk on the microphone, suddenly, you get it! You hear the story of God’s love for YOU! Not in Swahili, but in Ikizu, the language you’ve spoken since you were born. Your parents are just as excited as you are – they’ve never heard the Bible in their own language before, either!
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| Bringing in God's "present" - Books of the Bible in Ikizu! |
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| Hearing God's Word read in the Ikizu language for the first time! |
This was the story for many, many kids and adults in the Ikizu language in Tanzania this past week. Not only did they get to HEAR God’s Word in the language they understand best… but they got to buy a copy to bring home with them! And even though some of these people still don’t know a lot about Jesus, they can finally read about Him for themselves – and start to understand what God has been yearning to say to them all along in the language they understand best.
Would you pray for the people that just got the books of Luke and Ruth in their language for the first time? Pray that they will want to learn more about Jesus, and will turn away from their other traditions that don’t honor God. Pray too that people would learn to read their own language, that the GOOD NEWS would spread quickly in Ikoma – and that many people would hear and believe that what God is saying is TRUE!
(Click HERE to see more pictures of the dedication... or HERE to learn more about the Ikizu!)
