While in
Tanzania working in our village doing door to door ministry we realized that many of the people who were believers didn’t have Bibles and the few who did only had a new testament. Really, our pastor was the only one who had a copy of the whole Bible. Many people also asked us if we had a Bible to give them. We didn’t, but we wanted to be able to put one into their hands. Think about how important the word of God is, without it you cannot study and learn more about the Lord you serve unless someone else tells you about it. Still, we felt very strongly that everyone should have the right to own the Bible and study it for themselves.
We were lucky this month to have a lot less in expenses than we were budgeted for and so we decided as a team to take a portion of that extra budget and spend it on buying as many Bibles as we could to give to the people in the church we worked with and those we met who were believers. We bought about 60 Swahili Bibles and each signed our names in them and highlighted key passages for the owner of the Bible to read.
The best moment was when I was able to hand a Bible to a woman who I had visited a few times that month. Luann and I had met with her and her husband and shared the gospel with them and they accepted Jesus. Later Rachael and I went back and led a Bible study with them and prayed for them. I had wanted to get them a Bible and the last week when we were passing them out every time I went back to their home they weren’t there. I was afraid I wouldn’t get the chance to give them a Bible and I was sad. They had a passion for the Lord even as new believers and I wanted them to have the Word.
As we were leaving Pastor’s home from lunch time and heading to the church for the final time when someone said “Andrea isn’t that the person you’ve been looking for?” I couldn’t tell because it had been a few weeks since I had seen her and I was far away. I grabbed one of the translators and went over to her. I asked her what her name was and if she knew who I was. She told me the name I knew was the right one and said she knew who I was. I told her I had been looking for her all week and was so glad I could find her. That I was leaving today, but I wanted to give her a Bible like I had promised. I showed her the highlighted passage and told her to start reading in John. She was so excited and gave me a hug. It is probably one of the moments I will always remember from this year.
