A young woman named Rashmi lives with her family in a sensitive region of Asia. Of all her girl cousins, Rashmi stayed in school the longest. Still, she wasn’t there very long. The teacher assigned to her village said he had no use for teaching girls.
Representative photo
Then one day, while Rashmi was staying for a few months with her aunt’s family in a village across the valley, two Bible translators came to visit. They brought booklets, called The Christmas Story, in the mother tongue of the villagers. The entire community was invited to hear the story.
“I was surprised,” recalls Rashmi. “The story was not in [the national language], but in our own language! At first, I did not understand why they had travelled so far to tell a story about a baby.
I had so many questions. I wished I could read the small book for myself!”
Rashmi directed her questions, about the birth of a person named Jesus in The Christmas Story to her aunt’s neighbour, a believer named Aapti. The neighbour explained how God offered salvation to all people through His Son, Jesus Christ. Aapti taught Rashmi to read and together, they studied the book of Mark—the first book ever printed in their language.
“I learned more about Jesus,” says Rashmi. “Those were wonderful months and I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. “
When it was time for her to return home, Rashmi did so with a copy of Mark, as well as the Christmas booklet that Aapti gave her.
“I pray every day for the Bible translators, literacy teachers and the audio team who are bringing the Word of God to my village and to villages all across my country,” she stresses.
“What a precious gift for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear!”