Today I visited Mrs. Selam’s coffee shop again. She was planning a trip to Ethiopia and she wanted to bring some Tigrinya language Bibles with her. She wanted to test the translation out to see if it was good and to see if the people could understand it. She said that not many pastors have them over there, but they really want them. They use Bibles in other languages, like Amharic, which doesn’t really help the people who mainly speak Tigrinya. She said she needs to test these out to see if the translation matches the language that the people speak everyday. If it does, it will be great! Then she has a source (me) for more of them! I’ve never really heard about testing out Bible translations, but I can see why it would be important. People need to have God’s Word in the language they speak so that they can understand it very well.

Mrs. Selam asked us to pray for her trip and for a good chance to test out the translation. I gave her the two copies I had, and she was very thankful to be able to share them. I’m looking forward to when she returns so that I can see if the translations were good.

Today I visited a refugee family from the DRC. Therese is a single mom with six kids. Her husband recently left her, so my dad was asked to visit and bring her some food and other things. We asked if she had a Bible and we were told that she didn’t have one in Swahili. We didn’t think she could speak English but we were really surprised when we went there and she greeted us in English and was talking constantly in English. She said she was trying hard to learn English so that she could get a good job.

We brought a lot of food for her – cabbage, tomatoes, squash, green peppers, sweet potatoes, onions, rice, beans, peanut butter – and boxes of used clothing for her and her kids. She was so happy! Then we gave her the Swahili Bible and when we asked to take a picture with her, she got really excited and wanted to change into her best clothes! It was good to see her get so excited about simple things like used clothes, cabbage, and a picture. I might take those things for granted. We said goodbye and as we drove away, we could hear her shouting “thank you!” through our open windows.

My dad likes to go to coffee shops and sometimes I go with him. One day, we went to a good one in Clarkston that is Ethiopian. Ms. Ayana serves traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremonies there, and it’s a lot of fun. She burns frankincense and everyone is invited to gather together and drink these little cups of coffee.

Now, Ms. Ayana knows that I don’t really like to drink coffee, so she adds a lot of sugar and milk for me, and it tastes pretty good! This time, after she served the coffee, I decided to see if she has a Bible in her language, so I got some courage and said, “Hey, do you ever read the Bible?”

She was kind of surprised and she said, “Yes, of course I do! The Bible is the most important thing!” She said she goes to the Orthodox church, and I found out she didn’t actually have a Bible in her own language, which is Amharic.

So, I was able to give her an Amharic Bible and she was very glad! Then she asked me for an English Bible so that she could give it to her daughter. After that, she asked me to bring a whole box of Bibles to her church to give to all the kids there too! All of that happened because I got the courage to ask her one little question about reading the Bible!

Today I visited Manna. She is from Eritrea and she speaks Tigrinya. She owns a restaurant in town that I like to go to, and she makes really good shawarma. It’s one of my favorite foods in Clarkston! This time I asked her if she needed a Bible in her language and she said yes. She asked for a Tigrinya Bible and also an English Bible because she speaks English too. She said she would keep the Bibles for herself unless someone came into her shop and needed them more. Then she would give them to those people.

When I gave her the Bibles, she asked if we could show her where her name is found in the Bible. My dad showed her Exodus 16 where it talks about God giving the Israelites manna when they were hungry. She was very happy to hear that. Then she asked about the difference between the Old and the New Testaments. So, we showed her in John 6 where Jesus says that He is the true manna from heaven, the bread of life, and whoever believes in Him will never be hungry or thirsty. She was so happy to hear about that!

Manna asked about a good Bible reading plan. My dad gave her some ideas and she said she wants to try to read one chapter every day, beginning in Matthew. Now, I can visit her shawarma shop, read a chapter with her about Jesus, and never be hungry again!

Today I visited Imani and her whole family so that I could give them a new Swahili Bible. They are old friends of ours. They used to live in the same apartment complex as we did and would come to our apartment all the time. Her mom recently had a stroke and her back is feeling very painful. 

Their family now lives in a house. Imani and her two kids moved in to help take care of her mom. We counted at least 12 people living there! When we brought in some donated food, they were really happy. They asked my dad to come once a month to pray with them and bring them more food.

Imani’s mom couldn’t move one side of her face because of the stroke she had and so she had trouble talking. She was excited when she saw the Bible. She was rubbing her belly and saying that while we gave them food to eat, we also gave them spiritual food which they really needed too. She said that even though we are old friends, we gave them something new.

I’m glad I could help this family with food to eat and also spiritual food that they could get by reading their new Bible. I hope that God’s Word will help Imani’s family a lot by telling them the Good News about Jesus in their language.

Nyota is from Tanzania and she came to Clarkston three months ago as a refugee. She has two little girls who are not in school yet. When we arrived at her apartment, we had a little trouble communicating. My dad kept mixing up Malagasy and Swahili for some reason and Nyota was having trouble understanding us. So, she tried to speak English a lot but she was mixing up her English phrases. Instead of “Hello” she said “Bye” and instead of “Thank you” she kept saying “I’m fine.” Finally, we got it all figured out and we could communicate again!

Nyota really wants to learn English so that she can communicate with her neighbors. She also told us that since she was a child, she speaks with a stutter. Sometimes it makes it difficult for her to communicate the way she wants to even in her own language.

But she was so glad when I presented her with her very first Swahili Bible! She gave me a big hug and couldn’t believe it. Then she changed her clothes and took a lot of pictures with me, her new friend.

Today I saw that good communication is important. God communicates to us through the Bible and the Bible is available in so many different languages for people everywhere. That means if you want to know about God, you need to read God’s Word in the language you understand the best.

Today I visited Samia. She is Congolese but she was living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya for 14 years before she came to Clarkston. She has only lived in America for nine months. She seemed very surprised that we came to visit her. We were actually the first Americans to visit her and to welcome her to the US!

Samia’s son came to America about five years ago, but he lives all the way in Arizona with his family. So, Samia was feeling lonely today and she was so glad we came to visit her. She has a job cleaning the schools at night, but she was a little sick today and wasn’t going to work. We gave her some food donations and I presented her with her very first Swahili Bible.

We also prayed for her and she was really glad about that and she asked us to come back again to pray with her and talk about the Bible with her. She said America is very different and she still has to get used to the new life. But she was grateful to have her very first Swahili Bible and to have made her very first American friends!