In
early April some of the team made a visit to Mbozi, which is in the
Nyiha language area, to deliver 200 trial copies of the books of Jonah
and Ruth. Towards the end of the day — as people were getting tired —
we asked one participant to read chapter four from the book of Jonah.
He was surprised to be asked to read without any warning. But his
reading was wonderful! He was clear and fluent. Even though many of the
participants were tired, to our surprise we saw participants smiling,
raising their heads, looking up at the reader. Occasionally you could
see some of them nodding and laughing. We saw that reading the text in
the Nyiha language changed the mood of the people completely. After
closing the session, I approached our host pastor and asked him about
his feelings. He said, “I cannot tell you what kind of joy I have after
hearing the word of God read in my own language. I’m so happy!” Then he
continued laughing.