'It is a blessing to translate the Bible in my language'

‘Ever since I tasted the goodness of the Lord, I have desired that my own people would come to know Him and His salvation,’ says Simon, whose name has been changed to keep him safe. ‘It has been such a blessing to be able to work on translating the Bible into my language.’

‘Before I became a Christian, I was going on with my life in the best way I knew how,’ continued Simon. ‘Although I am from a hunter-gatherer community, my family had moved from the interior villages of Kenya while I was young, and came to more of a mixed (multicultural) community.’

This community combined Islam with their own traditional beliefs in appeasing spirits. His father practiced herbal medicine and witchcraft. Simon helped as people came in for charms but, he says, ‘I never fully embraced the trade’.

‘A great thirst’

As his knowledge of Islam grew, so too did the number of questions Simon had about Jesus. ‘I kept asking myself “Who is this Isa bin Mariam [Mary’s son Jesus]?” I wasn’t being given answers that satisfied me. This gave me a great thirst to find out more.’

As an adult, Simon had some Christian neighbours, so he asked to borrow a Bible from them. ‘I read secretly and started listening to some Christian radio programmes with keen interest,’ he says. ‘I would read it and then return it, so that others would not know. But what encouraged me was that even if I only read a small bit, it helped me with my thirst and helped me understand who Christ is. And I realised that Christ is our Saviour and that the only way to God is through Him.’

‘I would hide my Bible in a maize packet’

Some time later, some Kenyan Christians came from a different part of the country to run a medical project near Simon’s village, and a friend introduced them. ‘I went with my many questions and with my curiosity about Christianity, and by God’s grace the missionary took me through some Bible study lessons for a while before I committed my life to Christ,’ Simon explains. ‘He got me a Swahili Bible, which I would hide in a maize flour packet as a disguise whenever I went to his house for the study.’

‘Initially I was very afraid and never thought I would one day come out boldly or openly share my faith, but the missionaries gave me a job as a guard at the mission centre, where we would do Bible studies and prayers every evening for several years. This is how I grew deep in the faith and the knowledge of God.’

Joy and pain

After a year and a half, Simon decided to tell his wife about his faith. ‘My missionary friend and I prayed and fasted for three days before I did that. There was a lot at stake.’ But his wife was not surprised. ‘She said that she had all along known something was different and she had no problem with it. By God’s grace, my wife also became a Christian three years after me. It was such a joy.’

‘When my family members learnt that I had become a Christian, they were not happy at all,’ Simon continues. ‘They tried all sorts of ways to dissuade me and at some point they also threatened my life. None of them would want to be associated with us. I confess that alienation was quite hard for us. It has not been an easy journey, but we have seen the Lord fighting for us in every step.’

Sharing the good news

‘Ever since I tasted the goodness of the Lord, I have desired that my own people would come to know Him and His salvation,’ says Simon. While working as a guard at the mission centre, he got to know some people who were working on Bible translation, and got involved in the work himself. ‘It has been such a blessing to be able to work on translating the Bible into Leafa*, my language, so that my people can have access to the word of God. They have always heard God speaking in Arabic and for them to read and hear Scriptures in their own language will be quite a historical thing.’

‘It has not always been easy, but I have learnt to be persistent and focused on the end result. It is my prayer that God will give me the grace and the strength to complete the work.’

Bryony is the Communications Officer for Wycliffe Bible Translators. www.wycliffe.org.uk