First copy sold

Praying for the books at the dedication

The pastor whom the story below is about

This is a story I (Misha) wrote following the December 2 dedication of Luke in the Zanaki language:

On a day that was alternately hot and sunny and pouring rain, a dedication event for the gospel of Luke in the Zanaki language took place.  The dedication was held in the village of Butiama, which is the hometown of the first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere.  Perhaps in part because of Nyerere and the fact he was a Zanaki and a national hero, Zanaki people are proud of their language and culture.

The special guest speaker at the dedication was in the family line of the area chief and the top person in his denomination for all of East Africa, so was a very important local figure.  He was the one honored with task of cutting the ribbon and opening the box of Luke books.  After he opened the box and another pastor prayed a blessing over them, the next part of the ceremony was one of the translators reading a passage from Luke aloud.  When it was announced which passage would be the one read aloud, he grabbed a copy of Luke from the top of the box he had just opened and turned to the passage.  While the translator was reading aloud, he followed along with his finger on the page, listening carefully and reading it himself.  He was fluent in Swahili and could read it, but had never been taught how to read in his mother tongue.  But with the help of hearing it read aloud while looking at the words, he was able to understand the writing system used and figure it out.

Soon after this, the sales table opened and people eagerly came up to purchase copies.  The box which had been blessed and dedicated needed to be moved from the table at which the special guest was sitting to the sales table.  When someone came up to collect the box, he refused to return the copy he had taken to read, instead placing money to purchase his copy in the box, becoming the first person to ever purchase a copy of Luke in the Zanaki language.