Give a Cow! |
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 "A Cow?!" That's right. Not a real cow, of course, but something like that.
Just before our family left the Sudan for the last time in 1961, a man sat up in bed and said, "Lord, I'll give a cow."
After thirteen years of careful work the Anuak translation that Harvey Hoekstra was doing in the Sudan was finally finished and ready to be printed.
Someone had to make it happen, so a farmer in northwest Iowa sat up in his bed in the middle of the night and said, "Lord, I'll give a cow."
A cow won't do it, was the answer he got. "Lord, then I'll give two cows," he said. And then it was "three cows."
In the dark he sat up in his bed and said, "Lord, I heard what the missionary on furlough said, I will make sure that the Anuak New Testament is printed. I'll make the difference!"
The following Sunday the farmer told his Sunday school class what had happened. They all caught his vision and shared his burden to do something so that the Anuak New Testament could be printed.
Soon after the Hoekstra family returned to the Sudan all the missionaries were expelled from the Sudan by the new Muslim-oriented government. The Hoekstras, like all the rest, had one week to pack their bags and leave.
When the little mission plane flew in to collect our family from the Pibor mission station in south Sudan, the pilot opened the door and slipped a small parcel into my dad's hand. "You may want to open this before you leave," he said.
In the parcel were the first five printed copies of the Anuak New Testament. God's timing was perfect. The Anuak Christians were filled with joy and said. "We don't know why our government is sending you away, but we want you to know that you are leaving behind God's best gift. You have given us His Word in our language."
 The Anuak New Testament was printed because a farmer with a vision and burden from the Lord inspired and motivated his small church to make the difference. More than three cows were needed, so the church joined together to make it happen.
You too can make that same difference today, by giving someone a Talking Bible. For people living in oral cultures where reading is not part of normal daily activity, having access to God's Word is nearly impossible because so few people in those areas of the world can read the Bible.
We'll make sure someone who cannot read the Bible gets a Talking Bible to listen to.
Because of you, people who cannot read and are waiting for their own Talking Bible will get one.
Your gift will make a difference. It costs only a $72.00 tax deductable donation to place one Talking Bible in the home of a non-reading family.
Sincerely,
Mark S. Hoekstra
President, Talking Bibles International |
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