What Would You Give For the Word

All of this travelling means I have had a lot of time to sit on buses and interact with my seatmates.  I normally make sure I have a copy of the Word on hand to read as I go.  Sure enough, as soon as I pull out a holy book, the questions start to come: “Wow, that book is all in YOU, can you read YOU?”  “What book is that?”  “I’ve never seen a Bible in our language before, where did you get it?”  Sometimes the book gets ripped out of my hands and passed hungrily around the bus. Other times, my seatmate and I just sit and quietly discuss a passage on our own.  More often than not, by the end of the trip, someone is begging me to let them take it home.  Since this is considered a very big gift on my part, the receiver feels obligated in YOU culture to give a gift in exchange.  Some of the things I go away with make me laugh. The travel companions search through their bags to find something worthy.  I have been given money—literally one guy insisted on buying it from me—two big bags filled with walnuts, a little stuffed animal, an elephant key chain, a flash drive filled with classic YOU novels, headscarves galore, free taxi rides, a necklace, a shiny hair clip, bottled water purchased for me and all the short term team travelling with me, and so much more.  I use each one of these trinkets as a reminder to pray for the person who now holds in their hand a copy of God’s Word.  We know and believe that the Word itself is living, active, and powerful in the life of one who is truly seeking.