Nepal (VBB/MNN) — In the Himalayas, thousands of people from high mountain villages gather in a central location for the winter.
It's here in this remote village that a Vision Beyond Borders team got creative. Knowing thousands of people were now gathered into a large community, they began to pray. The team wanted to share the Gospel with as many people as possible.
VBB's contacts in the country work to translate and record God's Word in each of Nepal's 153 dialects. They then carry the audio Bible to remote villages on Sabers, digital hand-wind players preloaded with recorded Scripture in an mp3 format.
Most villagers in these remote areas of Nepal have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, but they hear the Gospel for the first time on the Sabers. Such was the case in a remote Himalayan village where teams sought a way to share the recordings en masse.
Suddenly, the team had an idea to broadcast the audio Bible through a local radio station. The station's workers agreed, as they had never encountered something like this before. The station was reportedly so enthralled to have something in their own language that they didn't question the program's content.
The VBB team signed a contract with the radio station, agreeing to broadcast the Sabers' content twice a day for 10 days, during peak hours in both the evening and morning. As a result, some 150,000 people heard the Gospel in their heart language!
Pray that those who heard the Message would repent and turn to Christ for salvation.
Because of Nepal's extremely low adult literacy rate–56% according to UNESCO, audio Bibles are one of the most effective ways to share God's Word with villagers and help them understand its meaning. VBB contacts find that the Saber's unusual nature as a hand-wind tape recorder draws attention.
Out of curiosity, villagers listen to the recording of the entire Gospel. VBB says the Holy Spirit then draws these unbelievers into a relationship with the Living God.
Pray that these recordings will especially touch the hearts of Nepalese young people. According to Operation World, most of Nepal's youth live in rural areas, where education and opportunity are hard to come by. Illiteracy is widespread, and young people are vulnerable to exploitation of all forms: drug trafficking, sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and political or religious radicalization.
