Meet Mary, entrepreneur and disciple of Jesus - Part 2

(continued from Part 1, below)

We learned that when Mary was young, her family lived near a Barabaig village, so she grew up with friends and neighbors among the tribe, allowing her to become fluent in the language. When she married, she and her husband were educated and employed as teachers in the Catholic church.

Mary always maintained a heart for the Barabaig people, hoping to work among them someday. She and her husband reared six children and became leaders in their community. After her husband's death a decade ago, Mary retired from teaching and turned her attention to managing a handful of small businesses that the couple had started over the years. However, her evangelistic gifts and ministry heart for the Barabaig never left her, and she has the freedom to minister as old friends seek her out.

When a Barabaig woman’s husband dies, she is without voice or support in the village unless someone else marries her.  If she is old, she is left to get along on her own, or die. When these widows come to ask for help, Mary does not merely give them a fish, but rather teaches them to fish! And in doing so, she is also activated to be a fisher of their souls!

Mary has now created a small shop where she can sell the beautiful goods (pictured above), and she advocates for them amongst government officials with whom she has connections.

While attending the AIM Discipleship training, Mary recognized that God has put her in a very strategic place. Not only does she have the responsibility to bring the Gospel to the Barabaig widows, but she also has been commissioned to make them reproducing disciples! Thus the very thing that she is doing with the widows in the physical (activating them with knowledge and skills for their lives), is also the very same strategy she can use for their spiritual growth and development. . .making them disciples who are ready and able to make more disciples!

But Mary can't sit still! And so, she is not satisfied with only a little activity! She also helped to begin a community-wide prayer group in Katesh, meeting 3 nights a week to bring interdenominational leaders together for prayer for their community. She took the necessary steps to register the prayer group with the Tanzanian government as a legal nonprofit organization! The regular meetings have numbered between 20 and 150 in attendance at various times of the year, faithfully gathering together to address the spiritual issues of the community with prayer, often lasting well into the night.

As I sit in awe of this prayer group's commitment 

to their God and to their community, I wonder:

Is AIM's involvement here among this community and people 

an answer to their prayer? 

Are they an answer to our prayer?

After all, they are praying for laborers to come and help them with the Harvest, and God has burdened our hearts to join in. But likewise, AIM has been praying for laborers to come and help us with the Harvest, and we now realize here they are! They have been planting, watering, and praying, and God has sent us to them! And together we will rejoice at the Harvest-time! (John 4:35-36)

Meet Mary, entrepreneur and disciple of Jesus - Part 1

Mary met us at the front gate with a hug and her warm, infectious smile. Grabbing Susan's hand, she ushered us across the small courtyard, calling out to the workers (probably local men in need of employment) a greeting and blessing as they repaired the broken concrete courtyard connecting several small buildings.

We ducked into one of the rooms off the courtyard. Upon entering we glanced about, taking in the bright sunlight shining through several windows and an open door on the other side of the room, where two ladies sat on the floor. This was a work room, of sorts, with an old, treadle sewing machine on a side table. One corner featured a long, make-shift bookshelf, lined with Bible study and story books with Swahili and English titles. 

Mary encouraged us to have a seat on the couch, and she found her place behind a desk stacked with small bags of colorful beads, long leather pieces, and her well-worn Bible. She excused herself and turned to address the two women. Speaking in the tribal Barabaig language, she instructed them regarding their work; then she turned her attention again to us, explaining that these women were working very hard for an upcoming craft sale.

Mary shared with us their names and explained that these very remote village women had come to her door, asking for money or food. She refused to give them handouts, but instructed them to come in and learn how to work. They sit on the floor near the sunny open doorway, laps draped with their current projects, making beautiful necklaces, bracelets, skirt wraps, etc. which they can sell to feed themselves  and their families. Today was the once-a-month village market day, with people arriving with their livestock, wares, and food from throughout the region.  They worked diligently, hoping to finish their projects so they could get money from Mary and still make important purchases before the end of the day.

While the women work, Mary likes to read to them from the Bible and teach them the ways of God. Mary knows that it is unlikely they will hear about God in their villages, since this tribe holds to very traditional ways, not permitting education or any variance from their historical customs. But Mary has great respect and history with them. They know she wants to help them, and that she will give them opportunities...and at the same time she tells Bible stories, cooks lunch for them, and blesses them.

Lake Basotu and the Datooga Bible

At the website of the American Bible Society (http://record.americanbible.org/content/around-world/celebration-generation?page=0,1) an article explains the painstaking work of developing audio scriptures for obscure languages of African tribes. The Datooga people, including the Barabaig sub-tribe (in the Mbulu and Manyara Regions where AIM is working in Tanzania) did not even have a written language! The ABS article states the challenge well: 

“The work of the Datooga Bible translation began at the very beginning — with the invention of a written Datooga alphabet. In 1985, the process of creating letters and words for what had only been spoken began. Working with Datooga locals, two missionaries from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania began the process. Later, in partnership with the Summer Institute of Linguistics and the United Bible Societies, a couple of translation consultants, trained in Hebrew and Greek, went to work. In all, some 20 Datooga men and women were involved in translating and testing the Datooga New Testament over the 24 years it took to complete.”

“One who lasted the whole stretch is the perpetually smiling Pastor Joseph Maho, 59. The day before the launch, sitting outdoors at a round wooden table under a thatched roof, Joseph, in a quiet but excited voice, spoke about his experience. “Being in the Word every day has been very powerful — to see the power of God at work,” he said.  The beginning work took place in a tiny, one room building on the grounds of Lake Basotu. That building was used until 2007, when the effects of El Niño caused a flood, rendering the building unusable.  Joseph picked up the work in another office in the village of Basuto.”

In November 2012, AIM traveled to Lake Basotu. We witnessed the changed landscape, as the lakeshore has intruded on the higher ground, tree stumps still litter the shallows, and abandoned buildings like the translation house now sit on a small island.

It was a humbling experience to walk among the buildings where the bulk of the translation work was done for the Datooga Bible. In 2010 we discovered that the work of translation was progressing, and we began to pray for the resource to be made available. Finally in 2012 we discovered that not only was the translation work completed, but audio-Scriptures were now available! 

AIM was delighted to be able to purchase 12 solar-powered units with the Gospels and Acts recorded in Datooga to deliver to Pastors and indigenous missionaries to share among the Barabaig tribe.

Those units are being put to good use among an illiterate tribe, allowing them to learn and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Barabaig people are coming to Christ, and churches are being planted among one of the most Christian-resistant tribes in the region.  God is at work, and we intend to continue partnering with Him in taking the message of salvation and discipleship to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people to the glory of His Name!