Samesh lives in an area of South Asia where people worship traditional gods and goddesses. He followed the traditional religion of his people until one day, everything changed.

Samesh had slipped and fallen off a cliff, breaking his leg in the process. As he lay on the ground in agony, the deities he worshipped brought him no relief.

So Samesh cried out to Jesus. A short time later, Jesus came to him in a dream and said, “There is no one but Me.” Samesh awoke in a fright. He was sweating and shaking; he didn’t know what to do.

The next day Samesh found a pastor and told him about his dream. The pastor invited Samesh to attend church services so that he could learn more. Soon Samesh, his wife and his children decided to follow Jesus.

Though the Holy Spirit had awakened a hunger in Samesh to hear more from Jesus, he was heartbroken to discover that there was no Scripture translated into his language. You can imagine the depth of Samesh’s disappointment. But he did not let it deter him: Samesh joined the Bible translation team in his community.

Stories like Samesh’s are happening all around the world as the global Church takes ownership of Bible translation for their languages and communities. The team in Samesh’s community has made incredible progress. They have translated New Testament books, and a consultant has checked them. Now the team is doing the final preparations before they are ready to send the manuscript to the printer.

Your gift can help local churches translate the gospel, use translated Scripture and provide print, audio and video recordings in local languages.

Samesh isn’t the only person wondering if he’ll hear Jesus speak his language. All around the world, people are waiting to encounter Jesus in a language and format they clearly understand. We invite you to help Samesh and more people like him encounter the love, forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers.