This is Very Good!
At a recent workshop, I was able to hear the Zanaki pray for the first time in their heart language.
One day during the second week of the workshop, I sat next to an elderly Zanaki pastor during our lunch break. I asked him to share his testimony with me. He had first believed as an adult twenty-one years ago, so he had learned to pray in church. Because Tanzania churches use the Swahili Bible, prayer is always in Swahili. I asked him, “But what about when you are at home, or if you are alone, what language do you use when you pray?”
The pastor thought for a moment and answered, ‘Swahili, I always use Swahili. I don’t think I ever prayed in Zanaki. Yes, I am sure I never have in my whole life.”
I was surprised and sad to hear that this soft spoken, gentle pastor had never spoken to Jesus in his heart language. When I asked him a few questions, he readily agreed it would be possible to pray in Zanaki. He believed God would understand Zanaki, but since Swahili, the national language, is the language of the Bible, it simply never occurred to him that he could use his mother tongue for prayer.
The First Prayer
That afternoon I had the seven Zanaki workshop participants stop their work to pray for the upcoming Bible translation and literacy project. Just before beginning, I asked them to use Zanaki. They were startled, but agreed. In Tanzanian fashion, they all prayed out loud simultaneously. Passionate Zanaki prayers tumbled out as they asked God to bless the project. One woman simply sat smiling and crying, listening to the others pray in her language.
When their voices all quieted, one man closed with a Zanaki, “In Jesus’ name, amen.” They lifted their heads, and everyone had tears running down. Tanzanians don’t often cry in public, but every one of the seven were wiping their eyes. The elderly pastor, who had just prayed and heard others pray in Zanaki for the very first time, could not stop smiling. One Zanaki man said, “Lets do this again. This is very good.”
Story by Michelle Smith. Read other stories by Michelle.