Nigeria

Hearing God’s Word Through Audio Bibles in Nigeria Sitting with nearly 60 other former Muslims in a room connected to a VOM safe house, Isaac waited eagerly to hear his name called. Before coming to the safe house in early 2017, his brothers had tied his hands to his ankles, whipped him with wires until his back bled and beat him until one eye swelled shut. That was his punishment for expressing a desire to grow in his new Christian faith. After Isaac’s sister found him and untied his hands and ankles, he eventually made his way to the VOM safe house, with an increased yearning to know Jesus. But spiritual growth came slowly for Isaac because he didn’t have access to a Bible in Fulfulde, the Fulani language he spoke. Everything changed the day Isaac heard his name called at the safe house and walked up to joyfully receive his own audio Bible in the Fulfulde language. He finally had everything he needed to grow closer to Christ. “I am very happy,” he said with a smile after receiving his audio Bible. “This is a very good thing.” In Nigeria, where 40 percent of the population can’t read, audio

As Rebekah stood on a hill just outside her Nigerian village one hot day in 2014, she could do nothing but watch as her house and church burned to the ground. She and her neighbors were devastated at the sight of their village in flames and helpless to defend themselves against the heavily armed Boko Haram militants who had caused the destruction. But for Rebekah, that wasn’t the worst of it; she later learned that her husband and one of her sons had been killed in the attack. Seven months after Rebekah’s life was so radically altered by the Islamist attack, Nigerian military forces pushed Boko Haram out of the region. Though the destruction was widespread, government authorities allowed Rebekah and the other villagers to return to the charred remains of their homes to reclaim what was left. As she sifted through the ashes, Rebekah’s heart filled with hope at the discovery of her burned but still usable Bible. She bent over, carefully picked it up and brushed away the ashes. “Thank you, Lord,” she sighed. Although parts of Genesis and Revelation were burned, the rest of her Bible survived intact. As she continued to mourn the loss of her