I've never prayed in my own language!

One of my favorite stories from this year is one that a Discoverer heard from a field director.

The language group that he was working with, like many minority peoples, had been told for centuries that their language didn't count as a real language. Through literacy projects, investing time in the people, and a great amount of prayer, the people slowly began to realize that, in fact, their language was real and it did matter.


It started with a simple question. After spending some time going around with a hill tribe pastor praying for people and doing everything he could to help the community out, the director turned to his pastor friend and asked if the pastor could teach him how to pray in the pastor’s own language. Being the first language of the people he was ministering to, the director was seeking to speak right to the hearts of the people and to God at the same time. The pastor’s face contorted in confusion as he told the director “I've never prayed in my own language”. Then his face melted into joyful curiosity as he asked “that’s possible?” A whole people group began to use their own language for relating to God because of the Lord’s prompting for one simple question.


Do you pray in your heart language?