I stepped into the Christian book store to look around, when Marta came down the stairs from the upper storage room. I had no idea that she even worked there, so it was quite a surprise. Marta is a short, stocky woman in her mid 50's, and every time I meet up with her she is smiling and greets me with a grandmotherly hug and a kiss on each cheek. Three days earlier Marta had been part of a BibleTelling workshop that was sponsored by the Guarani Recording Task Force. At the workshop she, along with another 15 participants, learned how to tell the stories of the Bible to adult audiences.

After briefly discussing how much we enjoyed the workshop I shared that I was disappointed that I didn't get to hear any of the stories in Guarani. I told Marta how much I love the Guarani language and how much I would love to hear the story of Philip in Samaria told in Guarani. Marta beamed at me, and said, "I can do that!" I asked her if she would do it right then, and she said, "sure", and launched right in. "Felipe oho Samariape opredica hagua ..." and she was off.

She was telling the story with such emotion and excitement, that soon the bookstore keeper had joined me in listening. We rejoiced with her at the repentance of the Samaritans and shared with her the anger of Peter at Simon the witch. And then all too suddenly Peter and John were on there way back to Jerusalem and the story ended.

The three of us talked a bit about how powerful this way of preaching could be in the rural areas, and Marta even volunteered to travel to the interior and tell some stories. The shop keeper said, "These stories have the preaching built in, you don't need to add anything."

Does this way of learning and teaching sound interesting to you? Check out this site and get involved in BibleTelling. (It's not just for kids!)