She Encountered Transformation First
November 10, 2025by BTL CommsBlog
Nestled among hills and dense groves of palms on Kenya’s Coast lay Chinyakani village, hosting part of the Rabai community. The air carries the salty tang of the Indian Ocean, yet beneath this peaceful exterior, whispers of fear threaded through the village.
*Mary (not her real name) lived in those whispers. To the villagers, she was a figure of darkness, a woman rumored to practice witchcraft. Doors closed when she passed. She moved through the village like a shadow, belonging nowhere, feared by many.
It was during this season of isolation that BTL began work among the Rabai people, and Chinyakani was chosen as one of the villages to carry out the sociolinguistic survey, a second stage in the Bible translation process that ascertains the need for Bible translation in a community. Mary began attending the survey sessions, drawn perhaps by curiosity, or perhaps by a quiet longing she could not name. Each session beginning with a word of prayer and devotion.
“At first, some members were afraid of her,” recalled the linguistics team. “They even suggested we stop her from attending the sessions, worried that misfortune would follow.”
Their fears seemed confirmed one day when, while leaving one of the meeting centres, a tire on their vehicle suddenly burst. The community members who had been in the meeting immediately pointed at her, their eyes wide with accusation.
“We told you! That woman is not good. Look at what has happened!”
But the team, untouched by the incident, pressed on.
A week later, hope came in an unexpected form. One of the community members and a neighbour to Mary visited the Rabai Office at the Dr. Krapf Memorial Museum, Rabai in Kilifi County with good news. Mary had received her salvation. She had even begun attending church. Not long after, she visited the office herself, her face a mixture of awe, relief, and gratitude.
“I have lived a horrible life,” she confessed. “Every night, three people would come to me for rituals at the Indian Ocean. I felt powerless, trapped in a spiritual world I could not control. It was as if my life belonged to something far darker than myself.”
Yet slowly, through the prayers that had been raised and the Word of God shared from the survey sessions week after week, something began to shift in her.
One night, Mary experienced a vision she would never forget;
“Three figures appeared, clothed in dazzling white. At first, I thought they were the usual visitors. But the man in the middle spoke: ‘Woman, I have seen your transgressions. There is no benefit to your suffering. Today, I have come to deliver you from slavery and call you to live with me in Paradise.’ He reached out and touched me, and I woke up.”
Overcame with gratitude, she spoke as tears flowed. “God is good. I am so grateful that God sent you to our land.”
The following Sunday after Mary’s visit to the office, our staff visited the church she had chosen to begin fellowshipping in as a follow-up to her testimony. When they arrived that morning, she was already there, and she once again gave her testimony.
“These people came to translate the Bible into the Rabai language, but it seems it was meant for me to be saved first, before the work could continue.” She brought Psalm 66:16 (NIV) to her relatable story to life: “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.”
Her pastor narrated the further steps that Mary had taken in her new journey.
“Mary invited us to her home. Together with the church members, we prayed a prayer of deliverance and burned all her ritualistic items. She and her household were freed, in body and in spirit.”
Chinyakani village became a place of light at the end of the socio-linguistic surveys. What began as a mission to translate Scripture had become a vessel for Salvation. Mary’s story is a testament to countless others in villages across East Africa, men and women waiting to encounter God as His Word reaches them in their heart language.
Pray for Mary in her new walk of life. That through her testimony, more would encounter Christ.
