Maria is a grandmother in a Quechua-speaking village three days' walk from the nearest town with a church. She has attended Spanish-language services twice in her life. She followed almost nothing — Spanish is her market language, not her heart language.
When a mission team distributing Galcom audio players reached her village, Maria received one loaded with the New Testament in her own Quechua dialect. The team's report describes what happened next: she listened to the Gospel of Luke straight through, then called her neighbours to listen again with her.
“She kept saying: God speaks like us. God speaks like us,” the team wrote. “She thought God only spoke Spanish.”
Maria's player now anchors a weekly listening group of women in her village. Names in this story are changed at the partner's request.