In all of the United States, the Navajo Nation Reservation is the number-one hotspot for COVID-19 per capita. There, the residents desperately needed things like food and medical supplies. Strict quarantine guidelines on some reservations forced some families to drive 200-300 miles for food or help.
However, in spite of all their needs, their most frequent requests were for Bibles.
Navajo leaders asked Huron Claus, a partner of the Bible Society, if he could get Bibles for their people who were being ravaged by the pandemic.
“Our native people have a high value for the family. You have homes that were multi-generational, where you had grandma and the children and the grandchildren living in the same home. So, COVID spread quickly. We had over 4,000 cases in the Navajo Nation,” Huron shares. “There were more than 500 deaths recorded. About 30 pastors have passed away. There is great anxiety, great fear, and uncertainty.”
He says the desperate situation really brought an “openness to the Gospel. When the pandemic hit, the desire was to hear the voice of God.”
Huron says a lot of the Navajo leaders contacted him specifically requesting copies of the Navajo Bible. “The number-one thing I got asked for was a Bible. Our people are crying out to just really hear His direction and sense His presence. It was a tremendous opportunity to communicate the truth of God in the hearts of our native people.”
Huron turned to American Bible Society for help. Because of our generous friends, American Bible Society was able to provide 1,000 Bibles to people in 90 different Navajo churches.
This type of Bible distribution is only made possible through the generosity and compassion of friends like you. Many thanks to our partners for being God’s hands and feet to distribute Bibles to the Navajo people in their native language.