“The man requested me to give him this booklet as this is the first time he came to learn about Jesus. His wife requested to give one booklet to her also. They told me that this was the first time they have seen so beautiful a booklet in their own language. Praise the Lord as the seed has been sown in their hearts.” This is just one of many joyful reports from a national worker in Pakistan who is helping distribute Christian literature in this Muslim country where WELS cannot have a resident missionary.

Since WELS began this outreach program three years ago, approximately 50,000 pieces of literature have been distributed in Pakistan. To help reach even more souls, WELS Multi-Language Publications printed its first materials earlier this year in Pashtu, a language spoken by an estimated 13 percent of the country’s 160 million people. The piece is called The Promise—a booklet sharing basic biblical truths, which is currently printed in 38 languages worldwide.

“We are in a seed-sowing ministry in Pakistan, and this is just another way to sow the seed of the gospel in areas where the Pashtu language is being spoken,” says Pastor Harold Essmann, coordinator for literature programs in Pakistan and Nepal.

Some copies of The Promise have already been sent to Peshawar, a tribal area of Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. Essmann says other versions of The Promise, such as the translation into Urdu (Pakistan’s official language), have already gotten into Afghanistan.

Although it remains to be seen what impact this new printing will have on WELS’ ministry in Pakistan, Essmann says, “We know that the printed word is powerful, and the Holy Spirit can move the hearts of people through it.”