The Garasias are an ancient tribe to Rajasthan, India. Almost a year ago, Mission Network News reported about the way the tribe has been ostracized and left to scavenge in the jungle for the last 500 years.

When a missionary came to the 221,000-person tribe a few decades ago and found that the Garasias had never heard of Christ and had no Bible to speak of in their own language, he set out to translate the Scriptures. When the New Testament was finally complete, there was still one problem: less than two percent of the Garasias can read.

We told you last April about the desire of Audio Scripture Ministries desire to record the Garasias New Testament by the end of 2011. Today ASM can proudly announce that they reached that goal. And not only did they reach the goal, but they have finally been able to distribute 150 audio Bibles to the Garasias.

"So far, all that they have understood about Jesus, about God, has come through the mouths of their pastors and local evangelists.. But now, with audio Bibles in their communities, it's like we've just unleashed 150 new missionaries who speak nothing but God's Word in people's heart language," says ASM's J.P. Sundararajan.

This is quite an exciting feat for believers among the Garasias, who have suffered much for following Christ over the last few decades. One of the men who helped do the reading for the audio Bible was strongly chastised for leaving his family and pregnant wife to read for ASM. "Pappu" considered it a necessary sacrifice for his people to get God's Word, however. Now Pappu is back, and the people's thirst for Scripture was astonishingly clear at the distribution.

"A lot of people were gathered, and only 150 Bibles were able to be distributed," says Sundararajan. "The missionary told us, ‘We need 100 more immediately'–not even over the course of the next few months, or weeks or years."

There are very few believers among the Garasias, so such a response was very exciting. Perhaps even more amazing than that hunger, though, was one immediate transformation of the community. The Garasias do not have a word for "thank you." Due to their trying past, they have historically been an ungrateful people. But when ASM workers distributed the audio Bibles, they continued to hear "Aabar! Aabar!" from the people.

When asked what that word meant, the translator told ASM that the Garasias were using a phrase from a nearby community. "The word ‘aabar' means ‘thank you,'" says Sundararajan. "It seems like a seemingly insignificant phrase, but for the Garasias this is a big deal."

The Garasias were becoming a grateful people right before the eyes of the ASM team.

Since the distribution, ASM has heard many more exciting stories about the way God's Word is transforming this tribe. Pray that pastors and other Christian leaders would be able to answer the questions that come up as the Garasias hear God's Word. Pray for hearts to be fully transformed.

Sundrarajan adds, "We are excited for what God is going to do, but we are also a little burdened to get more Bibles into the community because the thirst is unfathomable for all of us."

ASM wants to get 100 Bibles into the community as soon as possible. To help them reach this goal, click here and designate a gift for the Garasia project.

It was an unorthodox match, but no one questioned the king. At least not until years later.

500 years afterward, the current king of Rajasthan was dividing up the kingdom. Everyone wanted to get their fair share, including one lonely tribal group, the Garasias.

The Garasias were the descendants of the previous king and his concubine. The king, outraged that tribal people were demanding land but aware that he had a responsibility to them, gave the Garasias land in the jungle so they could live with and as the animals.

Fast-forward ahead 500 years to today. The Garasias are currently known for a good deal of violence and animism. They continue to live in the jungles bestowed to them five centuries ago.

On a recent stay in India, J.P. Sundararajan with Audio Scripture Ministries met a pastor who has been ministering to the Garasias. Despite warnings against going to them, the pastor continued and began sharing the message of Salvation with them.

"They don't have a concept for God, so he had to create one for them. So he came up with this name called ‘Uparwala,' which basically in Hindi means ‘The One Who Lives Above,'" explains Sundararajan.

"He said to them that this God, this Uparwala, loved them. It was the most amazing message the Garasias had ever heard. They still had those scars from that legacy of pain and rejection that happened over 500 years ago. And to hear that somebody actually loved them was quite overwhelming. Their response was, ‘Why did you wait so long to come and tell us that story?'"

Work was set in motion to get a written New Testament for the Garasias, and it was completed last fall. After generations of hurt, the Garasias are receptive and have the Gospel, but one problem remains.

"They know they have a Bible, but nobody can read it." Sundararajan says as many as 98 percent of the 221,000-person tribe are illiterate. Only two to five percent can read.

Enter Audio Scripture Ministries. ASM specializes in recording the Word and sending it out to those who cannot read it for themselves. ASM hopes to complete an audio form of the New Testament for the Garasias by the end of the year. Funding for the project is actually already covered, but finding people who can read the Word so it can be recording may be a long search.

"Finding people who are literate among this tribe is a challenge in itself. Secondly, this language does not have a script. So the Bible that was translated had to be put into a different script. So whoever has to read it has to read their own language via a different language," explains Sundararajan.

The Garasias are starved for truth. Sundararajan observes, "It's pretty obvious that this is a group that is just waiting and has been ready for this moment for a long time now." Pray that readers would be found quickly, and that funding would come in for distribution as soon as the project is completed.