Yessica had been a churchgoer for years. Each week, she sat in the church and listened to her pastor preach. While listening to the sermons, she felt close to God. But as soon as she left the building, she forgot God’s words in the busyness of daily life as a schoolteacher.

Work, studies, and other commitments did not satisfy her. “A few months ago, I fell into depression and sadness,” she says. “I felt all alone. I cried inconsolably. I felt that no one understood me.”

Then Peruvian Bible Society gave her a Proclaimer, a small machine that plays audio recordings of the Bible. For the first time, the Scriptures came to life for her. “When I listened to the Proclaimer, I felt God talking to me,” she says. “Now I know that he has healed me and brought me through this trial. When I feel weak, when my own strength has given out, the Word encourages me and lifts me up.”

Thanks to her Proclaimer, Yessica now carries God’s Word in her heart all week long. “I used to find memorizing verses very difficult,” she says. “But now I listen to whole chapters time and time again. When it comes to the verse I want to memorize, I repeat it in the narrator’s voice. My favorite verse is Philippians 4:13 (CEV): ‘Christ gives me the strength to face anything.’”

But Yessica not only carries God’s Word in her heart, she also shares the Scriptures with family, friends, neighbors, and students. “When I take the Proclaimer anywhere, I tell people, ‘This little machine helped me enormously,’” she says. “Then I turn it on so that others can listen.”

Whether leading Bible studies at family outings or presenting lessons to her students, Yessica has become a spiritual leader in her community. But without the support of American Bible Society’s financial partners, this Proclaimer might never have made it to Yessica’s community. She cringes when she thinks about what life would have been like: “If I did not have the Proclaimer, I would have carried on the same as I was before — with limited thinking, in sadness and depression, living only for myself and not for others.” Instead, she says, “I have learned how to love myself as Jesus loved me and to share that love with others.”