"The nurse came in from the Children's Home..."

Dear Christian Friend,

The nurse came in from the Children's Home with a new problem. You may remember that some time ago she said the children needed socks. That is, the ones they had were uniformly made with two holes. That is the standard for Guatemala. Well, I told her that if they were needed, it was all the same to me to get an American style, with only one hole, so she could tell at which end to put the child's foot.

After that, some of you asked for me to let you know when the kids had some special need, or whether you should send money. Near the Children's Home is a nice swimming pool where the city people go to, paying quite a bit to get in. The pool is fed by natural hot springs. The owner would permit the orphans and poor children to use the pool, provided they had regular bathing suits, and not go like most poor kids here, in their ragged underwear. So, she asked if we could help with that problem. She had gone to some stores and asked the prices but had found there were no really cheap models. They were $8.00-$10.00 and up.

[This paragraph refers to Bro. Orland's blindness, incurred when he was injured in a terrorist bomb explosion.] She guided me when we went to a wholesale garment section. I supplied the know-where, and she the eyes. On arriving, I remembered a man who had been there years before. His was an interesting story. Maybe this was the Lord guiding me. . . . I had combed that section with Bibles and New Testaments in Yiddish and Spanish years before, trying to give away the Bibles. The Jews did not want any Christian literature, gospel, or propaganda, and would not accept them as a gift. I began to sell the Bibles to other clerks or customers. The Bible Society was underwriting Bibles then. They were beautiful looking volumes worth, no doubt, commercially about $5.00, but they were letting us sell them for $1.00. Most everyone wanted a bargain like that! The Jewish owner, studying the bargain, decided he wanted one also. All over that section of town, I sold Bibles to the Jews, but could not give them to them.

One Jewish man who was definitely spiritually inclined, spoke reverently of God and asked me if I wanted to sell him a quantity to give as gifts to his Jewish friends. To him it did not matter that the Bible had not only the Old Testament, but also the New Testament. As I recall it, he took six that day, and another six or so two or three times a year for several years, until the American Bible Society began to change managers and policies. Where they used to be very fundamentalistic, lovers of the Word of God, they became more modernistic. They brought out new translations that used atheistic, modernistic scholars trying to water down the miraculous stories. They worked with the Council of Churches, which was more Marxist than American, and decided to pay their money to such scholars and high priced business managers rather than underwrite the Bibles below cost. For a time, our wholesale distribution of Bibles about stopped. Then God moved on other fundamentalist groups to send Guatemala and other countries Bibles below cost.

Now, years later, I wondered if that Jewish brother was still alive. I entered, and there he was. He did not recognize me with thick glasses and a white cane, being led by someone else, but when I mentioned the Bibles, he beamed. I told him that old time friends and neighbors all around him had been ill and dying, many younger than he, but his vigorous, healthy seventy-five years was God's blessing for his interest in spiritual things, God's Word, and his sacrifices to give out the Word to others. He beamed more and said, "Thanks be to God."

I explained about the Children's Home, orphans, and poor kids. He replied that there had been a factory turning out economical clothing, including bathing suits, for the economical trade, but it, along with many other factories here, had to close down in the last three or four years. He told us what to do. The material that is used was available at such and such a place. We were to ask around for one of the machine operators that had lost her job when the factory shut down. She would get the same suits make up at a fraction of the ordinary retail prices. 

The little bathing suit project for little kids is already under way, and we all are happy. What make me doubly so was seeing the guiding hand of the Lord after these many years. For a while, trying to witness and give away Bibles to the Jews was most discouraging, being repeatedly rejected, but we have God's promises...Sow in tears and come again at some later harvest rejoicing. Cast your Bread of Life upon the waters, and after many days, it will come again. My Word shall not return unto me void.

Oh! We are rejoicing as God continues His great harvest of souls and His work in Guatemala and other places. We hear revival has increased in some parts of poor El Salvador also. Let us keep on praying and praising.

Yours sincerely,

Orland Wolfram