Missionary Stories of South America
HIS MOTHER'S BOOK
MY MOTHER is dying and I must go home to care for her, for she is poor and alone," said the soldier to his captain in one of the camps in Guayaquil, South America. So, although he had enlisted for three years and had served only six months, he was given permission to go home.
He hurried to Cuenca, hoping to be able to save the life of his mother, but it was too late, and in spite of his care, she soon died. Then he began picking up the very few things which she owned. Most of them were in an old trunk which he found in the corner of the poor little room.
"I wonder what book this is," said the soldier, as he took a very much worn book from the bottom of the trunk. "Mother must have read it often, for it. is almost falling in pieces. I will see what it tells about" He put the small book, which had no covers and many loose leaves, into his pocket while he finished the other things which he had to do.
When the room was emptied and he was lonely for the one who was gone, her book seemed like a part of his mother, so he read it over and over. Some of the things which he found in it were very beautiful and helped him in his life, but there was a great deal which he could not understand. He wished he might find some one who could tell him what it meant. He had no idea where his mother had bought the book, and he had never seen one like it.
One day, many months later, he went into a telegraph office to see a friend and picked up a paper which friend had been reading. The name of the paper, Buenos Nuevas, meaning "Good News" in English, was interesting, and he began to read. Suddenly he stopped and reread a sentence. There were the very same words that had found in his book at home.
"Where did you get this paper?" he asked his friend.
"A foreigner gave it to me," answered the man. "He had many of them and gave one to whoever would take it."
"And may I borrow this for a day?" asked the soldier "There is something here that I want to compare with a book that I have at home."
Permission being given, he took the paper to his home and then sat down with his mother's book and the paper. He found a verse in a part of his book called ‘Romans,’ and compared it with the verse which he had seen in paper. Word for word they were the same. How happy Manuel was! He felt sure that if he could just find man who had given out the papers, he could get help in understanding his own book.
A few days later, as he was walking down the street in Cuenca, he saw some very startling signs written the mud walls of the town. "Down with the evangelicos or their death!" one said, and a little farther down the street was one which read, "The heads of the evangelicos or their death."
"What is an evangelico?" thought the soldier. "I must find out what the trouble is about." Soon he found man who knew.
"A man has gone through Cuenca giving out papers," said the man. "He is one of those hated Christians who are spreading a false doctrine among the people of Cuenca. He must be put out of the way."
"But I must see him first," thought Manuel. "I must find out what he knows of my book." So he hurried down the street to find the house where the man was staying with two other Christians. He went to the door, but a policeman in plain clothes was stationed there to prevent a foreigner from being killed in Cuenca. The man could be run out of town, but there must be no violence, and he refused to let Manuel in. Again and again Manuel tried, saying that he had come as a friend. At last his patience was rewarded and he was allowed to get into the house where the missionary was staying. He told of his errand, showed his mother's book, and asked for help.
What a wonderful day that was in Manuel's life! For more than three hours he sat with the missionary, listening to the story of Christ's life, of his friendship with the men of Palestine, and of the book called the Bible which told of his life and work.
"And it is part of that book—the latter part—which you have from your mother," said the missionary. "It is the greatest book in the world."
The missionary was not driven out of Cuenca, and for four months Manuel went every day to study and to listen to the word of God. Then he decided that he wanted to become a Christian and try to help others to know of Christ. So he was baptized and became the very first Christian convert in Cuenca.
Out of the small salary which he now earns in a factory he saves what he can, and uses it to buy tracts and parts of the New Testament. He has already won his brother to Christ, and on their free days and on the Sabbath Day they walk about the country telling others what Christ has done for them, offering to give people some of the tracts which they have with them, and Manuel always reads to them from his mother's book— a torn New Testament. Manuel Sarmento is a light set on a hill which not be hid.