Gospel Literature Impacts Lives
by Gene and Jean Easley
Sumpango
There was a long detour on the main highway going to Sumpango, an Indian village in the highlands of south central Guatemala. A trip that would ordinarily have taken an hour and a half took about three hours. After traveling up and down hilly terrain and over rough, dirt roads, and finally arriving in Sumpango, we were greeted by a downpour of torrential rains. The missionary I was traveling with needed to meet with the pastor of a local church in Sumpango.
It was a short visit--only a few minutes of business--and we were ready to return to Guatemala City. On our departure from Sumpango, we had an experience that forever put this small town on the map of my memories.
Most of the streets in this town were not paved, and those that were had large potholes making travel extremely difficult. We were in a small pick-up truck, and the bad streets slowed us almost to a crawl. Our departure from Sumpango must not have been at a speed of more than five miles per hour. This slow speed, though adding to the torture of the trip, provided a unique opportunity for the Gospel.
While the driver was trying to miss the large potholes, I could distribute literature to the townspeople! I, literally, had my arms extended out the passenger side of the truck giving Gospel literature to those walking and standing along the sidewalks of main street Sumpango.
I was amazed by what I saw and very moved by it. Many of the recipients of the literature had been simply standing in front of the little store front buildings, gazing about, or just watching others pass by. They seemed unoccupied and bored. The sight of someone distributing free literature aroused great interest. One by one, the people would walk or even run over to our truck to receive their share. As they took the literature with a big, "Gracias (thank you)," they returned to their places or continued their journeys along the sidewalks. But in either case, they instantly began to read the literature.
It was a very moving experience because the literature was full of Scripture and full of the Gospel message. We know that reading Scripture in itself has no saving power, but the Word of God is alive. Those who read it automatically give the Holy Spirit a tool to work with to reach to the depths of their hearts and turn them to God.
We may not take experiences like this seriously in America where literature is plentiful and easily available. But in third-world countries where the average person in the poor class can hardly afford to buy a newspaper, literature is a valuable commodity. I have witnessed uniformed policemen reading their new New Testaments (given to them as we passed through customs) out loud so that all passers-by were getting a little of the greatest story ever told, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were not in the least ashamed or inhibited to let everyone know they were thrilled to receive their personal copy of the Word of God!
Guatemalan Border
One of the most difficult parts of our journeys to Guatemala has always been at the Mexico/Guatemala border and the anxiety-filled passage through Guatemalan customs. It is almost always like a nightmare from which one longs to awaken. On one such crossing, our nightmare was turned into a special time of blessing through the use of Gospel literature.
Leaving Mexico is a simple procedure. You turn in your visas, your papers for your automobile, and one last serious look by the Mexican officials and you are on your way out of Mexico and into the beautiful little country of Guatemala. Guatemala is about the size of the state of Ohio. But its diversity of topography, mountains, lowlands and jungles, plus its primitive highway system, make it appear to be more like the size of Texas than Ohio.
However, your first view of Guatemala, as you enter on the southwest corner, is not memorable because of its beauty. As you arrive at the border crossing, you are commanded to park your car and get out. Young men or sometimes boys will meet you and offer their services to expedite your adventure through the customs office.
The first stop is to have your car sprayed with some sort of insecticide which is supposed to rid your vehicle of all the bugs you picked up in Mexico. When you leave Guatemala, they go through the same procedure in Mexico to exterminate the Guatemalan bugs before entering Mexico. We don't know if these sprays have any real power on the bugs, but it does bring a little more revenue to the local government. So one just learns to tolerate the unpleasant odor.
After having your car sprayed, your guide will take you to several more stops before you actually reach the customs office. The police station will want to register your name and passport number and, of course, there is another fee for doing this. After that you will go to several different windows where you usually have little idea what they are doing, but each time a little more money is required. By this time you should have already changed some of your American dollars into Guatemalan Quetzals. This is usually taken care of between the two borders.
When you finally reach the customs officer, his first remark is that you must remove everything from your vehicle and take it inside the customs office for inspection. Immediately, you begin trying to talk him out of doing such an impossible task. Sometimes it works; sometimes it isn't that easy. But to describe this whole ordeal as a nightmare is to put it mildly.
It was at this point in the process where having a large supply of Gospel literature made one border crossing a blessing that we could never forget. For some reason, that time it wasn't as difficult to convince the inspector that our van was too full and that it would not be practical to unload everything and carry it into the building. He agreed to let us leave most of it in the van where he would inspect it. Of course, he insisted that we still give the customary tips to himself and the men with him who would have otherwise helped us carry all those items into the building.
He did require that we empty some things from the back of the van and stack them on the pavement behind the van. This was our opportunity to unload several boxes of Bibles and New Testaments. Then, our normally gloomy day became a time of joy and excitement.
As I followed the customs inspector, Jean sat with the boxes of literature and began giving some to passers-by. Very soon, she became the center of attention for all who were crossing the border. Everyone wanted a Bible or New Testament. The New Testaments were a specially-marked edition with a chain reference for many salvation Scriptures. The salvation Scriptures were highlighted with a bright color.
