several more, had escaped. They were greatly frightened, as the animal
was still in the neighborhood, but we lay down under the shed, and went
to sleep, awakening just when the sun was coming up through the trees.
We hustled and dressed, and after ordering some hot milk from the people
there, we mounted for another day’s journey. We went down the road in
the direction which the tiger had taken. The natives warned us that we
were likely to meet the ferocious animal in the forest not far away, but
we went on, singing the sweet songs of Zion, and trusting ourselves to
His keeping, who said, “I will give you power over all the power of the
enemy.” A tiger was a very small thing compared to the awful monster of
sin which had ravaged the whole country. We realized that the King’s
business demanded haste, so we passed on, and rode over the dusty road
unmolested. The blessed Holy Spirit filled our hearts with joy at the
thought of soon reaching the place where we should have meetings with the
dear faithful little band of Christians who were awaiting.
OUR ARRIVAL IN LEON
Our arrival in the city aroused much curiosity among the people. As we
passed through the streets they came out of their houses and followed
us to see where we were going. When we came in sight of the house where
lived a Christian woman, who had suffered much at the hands of her
people, she came out to meet us. The power fell on her, and she danced
for joy, and we wept and shouted. A crowd soon gathered to see what had
occurred, and we had a meeting right there, telling them of the Savior’s
love and His willingness to save them from all sin, and to present them
faultless before His Father. These people had persecuted this dear sister
for ten years after she was saved. They would come and whip her, throw
her goods into the street, and tell her they would kill her if she did
not turn back into the Roman church, but she stood true, and now had the
Baptism of the Spirit, and in her house we had our meetings.
We slept on cow hides for beds, with a straw mat under us. We ate our
food out of gourds for two weeks until our things came and we could get a
house. It was sweet to be in the Master’s dear service.
[Illustration: Street Scene in Leon]
The city of Leon is anti-American because it is the headquarters of the
Liberal party, which is trying to overthrow the rule of the church of
Rome. The United States appointed a president twelve years ago, thus
stopping the revolution then in progress. As the president is a church
man the Liberal party hasn’t much love for an American.
This was a difficulty which we had before us. Not only were missionaries
hated, but we were American missionaries, which was far worse. We looked
to the Father for a house in which we might live, and preach the Gospel
to these dear people. A man came to us and said we could have a house,
so we moved in the following day. It was a poor thing to call a house,
being dirty, and infested with scorpions, lizards, and a species of ant
which builds a big mud house and eats not only one’s clothes but also the
furniture.
We were situated between two saloons and houses of ill-fame, right in
the slum district. People danced, drank and caroused all night in these
places. It was a pretty good place in which to open fire on the enemy,
being right in the midst of his works. When an army advances to fight the
enemy it goes to the strongest point.
On one side of our house, which was built of thin lumber, there were
cracks in the wall, and we could look through the cracks into the saloon.
We remembered the scripture which says we are not to light a candle and
put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick, so all can see; so we would
get out our little organ and sing and play, then kneel and pray, and the
people would peep through at us. We were told they might throw rocks
at us, and burn down the house, and might even kill us, but we were not
there to draw back, so we opened fire with the heavy artillery of God’s
power in the Holy Ghost.
We had not had, as yet, any public meetings, but had been waiting on the
Lord for guidance. One morning there appeared a woman in our doorway,
crying out
=“Will You Come and Pray for My Baby? It Is Dying!”=
We went with her to her home, which was a few doors away. There on the
bed lay a little child, seemingly just passing away. A crowd had gathered
about the door. When I saw the baby and that crowd there arose a cry to
God from the depths of my soul to heal the child, thereby proving His
power to the people. The child seemed to pass away, but we called on God
to heal it for His glory. The little thing rose up, climbed off the bed,
and began playing on the floor.
The mother shouted and gave herself to the Lord then and there. The
doctors had given the child medicine to make it die easy, for it had been
sick a long time. The mother brought the baby to our house, and sang,
and praised the God of Heaven until the people from far and near came to
see the child. She afterwards took the child and went all over the city
from house to house telling how God had healed it and saved her. Then the
people began to come to be prayed for. Often they would come and stay far
into the night.
[Illustration: Mother with child that was raised up from death]
We were having such a blessed time that we forgot about living in the
slums, and about the saloons on either side of us, although at first
we could not sleep for the noise from them. Soon we discovered they
had moved the saloon which was so close to our bedroom. When I saw the
proprietor come into the meetings, with others who came for prayer, I
asked him if he had moved. He answered he had, as he did not feel good
to have a bar so close to where we prayed so much. Besides, he said, he
had no customers left, as they all came to hear us. Hallelujah! Jesus did
move in a mighty way.
On the other side was the biggest house of ill-fame in the city. Men and
women gathered there by dozens, some of them perfectly nude, dancing and
drinking at all hours of the night. It was so awful we felt that hell had
been uncapped in that place. But here came the “madame” to us, asking
for prayer, saying she was sick, and she knew she was living a bad life.
After her came many others. We prayed with each one and gave them each a
Bible, until there were some mighty changes wrought in that section of
the city.
=One Dark Night=
when the rain was falling in torrents, we were sitting around our feeble
candle-light, reading our Bibles. We heard a knock on the door. It was
late, and we had been warned by both missionaries and the Christian
natives, to be very careful to whom we opened our doors after night, as
there were people who would as soon kill us as they would an animal, so
we did not open the door immediately. The knocking continued, and we
heard a man’s voice asking us in Spanish to let him in. My husband partly
opened the door, and in the small opening we saw a tall, dark native. He
pushed into the room, looking very much frightened. When we asked what he
wanted, he asked if we were the missionaries. We told him that we were,
and he told us that five years before he had found a Bible, and began
reading it. He had become convinced of the truth of the Gospel and wished
to talk with us. We talked and prayed with him, then asked him to come
to the meetings. He said his mother was very angry because he did not go
to the church any more, and he was afraid that if he were to come to our
meetings the people would kill him. That was why he had come on such a
dark, wet night to have a talk with the missionaries. We were reminded of
the ruler in Israel who interviewed Jesus in the night.
[Illustration: Waiting for the Gospel]
He came to the house every night for two weeks. When we opened our class
in English he attended. We always had a lesson from the Bible, and the
scholars had to learn scripture verses. One day this man came out boldly
and said, “I am coming to the meetings.” By this time we had several of
the leading citizens of the city attending our meetings. This young man
has since been called to preach the Gospel to his people. Pray for him.
The following is a copy of a note he wrote us when we left Leon.
“I am returning your book. I thank you so much for it. It has
been a great blessing to me. Please pray for me, as I feel a
call to preach the Gospel. Send me Bibles and tracts from your
land for my people.”
Others came to the class, being anxious to learn English. The judge of
the city, doctors, lawyers, and many others heard the Gospel preached. To
one young man who came to the class we gave a Bible in English, and one
day he came to ask us some questions. The priests had told the natives
we were nice people but were teaching error, for we taught people to
read the Bible and the Bible was a very bad book, and they must not read
it. But this precious boy was convicted of sin, and was seeking God. We
asked him to pray the Lord to forgive his sins, and then to believe that
God did it. He asked for a prayer-book, so he could pray. We told him
we never used prayer-books; we simply asked God to forgive us and save
us from our sins. He was sweetly saved and went away to bring a cousin
to the meetings. This cousin was also saved. These two were among our
brightest pupils. They could read and speak English quite well in a few
months.
One morning, very early, before we were up, there came a knock on our
door and a little brown-faced Indian girl appeared. She was about
thirteen years old, and very pretty. She asked us to take her as a
servant. She had nowhere to go, and had been sleeping in the market. As
I looked at that dear little brown face and heard her story I looked
up to my Heavenly Father and breathed a prayer that He would remember
the thousands who, like her, had no home and were perishing. We told
her we would take her, and I wish my readers might have seen that dear
little face light up with joy because she would have a home with the
missionaries. She was a very bright girl, and very quick to learn. Soon
she could play the organ and sing the Gospel hymns. How she did love to
go to the meetings and to read her Bible!
=Carl’s Ball and Bat=
Carl had a ball and a bat which had been brought from the homeland, and
in the daytime he would go out into the small park near the house, gather
all the boys from the streets, and play ball with them. They had never
seen a ball or a bat before, and it was all very wonderful to them.
Carl’s face would become very red from the heat, and the children thought
it queer to see a red-faced boy with such white hair, and such peculiar
things as the ball and bat. He would play with them until lunch-time,
then they would come home with him, and he would get his Bible, read from
it, and tell them of Jesus, and numbers of them were brought to God in
this way.
[Illustration: Carl, with his boys]
Many boys and girls came to us asking for a school and a home, but I
am sorry to say that we could not possibly take them in, our house and
means would not permit. But we are asking God to stir up the people in
the homeland to give till there shall be a home and school opened in this
dark city of Leon where these precious jewels may be gathered in and
taught the Bible, and the way to God.
We were having precious meetings, and one day a man came saying he had
walked a long distance to find the missionaries, to get them to come to
his home and teach the Gospel. Husband and I went with him, going as far
as possible on the little railroad, then walking the rest of the way.
When we arrived we felt as if every drop of our blood were boiling, we
were so hot, walking so far under the tropical sun. We found the family
gathered to hear the Word of God, and thought of Peter going to the house
of Cornelius.
“Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span!
At Calvary.”
The Lord touched these dear hearts with His love in a mighty way. They
wept, and cried to Him to save them. Even the little children were hungry
to seek the Lord. Far away from all Christians, in a dark land, filled
with idols, where the powers of darkness fill the very air, were those
precious souls, just waiting for someone to come and tell them of a
Savior’s love. There are many thousands just like them. Dear reader, what
will you do to get the gospel to them? Ask the Lord to show you what He
would have you do.
I shall never forget the scene when we started to leave these people.
They clung to us, begging us not to leave them. But there were our own
dear children at Leon, in a foreign land, far away from all loved ones,
and with no one to protect them, and the shadows of night were beginning
to fall. We had to pull ourselves away from those pleading, soul-hungry
people, and say good-bye. We promised to come back when we could, telling
them we must go back to our little ones, and the work in Leon. The father
and mother had seven bright-faced boys, and asked us if we would take
them into our school, and we told them we would if we could but we were
not able for lack of means.
Returning it seemed as if the slow train would never get to Leon. We
were tired, and our feet were blistered from the long walk in the
terrible heat. But as we looked to the Lord to refresh our bodies and
heal our sore feet, the Holy Spirit came sweeping through our beings, so
refreshing us that we hardly knew we had gone through such an ordeal.
In a few days there came a call to another home far away in the
mountains, where the people were begging that the Gospel be brought to
them. I took a native woman with me and we traveled on the train as far
as we could go. We purposed going to the home of some native Christians
who lived in that town, and who had been in the meetings at Leon, where
we thought to rest until the sun went down, as the other trip had taught
me not to walk far under the hot sun. As we passed down the street I
heard the people calling out in Spanish, “Hay una Evangelista!” (There
is a missionary!) But I thought nothing of it, knowing they were not
accustomed to seeing foreigners walking through their streets.
Arriving at the house of the Christians I was told the people would not
allow missionaries to come to that town. Some months before, one of their
young men had been converted. When he came back and told it, men, women,
and children, with the priests as leaders, gathered, and cut him to
pieces in the street near the house where we then were.
The dear native Christians were looking for the people to come at any
moment and kill them. They declared that we all would be killed that day.
I began praying to find out if I had missed the Lord’s will by coming
there, but the Lord spoke to my heart, saying all would be well and not
to fear what the people might do. So we gathered inside and prayed to God
for protection, and to convict the people of their awful crimes. When we
arose from prayer a large crowd was gathered outside, watching us. The
house was made of small poles stuck in the ground, with large cracks all
around, so we could easily see and be seen.
We planned to leave the house at sunset, to walk out to the farm where we
were going to preach the Gospel. I told the dear ones not to fear, but to
trust God. However, they were greatly frightened and said the mob would
certainly kill me when I went out. But I knew I had been sent there by
the Lord, and all would be well.
I went out and spoke to the crowd, and then started down the street,
leading to the country. When I looked around only my woman was with me.
She told me the others had gone another way, hoping to miss the crowd,
which I saw was following us. I saw some women give a boy a machette, and
tell him to cut me with it. He came running toward me, talking in Spanish
as fast as he could, and swearing at me. I went right ahead. He kept at
my side, swearing. The mob followed us. We walked on until we came to
where the road left the town, and turned into the country. I felt the
power of God coming upon me in a way I had never felt before.
The veins of my neck swelled, and my body began to shake. Then I turned
toward the mob and began speaking to them in tongues. They turned and
ran, until not one was to be seen. A little disappointed feeling came
into my heart. I said, “Jesus, I wanted to die a martyr for you here in
this dark land, but now the mob is gone.” The power still filled my
being, until I could do nothing but worship God. The native Christians
came up. They said they had seen the people run, and heard them exclaim
that fire fell from Heaven and burned them, until they could endure it no
longer, and they had to run. I did not see the fire, but felt it burning
in my soul in a mighty way.
=At The Farm=
I preached and sang until midnight, and still the people begged me to
tell them more “good news” as they called it. Truly it was good news of
great joy to those poor people who had so long been under the heavy yoke
of the enemy. There was a family of fifteen, also several hired men,
besides about twelve travelers who had stopped for the night. They had
only one room. When I told them I could not preach any more that night,
but must have some rest for my body, and a place where I could lie down,
they all went into the room—family, travelers, hired men, some thirty
people in all. They took two young calves and three small deer with them,
also several hens with their little chicks.
I decided not to sleep with all those people and animals in that room,
with no ventilation—as the adobe houses are built without any windows. I
told them to fix me a cot outside in the corridor. They said wild animals
came at night, and I must not sleep outside. But I decided I would almost
prefer being eaten by wild animals to being smothered. As I insisted,
they put a cot for me outside, and I did not awaken to see whether any
wild animals came. If any came, they did not molest me.
Arising next morning I ate my breakfast off of banana leaves, then
gathered the family for prayer. How the power of God did fall and fill
every hungry heart! After prayer I told them I must leave them, and
return home. We gathered our blankets together, and climbed into the ox
cart which had been brought to carry us to the railroad station. I was
too tall for the cowhide covering, which was intended to protect us from
the sun, so I sat in the back and let my feet hang down over the end, and
so rode to town. We sang and talked all the way, about the love of Jesus.
Several times we stopped at houses by the roadside and preached to the
people, giving them tracts and Bibles.
A large crowd was at the station waiting for the train. I went to the
platform and spoke to the crowd. They asked me to give them Bibles and
tracts. Some of them were members of the mob which the night before had
been ready to kill us for coming into their town to preach the Gospel.
We arrived at Leon very tired and needing rest. But there were so many to
be ministered unto and the needs were so great that I went right into the
meetings, where God blessed my soul and rested my body.
[Illustration: Where I preached until midnight, and the entire family was
brought to the Lord.]
=The Lord Rolled the Sea Away=
One day a young man who had been in the United States, came to see us.
He spoke English well, also had been in different churches and had some
knowledge of the Gospel. He came many times to read and pray with us. One
day he asked if we would not go to the beach for a day’s outing. We felt
we could not spare the time, and it would be too much of a luxury for us.
But as he insisted on bringing his machine and taking us, we consented to
go and prepared a little lunch. Before going we asked if we might preach
to the people on the road. He consented, so we went for the day, taking
Bibles and tracts with us. Many were the precious souls to whom we spoke
about the Lord Jesus, giving them the little printed messengers. Our
hearts were moved with compassion as we saw the extreme poverty of the
poor people out in the country, with no one to love or help them. The
roads were almost impassable and the heat was intense, but at last we saw
the white-caps dashing up against the shore, and felt the cool breeze
from the ocean. We stopped some distance from the water and walked down
to the beach. Many Indians were there. Some could not speak Spanish, but
had a sign language. We spoke to all who could understand us, and they
told the rest about the Gospel, for although they spoke Spanish, they
also understood the sign language.
There was a dressing place for bathers and a stand where refreshments
were sold by the Indians, who could not speak Spanish. I sat down in the
shade while the rest went bathing in the surf. Suddenly I was startled
by the screams of my daughter, Alma. She and the young man were quite a
distance out in the breakers. They were drowning, and calling for help.
I saw them go under. My husband was trying to reach them, but the strong
undercurrent took him down also. I prayed and called on God to save them.
Running to the Indians, I tried to tell them to run with a rope and save
them. I could not make them understand, but suddenly began talking in
tongues, with signs, which I afterwards learned was their language. They
told the young man that I had implored them to help save my daughter,
husband and himself. They ran to help Alma and the young man, but they
could not be seen. I started in that direction calling on the Lord to
save them. The sea rolled up in a great heap, and there they were on the
sand. How it all happened I cannot tell. But I know the Lord rolled the
sea away, and they were saved. They were filled with water and Alma was
sick. But the Lord soon delivered her. The young man knew the Lord had
saved them from death. He was an expert swimmer, but could not swim in
that strong undercurrent, which had drawn them so far out before they
realized the danger.
[Illustration: Where the entire family was brought to Jesus, and the
mother’s hand was healed of blood poisoning. Note the hand wrapped in a
large piece of cloth.]
How we did praise God for His wonderful deliverance! It was a mighty
miracle, which convinced the Indians that God had delivered, for they
saw the waters rolled up in a heap. It made them believe. The news of
the wonderful miracle God had performed for the missionaries soon spread
about the city. It was published in the papers, and many who had not come
before, came to see us and were convinced of the Gospel. Many people came
from all parts of the Republic to hear the Gospel, and to ask for Bibles.
The dear saints in the homeland sent us Bibles, Testaments and tracts,
and the Word of God went forth. We cannot tell how many precious souls
were reached by the bread cast on the waters, but we shall know when we
reach the beautiful land beyond, and see their dear faces shining with
heavenly glory. We are told to sow beside all waters, and are promised
that “=he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him=.”
Psalm 126:6.
Many were the nights and times we went forth weeping over the sheep that
were out of the fold, lost among the idols, vice and sin of every kind.
It was almost more than we could bear when so many of the people came to
us, and we were unable to take them all in and help them. We could only
weep and cry to the Lord to help us to reach them, and to stir up the
saints at home to give all they possibly could to aid in helping them.
For this purpose we are sending forth this book, that funds may be raised
to send Bibles and tracts to these people.
It was at this time, when many were pressing upon us for help and our
means were so limited that God told us to return to the homeland and
tell the church of the great need of sending more Bibles, tracts and
missionaries to these destitute fields. As we looked to the Lord and told
Him we did not have the money to get back home, He spoke and told us we
were to pack up and go to the port, and He would send the money for us
there for our fare. So we began making ready.
Another missionary and his wife came by, going home on furlough. They
were going via Guatemala, believing they could save quite a sum of money
by going that way. But the Lord had told us to go via Panama. We packed
our trunks and made ready. But oh, how we did hate to tell our dear
people we were leaving them, for we loved them so, and they loved and
clung to us. We knew they would feel so badly to have us leave them.
[Illustration: Where Carl attended native school to study Spanish.
Neither the teacher or any of the pupils could speak a word of English,
so he very soon acquired the Spanish.]