Last Updated on Friday, 26 December 2008 17:24

With a disconcerted look, Pastor Tomás looked at me. “Hermano, what should we do?” We had with us only one box of Bibles – twenty four bibles – and the people had purchased and were waiting for two hundred forty Bibles. We had driven an hour from Espinar, bouncing along a rough dirt road, to a small church outside the community of Pulpero. The church building was literally in the middle of nowhere, on the altiplano (high plain) of the Andes mountains. A group of about twenty Quechuas came out of the church as we left the dirt road and crossed the field to the church. But we only had one box of Bibles! Just as Pastor Tomás began to try to divide the twenty-four Bibles amongst those who needed them most, we heard a great shout. Raising a cloud of dust, the van that had been hired to bring the other nine boxes of Bibles appeared.



A look of relief swept across Pastor Tomás' face. Over the next twenty minutes, all of the Bibles were divided among the people who had paid in advance for them. During this promotional period, the Bibles were available at the subsidized price of s/10 (about US $3.00), which for these rural Quechuas was about three days' wage. Pastor Tomás spent another two hours orienting those present how to use the concordance, cross-references, maps, and the other helps that the Bible included. After 2 hours of instruction, we needed to head back to Cusco. But the people were begging Pastor Tomás for more teaching. “Por favor, Pastor, stay and teach us more!” As we left, we watched those 240 Bibles being carried away, fanning out across the fields to their new owners. Please pray that as God's Word goes forth that it will produce a bountiful harvest among the Quechua people.