 It was the
most impressive Sabbath experience we had ever had. We visited up in the
mountains a little church where the Chamula Indians went. The pastor had
14 other churches. He was a lay person. He would start early Sabbath
morning, as soon as finishing in one church, would walk to the next and so
on throughout the hills till he had preached in all churches. It was
Monday by the time he finished. He was seemingly full of energy that never
ended. |
| As we came to the door of the church led by Mrs. Adams, we saw the Indians with big smiles running to greet us. They knew Mrs. Adams. She had such a kind look on her face and a picture roll under her arm. She was prepared to share with the children and they were excitedly gathering and deciding what parts of the program they could help with. We watched two get up and sing Jesus loves me. But now I am getting ahead of the story. |
| We were greeted royally by the head elder. It was impressive to feel the Christian love in this brother. It was also impressive to watch what they could do with their bare feet. A big bumble bee came to the doorway of the church. He batted it down and squashed it with his bare feet. This man made sure there was seating for all the American guests and all were comfortable. |
| Mrs. Adams told us that man was a miracle. He had been so much against the branch Sabbath school in it's early beginnings. He had hired two town drunks to sit on the front row with shot guns to gun down the missionary. These two men became so interested in the message that they listened instead of killing. The death plot had failed. |
| To make matters worse, the daughter of the chief had become so interested in the Sabbath school that she would not stay away. She was threatened with punishment but she gladly took the punishment so she could get to meeting. |
| One day the chief determined figured out a plan where he was sure his daughter would not go to church. He hid her clothes. She always wanted to look her best, surely now if all she had was rags, she would just forget about church. He was wrong. She wanted to go so bad that she found some scanty rags to wrap about herself and she went anyway and had a great time. Wow! (People in America often stay home if they don't have the right shoes, or suit clean enough to go.) Would you go if all you had was rags that did not cover you very well? |
| He decided if his daughter was that interested, there might be something good going on. He decided to check it out in person. As he listened, the Holy Spirit melted his hard heart. Big changes happened in his heart. He became one of God's sons. After that he became the head elder in the church and you could not get into the door without his warm brotherly welcome. |
| END--
PS Somewhere in storage I have pictures of all these mentioned. I am looking for them. Will add later when I find them. |