April 1943
157
Why They Came By ELIZABETH RUSLING SEDAT
■ E HEARD a tap-tap-tap at our front door in Guatemala. A ll day long for several tap-tap-tdp. Our Kekchi Indian neigh bors, and even Indians from a dis tance with packs on 'their backs, had been knocking at our door. Why had they come? Was it to sell us some of their wares—woven blouses with gay designs of birds, trees, ani mals? Or perhaps clay dishes or water jugs to be carried on the head? Was it to sell a chicken for twenty- five cents or a twelve-pound turkey for sixty cents, or twenty oranges for half a cent? No, that is hot the rea son they came. Was it to ask a favor? We remem bered that once a woman had come to borrow a duck. Her child was sick, and she thought if she passed a duck qver its head the “ evil spirit”—the sjckness—would leave the baby., , Did these people come to ask more about the Lord Jesus and His salva tion? We had been telling them about Him as we went to the coffee planta tions, to their lonely mpd huts with thatched roofs. We were missionaries, and we would have been happy had the people shown sucli interest. But that is not why they came. Did they come to watch us work On the writing of the New Testament into their own language, or to hear the Word read to them for the first time, so that they could understand it? No, these were not the reasons the Indians were coming now. They came to buy something. But what had we to sell? We had our lit-
the buds had opened, and the flower stood forth in its wonderful green and .white and yellow beauty. The woman had said, “W ill you sell your beautiful Easter lily?” Whenever we looked at our lily we thought of the heavenly Father. The green leaves seemed to point to heaven and to remind us that God had * created all things, and that all should look tp Him as their Creator and Lord. The whiteness of the blossoms re minded u's that our hearts had been made white by the Lord Jesus who had died on the cross for us. The whiteness spoke to us, too, of oUr purpose in coming to Guatemala as missionaries: We wanted to tell others how they could be cleansed from sin and have their hearts made white. Because our lily told such a mar velous story to us, we could not cut it. And it was well that we did not, for that lily was the means of telling many Indians about the Lord Jesus who otherwise would not have heard of Him. Yoii see our Indians are very shy. If we go to their houses, they often run out the back door. They are afraid to attend our church serv ices. When we meet them on moun tain trails; they are usually in a hurry and cannot stop to speak with us. But they overcame their shyness when they knocked at vour. door to ask to buy our Easter lily! Because they were polite, they stayed a while and we talked with them. Here was one of them now. She gave another opportunity to tell the story of salva tion. i Our visitor asked, “How much do you want for your Easter lily?”
tle Corn field, but they had theirs, too. We had a vegetable garden. Indians, though, do not eat many vegetables. If they eat any at all, it is the guis- quil plant which grows in every Indian’s yard. Its leaves furnish him with a dish like spinach. Its fruit tastes like summer squash. Its roots taste like potatoes.-Because we were missionaries, we did not make any thing to' sell. Yet Indians kept com ing—to buy. ' \ “Tap-tap-fap” continued the sound at our door. We went to see who was there. This time it was an Indian -woman. She wore a heavy, blue skirt gathered at the waist; Made of eight yards o f cloth, it hung in long, full plaits. She wore a blouse she had woven on a crude hand loom. Her coal-black hair was An two braids. Around her neck was a necklace made of coral beads and old coins. Her feet were bare. . When we came to the door, she lifted- down from her head a large, flat bas ket. Something moved in the basket. We saw that it held her small brown baby wrapped in an embroidered cloth, and a live turkey '• with its feet tied. Then the woman asked us the question we had heard so often: “W ill you sell to me ■that beautiful Easter lily in your front garden, the one that stands tall and statély above all thé other flowers?” ’ It was a beautiful Easter lily. It had drunk deeply of the rain that fell daily. It had bathed in the warm rays of the tropical sun. It had gathered strength from the soil. It had grown until it bore on its stalk, more than twenty Easter lily buds! One by one
weeks now, we had heard the same
Junior King's Business By MARTHA S- HOOKER Mémbei of Facility. Bible Institute of Los Angeles
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