60
February 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
something with which I can make reply to those who scoff at me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” That evening a service was held and Sixto attended. To his great joy the text, John 3 :16, became fixed in his mind and he was able to quote it during the following days to all who criticized him. At the next service he learned another verse. His mind had been quickened in answer to prayer, and after that he always retained something of the messages he heard. Soon he became interested in the salvation of others and went about with one of the colporteurs helping in the work of evangelism. Then he became an evangelist himself. Although he could not read, he could quote Bible verses and was able to lead many souls to Christ. R esult of O ne E vangelist ’ s W ork Just a little over a year after his conversion, Sixto went to the town of Comalapa to give out tracts and to explain the way of salvation to those who would listen. He found that the town was in the midst of a religious ¡festival. Most of the men on the streets were drunk. (¡Sixto gave out a few tracts and spoke to some of the (¡men in the public square, but finally decided to go on to ¡the next town and return to Comalapa at a more favorable time. As he reached the outskirts of the town, he saw a woman running after him. “O sir,” she said, “are you an evangelist?” “Yes,” said Sixto, “by God’s grace I am.” “I saw some of the people on the street reading tracts,” the woman continued, “and I decided that an evangelist must have passed through. A friend told me the street you had taken, and so I ran to ask you to come to my house and explain God’s Word to my family. A few years ago my brother bought a Bible from a peddler, and we like it. We have been told that you evangelists can teach it to us. Won’t you come?” Sixto hesitated a moment, for once before he had been invited into a home in Tecpam, and after he had entered, the men of the house had closed the door and had beaten him with clubs. However, this woman ap peared to be deeply in earnest, and so Sixto followed her I know a man whose home was broken up when he was a lad twelve years of age. He was placed on a farm to work for his board and clothes. One day he was fill ing the shed with the winter’s supply of fuel. The pile of split wood was in a field below the house, and there was quite a grade from the wood-pile to the shed. The boy would pile the sticks on a two-wheeled cart, and then pull the load up the grade to the wood-shed. His father, who was working on another farm some miles distant, came to see him. Together they went to the field for a load of wood. The father piled on the sticks until the lad exclaimed: “Wait! Don’t put on any more. That is all that I can pull.” “Oh, no it isn’t,” replied the father. “You can pull a great deal more than that.” And so he piled on more wood until the boy could not see over the top of the load. “But I can’t pull it,” he protested. “Yes, you can,” urged the father. “Try it. I will be with you in a few minutes.” So the lad tugged and pulled and finally got the load started. It went easier than he expected. If any one had ¿Me.
to her home. She sent to the field to call her husband and also invited her brother and other relatives to come in. When Sixto left, several had accepted Christ. When the missionaries had come and baptized the converts, a local church was formed in that woman’s home. A few months later, Sixto was again evangelizing on the streets of Comalapa and announcing an evening ser vice. Quite a crowd gathered around him, some threat ening and others listening. A young man named Mar- garito Otzoy noticed the crowd and wondered what was happening. Sixto was so small of stature that Margarito had to push his way into the crowd before he could see him. At first he was inclined to scoff, but later he de cided to attend the evening service and hear more. He went and was saved. At first he did not tell of the change that had come to his life, but people soon saw the differ ence in his manner of living, and the truth could no longer be hidden. His mother was sympathetic, but his father ordered him either to renounce his new faith or else to leave his home. The young man chose to suffer with his Lord, and so left home. He went to San Antonio, where the missionaries took him in. They found Margarito a valuable assistant in the translation of the Scriptures—a work which they were just beginning. Six years elapsed, and still the task of translating the New Testament into Cakchiquel was not finished. Sixto Guajan, who had contributed so largely to the spread of the gospel in that needy section, was also indirectly re sponsible for the completion of the translation work. It came about in this way: The woman who had invited Sixto to her home had sent one of her boys to the little mission school. At the age of fourteen, he graduated from the six years’ course and joined the staff of Bible translators. Two years later, he and an older Indian were chosen to come to the United States to complete the translation of the New Testament into Cakchiquel. Sixto died from sickness brought on by exposure which he suffered while in the service of the Lord; but his work goes on. The Spirit who wrought in him, and in Gerardo, Benigno, and others, is still using the Word to save thou sands of their fellows in Central America. told him that he could have pulled that big load up to the wood-shed he would not have believed that it could be done. But he' did it. Just as he was entering the yard, the man for whom he worked came out of the house. Then the boy’s father came from behind the load. He was smiling gleefully. He had taken pity on the boy and had pushed while the lad had pulled. He did not ex pect his son to pull that heavy load alone. When he piled it on, he intended to help him. Working together, they made the grade. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” You think that you have a heavy load to pull. Well, perhaps you have. But re member, it was your heavenly Father who piled it on. He did not expect you to pull it alone. He intended to help. He intended to push while you pulled. Try it. It will be easier than you expect. Together (He and you) you can make the grade. “Oh,” he shouted, “that isn’t fair!” “What isn’t fair?” asked the lad. ¿^/¿.
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Making the Grade G uy E dward M ark
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