Down at the edge of the river where the woods are thick, .and one can scarcely see across to the other side of the stream, he was cutting wood for our fire with his great big knife, called a machete. Suddenly, he heard the shot of a gun, and the next thing he knew a bullet had landed about six inches from his left foot! Some one across the river was probably shooting at a wild animal, and al most hit our Doroteo! How we thanked God for protecting His child, and we felt more grateful than ever for our “gift of God.” It was almost as if he had been given to us all over again. Doroteo loves to go down the river each day to the fish trap to see if we will have fish for supper. We can tell almost how many fish he has on his reed string by the broadness of the smile on his face as he comes back through the woods to our camp. We are glad that Doroteo likes to catch fish, and we pray that very soon he will become the kind of fisherman who tells men and women and boys and girls how to be saved, and wins their hearts to the Lord Jesus who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
to the Jungle Camp, Doroteo was sorrowful, and begged, “Please let me go with you. I will be a good boy and work for you.” We thought that he would be sat isfied to stay for a short time only, and then he would want to go back to his own village; but instead of being homesick, Doroteo is very happy and says he wants to be with us always. Doroteo does many useful things; he goes to the river for buckets of water many times a day, cuts wood for the stove, helps to clean up our little hut, and does many errands. His eyes are bright and sparkling,
A Gift
of 0 od
Ethel Wallis
H URRY! HURRY!” we called to Doroteo. “The plane is com ing, and there are cows and horses on the airfield. Chase them away quickly!” Doroteo is our little Tseltal boy who belongs to our Jungle Camp family down in Southern Mexico. If it were not for his faithfulness in shooing away the animals, the little red airplane would have to circle many, many times over the camp before it could land to take mission aries away to rest, and to bring others in. Doroteo’s name means “gift of God,” and that is just what he is to us. He heard about the Lord Jesus for the first time when we went to his village to teach the people there to read. When he came to the read ing classes, he was very, very dirty, for he was an orphan boy, and no one seemed to care whether he had food to eat, or clothes to wear, and there was no one to tell him to take a bath. The other boys teased him about the layers of dirt behind his ears. “Go down to the river and clean up,” they urged. The Word of God says that we are new people when the Lord Jesus has forgiven our sins and washed them away. We saw a great change in little Doroteo when he let Jesus come into his heart. Every night for a month, while we were in his village, he listened to us as we told Bible stories, and he sang the hymns which we had translated into his language. When we were ready to go back J A N U A R Y , 1947
N ew Year Joy Happy, because He loves thee! Happy,, because He lives! Bright with that deepest glad ness Which only Jesus gives. Happy, because He guides thee, Because He cares for thee; Happy, ever so happy, Thus may thy New Year be! — Frances Ridley Harvergal (Copyright E. P. Dutton & Co.)
and there is always a smile on his round, brown face. He seems to know that he is working for the Lord, and loves his job. How Doroteo likes to sing! He has memorized all the songs in the hymn- book, and even if he doesn’t always keep on the tune, he sings lustily, and we know that God must be pleased with him. He has learned to read four Bible stories so well that he almost knows them without look ing at the words. Although prayer is a new idea to Doroteo, he is very reverent, and bows his head thought fully when we pray, and he is learn ing to thank God for His love and salvation. One evening Doroteo had some thing very special to thank God for.
Doroteo loves his pets, and thinks it’s fun to feed his parrots. Page 15
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