i recently read 'peril by choice', the story of john and elaine beekman who were wycliffe translators in mexico starting 1948, by james c. hefley. there i read the following account of discipleship by john.
..twice a week he held morning classes for about 50 teenage preacher boys who evangelized outlying villages on the weekends. on a typical tuesday morning, john arose to see the boys already waiting beside a fire near the front porch with water for coffee simmering on the fire.
class got under way as soon as john could dress. he climbed down the ladder and greeted them cheerily, leaving elaine and judy still in bed upstairs. then after coffee with the boys outside he said, 'the sun isn't going to wait any longer on us. you will soon have to go to your cornfields'. about half of the boys moved inside the beekman living room. the rest sat on the porch. only those who felt they could hold their spit could come inside. john had a practical reason for this; many of the boys were mild tubercular cases.
brothers, choose your message for next sunday, john said.
by consensus the boys settled upon a paragraph of scripture after one stood and read it aloud, john asked each fellow to tell what he thot it meant. not until all had finished did he begin asking leading questions.
after the boys settled on a reasonable interpretation, john asked them to think of illustrations from tribal life. a favorite showed the distinction between true and false believers: 'the outside of the corn looks perfect. but when we pull back the husks, we find crooked rows of little kernels. in other ears we find that rain or worms have gotten inside the husk and the kernels have rotted. we open other ears of corn and find even rows of large kernels. it is what's inside that counts'.
the preacher boys had trouble understanding many biblical symbols. sheep, goats and even plowing were unknown to the chols who cultivated their cornfields with the prim8itive dibble stick. yoke was a difficult word to translate. one explained john's first rendition as meaning 'the necktie that the mexicans wear which we don't'. john then proposed 'bark' which was immediately understood. 'take my yoke upon you' matt. 11.29 became; 'hang my bark upon your forehead'. the chols were accustomed to supporting and balancing heavy back loads with a cloth or bark band secured around the forehead. frequently the load was switched to another back, using the same bark bond.
when john felt the fellows had mastered the content of the scripture passage and had two or three good illustrations from chol culture, he asked for a volunteer to give a talk on the material.
when he finished, john asked, brothers, how can he improve?he should look straight at the people, one replied. even when he reads the scripture he can look up some.
another added, he should speak so people on the back row can hear.
and another said, he should not scratch his ear while talking. people will think he has a bug there.
the preacher quietly received the criticism. then at john's request, he gave a short re-run, keeping in mind the suggestions made.
by the end of the friday class the boys had their messages and illustrations prepared and were ready to work out their itineraries.
john did not say, francisco and jose, you go to this village. instead, he asked each to name the village where you think God's Spirit is leading you. when more than 2 mentioned the same village, he said, brothers, Jesus' disciples went 2 by 2. perhaps one of you would want to go with jose to la gloria. then, the circuits agreed upon, john equipped the young evangelists with precious copies of bible stories in chol, phonographs and records, medicine kits, including a medical hand book prepared by elaine, and the literacy charts to place in each village.
the following tuesday they gave reports of their troubles and successes. always, some told of death threats from fanatical opponents of the gospel. more than one bore the marks of beatings and machete cuts when he stood to report. after hearing their reports, john declared to elaine, it's the book of acts all over again.
one friday, 20 year old francisco. a thin, wiry youth with a shock of thick black hair to match his black eyes, volunteered for san pedro. domingo, 2 years younger, volunteered to be his partner.
brothers, bitter enemies of the gospel are there, john warned.
the boys refused to be turned. we will tell them about jesus, francisco said, his eyes flashing. if we die, we go to be with Jesus that much sooner.
friday the boys left with phonograph machine and gospel records both in chol and spanish. saturday noon they arrived by foot in san pedro.
soon a large crowd of indians gathered to hear the' talking tortillas'. a mexican rancher arrived to survey the situation. let's get them, he snarled to a friend. they'll cause these indians to follow the foreign devils and quit buying liquor from us.
gun in hand, the rancher slipped through some undergrowth behind the boys and sprang at them. tie them up, he ordered 2 of his employees.
the mexicans tied francisco and domingo and dragged them away to the home of the rancher. like paul and silas in the philippian jail, they kept courage thru the night by singing and prying.
the next morning was sunday. the rancher took the fellows in a canoe downriver to the mexican village of salto. he marched them to the village plaza where he handed a written accusation to the municipal president. the accusation charged them with attempting to burn a sacred indian idol in san pedro and disturbing the peace.
a large crowd quickly gathered around. did you try to destroy the idol? the president asked.
no, francisco said. we came to tell our poor chol brothers in san pedro about the true and living God. i used to dress in rags, the thin boy continued. i didn't know how to read or write. what $ i had was wasted on drink. that's how the chols of san pedro still live. i want to give them that which helped me. now i have a good home and clothes. i can read and write. the word of God has made me different. my friend and i came here not to burn the idol, but to tell our brothers the gospel which can change them, too. if you want to hear the message we are spreading, let us play the phonograph machine for you.
the official nodded, ignoring the rancher's scowl. the boys played several gospel messages in spanish.
let's see your books, the mayor asked.
domingo handed them over, but asked permission to read from one. the official agreed and he read the 10 commandments in chol.
the official looked hard at the shifty eyed rancher. these fellows have broken no law. he ripped the accusation in two and said to the boys, take your machine and books and go.
the boys left the plaza in triumph and visited the town jail where they played the records and preached for the prisoners, guards and prostitutes who hung around the jail waiting for new prisoners with $.
oh Lord help me to be You disciple and to make others Your disciples.
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