Porters Across the Borders

The other day, David had the opportunity to teach in one of the churches here in San Julian. If you remember our friend, Jaime…it is the church he attends. Jaime was going to translate for David. Well, David studied hard all week, and the Sunday came for him to preach…we walked down the street to the church and were warmly greeted by Pastor Jorge Rivera. (Hiram’s dad) We were there a few minutes early, and started looking for Jaime…but he was no where to be found. Church started, and David was getting a little anxious, “Where is Jaime?” David decided to try and call him. No answer. The church service began, with a time of worship. At this point, David decided to run down to Jaime's house…literally, run…but no Jaime. What he did discover though, from some friends who live with him, was that Jaime was at the beach. “Oh, great!” As David was running back to the church, he thought, “Now, what am I going to do? Who can I think of that lives in town, and would be able to translate for me right NOW?” The only person he could think of, was our Spanish teacher, Elmer. Now, I don’t know if I have introduced you to Elmer or not. Elmer is a handsome young man, of 20 years. He lives in San Julian, but attends the university in San Salvador, studying languages, with a view to teach. He is sweet, cheerful and intelligent. Elmer is a cousin of Jaime’s. When we were looking for a language teacher, Jaime told us about Elmer, and brought him over to meet us. We decided right then and there to hire him, and on his way out the door, after Elmer had already gone, Jaime said, “You know, Elmer doesn’t know the Lord. So, I’m counting on you guys to share Jesus with him.” (Jaime had done this too, but, wanted reinforcements!) Now, we had been meeting with Elmer for just 3-4 weeks, but we knew that Elmer was raised in a Catholic family. Generally, persons here in San Julian, who are raised Catholic, are taught that it would be a very bad thing to even step foot into a Protestant church. But, David knew no one else he could call on at that moment. So, he thought, “I’m just going to ask.” He called Elmer as he was booking back to the church. He told Elmer the situation, and he said, “Okay, I can do that.” So, David waited outside the church for Elmer and in they walked to the front of the church to sit next to me, as the people were worshipping the Lord. I was more than mildly surprised to see Elmer…and when I put two and two together, I realized that Elmer was going to translate for David. I literally laughed out loud! (Not that anyone could here me…Latin Americans like their sound systems cranked to capacity!) Here was this unsaved young man, getting ready to preach the gospel! I could tell he was very nervous…and so I picked up my Bible, (Spanish/English) and turned to James 1, the passage David was preaching from, and handed it to him, pointing to the passage. I whispered to him, “I’ll be praying for you!” And he smiled and nodded nervously. Also, keep in mind that everyone in San Julian knows everyone else. So, I am sure that the people in the congregation were all questions when they saw Elmer go up to the pulpit with David. Jaime had previously informed us that Elmer had quite the reputation with the girls. So, I looked around behind us, to see the reaction of the people in the service. Question marks on every face…yet, also tenderness and compassion. Elmer had already lost the place in the Bible I had marked for him, in James. So, after David had introduced himself and Elmer, and explained why Jaime wasn’t translating….he said, “Please turn to the book of James with me.” Elmer looked at David, and said, “James?” David looked at Elmer…”yes, James.” Silence….David starts to think….”he doesn’t know books of the Bible…oh, boy…” David says, “Santiago…” And helps him locate it. This was the beginning of a very interesting service. I have to say that I was delighted. I sat there thinking, “Wow, Lord, you have a great sense of humor! Here is Elmer...a young man whom you love. You brought him here and he is not only hearing the Word of Life, he is speaking it out..." Elmer struggled with Christian concepts, like what it means to be ‘godly’. How does one translate concepts he has never heard, nor understood? I knew that some of the translation was a bit off, but not enough to hinder the teaching. I saw people in the crowd literally leaning forward in their seats, as if in encouragement to Elmer when he struggled with a concept, or to find a book of the Bible. A few times, people in the congregation actually helped him with words when he was at a loss…and they were smiling at him. Elmer seemed to loosen up, and actually began to laugh at himself a bit. When all was said and done, the Word was preached and one young man, living for himself, separate from the God who loves him, heard the Word of God preached from his own mouth. THAT, my friends, is a God thing…
“So shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it will accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11