by Ron Wheeler
(The following was published in the November/December 2000 issue of Moody Magazine)

   Shortly before we left, we were told to try to raise some money to purchase Spanish Bibles to distribute door-to-door. But in that short period of time we couldn't raise much money.

   The day before we left, I went to a denominational publishing company to drop off an artwork assignment. (My career is drawing cartoons for Christian publishing companies.) When I arrived, I could barely fit through the lobby as it was piled high with Spanish Bibles! I soon discovered these Bibles had been donated to the denomination for their own mission trip to South America. But the Bibles arrived too late. They didn't know what to do with them. I said, "I have an idea!"

   As a result, the denomination gave us 2,000 Bibles. Twelve of us spent two weeks distributing them; many of the encounters were miraculous in themselves. The money we had raised just covered the extra shipping to get the Bibles to Guatemala.

   Ironically, I have done work for that publishing house for over 20 years now, and I have never seen (before or since) boxes of Bibles – let alone Spanish Bibles – in the lobby.

   As a result of that first trip our church took 17 years ago, we now have a missions program that sends teams to Guatemala several times a year. We also send out short-term mission trips all over the globe and now have dozens of missionaries from our church serving full-time with mission agencies around the world.

   I don't know how much our involvement in missions stems from those 2,000 free Spanish Bibles, but I do know that when the Lord wants to accomplish something, He doesn't mess around.