It was the search for employment that took Angel Apala from his native village of Llica in Bolivia to the town of Uyuni. He was successful in his quest, for he obtained employment with the railway company there. In Uyuni also he heard something that set him out on a more intensive search. He listened, for the first time, to some of the truths of the Christian faith, and he heard a little of that faith's great storehouse, the Bible.
Angel was filled with the desire to see, and to possess, a copy of this greatest of all books. When an opportunity came, he traveled 200 miles to the larger town of Oruro with his wife, and although they did not even know what a Bible looked like, they devoted two or three days to searching the shops for one. But shops in Oruro do not sell Bibles: it would not be good for trade. So they were wending their way back to the station, feeling not a little disappointed, when they came across a peddler displaying his wares on the sidewalk. They had stopped to look admiringly at his dyes and mirrors, needles and combs, etc., when Angel noticed a single, rather drab-looking book, among his collection, but obviously not "of" it.
He decided to ask the peddler whether it might not be a Bible, and to his delight and astonishment was told that it was. Furthermore, he discovered that the money he had reserved was just exactly the price of the book, so he lost no time in making it his.
Back in Uyuni once more he delved into his treasure and spent much time reading to his wife. That they received much spiritual enlightenment cannot be doubted, though one who enjoyed much greater educational advantages, and was much richer in natural endowments, once asked, "How can I understand, unless some man should guide me?"
It happened that one day a gospel tract was put over their door while Angel and his wife were out. Few printed messages fall into such fertile soil, for on discovering the tract, they immediately set out to find the source from which it had come, and were directed to a small room in which a gospel service was being conducted by some missionaries lately arrived in the town.
It was the happy lot of these missionaries to point this seeking couple to the Savior. Their earnest desire for knowledge as revealed in God's Book, their timely acceptance of a tract, and the helpful ministry of the Lord's servants were the links in the chain that brought joy into the lives of Angel and his wife.
We are indebted to the missionaries for our closing glimpse of these transformed lives. The man who months previously had left his native Llica with no knowledge of the Scriptures, has returned to his own village with the sole object of circulating among his own people the Word of God "which liveth and abideth forever," Many are the miles he walks, and many the hazards he faces, that others may have access to and accept the wonderful message of love which he embraced, and which embraced him after his diligent search.