Colporteur Gil was a faithful servant of Christ in Portugal. Much of his work was done in the public squares and market places, with the aid of an easel and a scroll of Bible pictures. He was a wonderful public orator, and would immediately gain the attention of his hearers and hold it to the end. It was interesting to watch the crowd when he spoke. Hard-handed peasants listened with strained attention when he read and explained the parable of the Sower, and mothers wiped their eyes when they heard the story of the Prodigal Son.
After his gospel message Gill would offer the four Gospels and the Acts for sale in an attractive little case and hands would be stretched out from all over. One little girl cried: “Daddy, we must buy these little books. I have wanted them ever so much since a man came to our village selling them.”
When the gathering was over and the crowd dispersed, a countryman came to Senor Gil and told him, “I too am a believer. I bought a Bible a long time ago and I read it every day.” He was not too intelligent in the Scriptures, but Gil was able to point out to him the way more perfectly.
From the market Gil went to the hospital, where he was allowed to visit the patients. Among those to whom he spoke were two who were in the last stages of tuberculosis. They made a sign to show him where he could find their money, and they bought a New Testament.
A few days later one of them passed away clasping the New Testament in his thin wasted hands. Before he died he had told his roommates that he was “reconciled” to God.
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
ML-05/21/1978