“Buenos tardes, que calor hace!” (Good afternoon! How hot it is!")
The speaker was Fidel Rojas, the national census taker, and the words were addressed to Pablo Broda, an Italian farmer. Distances from farm to farm in Argentina were great, and as the census takers were paid by the job and not by the day, they were careful to lose as little time as possible on their rounds.
As soon as Rojas had listed the names, ages, etc., of the family, he bade them “Good-bye” and drove rapidly to the next farm. This would have been only an unimportant interruption in the humdrum life of the farm folk and not worthy of mention had it not been for one little incident which occurred just as Rojas was leaving. One of Broda’s sons handed him a tract and said simply, “Here is something you might like to read when you have the time.” He took it without giving it a thought and put it in his pocket.
Days and weeks passed and Rojas kept busy at his work. Soon he found himself far from where he had received the tract, and had even forgotten that he had it.
One rainy day, being unable to continue his work, and longing for some way to pass away his time, he hit on the forgotten tract, and for lack of something better to do, set himself to read it. It was a simple gospel tract, but it was indeed good news to him. As he read and thought, he longed to know more and determined to visit the home again where he had received the tract and see if they had the Book (the Bible) of which the tract spoke. He could not rid himself of the impression made on him and soon made an excuse to revisit the Brodas.
On the occasion of this visit the writer was there and had the joy of preaching to about 80 farm folk in the large dining room of the farmhouse. Rojas listened with intense interest, and at the close of the message stood up and said: “This is all new to me, and I really do not know what you are talking about. But I do know there has come into my heart something new, something I have never experienced before.”
We talked to him, prayed with him, read God’s Word to him, and had the joy of seeing him happily converted to Christ the Lord.
We remained here several days, preaching almost continually, and explaining difficult passages to the new believers, and teaching them gospel hymns. Rojas remained throughout the whole time and drank in eagerly all that was said. He slept in the barn on the hay, as that was the lot of many, and received the hospitality of this noble servant of God, who willingly gave of his substance that these poor hungry souls might be fed with the Bread of Life.
After securing a Bible he went home rejoicing. As might be expected he could not keep his secret long. The gospel as taught in the Word of God was an unknown thing in the town where he lived, but before many months had gone by he had gathered a little group around him, and by telling them his own precious experience and reading God’s Word to them, they soon became deeply interested as he had. They wished that they, too, might hear the Word as preached to them by the servant of God as he had so often described it to them.
So the longing of their hearts took form in a letter which I received from him containing my traveling expenses and begging me to come to them at my earliest covenience. I went and spent a week visiting the people in their homes, reading and praying with them and teaching them gospel hymns. Seral manifested great interest.
Especially do I remember one little lady who seemed to take in the gospel message, and the joy on her face was sufficient reward for all our efforts.
A year later when I visited Rojas again, one of my first questions was “Where is the little lady who showed so much interest the last time?”
“She has passed away,” he replied.
“Oh, I am so sorry,” I said.
“Don’t say that,” replied Rojas. Her death has been a great blessing in this town! Then he told of how a church official had presented himself at her deathbed saying he had come to prepare her for death.
“I am already prepared,” she told him.
Then it seemed God gave her strength to raise herself on her pillow, and she said to all those sorrowing friends around her, “If that man who told us about the love of Jesus ever comes back here, you all go and hear him. That is what prepared me to go.” And with that she passed away to be with Christ.
As we went about among the people that day, I heard on every side the question, “Are you the man of whom Dona Dolores spoke when dying?”
As I answered, “Yes,” they all said, “Well, we are going to hear you.” And they did. The whole town came out. We could not find a hall big enough in the town to seat the people. I preached that night to from 250 to 300 people, some crowding around the doors and at the back standing as thick as they could. Today in that town there is a flourishing gospel work, and all began with a tract.
ML-12/30/1979