NUMEROUS CONVERTS



A friend told me that:


“In our area in South America, the missionary work was both unusual and astounding, not only in the quantity of baptisms but also the procedures. The mission president got permission for the local members to be called as full time missionaries and to go out into secluded areas dressed in their native outfits. White shirts and ties were our culture and did not fit their culture, at least among the people called, “Otovalainians.” Specifically, a missionary named Tobango would need to know where he could find people to teach. He would pray for inspiration and then receive answers to his prayers by way of dreams.


He would then be gone for a couple weeks and bring back the records of about one hundred and fifty baptisms. American Elders would visit those places and provide leadership training for these new converts until they were ready to stand on their own. This cycle of finding, baptizing and training happened repeatedly.


Unfortunately, as with most things in life, dramatic missionary success also brought dramatic opposition. Sometimes revolutionary mobs would gather and shout, “Death to the Gringos, Death to the C.I.A.” They would tell everyone that would listen that these young missionaries were really spies for the American government. If we were caught, we were beaten, or worse.






When this type of activity was going on we were told to go to our missionary huts and stay there till things quieted down. Sometimes the mob would be between us and our huts. Again and again they would swear our demise and yet not see us as we walked right by them. I know that God protected his missionaries many times.”