“Stop! Let go of me!” yelled Gilberto, flailing his arms in the air, trying desperately to wriggle free of his mother’s strong grip.
“Woah! Calm down there, soldier,” cautioned the sergeant as he let go of Gilberto’s shoulder. “You must have been having some kind of nightmare. You’ve been tossing and turning and kicking for the past 10 minutes. Trying to box, were you?” laughed the officer as he turned to leave. “Anyway, it’s nearly 5:00 a.m. Get up before you’re late for roll call!” he called over his shoulder.
Gilberto sighed as he sat up in bed. He was covered in sweat and his head hurt. It had just been a dream, but the image was still too real in his mind. He had tried to get rid of these memories for years, but it seemed useless. He could still see the hatred in his mother’s eyes and feel the blows that had driven him from his home. One thing he couldn’t seem to remember, try as he might, was how many nights he had spent wandering the streets of Acapulco. Had he eaten? Had he gone hungry? He didn’t really know. Those days were a blur. But one thing he knew—“I’m never going back,” he muttered as he straightened up from putting on his boots. With that, he headed quickly out the barracks door.
5 years earlier…
A pair of black eyes gazed hungrily at the golden loaves of freshly baked bread which lined the baker’s window shelves. Never had something looked or smelled so good to the 15-year-old who stood longingly outside the bakery.
His stomach grumbled as he walked slowly away. He was in no rush to leave, but at the same time he hadn’t any money to buy anything, so he found no point in just standing and staring. Gilberto shuffled past the bakery window, down the street. He was headed no place in particular. He had nowhere to call home anymore since he had run away from what little home he had, just a few days before. And truth be told, life seemed more bearable on the street than with his family where he received nothing but beatings and hostility.
“Come here, boy,” called the guard from the front gate of the barracks. “I have a job for you.” Gilberto raised his eyes and looked at the uniformed man beckoning to him. The man had said ‘job’, and as far as Gilberto was concerned, that could mean the possibility of earning some money. He sauntered over to the soldier, probably only five years older than himself. The guard smiled as Gilberto approached and said, “Well, boy, you look like a responsible kid. Want to earn a few pesos? We soldiers get tired standing out in the sun all day. Bring us a 3-liter coke and we’ll give you a little something.” The guard put down his rifle from its perch on his shoulder and reached into his pocket to extract a 10-peso coin. He carefully handed it over to Gilberto who took the money and stuffed it into his own worn pants. “You’d better come back with that coke, or you’ll be in big trouble,” warned the soldier as he watched Gilberto scamper down the street in the direction of the local tiendita (small corner store).
This first errand soon led to another and another until Gilberto became a frequent visitor to the barracks. Finally, one day as Gilberto stopped by the barracks, some of the soldiers began encouraging him, “Why don’t you become a soldier, like us? You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Honestly Gilberto thought he would, and with nothing keeping him from enlisting, he went ahead and said yes–on one condition: he wanted to be a radio operator.
And so it was that he was sent to the mountains of the Mexican state of Guerrero to be a signalman for the Mexican army. It was there that he stumbled upon the love of his life. Lupita soon became Gilberto’s loyal companion, accustoming herself to the hardships of a soldier’s wife. She learned to move from place to place and live in less-than-ideal circumstances. With her bare hands, she would build the little mud huts they lived in during their time in the rugged highlands of Guerrero. They had 6 children.
After thirteen long years of service, Gilberto decided to resign from military duty. He left his family in Mexico and went to Fresno, California to work in a vineyard.
BUT THEN CAME JESUS…
“Whose bunk is this?” inquired the American boss. “It belongs to the guy you hired from Mexico a few weeks ago,” responded the foreman. “Send him to me immediately,” instructed the man as he turned to leave the bunkhouse.
Gilberto knocked nervously on the boss’s front door. He tried to think back to anything he might have done which could have gotten him into trouble, but he honestly couldn’t think of a single thing that deserved being called in by the boss. Mr. Davy soon opened the door and smiled when he saw Gilberto. “There you are!” he grinned and motioned for him to come inside. Gilberto had never been inside the boss’s house before and he thought it an awkward place to be reprimanded. Mr. Davy ushered him into the living room and invited him to sit in one of the easy chairs. Just then, Mr. Davy’s wife appeared in the kitchen doorway and smiled warmly. “Welcome to our home!” she said in a kind voice. Gilberto shifted uncomfortably and tried not to look nervous.
Just then there was another knock at the door and the foreman came in to translate. Mr. Davy delayed no longer in telling Gilberto the purpose of his summons. “I have noticed you keep your bunk very tidy and neat,” said the older gentleman. “You’re about the only worker who does.” he continued with a frown. “My wife and I are getting older, and all our children have moved away now. I’m not as strong as I used to be, and we feel the need for someone younger and stronger to be nearby in case anything were to come up. After observing your orderliness, we’ve decided we would like to invite you to live with us and occupy one of the kids’ old bedrooms.” Gilberto could hardly believe what he was hearing. They wanted him, a total stranger from a foreign country, to live in their own home and to stay in one of their children’s bedrooms! Of course, he couldn’t say no, so he quickly agreed and went back to the bunkhouse to gather up his meager belongings and carry them to his new home.
Life now held many changes for Gilberto. He had never experienced the kind of love which Mr. Davy and his wife bestowed on him. He would come in from the fields all muddy and sweaty and find warm, running bath water waiting for him. They would take him to church with them, and although he couldn’t understand a word, he observed two things about the church: First, they carried black books, and sang from another book, and secondly, everyone was kind to him.
He later laughed as he recalled how they tried giving him a Portuguese Bible once, assuring him it was Spanish. He took one look inside the Bible and told them it was Portuguese. Refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer, they kept on insisting it was indeed Spanish. Although this experience was brief, it left a lasting impression on Gilberto.
His time in the US ended suddenly when he was caught and deported. Gilberto found himself back in Mexico, trying to make ends meet for his growing family. After moving his family around to various cities as he worked at different jobs, he and his wife finally ended up in the large city of Morelia, in the state of Michoacán. By now, their kids were grown and had lives of their own.
Gilberto and Lupita were faithful to attend weekly Mass, like most good Catholics, but if Gilberto were honest, he had to admit, he didn’t feel a lot of pious devotion to the idols lining the walls of the Catholic church. They are just pieces of metal, and they aren’t even clean at that! he would think to himself. But woe to him if anyone ever found out what was going through his mind as he sat through Mass after Mass.
In spite of his view on the idols in the church, he was very much afraid of dying and wanted a way to avoid going to Hell. He had learned through the Catholic church, that Hell was a real place, and he had no desire to go there. The problem was that they could never give him a satisfactory answer for how to avoid this place of punishment. All they would say is, “Try to be good.” Gilberto knew he couldn’t. His sin was clear to him, and he knew he deserved to go to Hell for that sin.
In desperation to discover more answers, he and Lupita decided to begin studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They stuck with it for three months, until finally one Saturday afternoon, they politely thanked them for coming to teach them, and explained they had had enough.
Exactly one week later, there came a knock at the door. Gilberto opened to find a tall American standing there with a black book under his arm. This image created a flashback to his time in Fresno, California, and Gilberto instantly remembered the kindness shown him by an American who would carry a black book. He looked back at the stranger and inquired how he might help him. Denny Norris politely informed him that he and a group of Christians were going to have a presentation at a nearby park and would like to invite him and his family to join them. Gilberto thought back to Mr. Davy and decided to attend the event.
This led him and Lupita to begin a Bible study with Denny. They enjoyed the studies, but they still were not ready to cut their ties to the Catholic church. Lupita was very straightforward at the start of the studies. “Denny,” she began, “I don’t want you telling me anything about my virgencita (affectionate term for the image of the virgin Mary.) And if we ever hear you telling us a lie, or anything that goes against the Bible, we’re done. We won’t want any more studies with you.”
And so it was that they continued to attend weekly Mass at 7:00 a.m. on Sundays. From there they would return home and prepare to go to the church service with the Norris family at 10:30 a.m. They didn’t seem to see a problem with doing both. Denny wisely kept silent on the matter of the virgin and all the other idols in the house and allowed the Holy Spirit to convince Gilberto and Lupita, little by little, of the sin of worshiping other gods.
“Oh no!” exclaimed Gilberto one Sunday morning, as he looked at the clock and jumped out of bed. “Lupita’s going to kill me!” he muttered. “We’ll never make it to mass now.” He went into the kitchen where he found his wife leisurely making breakfast. She looked in no way disturbed or upset with her husband for having made them miss weekly mass. “I thought you would be mad because I slept in,” remarked Gilberto. After a moment of silence, Lupita replied, “I don’t even like going to Mass anymore. I only go because you want to go.” Gilberto stared incredulously at his wife. “Well, I only go because I thought you wanted to go!” he exclaimed. The couple stood looking at one another for some time until finally Gilberto broke the silence. “So does this mean ‘goodbye’ religion?” he asked slowly. “Yes!” came the firm reply. “What about what you told Denny about your virgin?” questioned Gilberto. “Oh!” groaned Lupita, “Don’t even remind me. I’m so ashamed of what I used to tell Denny.”
The couple had finally come to the conviction that only what the Bible said was true. They stopped going to Mass. Little by little God took away the blindness from their eyes, and they were able to understand the good news of salvation. Gilberto later recalled his fear of going to Hell. “But then I realized that because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, I no longer had to go to Hell to pay for my sin because Jesus had paid for it all. I can go to Heaven now!” he marveled. “This is what we were lacking,” he realized. “We didn’t know Jesus. But now we know Him, and we are telling others about Him.”
Changes soon became obvious to both Gilberto and Lupita. They could tell they were not the same, and so could their children. Through a study on the 10 Commandments, they became fully convinced that the idols in their home had to go, so after the study that night, they went home and threw all their images into the garbage. This act of rebellion against the saints and the Catholic church would have absolutely terrified them before, but now that they knew Jesus, they did it without an ounce of fear.
Their marriage also began to blossom. Gilberto started treating his wife with more respect and helping her with the daily chores around the house. Lupita didn’t become so angry with him and respected him more.
When Denny suggested baptism to them, they both assured him they had been baptized as babies and had no need to be baptized again. He explained from the Scriptures that baptism was a step of obedience, to declare publicly their new faith. Once they understood, both Gilberto and Lupita were baptized with true understanding, having placed their faith in Jesus.
Soon their children began inquiring what sect their parents had converted to. They had very little interest in what Gilberto and Lupita had to say and continued going to the Catholic church with their spouses. One day upon returning from Mass, Gilberto asked them what part of the gospel they had heard in Mass. They were unable to make any reply. Gilberto laughed and said, “You see why you need to study just the Bible? You’re not learning anything at the Catholic church.”
Soon, all the children, along with some of the spouses began studying the Bible with their parents. Although some of them later turned their back on the gospel message and discontinued the studies, four of their six children, along with two of the spouses, eventually came to faith in Christ.
Epilogue:
Gilberto and Lupita helped Cabe Pillette start the Bible church in the town of Patzcuaro. They taught numerous Bible studies and Gilberto often shares from the Word in church meetings there. He is a faithful evangelist, continuing to serve as he can, even in his older years. His wife, Lupita recently went home to Heaven after years of sickness and increasing pain and weakness, during which Gilberto cared for her devotedly.
Note from the author: This story is especially dear to my heart because Gilberto and Lupita’s granddaughter, Sofi, ended up marrying my brother, Michael. They have given me 5 wonderful nephews and nieces and are now missionaries in the city of Ciudad Hidalgo.