By Roger Skinner,
Vice President at Large,
One Mission Society
As I started my first term in Ecuador, I taught in a
Bible institute and went out almost every weekend
with teams from local churches to do evangelism. That was how I first met Enrique Guillén, an
Ecuadorian pastor.
In the fall of 1977, Enrique and I attended an OMS world evangelism
conference in Korea. As we traveled together, I coached him through
many new experiences. Enrique had never flown, so getting a passport, buying a plane ticket, and packing for the international flight were
the first steps. Then, we had to go through customs, travel from Japan
to Taiwan to Korea, return through Florida, rent a car, speak in my wife’s
home church, and eat at an American buffet … all of which were new
experiences for Enrique! I was his translator, guide, coach, and encourager for more than three weeks.
But in 1979, when I went with Enrique to an evangelistic campaign,
he became my coach and encourager.
One weekend, Enrique asked me to join him in showing a Gospel
film in a small town called Matilda Esther. Friday night, after picking up Pastor Enrique and about eight people from his church, we
drove to the town. After I dropped Enrique and most of the team off
in the center of town, I drove with a couple of young Ecuadorians to
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announce the service time and location.
As we arrived at the open plaza, a crowd
surrounded us and began to threaten us.
As I quickly turned the car around and
headed back, the crowd threw stones at
my car. When I returned to the town center, I told Enrique what had happened and
said, “I don’t think we should stay here.”
He said, “Don’t worry, let’s get set up.”
After some singing and a short message, I started the film. That’s when things
began to happen. First, sky rockets were
fired, exploding in the air, and everybody
ducked their heads. The noise spooked
the horses that people had ridden into
town, and they became unruly. I kept the
film going. A few minutes later, a mob
came toward us, carrying machetes and
sticks. When they reached the front of the
crowd, two people met them—a rural policeman and the head of the local co-op.
After an animated discussion, three people walked away, and the rest melted into
the crowd.
After Enrique closed the service with
prayer, I cautiously retrieved the equipment and began packing the car. A boy
approached and said, “They’re waiting
for you at the cemetery.” As we slowly
approached the graveyard, we saw lights
in the distance, but when we arrived, all
was quiet. Enrique thanked the policeman
who had accompanied us and asked if we
could return the next night. I was scared
and wondered why Enrique would put us
back into a dangerous situation. But I trusted
Enrique, so the next night we returned.
When we arrived, two people approached us and said, “We thought you
might have been too scared to come
back after last night.” I knew I wouldn’t
have retur