Faith

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Job Campbell was a missionary who was sent to a remote village in the countryside of Bolivia. His mission was to start a church with some of the local tribes of Indians. While there he met a woman named Carmen Santiago. Carmen grew up in a very humble family. She never went to school, so she never learned to read or write. Carmen was a widow with two sons and a daughter. She believed in the saints and worshiped the Sun and the Moon, like everyone else in her village. Upon learning about Jesus, Carmen adopted a passion to help Job start the church.

Carmen’s daughter Rosita, died while giving birth to a son. Taking the responsibility of raising her daughter’s child, she named her grandson Jose. Jose became rebellious not knowing his mother because he thought that God had let his mother die. Carmen always took Jose to church with her and made him go to school. Jose though, never took too much interested in coming to know Jesus as his savior.

Job, having completed his work, had to go back to the United States as he was assigned another mission. Carmen became firm in her walk with the Lord, and for that reason Job appointed her to be in charge of the congregation. Job never learned of Carmen’s illiteracy as she did everything she could to hide it.

Carmen thought she could teach Jose about Jesus’ love by having him prepare the sermons for the Sunday service. Jose, being reluctant, helped her because he knew of her embarrassment of her illiteracy. He still refused to worship God. Carmen asked him shortly after his thirteenth birthday, why he would not accept Christ as his personal savior. He told her that God let his mother die and he would never worship a god who was so cruel. Jose later became involved with taking drugs with the field workers.

Job was thinking about Carmen and Jose and mailed them a postcard with a picture of the
cross. From behind the cross, bright beams of light were emitting against a dark background. On the back he wrote:
Dear Carmen,
“…Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you…” (Acts 3:6 NIV) For this reason I have given my constant prayers and have fasted, so that Jose could come to know the Lord.
Love Job.
With that he sealed the postcard in an envelope and mailed it to Bolivia.

In the mean time, Jose became involved with a gang and started selling drugs. While selling drugs one day, he was ambushed by a rival gang and was badly beaten and left for dead. His face was badly disfigured and every major bone of his body was broken. He managed to whisper a final prayer “Help me God, help me!” before he slipped into unconsciousness. Jose was found by some members of the church and was taken to the hospital. When he awoke, he was surprised to still be alive. He remembered his prayer, and decided to make some changes in his life. Jose left the gang; he also stopped stealing, and selling drugs.

Months later the post card arrived at the village. Carmen did not understand what the envelope said. She only recognized Job’s name on the return address, so she put the letter away.

A couple of years passed after receiving the postcard. Jose was visiting his Grandmother, when she got the postcard out of the drawer and asked Jose to read it to her. He first read the words silently and he noticed the date on the post stamp. Tears began to flow from his eyes. He realized that Job had been praying to God before his injuries and Job’s prayers were the only reason he was alive to read the postcard. When he read the postcard to his Grandmother, she too began to cry and gave Jose a warm hug. Jose immediately dropped to his knees and with his
Grandmother’s help he accepted Christ into his heart.

Jose adopted the same passion his Grandmother had. He learned everything he could about Jesus and began to preach. Because of his life experience, he brought many to know Jesus, including many of the gang members. He also taught his Grandmother to read and write. Jose wrote to Job to thank him for his prayers, but mostly he wanted to thank Job for showing him the love of Jesus Christ.

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