"Come on with me, Olivio, I think you'll like it all right. Besides, he gives away candy caramels!"
The invitation was to a children's gospel service on a Friday night in a small town in Cuba, before the days of Castro's regime. Olivio was fourteen years old, but he knew nothing of the story of God's love for him. He lived out in the country, about four miles away, and of course he would have to walk. He really was not too interested, but those caramels the Americano would be giving away did sound good! Treats of any kind did not come his way too often. Farming where he lived meant eking an existence from the rocky soil.
Olivio came, and enjoyed the caramels, but he also listened well, and liked what the American told them from the Word of God, the Bible. After a few Friday evening meetings he knew God was speaking to him personally about receiving the Lord Jesus as his Savior.
A storm was building up one night as he started his long walk home. Lightning was flashing repeatedly. At first it was not so bad for he was not alone. For about two miles he had the company of an older man and his wife and daughter. They had just recently become Christians, and he somehow felt quite safe while they were walking together.
But the parting came after reaching their small farm, and he was on the road alone. Electrical storms are always most dangerous in that country area, and this night the lightning was flashing so repeatedly the sky seemed lit up continuously. Olivio could not remember seeing it quite like that ever before.
"Could this be the voice of God speaking to me?" he wondered aloud. "If it is, I had better not wait until I get home. I'd better tell Him that I will receive the Lord Jesus right now!" Olivio knelt on the rough road where he was, and allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to come into his heart.
As he continued his way homeward between the fields of peanuts and tobacco plants the lightning continued to flash, but a happiness filled his heart that left no room for fear, and he was soon safely home.
The missionary, Mr. George Walker, was very glad to hear Olivio's good news, and gave him a plain hard-backed Spanish Bible. Olivio turned it over and over just to get the feeling of it, for he had never held a Bible before! This was a real treasure, the greatest he had ever had. He was careful to always wash his hands before reading it, and at other times kept it carefully covered with a brown paper bag.
Some months later, after listening to God's Word being taught, and reading it carefully for himself, he learned that believers were baptized. This presented a puzzle to Olivio, for there was no water of any size near where he lived. The river and ocean were far away. Then one day as he was plowing with a yoke of oxen he took them to the watering trough which was hewn out of a large slab of limestone. It was seven feet long, and five feet wide. He had never heard of anyone being baptized in a watering trough, but why wouldn't this do? He would ask the missionary to come and examine his unusual "baptistery!"
A few days later about fifty Christians and a number of curious bystanders gathered together beside the oxen's watering trough, to watch Olivio obey his Lord by being baptized.
Olivio began to witness and to live for his Lord in earnest. His family and neighbors listened, and watched his life. He began to preach in the open air in the nearby town where he was well known, and in towns a little distance away. It was a wonderful day when his own father was finally won to the Lord! In the years that followed Olivio became a real soul winner for the Lord.
One day Mr. Walker received a letter from a man living seven hundred miles away who was anxious to hear the gospel, and wanted the missionary to come. The missionary was busy where he was, and also did not have enough money to make the trip, but he talked it over with his friend, Olivio, who was now about twenty years old.
"I have about a hundred dollars saved, do you suppose that I could go?" he asked, eagerly.
The missionary gave Olivio all the money he had and between the two of them there was enough for Olivio's fare.
The first part of his trip was by air, which was a great thrill for this country-boy! The fare, surprisingly, was lower than bus fare would have been. This was a new Cuban airline that had just opened up, and because the people were extremely frightened of plane travel, the company had reduced its fares to induce customers.
When Olivio left the plane he still had a great distance to travel, and for this he took an open air bus. This bus was without sides, so that people could carry their pigs and chickens and groceries on the outside steps! When this bus had taken him as far as it could he still had twenty more miles to go to reach his destination. This he had to make by foot.
The last twenty miles were gloriously beautiful! It was a stiff hike over very rugged mountain terrain, but Olivio was young and strong, and enjoyed every bit of it. He had to cross twenty-seven rivers and streams. Lovely stately palms and mahogany trees added their beauty, and he was in an area where the people raised much coffee and cocoa beans. They also grew the marijuana weed, and strangers traveled in that country at their own risk.
It was a weary but happy young man that finally reached his destination after nine hours of rugged hiking and climbing. When he found scores of people joyously welcoming him, eager to listen to the Word of God for the very first time he felt that he would have made the trip many times over most gladly!
In the days that followed many were saved, and a New Testament Church was formed. When Mr. Walker joined Olivio on his second trip he found twenty believers eager to be baptized.
When Castro established a Communist government in Cuba, Olivio suffered much because of his faith in Jesus Christ. So many restrictions were placed upon those that preached the gospel that Olivio felt he would have to leave Cuba and go somewhere where he would be able to serve the Lord freely. His plan was discovered by the authorities before he managed to escape, and he was sent to a slave labor camp.
In the camp the days were hard and long. Fourteen to sixteen hours daily, swinging a machete to cut down sugar cane, would earn a slip of paper to exchange for a bit of food at the commissary. No matter how hard and how long one worked, the food one was able to get never seemed adequate.
At certain times schools would be closed for weeks as the school children were loaded into trucks and taken to the camps, and sent out into the fields to work. Often they had to work side by side with criminals and evil men, and parents who feared especially for their lovely daughters' safety would go with them, and these were considered "Volunteer" workers.
Olivio no doubt found a moment now and then to share the gospel, but they were watched closely, and there was little or no "spare time. "
How Olivio escaped the camp, Mr. Walker does not know, but today he is serving the Lord in Spain. Recently he received a letter from him telling of the wonderful time he has been having, sharing the things of the Lord at a large Bible conference there in Spain, with over a thousand people in attendance.
Olivio, Cuban country-boy from a poor little back country farm, saved one night as he knelt on the rocky roadside with the sky bright with the flashing of lightning, baptized in an oxen watering trough, is today serving the King of kings, and is able to speak of His glories to vast audiences!
Olivio longs to come to this country and see the Americano who brought him the good news of salvation. He has made application for a visa, and is looking to God to provide his fare. But wherever he is or goes, this Cuban country-boy will be sharing the good news of salvation.
Will you pray for him?
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.