THEIR FIRST BIBLE
The phone rang and by the expression the Leader's face & the tone of his voice when he told us to "stop - don't go anywhere", we knew that what he had heard on the other end of the phone was very unusual and also very serious. We soon learned that the office across the Border had been compromised! We immediately prayed for protection for all of the Bibles that were in that office and for all of the people involved.
Another person and I were just about ready to leave to go across a border with more of the precious cargo - God's Word. But that phone call stopped everything. Don, from another group, & Allie, one of my granddaughters, had crossed the border, and then travelled to an office to leave their load of Bibles. They were unlocking the door when a police officer came from the stairwell, where he had apparently been waiting, and was suddenly right with them. He told them to go on in and he went in with them. He opened their bags and saw the Bibles and made some notes. Then he asked what was in the many boxes that were already packed & sealed in the office. They hesitated and said they weren't sure - so he pulled out a knife and opened several boxes and saw the hundreds of Bibles. Fortunately, the names and addresses of the people they were going to was not on the boxes! Then he left, but not before he had written down the information from their passports.
As quickly as the police officer left, Don called to our office across the border, so that any other couriers on the way could be stopped from going to that office. Soon, all who were working to carry the Bibles across the border to that office were gathered together where we prayed fervently for wise direction, as well as for protection of the many Bibles that were already in that office. Then a plan was laid by the leadership. The leader had served as an undercover police officer for many years in his home country before God led him into the Bible Courier ministry. God uses everything in our lives for His purposes - or, is it that He is constantly building into our lives for the next thing He will lead us into? I believe both are true.
That first night someone from our office was staked out to watch to see if the police came and took the boxes of Bibles away. They were also trying to observe if the local police were watching the office to see if they could identify any more of us - terrible criminals, that we were! The next day the plan was laid to move the Bibles, and then we all practiced how we were going to do it, but our practicing was on the free side of the border.
The following days we did for real what we had practiced. It was like a movie! Two people stayed in a hotel room, while two different people were actually going to the compromised office and bringing bags out. From there they would go to various pre-arranged places - different each trip - and switch their full bags for empty bags that were identical. Even if someone would be watching closely, it would not be easy to see the switch because of the process that was used to trade the bags. It would not appear that the people even knew each other, nor were the bags handed over - rather hands off to make a phone call, or look at some merchandize in a store, etc. After the bags were switched, the two who had taken the books from the compromised office walked into the customs building as if they were taking them out of the country - but at the last possible opportunity they left the customs building by a side door and waited the appropriate amount of time to return to the compromised office for another load.
Meantime, the two who now had the full bags took them to the room in a different hotel where two people of a difference ethnicity were waiting to take them to a second office, which had not been compromised. It was fortunate that people from different parts of the world were there working with that ministry that week. It looked less likely that they even knew each other, let alone were working together! This continued all day and evening for three days until the job was done successfully! This was done by 3 different sets of people. God enabled us to be like a well-oiled machine, preserving His Word for the people who were waiting for their first Bible.
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