by Daniel Thomas

One young man in South Wales, taking God serious, and God’s will for his life, was ready to burn his bridges behind him and venture out to far and dangerous lands .., if God so led. When, later, his mother found out he was definitely praying and preparing for South America, she despaired. She offered him the small fortune of 100 Gold Sovereigns, if only he would give up such ideas.

To no avail! Daniel Thomas loved his Lord and Savior even more than his own dear mother. And God used him mightily in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Spain, but not without a cost.

As he opened his heart to those who prayed for him, giving them glimpses of all that went on in his life and work, we too may benefit and learn from such dealings of God with one willing young man.

(You will find Daniel as the horse rider in the first photograph of the Paraguay section of the photo gallery.)

1913     Paraguay -  How ready God is always to hear our prayers and to supply our need! The power of darkness is tremendous and the discouragements could be numerous, but halleluyah!, He has taught me to cast my burden on him for He will sustain, and that is what I am doing;  laying all the cares, troubles, trials, temptations, discouragements, and everything else on him.  Then I go along with a light and happy heart with no heavy load to drag along.

                        God’s dealings are so gracious. He is so loving and merciful. It might seem a thing incredible that one could be filled continually with his peace and joy in the midst of sin of every description, yet we are kept, because we are enclosed in Christ Jesus. This alone is the secret of our being able to live with clean hands among these people.

             True, we feel at times that we are almost alone, yet we are encompassed with the prayers, sympathy, and love of large numbers of saints in different parts of the world. We long to see others in this great “neglected continent” sharing and enjoying the blessings which we so abundantly receive.    

            Truly this land is a wilderness and a parched land, a land of spiritual famine and of darkness where millions pass away into eternity without any hope, and without God. We are sad when we see the condition of these poor people, not trusting in the merits of our Lord. They trust in their own merits, or in the prayers of some priest, or in the prayers of friends who may intercede for them after they have departed from this world ... Our hearts go out to them in love and compassion.

            How we long to tell them of a Savior who is “mighty to save,” of him who alone is the hope of the world! If I had a hundred thousand lives to give I would gladly give them all to tell this people the way of salvation. But I have only one, and may God have that one entirely to witness for him in Paraguay.

            Very gradually prejudices are breaking down. The dawn is breaking; Satan’s kingdom is beginning to shake; the people’s faith in the priests and in Rome is failing; and before long we may have the joy of gathering in the sheaves after years of hard work and discouragement.

            God has already granted us the first fruits of our labors in Villarrica in saving a young Paraguayan, who now seems to be growing in grace. He has offered himself to work among his fellow-countrymen, and has already begun to witness for the Master in his own district. He intends to ask the school-master there for the use of the school-room, in order to hold Bible readings among the school boys. May he be strong in the Lord, and may God use him in bringing many others to the Savior. By saving this dear brother God has put his seal upon our little school. It was through the school that we were brought into contact with him.

1915         -  Recently I baptized three men. One of them, Martín, has been a shining light and many have been converted through his testimony. Another one is Constantino, also converted through Martín. Just before he entered the water, a woman, one of the believers, went up to Martín and confessed publicly that she had spoken hard words against him wrongly, and asked forgiveness. Immediately there was a general confession amongst the believers, one asking forgiveness of another for something done or said. I could not help thinking; surely the Lord’s work will prosper in this place. Both Martín and Constantino are lovers of God’s Word.

            About a fortnight ago we had our first service in the house of Juan de la Cruz, one of the converts, who lives in a village about eight miles out. He had invited many and quite a number came. During the meeting some men who were in hiding threw oranges, and one fired his revolver, but no harm was done, and the meeting was not broken up. Juan de la Cruz has plenty of opposition, but he holds on.

1916      Argentina -  Cantalicio has been saved. His story is a wonderful one. He had been ill for about eighteen months, and was getting steadily worse. He is an orphan and homeless, and had prayed, not to any image, but to God alone, that He would send someone to help him. He had done this knowing nothing whatever of the Gospel or of the way of salvation. Some time after he began praying, I was told about him, so Constantino and I went to visit him. We found him very poorly, and were told that he only had one meal a day, slept on a board, and that on cold nights his sores were so painful that he could not sleep.

            We washed his sores and bandaged them, and told him that as soon as he could walk he might come and stay with us. Next day we visited him again and found that he had slept well and was much better. Within a few days he was able to walk alone to our house, about a mile distant. The first day that he was with us he began reading the New Testament we had given him, and he never tires of listening to the Gospel story. He has also taken a great interest in the meetings and has hardly missed one.

            Recently we baptized another young man, also called Cantalicio, who was our first convert in Posadas. A large number of people were present, some of whom we had never seen before, and all were very attentive.

1923     Brazil -  We do not know what is ahead of us, but when He leads and we follow, it will be all right whatever comes, for we know that there will be sufficient grace for every trial; and in the loneliness of inland South America the Lord is near to us. It has been so in the past when far away from civilization. Deprived of the fellowship of the saints, I felt his presence more real than even when I was home amongst the believers. How gracious the Lord is unto me, and his mercies never fail; his keeping power is a continuous miracle in me. I am kept each moment by him.

            What does the psalmist mean by saying, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”? The thought came to me that it had the same meaning as the words of our Lord in John 15, “Abide in me”. There is safety in abiding in him, and not only safety but also blessing, fellowship, power, much fruit. Now Psalm 91 has new meaning for me. Preaching to the Indians, I spoke of the result of abiding in Christ, and the result of not abiding in him. What a great difference it makes. He that ‘abides’ is under the shadow of the Almighty, kept each moment, and living the Victorious Life - and that is the only life worth living; while the non-abiding, though a Christian, is not under the shadow of the Almighty. Such a one may be very busy and doing his best in the Lord’s service, but all is of very little real value, he has not the “Well done” of the Master, because he abides in “self” and does his own will. His labors are labors of duty and not of love, so there is no true joy in it. To him that abides in Christ, it is quite as easy to live the Christian life even in the midst of Satan’s stronghold.

            We are so secure, and it is so peaceful. It is no wonder that we are so happy and content, even when external things are against us, and when this body of ours has to suffer so much. And again: from this “secret place” we have a clearer view of the condition of this world, for we see it from the same standpoint as our Lord. It is impossible to abide for long in him without becoming more like him. We love the natives because of the love that God has given unto us, and that love constrains us to give of our best in order to bring poor lost sinners to the foot of the Cross, even though our love and kindness towards them are so often misunderstood. Abiding in him makes a great difference in our dealings with fellow-men.

            The Lord knows all about our difficulties, and supplies us daily with grace sufficient. How hopeless we would be without His sustaining grace. We get his sweet fellowship and grace to rejoice in tribulations.

                        The ungrateful and the loveless ones come back to us as hard as ever, and are met by love and its fruit - kind words, sympathy, and good works - only to continue with the same hard and rebellious spirit. True love knows no defeat, and quietly at the Throne of Grace pleads for these poor and degraded souls. It hands them over to him who is able and willing to save the vilest, and we have the privilege of seeing many of them coming to Christ for forgiveness and made new creatures in Christ Jesus, and oh, what a change! - drunkards, gamblers, thieves, murderers, and all sorts are being born again, and go to tell others of what God has done in their lives.   

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