In late August, Gideons in Argentina welcomed an international team of Gideons from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the USA. For the next week, these brothers in Christ would share copies of God’s Word in the northern city of Cordoba.
The international team leader was David Beaty, a Gideon from the USA. “The local Gideons did an excellent job of planning for this event,” says Beaty. Transportation and distribution schedules were thoughtfully organized, helping Gideons carry out the distributions in a timely and efficient manner at schools, hospitals, and jails.
Because many distributions take place outdoors, cooperation of the weather is always an extra blessing. The Lord blessed this blitz week with beautiful weather and no rain.
By the end of the week, Gideons placed and distributed more than 182,000 copies of God’s Word.
Answers To Prayers
During any International Scripture Blitz, prayers are lifted up for the blitz by Gideons, Auxiliary, and friends from around the world. It’s always inspiring to see how the Lord responds to those prayers.
One prayer item was for the safety of the blitz team members. On the last day of distributions, a team of four Gideons parked their car under a big, 200-year-old tree at a military base. For about 45 minutes, some Gideons waited in the parking space while the others consulted with military officials about distributing Scriptures at the base. The Gideons agreed to leave and come back a little later. When they returned less than an hour later, they discovered the tree had split and fallen within minutes after they first left, destroying a car parked in the exact spot where they had been waiting earlier.
“When you see what that car looked like after that tree fell… we would have all been dead,” says Tom Odom of Louisiana. “The Lord protected us and saved us from that catastrophe. In fact, we could feel the Lord’s protective hand over us the whole time we were down there.”
Placing God’s Word In People’s Hands
Beaty observed the openness of school and college students to receiving Scriptures is often influenced by peer pressure. “If one student accepted a Scripture, those behind would follow. However, if a student refused the Scripture, those behind generally refused the Scriptures, too.”
As Gideons were distributing New Testaments at one college campus, a man approached them and told them he was a Christian. He then revealed he was having some very difficult problems in his marriage. He confessed he was actually thinking of taking his life that very day. One of the Gideons took him aside and reminded him life isn’t always easy, even for followers of Christ, but taking one’s own life is not the solution. He asked the man to pray and trust in the Lord’s divine wisdom to work things out. With tears rolling down the man’s cheeks, he thanked the Gideons and walked away, appearing grateful for the compassion and brotherly advice.
At one high school, a student named Nicolas approached the Gideons and began talking with them.
“I told him we had come to share the Truth with him, because these Testaments contain the Truth,” says Tom Odom. “I also let him know the world is full of lies about how one can go to heaven.”
“Do you want to go to heaven?” Tom asked the boy.
“Yes,” said Nicolas.
Next, Tom showed the young man the plan of salvation printed in the back of the New Testament. “I could sense Nicolas wanted peace in his heart.”
Tom then led Nicolas in a prayer to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Afterward, Nicolas said he had a habit of cursing and asked if God could help him overcome that.
“So we had some further discussion about what it means to have the Holy Spirit inside one’s heart and how much it would help him in many ways. And we discussed the importance of reading his New Testament,” says Tom. “Then Nicolas left with a smile on his face. I know the angels were rejoicing in heaven.”
Giving Thanks For What God Is Doing In Argentina
Gideons first organized a camp in Argentina in 1959. Today, there are 168 Gideon camps in Argentina, and more than 2,000 Gideons and Auxiliary. To date, over 36 million Scriptures have been placed in Argentina through The Gideons International.
We thank our members in Argentina as well as the international Gideons who travelled to share copies of God’s Word in this blitz.
We also thank the rest of our members and supporters throughout the world whose prayers and financial gifts help make blitzes like this possible.
And most of all, we thank our Lord for each and every Scripture distributed during the Argentina blitz. We give Him all the glory and praise for the forthcoming testimonies of lives changed as a result of people receiving those Scriptures.
