Many people have been anxiously following the case of Eugene Nij for most of
April, so we're dedicating this whole Friday Fax to him:
Guatemala: even the devil is saved
Lori Pinney and her husband Eugene "Queno" Nij have been working for more than
10 years as evangelists in San Raymundo, Guatemala, where they run a Free
Missions School, an orphanage and a number of churches. In early April 1997, two
women were caught attempting to kidnap a child on the street. Kidnapping
children is unfortunately common in Guatemala, and the two women were almost
lynched by enraged mothers who had also lost children to kidnappers. Eugene left
the mission school when he saw the tumult and managed to calm the mob, and
advised the police to put the women in jail in another town for their own
protection. However, the women were jailed in San Raymundo. That evening, the
lynching was successful: the town's women mobilised their husbands as they
arrived home from work, and they tore the jail apart, killing one of the
kidnappers and severely injuring the other. To everyone's surprise, Eugene was
arrested and accused of murder; reports indicate that the government has been
trying to close the mission school for some time, and were using this as an
excuse to do so, despite over 300 witnesses, including police officers, who can
testify that Eugene was not even present at the lynching.
Eugene was placed in jail with hardened criminals. He started to pray, and after
a few minutes, the other inmates asked him to pray for them too. He began to
preach, and the men began to cry out "What must we do to be saved?" On his first
day in prison, Eugene was confronted by an jailed Mafia man, who introduced
himself as 'the devil himself'. He pulled Eugene aside and told him to stop
praying. His words had no effect, and Eugene could win the man for Christ, along
with many other prisoners, and spent the whole night explaining the gospel to
them. The following day, the ex-Mafia man told everyone "Anyone who messes with
the preacher messes with me!"
God in action!
The prisoners are only allowed to eat once a day, and their families must bring
the food. One day, Eugene's wife Lori was delayed, so didn't reach the jail in
time; Eugene would have had to go hungry, had it not been for one of the
prisoners who said "You have fed us the whole day from God's plate, now let us
feed you from our plates" - and shared his food. Another day, Lori went to the
market with the last of her money to buy food for the prisoners who didn't get
enough to eat; Eugene distributed whatever he could to the most needy inmates.
When Lori started to fill her bags with food, the grocer, a lady who has known
Lori for a long time, asked her if she was leaving town. As Lori explained what
she was doing, the grocer told her to come with her truck, which she then filled
with groceries for free, saying "If your husband is in prison and he is
more concerned about the other prisoners
than himself, or his own expense, I don't want to be left out of what your God
is about to do there." As Lori drove away with the truckload of food, the grocer
called after her "If it's not enough, come back!"
Court costs met by the poor
"Queno", as Eugene is called, has been on the front pages of the newspapers for
weeks now. Following his release, insiders say, he will be able to preach in
front of large crowds and have an influence on the nation. Right at the start of
his imprisonment, long queues of people waited for days in front of the lawyer's
office to contribute to the court costs from their small income - many families
must live for US$100 per month. "We owe this to the man who has changed our
lives," many say. Every Catholic church in the country has apparently kept their
promise to pray and fast daily for Eugene's release.
U.S. ambassador: "Who on earth are you?"
Astonished by the wave of support for Eugene from all over the globe, the U.S.
ambassador called Lori and asked "Who are you?? I have received messages from
every continent around the globe over the weekend and now I have the U.S. Senate
breathing down my neck."
Who is Eugene Nij?
A trained carpenter, he grew up without a father in a small village in Central
America. Following his salvation, he promised to return to the village after
studying in the Colegio Biblico in Eagle Pass, Texas - "a promise which is
almost never kept. Anyone who gets a chance to leave the village does so,
normally forever", writes Dean Pinney. At the Bible school, he met and married
Lori, who was his Missions professor, and returned to Guatemala. Today, he is an
evangelical missionary, part of the worldwide family of God. "What Satan meant
for evil, God has turned to good. Guatemala will never be the same nation
again," writes Dean Pinney in his report.
Source: Dean Pinney and The New Iberian Mission Association, P.O. Box 668,
Organ, NM 88052, USA, Tel (+1) 505-382-9209.
