Stories: Elder Augisten
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| During February and March of 1993 I was companions with Adolfo Agustin, from Guatemala City, Guatemala. He was known by his friends back home as "Chino" (because of his chinese eyes), and was a very humble, obedient and hard-working missionary. At the end of March, he was transferred to Esteli, a city in the north which was a "hot spot" for guerrilla activity. At the time, President Boza wasn't sending any American missionaries to the cities in the north, because of the potential for trouble with the guerrillas. On Wednesday, July 21, 1993, a guerrilla group called the "Re-Contras" invaded Esteli. It was composed of ex-Contras, ex-Sandinistas, farmers and pretty much anyone who wasn't content with the current government under the leadership of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, and her political party, "El Uno." Ever since they had formed, all the Re-Contras had really done was hide out in the mountains, but when they invaded Esteli it appeared they meant business. They routed the police force, and promptly robbed the bank in Esteli of its entire store of 4 million Cordobas, which at the time was worth about 60 thousand dollars. Rumor immediately spread that they were planning on hitting Leon next (where I had been transferred to at the beginning of June), which was the closest major city, and then moving on to Managua, the capital. The banks in Leon were constantly surrounded by heavily armored guards. It turned out the whole thing blew over pretty quickly. The Re-Contras never moved in on any other city, and in a few days, content that they had frightned everyone sufficiently and established their presence, they took off to Honduras. All they had really wanted was the money. Other than that, it was pretty much just a big scare tactic. Soon though, the mission got wind of something miraculous that had happend that day in Esteli. Elder Agustin and his companion had been right in the middle of a discussion when the Re-Contras arrived. They heard the machine guns firing, and immediatly dropped the discussion and ran home. Many missionaries in this position would have simply been glad for the chance to take a break from their labors, and flopped down on their bed to take a nap. But Elder Agustin sat down next to his bed and started studying his scriptures. As he was studying, suddenly a stray bullet shot down through the tin roof, THROUGH ELDER AGUSTIN'S BED and embedded itself in the tile floor underneath. Elder Agustin and the whole mission thanked the Lord that he had been diligent. He still has the bullet that would have killed him, had he been a lazy missionary. |
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