Antonio Pineda & Godly Generosity

Today, I would like to introduce you to a man who has been preaching the gospel for over 46 years. His name is Antonio Pineda (Pee – náy – dah). This picture was taken April 12, 2011:

Antonio Pineda (Seated), Me, José Castillo, Jesús Hernandez

He has preached all over El Salvador and in some of Honduras. In his time as an evangelist he started four congregations in various cities in El Salvador and has been called on to help other new congregations grow and mature. As you can see in the previous picture, Brother Pineda is in a wheelchair.

He is partially paralyzed; unable to walk or use his hands. He started preaching when he was 28. When he was 32 he was in a bicycle accident that left him wheelchair bound. All of those congregations he started and helped grow; he did it from a wheelchair. Most of it from that wheelchair.  When he studies or preaches, he has to have someone turn the pages of his Bible for him. Brother Pineda is currently 73 years old.

In the early 1970’s, Larry White was in El Salvador preaching. Antonio and Larry worked together for a short while then. During that trip, Larry gave him that very wheelchair. He has made repairs to it and replaced some wheels, but he still sits in and preaches from that same wheelchair – for now. Soon he will be in a new one.

Brother Pineda lives in a barrio of San Salvador called Apulo with his wife and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I don’t know the count exactly, but I know of two adult sons and one adult daughter living there, at least. I was blessed recently to visit with Brother Pineda, though the circumstances for the visit could have been better for him and his family. For me, it was the perfect circumstances. It was a chance for God to show me the generosity and love of fellow Christians for one another.

A few weeks before my visit, Antonio and his family were in a vehicle accident. Three pickup trucks were involved. The Pineda family pickup would be considered totaled in the U.S., however, I am not sure what they can do with it here. There were nine members of the family in their pickup, a small Datsun or Nissan with regular bucket seat cab – three adults, three teens and three children from under 2 to around 10. Antonio, his son German (Hare – mahn) and his son’s wife Juanita were the adults. Two granddaughters and a grandson (I didn’t get their names) and three great-grandchildren were the others.

God hand his hand over them during the accident. The great-grandchildren were entirely unharmed. One granddaughter suffered some minor bruises and a broken nose.  German suffered a broken lower leftt leg and a few broken ribs, along with minor cuts and bruises. Juanita also had minor cuts and bruises but suffered a severe broken lower right leg which still requires surgery. Antonio had a few bumps and bruises, himself.

The police officer on the scene was in shock. He had never seen anyone walk away from this kind of accident. After reviewing the accident and the vehicles, he told them that they should all be dead. He evidently doesn’t know my God. The pictures that follow are not gruesome, but they do show the results of the accident.

So about now, I hope you are asking yourself, how God used this to show me that generosity and love I mentioned. Are you? Well, then ask yourself and read on:

The accident took place on a Friday or Saturday. We heard about it and it was announced in worship services the following Sunday that the family needed prayers. Since we meet in some form every night but Saturday, the need was spoken of and prayed for by the congregation a great deal throughout the week.

The following Sunday, José announced a few of us were going to go visit the family and take some groceries if any of the members here in La Palma would like to donate anything. Remember, the average daily wage for someone working a full-time job here is about $3.00 – a day. If you have a really good job, it might pay as much as $12.00 a day – and that is rare. The staples here are beans, rice and corn, all of which have sky-rocketed due to last year’s over abundance of rain and flooded crops and the general world economy.

During the week (as it always does) things came up that prevented us from going to the Pineda family. This was a very good thing. In the U.S. it is not uncommon to have a special contribution during a Sunday worship service for such an event. Sometimes you even get told about it in advance allowing you to plan for extra donation money. They had never heard of doing that here, but José very much liked the idea when I talked with him about it. Since we were going to be unable to go to this week, we would have time to tell the members of our plan for a special one-time contribution on the following Sunday.

Are you ready for some goose bumps? Well, get ready!

The following Sunday arrived. I was leading worship and we did things a little differently than everyone was used to. We had a few songs and prayers, but then shared the Lord’s Supper before the sermon! You should have seen some of the confused looks. We gave a special reminder after communion about the plans for a special contribution, and after another song, we collected the regular weekly contribution. On average our weekly contribution is between $25.00 and $30.00. This week was no different!

After a few more songs and a very good sermon by José (having nothing to do with giving, by the way), we again spoke about the Pineda family, their need, and our plans to help. Then we passed the baskets for the special contribution. After the baskets had finished being passed, they were taken up front and a special prayer was given for the Pineda family and the gifts from the La Palma congregation.  Then they were brought to me (standing at the back of the auditorium, now) to count. José led a song and then had the closing prayers. Between prayers he came back to me for the final count and went back to the pulpit. For a few minutes he fiddled around on his laptop (on the pulpit because songs and PowerPoint are run from there). He then began talking about the contribution and revealed on the overhead the amount of the special contribution - $43.80!!! That is nearly DOUBLE our regular contribution! I wanted to stand and cheer – but I was already standing so I just cheered! There were many “Amen!”s and some applause. These poor people had heard the challenge given by Macedonia, and answered (Romans 15:26-27; 2 Corinthians 8:1-4). That day, I saw the widow give two coins (Mark 12:41-43). That day, I saw a first century church having all things in common as one another had a need (Acts 2:44-46).

But wait! It gets better!

Tuesday came, time for us to drive to Apulo and visit the Pineda family. We took with us a wheelchair for German and the contribution of food (bags of beans, rice, cereal, pasta, and more) and the contribution (which had been upped to a total of $50.00 because some members were not there Sunday morning). There were four of us that went. José and I were accompanied by Marlon (José’s brother-in-law) and Jesús, the preacher from San Ignacio. He brought with him $10 from that congregation! That meant $60.00 from our congregations and groceries. I was so proud of the two congregations for this outpouring of support and generosity. And yet, God was still not finished.

On the drive to Apulo, we turned off the main highway onto a dirt(ish) road somewhere in El Tule. This was unexpected to me, but evidently was a planned detour. I asked José where we were going and he told me the preacher from El Tule wanted us to stop by his house on the way to the Pineda’s. We stopped there and I met the preacher and some of his family and a woman selling fish from a nearby river. El Tule had collected another $10.00 and 10 pounds of corn, and they had a donation from an even smaller, poorer congregation in Dulce de Nombre de Maria (yes, that is the name of the town – Mary’s Sweet Name). They had sent 2 pounds each of beans and sugar.

This is truly an amazing display of what it really means to be part of a Christian family, the church – not just a local congregation – THE church! I was in awe of the work God was doing right before my eyes, and more than a little humbled as well. How many times have I gone to the pantry and picked out something to take to a food drive? Picked from my bounty something I knew I would not miss, or could easily replace. These families had given out of their weekly rations, joyfully, willingly, glad that they had the opportunity to share. Is our God awesome, or what?

All this before we even got to the Pineda family.

Well, we finally arrived in Apulo. This was not my idea, but I am glad we did it like this – first we went and visited. We talked with Antonio and his family. We talked of their injuries and what it meant. German is a spear fisherman in the nearby Lake Ilopango and rivers. Of course with broken ribs and a cast on his leg, he is currently not receiving an income. Juanita had her leg in a cast as well, but her treatments are not over – maybe. See, she needs pins put in her leg and their country’s free healthcare requires the patient to pay for the pins prior to the surgery. They are out of money – did I mention they now have no income? The pins alone will cost a measly $126.00. They don’t know the cost of the surgery and the pre-tests (MRI or some sort of scan). Measly, to most U.S. families. To them, that is months worth of fishing and selling fruit and whatever else they can do or sell. We saw the granddaughter with the broken nose, still having a black eye but otherwise only a bump on her nose to show for it.

German; Age 47; Broken ribs and leg

Juanita; Age 44; Broken leg

German in his new wheelchair. This will be Antonio's when German can walk again.

Antonio had some ugly bruises and some scrapes and cuts. Want another testimony that God’s hand was on them? The prior month Antonio had had spine surgery. His injuries in this wreck were a few inches above and a few inches below the surgery site. He showed us the place where the stitches had been and the areas of injury. Most would say he was so lucky – I would say he was SO blessed.

Then, after we had visited with everyone, we went back to the car and emptied the trunk of its gifts. German was overjoyed at the wheelchair. Their hammocks (no beds) were comfortable, but mobility was appreciated. When we told Antonio the wheel chair was to be his when German no longer needed it, he was excited. Remember, his last wheelchair is now almost 40 years old. We delivered the groceries and the money. They received it with gladness and thanks.

Marlon & José giving the donations to Antonio.

They are still in need. Yet, they were joyful and content. They are still in need. Yet, they wondered if there was anything they could do for us. I asked for a lemon from their lemon tree. They gave me five – only after I convinced them that 5 were more than enough. These lemons produced the best lemonade ever made on God’s green earth. My family will attest to this. Each lemon was larger than a grapefruit, too.

 

Can you help this family? I have already had one family from the U.S. match our congregational donation of $50.00. Would you like to help? If you can or are willing, let me know – mklalli1@aol.com. I believe a particular U.S. congregation will be planning to gather contributions for them. Please have confidence, that any money sent will be used in good stewardship for this family.

If more is received than they need, the rest will be used to start a fund to help with situations like these and covering the costs of transportation. It cost $30.00 in gas to get to Apulo. This time, we did not have to pay a driver because Jesús has a car. If we had to pay for transport, it would have cost an additional $100 or more – so we probably would not have gone. The $30 this time was covered by another single family’s donation.

Congregation - Donation

La Palma - $50.00; rice, pasta, soups, sugar, cereal, and more

San Ignacio - $10.00

El Tule - $10.00; 10 pounds of corn

Dulce de Nombre de Maria - 2 pounds of beans, 2 pounds of sugar

Other - U.S. family $50.00 La Palma congregation match; other family $30.00 gas money

God is doing great things through me or around me – either way, I get to be witness to it. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God.

Monte