Having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond.” —2 Corinthians 10:15b-16a
After His resurrection, Jesus met His disciples by appointment on a mountain in Galilee to give them one last reminder of His commission to “make disciples of all nations,” promising to be with them always in this great task (Matthew 28:18-20). Before He was taken up into heaven, He told them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit to come upon them, empowering them to be witnesses to Him, beginning in Jerusalem and over time “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:4, 8).
It is amazing, two thousand years later, to see followers of Jesus around the world, prompted by the love of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, become His witnesses at home and into other nations. It is humbling to be part of this ongoing world-wide phenomenon by providing Scriptural tools for ever-enlarging circles of influence.
Puerto Rico
One such story began in Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island 106 miles by 37 miles, east of the Dominican Republic. Retired serviceman Adalberto S. founded the Evangelistic Tract Society in 1998 to share literature in all of Puerto Rico. That same year, when a visiting missionary family left behind copies of A Bible Study on John from World Missionary Press, Adalberto wrote to WMP, seeking helps for Puerto Rico.
When Adalberto received his first Spanish Scripture booklets and Bible studies, he wrote, “I praised God with tears of joy in my eyes as I opened the box.” That same year God opened the way for him to visit WMP in New Paris, Indiana. Later, when he was asked about becoming WMP’s national coordinator for Puerto Rico, he gladly accepted.
Free literature helped many churches of Puerto Rico grow, as members practiced the Great Commission in their areas, branching out to share the message of salvation throughout the island. Even though the percentage of evangelicals in the traditionally Catholic commonwealth had grown from .1% in 1900 to 25.2% or more in 2010, Puerto Rico was by no means evangelized. There was still a big need to share the gospel with street people, business and government people, inmates, and students increasingly experimenting with alcohol, drugs, and immorality. Citizens in about 78 towns and their surrounding rural areas had never been given a Scripture booklet and had no personal relationship with Jesus.
Radio stations, churches, chaplains, and missionaries were soon contacting Adalberto for materials for outreach in their communities, including one denominational council with more than 500 established churches and close to 500 missions. A Bible correspondence school sharing literature with inmates in Puerto Rico was soon sending WMP Scripture booklets to more than 60 countries, and in their 
newsletters encouraged Christians to take people to heaven with them by sharing booklets with those who do not yet know Jesus. As a result, materials from WMP are being delivered to diverse regions of Puerto Rico, including the central mountain town areas.
Costa Rica
In 2000 Brother Adalberto founded International Christian Embassy to focus on intercession for countries where Christians are persecuted. While attending a Voice of the Martyrs conference in Costa Rica in 2008, he met Ricardo M. (photo at right) and visited his street evangelism ministry, introducing WMP materials to him. He was able to leave 800 Scripture booklets with Ricardo, who wrote, “When I saw the materials my soul was happy!” Through Adalberto’s efforts, two pallets of booklets were sent to Costa Rica in 2010, provoking “a great joy in the people of God.”
The work in Costa Rica has grown, and to date WMP has provided 6,227 ten-pound boxes of Scripture booklets. The availability of Scripture booklets has been a powerful tool for pastoral work in different denominations and ministries. Massive campaigns have brought growth to congregations. “The organizedchurches working together, not considering denominationalism, has brought down the walls
that divided the churches.”
This growth encouraged Brother Ricardo, now WMP coordinator for Costa Rica, to expand into Belize! Four boxes shared with a pastor who oversees six churches and three missions were used quickly. Those he spoke to “had never distributed Scripture booklets because they cannot find any.” The first freight shipment for Belize is in process—384 boxes.
Haiti
Brother Adalberto’s long-time interest in Haiti, with annual trips to northern Haiti for many years, put us in touch with Thony P., whose evangelical mission includes twelve primary schools, two high schools, a medical clinic, a mission home, 19 churches, and a radio program three times a week. Thony’s son Ebed P. is working at training Haitian Christians in business development. Adalberto reports, “Haiti’s recovery has not been easy,” with political unrest and widespread corruption. U.N. armed soldiers are in all the country. Many tent-city survivors of the earthquake are still being resettled. Haiti has difficulty with potable water and electricity even in the capital city. Pray that God will use His powerful Word to 
transform this needy nation.
Adalberto’s vision is to connect people with World Missionary Press, encouraging them to use WMP materials, pray for us, and help when they can with freewill offerings directly to WMP. Adalberto has been instrumental in establishing major distributors of WMP materials in Spain, the Canary Islands, and Equatorial Guinea (Africa). Adalberto’s vision extended to Mexico, where pallets of coloring books and a variety of Spanish booklets, Bible studies, and New Testaments reached Chiapas, Mexico, for marginalized poor peoples in the jungles, including the children of the Zapatistas, whose base camps are in Las Margaritas.
A call to WMP in Spanish was referred to Adalberto. It involved reaching frontier cities in Mexico on the Texas border and calls for materials from Venezuela and Guatemala. He wrote, “It’s so good to know that God is at work in believers everywhere who are willing to go/do beyond what others are willing to do in fulfilling the great commission, so that many others might receive Christ!” Adalberto is an example of that very kind of person—one of a host whom God is raising up around the world to see that the light of His Word is carried into the dark corners of the earth.
[You can extend your reach into “regions beyond.” Every donated dollar puts 24 powerful Scripture booklets into the hands of Christians eager to share God’s Word with the people of their nation. An investment of $100 will touch the lives of 2,400 people; $1,000 will impact 24,000 people.]
Meet the Team
Joan B.
Proofreader
Our staff recently honored Joan, who is retiring after more than 48 years of service to the Lord at WMP.
My husband, Ott, and I were one of several young couples who volunteered once a month at World Missionary Press in its early days in Winona Lake, Indiana. When they needed a new pressman, Watson Goodman approached us to join the staff. At first Ott just laughed, because he knew nothing about running a printing press. But as we got on our knees by the couch to pray about it, we both knew we would go unless God stopped us.
When we started working in August of 1967 at $1.25 an hour with four young children, our families were not supportive at first. Ott had to leave his family honey business, though he continued to farm 100 acres. People thought we were crazy, but God always provided. In 1970 WMP moved to New Paris, so we did not need to sell our farmhouse.
I worked two days a week in the prepress department, so I could be home most days with the children after school. Since I had worked for a photography studio in Bluffton, Indiana, I was used to developing photos in a darkroom. But when Watson taught me to develop plates for the press, it scared me to know that if I rubbed them too hard after their chemical bath, the image could be wiped off!
Over the past 48½ years, I have handled the manuscripts of many Scripture booklets in various languages. Before the days of digital Bibles, I would cut needed verses out of foreign-language Bibles and paste them in order on blank pages for typesetters to copy. In the early days corrections had to be typed, cut out, and pasted with rubber cement over the error, using a light table to align it perfectly. To proofread languages I didn’t know, I developed a method of reading the verses backward, comparing them with the Bible text word for word.
What I have liked best about WMP is printing God’s Word and sending it out to the world. I’ve loved working with people also burdened for the lost and praying with them every day. The hardest thing in my life has been to stop working, as my husband is now at home under hospice care.
In years past I have loved to garden and work with a monthly widows’ group. I am involved in the lives of our four children and their spouses, 12 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
WMP Partners Around the World
Manasa K., Fiji Islands
Manasa K., Asia-Pacific Regional Director for Every Home for Christ, shares the impact of WMP Scripture booklets as EHC teams reach an average of 600 homes per day in Fiji.
WMP: Please describe your background and current ministry.
Manasa: I started my professional career teaching high-school English and the Social Sciences. After twelve years God called me into full-time ministry with Every Home for Christ in January, 1997. I now serve as Regional Director Asia/Pacific with direct oversight of 25 active nations. I help open up new nations for EHC by working in consultation with church and ministry leaders, casting vision, identifying and training local leadership, and helping mobilize EHC campaigns in those nations. I also serve as EHC National Director in Fiji, where we do literature distribution, follow-up, and integrate new believers into existing churches.
WMP: When did you first learn about WMP?
Manasa: I have known about WMP since I started full-time ministry with EHC in 1997, but I became more directly involved in 2000 when I became Regional Director for the Pacific and then in 2007 for East Asia as well. As far as I know, we have distributed WMP literature on a large scale since 2000.
WMP: How does having free literature affect evangelism in Fiji?
Manasa: WMP has been a real blessing in supplying literature for our distribution work. We have ground troops trained and ready to go any time, but non-availability of literature sometimes hinders our progress. Our association with WMP has helped a lot toward realizing our goal to give every home an opportunity to read the Word of God in their heart and soul language. Literature is one of the most effective ways to make the first contact with people during outreaches. Many times believers do not know how to engage people with a gospel presentation, but a piece of literature in hand becomes the first point of contact with people as a platform from which to engage them in conversation. Afterwards they have something in hand they can always refer back to. We have seen lives changed through WMP literature, with communities reached and churches growing as a result.
WMP: How long does a shipment from WMP last?
Manasa: In Fiji right now, we are reaching an average of 600 homes per working day. That translates to 3,000 homes per week. Multiplied by 52 weeks, we reach about 156,000 homes in a year. A supply of 100,000 pieces is used up in less than a year at the current rate. We will probably need 300,000 pieces for the next two years.
WMP: How effective are the topical Scripture booklets in Fiji?
Manasa: Very effective indeed! Because it is the Word of the Living God presented in its purest form. This is one reason I like WMP literature. Our workers recently visited the home of a lady in Fiji who had been lying in bed for more than six months, unable to move or sit up. Her husband had lost all hope that his wife would recover. They gave her a piece of literature. She read it over and over, was convicted by the message, and gave her life to Christ. Later, workers prayed for her healing, and immediately she stood up, instantly healed of the disease which the doctors could not diagnose at all. When her husband returned from work, he was shocked to see his wife moving around doing the house chores. He asked what had happened and she relayed the story to him. When the workers went back to minister to him, the whole family came to Christ and now attend one of our Christ groups.