D: Death of a Saloon by Pablo Yoder

Guys, listen up. This is a true story. This actually happened. Teodolinda actually lived this life. And God actually changed her life in this amazing way. Check it out:

Teodolinda is a dreamer. She dreams as her family moves to Zapotal for a better life. She dreams with her new husband for a better life. But even the best of dreamers give up sometimes.

Her life is filled to the top with drinkers and sin. Even the priest drinks! Her sons are in fights, her husband is using all the money they’ve earned… Teodolinda just wants something to be different. Something to give her hope. Even just a shred of hope. Is that so much to ask for? Apparently, yes.

Running the bar that sells illegal alcohol and is known as The Dangerous One is not the way to find any hope, but what can she do? No matter what she does, her husband and father and brothers and sons and now even daughters continue to keep The Dangerous One running.

Everything changed though, when Teodolinda’s oldest daughter and her husband moved to Guanacaste.

It was a long way from where Marina and her husband Luis Elizondo lived in Guanacaste to Chahagua, so Marina hardly ever visited her parents. But then something happened that made her want to go.

Marine started to attend a local evangelical church and not long afterward was converted. She was very happy when Alvaro and Gloria, second and third of their eleven children, started going to church with her.

Soon after her conversion, Marina decided to go to Chachagua to visit her parents. She tok Alvaro and Gloria along to help witness to her family. Maybe they could be convinced to consider this new religion.

It fails. Instead of Marina converting her parents, her parents convert her kids back. Marina goes back to Guanacaste in disgrace.

It’s not long, though, before Marina meets a man named Johnny Rojas. He had been recently converted and was now looking for a wicked place to go, somewhere he could make a real difference. Marina knew just the place.

After the service she goes to the back and explains to Johnny about her family and about the lack of a church there and about their life on Zapotal running The Dangerous One. Johnny hears enough to know that this is the place he wants to go.

All of Teodolinda’s wishes and pleas for hope were coming right to her fingertips…if only she would say yes.

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Death of a Saloon is a remarkable story of a sin-filled, soul-sick family and a testimony of the great mercy and amazing power of God and of the miraculous deliverance and new life available through Jesus Christ.

Pablo Yoder does a remarkable job writing this story. I would very highly suggest it to anyone who likes to be uplifted and amazed by what God has done.

Be warned though. This is a good sized book: 426 pages. For me, the longer a book is the better. But I don’t know about you. What I do know, is that this book is well worth it.

Would I suggest it? Absolutely.

Happy reading, y’all!