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February 1986 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
In the jungle and prairie of Southeastern Colombia
Volume 14, Issue 2 February, 1986
RETURN TO COLOMBIA
The heat is almost suffocating. After leaving in the dead of winter, the tropics are going to take some getting used to again. But it is good to be back. Much has happened since our last newsletter. By the middle of January we began packing and looking for a renter for our house in Rittman. We planned to leave on the tenth of February.
The last "hurdle" before we left was a radio license. I had set as a goal for myself during furlough upgrading my Amateur radio license. I held a General class radio license. Furlough had been too busy. But one of my classes at KCC was a class on Ham Radio. By brushing up to teach them, I was able to prepare myself for the Advanced class test. During the last week of January I studied phase angles and brushed up on my trigonometry. By the first Saturday in February, I was ready. I got up early for some last minute review, then headed for Cleveland. I had the usual butterflies in my stomach as they handed out the test. I carefully considered each question and when I had finished the test I felt confident that I had passed. Needless to say I was surprised when I was informed that I had failed. When I asked how close I had come it was evident that a mistake had been made. They did not have the correct key to grade my test. I had to retake the test so that it could be graded! Once that was straightened out, the regarding of my test indicated that I had passed. I was jubilant for the drive home!
The next week we began packing in earnest. Things seemed to be going well until just a few days before our departure time. Then Susy became ill with the flu. Wendy and Alex soon followed suit. Packing came to a halt as we nursed the three sick kids and prayed that we would not come down with it too. Our departure date drew nearer and all three kids still had a fever. Reluctantly, I went to the travel agency and changed our reservations for a week later. That proved to be the best decision as on the Monday we were to have traveled, all three remained sick. Because of this, we were not able to get packed anyhow. Soon they got better and it was back to packing. By the seventeenth we were ready to go.
We got up early and my parents took us to Cleveland to catch our plane. We arrived at the airport and began checking our fourteen barrels, trunks and suitcases. By the time we finished, they had called our plane. We said our goodbyes and boarded the plane. We had been praying hard for this trip, as I am sure many of you were. The plane left Cleveland on time. This was particularly important since we had only one hour to change planes in Miami. Since we had more pieces of luggage that what is allowed, some of it had to go standby. Again we asked the Lord's help. "Please get all of it one the plane with us, both here and in Miami" we prayer. We arrived in Miami a few minutes late and to get two hundred and fifty pounds of carry-on luggage from one side of the terminal to the next. We arrived at the gate as they were beginning to board the plane. Since we had barely made it, we wondered if our luggage had. Again the plane left on time. That is a small miracle in itself. The flight was a smooth one and by 4 o'clock we were landing in Bogota. We rejoiced as all of our luggage came off the plane. But then we faced the Colombian Customs officials, reputed to among the toughest in the world. Again we asked the Lord's help. "Please get us through with no problem and no loss of equipment." I began carrying the luggage over as Jeanie opened it. To my surprise the fellow hardly even looked. We have never made it through customs to easy. Truly God is great!
We spent the night with Mark Stringer. We sorted through our luggage and repacked. Only about half of it would fit in our little Jeep. We packed as tight as we could. Still the kids had no place to sit for the four hour trip. One sat in Jeanie's lap and the other two crouched behind the seat. But they were good troopers and made the trip well. This segment of the trip concerned us too. The road is very dangerous and our car is over four years old. Robberies are common and a breakdown would be disastrous. So once again we asked that God keep us in His special care. The trip was uneventful and we arrived in Villavicencio by one o'clock in the afternoon. We felt a tremendous relief. God had been so good to us. We had made the very best and fastest trip even. Prayers, yours and ours, had made a potential nightmare into the easiest trip we had ever made.
Now we are busy unpacking and trying to get settled in. The kids have already started back into school here. And we are looking forward to another term, serving the Lord together with you, here in Colombia. While there are many open doors, we are surrounded by violence. Please keep us in your prayers for these are evil times.