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January 1977 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
San José del Guaviare in Colombia, South America
Volume 5, Issue 1 January, 1977
(PHOTO)
An evangelist on horseback crosses a log bridge in a jungle clearing.
MAPIRIPAN MUST WAIT.
I had a good invitation. I found several other good leads. There were several thousand people in the area. There was no church of any kind. Mapiripan had all the makings of a field "white unto harvest." With a little work, we could establish the Lord's church there. But Mapiripan must wait.
But why? It's open; the town seems to be crying out for a preacher. Why didn't we preach the gospel there? It nestles on a river bank only a scant 60 miles from San Jose del Guaviare. That's only an hour and a half away, right? Wrong! Mapiripan lies eight hours down river by dugout canoe. It takes two or three days to get back up. It would take at least a full week to make even the quickest evangelistic trip there. It just was not possible to leave the rapidly growing work in San Jose for anther week in those last hectic months. So Mapiripan must wait.
If Mapiripan were one isolated settlement in the great plains of Colombia, it wouldn't be so tragic. But there is Rincon de Bolivar, Puerto Rico, Paratebueno, Pajure, Dinamarca, Puerto Lleros, San Martin, and hundreds more. They all must wait. Not because they aren't receptive, but because we can't get to them to preach the gospel. To spend one day in each town, it would take us 19 years and two months, if we depended on our present transportation. That doesn't allow for returning home or taking a furlough. It doesn't account for the new towns that are coming up each day. It doesn't permit any time for leadership training. The frustration and sense of helplessness is enough to make a concerned Christian sit down and cry.
Rather than engage in such a futile exercise, it would be better to do something constructive. "What can be done?" you ask. The most obvious answer is to send more workers. Is the Lord calling you? We could use any of you. Contact us if you feel the Lord's call.
But even with more workers we are stuck with painfully slow transportation. Even a tank would become mired down in that mud. If we are to travel rapidly from one place to another, we must secure some form of transportation that isn't bound by quagmire and non-existent roads. After much prayer and a great deal of research, the answer became evident; a small airplane. An airplane can travel in one hour what a car or canoe would spend three to five days covering. Every town and many ranches have air strips. An airplane could multiply our outreach efforts tenfold. Yet it costs about the same as a jeep in Colombia.
Could you, or your church respond to this challenge. One of our smallest supporting churches has already pledged 10 percent of the total cost. If you as an individual, or your church or Sunday School class could help us meet this opportunity, please send your expression of concern to either Paul Banta or Lucille Meade. Mark the check "for airplane fund" to avoid confusion. In this way you can greatly increase the returns on your spiritual investment in Colombia.
(PHOTO)
"Mankiller" or backbreaker is a primitive method for extracting the juice from sugar cane.