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January 1988
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
In the jungle and prairie of Southeastern Colombia
Volume 16, Issue 1 January, 1988
AN UNUSUAL DAY
Here in Colombia, I rarely baptize anyone. Even the people that I personally win to the Lord are usually baptized by one of the Colombian leaders. But recently I had been working with a couple of teenagers. Since I teach their class at church now, I had been invited to talk over some of their problems with them. As I normally do, I pointed to Jesus as a way to help them through that difficult period in their lives.
We built up a good understanding and after many afternoons of studying the Bible, they made their decision to give their lives to Christ. In this case they specifically asked that I baptize them. I recommended that the preacher do the baptizing but they insisted. I finally agreed.
Since it is dry season we get very little water here in town and we could not fill the baptistry. So we piled 15 people in our little car and headed for the nearest river. One other car came along as well and we had a nice riverside baptismal service. After some singing, Bible reading, and prayer, I waded out into the river and, and one by one, I baptized four people into the Lord. It would have been hard to say who had more butterflies in their stomach, the baptized or the baptizer. But we ended the simple river baptism with a couple of dozen curious onlookers standing by. During the dry season many people from the city come to the rivers to wash clothes. A baptism is a good public testimony.
We piled back into the car for the trip back into town. I felt a joy in my heart that comes only from leading someone else to Christ, and then having the privilege of immersing them into the Lord. If you have never experienced that joy, you are missing out on one of the greatest pleasures of the Christian life.
A NEW YEAR
The Christmas season is over. Here in Colombia we are thankful for that. Don't get me wrong. That does not indicate the Scrooge in me. As a family and a church member here, Christmas is a very special time. But we live in a pagan culture and with it comes many distasteful things.
For one thin, it is impossible to get anything done during that time. All government offices have a high absenteeism during the entire season. The few employees who do show up, do so with the idea of collecting "a Christmas bonus". Since we do not pass out bribes, we simply cannot get anything done. The airplane has been grounded since November. We were doing the annual inspection and didn't quite make it before the Christmas season. So it still sits there in spite of the fact that all of the work have been done and all of the papers are in order. The big shot has not shown up since the first of December to sign the papers. Now the time limit has run out and we have to start all over again.
Sleeping is another problem. The parties start on the eighth of December ( the Immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, according to Romanism) and go to the sixth of January (the visit of the wise men). That means every night there will be two or three parties going at full blast until 4 or 5 a.m. Since we live in the tropics, houses are open and there is no way to shut out the noise. So it is nice to be able to sleep again.
Finally, it is difficult to talk to people about the Lord when they are drunk. Since almost everyone down here spends the month of December drunk, our work is limited during this time. We look forward to getting back to winning people to Jesus. In this time when they are broke, sick with alcohol poisoning, and often grieving for a dead relative killed in a car wreck or a party brawl, people are often wondering what went wrong with the party. It is a great time to win them to Christ!
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
As many of you know, in Colombia the school year starts in February. Again this year we are asking for help with scholarships for poor children. We do not have enough support to make our Christian day school a free school. We charge a tuition as would any Christian Day School in the States. We do try to keep it as cheap as possible, but we must charge in order to operate the school.
Here in Colombia, where the average worker makes less than $100 per month, paying a $10 a month tuition for 3 or 4 kids is very difficult. On top of this they have to buy all of their school books. As if that were not enough, uniforms are required here for all schools, including ours. You can easily imagine the difficulty a parent has in providing an education for his children.
If you would like to provide a scholarship for a Colombian child, please send $10 per month or $120 in one lump sum to our forwarding agent. Please clearly indicate that it is for the scholarship fund. That way we avoid mixing your designated giving in with our regular work funds. In this program there is no overheard. Since we live and work here, 100% of your donation will go to pay for a child's education. None is used for administration costs.
Why not consider a late Christmas gift to a child who had not had the opportunities that you have had to get an education? A toy, or even clothing would wear out, but an education will help the child for the rest of his or her life. Anyone who wishes to write to the child that they sponsor may do so by sending the letter directly to us here in Colombia. We will give it to the child that you sponsor and ask that he or she send a note back. But regardless of whether you write, you will make an impression on a young Colombian that will influence him or her for years to come!