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July 1976 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
San José del Guaviare in Colombia, South America
Volume 4, Issue 7 July, 1976
(PHOTO)
The Sandoval brothers provided music for our revival-Bible institute.
Ubaldina and Rito had run away. She was only 13 at the time. When I first met them they had already been living together for six years and had four kids. I had come down to San Jose to look for housing for my family. While in town, Warren and I went to see the judge to see it we could get them legally married. Due to the laws at that time it had been impossible.
We soon moved to San Jose to live but I had not seen the last of Rito's marriage problems. When we began working with the Jobo church we also began trying to help. It has been a long drawn out process.
One of the major problems was that neither had the proper papers. Without these papers, such as a baptismal certificate from the Catholic Church, the marriage could not be legitimate. We sent off requests for the papers. We would wait for months but with no response. It was an agonizingly slow process.
Meanwhile, Rito and his wife had continued to grow spiritually. They had become some of our most active and dependable members. He soon had shown leadership qualities and we wanted to put him in as an elder. But because of the difficulty with is marriage we could not name him to any position of authority.
Months passed rapidly and soon a year was gone. Formalizing the marriage began to look like an impossible dream. Then, on January 1, 1976 President Lopez passed a marriage reform law. Marriage was taken away from the Catholic Church and turned into a civil ceremony. People who didn't have papers were allowed to apply for them by using two witnesses. Phil and I signed the papers in a flurry of activity lasting one week, we were able to get all of the needed papers.
The notice was posted and when the allotted time had passed the judge permitted the civil ceremony. The following day we had a wedding at their home in the jungle. It was moving, but still a little funny. There were four kids all dressed up. Rito's wife was obviously in the "family way" again. The final irony came after the wedding when Rito came and asked if I could give them some advice on birth control.
The very thing I did upon arriving in Colombia was help Rito and Ubaldina with the papers for their marriage. The last thing I did before I left the Vaupes was to marry them. It seemed to be an appropriate ending for my ministry here.