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July 1991 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
In the jungle and prairie of Southeastern Colombia
Volume 19, Issue 7 July, 1991
NACC
July was dedicated to the North American Christian Convention. This was only the second time we had ever attended a North American. The first time was fifteen years ago. The convention was held in Cincinnati that year. My brother, Richard, was living there at the time and we were able to stay with him. Since then, the cost of motels and eating in restaurants had prevented us from attending. My desire to be a good steward of the funds you have sent for evangelization precluded spending so much on ourselves in only one week!
This year I did not have the option. As president of the National Missionary Convention, I was expected to be in Denver. It was not quite such a shock though as the Missionary Convention would reimburse us for the time spent in Denver and for the mileage on our trip out and back. Since Wendy is to be a senior this Fall, we wanted to make the trip into something the kids would enjoy. We planned a vacation through the Black Hills and Yellowstone on our way out.
We left for the convention ten days before it actually started. For our first two days we did nothing but drive. By the end of the second day, we were camped in the Badlands. We set up our tents late and almost immediately a violent storm hit. High winds flattened nearly every tent in the campground. Our little backpacking tents bent low but sprung back as the winds subsided. Still the heavy rains and violent lightning made for a poor night's sleep. We did survive and toured the Badlands the next day. We camped in the Black Hills the next night. It was chilly there but by using beach towels for blankets we made it without feeling the cold too much. We visited Mt. Rushmore and the other sights in the Black Hills. We swung by Hill City, where Jeanie and I stayed while on our honeymoon twenty years ago. The tiny motel in which we stayed is still there. It costs more than $6.00 a night now though. The Passion Play was next on our list. To get there we drove by old Fort Meade, in Meade County, South Dakota for a little personal ego trip. I could not convince the kids that it had been named after me though.
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Our next stop was Yellowstone. The park had been severely damaged in the fires of two years ago. In fact, very few trees are left. Still, the geysers and hot springs remain impressive. The drive out through the Grand Tetons was spectacular. From there we headed South down the Snake River Gorge and into Utah. By the time we arrived at Salt Lake City, a swim in the Great Salt Lake was all that we had time for. Time was running short so we headed east towards Denver. We camped that night at the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. Our Van could barely pull the grade the next day as we climbed to over 12,000 feet. That evening we arrived at our hotel in Denver.
The next day we set up the display and stocked up on bread, pop, and lunch meat. By noon we were back at the convention center, manning the National Missionary Convention booth. For the rest of the week, I spent my time at the booth, or in business meetings. There was only enough free time to attend four of the NACC sessions. I had a meeting for the Missionary Convention itself, as well as meetings for the translation committee for Spanish publications. The hectic schedule meant that the week was gone almost as soon as it had begun.
Then, for two hard, long days, we drove home. We put more than 5,000 miles on our van, we slept in tents when on the road, and we averaged $1.80 per meal. Even then, the convention was a costly affair. Given my frugality, it may just another fifteen years until we go back to our next convention.
FIRST FRUITS
We returned to Rittman to find that we were having a drought. While we were nearly washed away in the desert, our garden was being parched. In spite of that, it was time to start harvesting. Our green beans and early corn were both coming on. The potatoes and onions were also ready to dig. So we began to lay up our winter provisions.
We have already packed out potatoes into the fruit cellar. We picked and canned nearly fifty quarts of beans. Before we left for the NACC we had frozen broccoli and peas. We had made and canned saurkraut. Since I did not have time to hunt for a deer this last winter, our garden will be our sole provider of food. We still have corn, lima beans, peppers, sunflowers, and tomatoes to harvest.
The drought has continued here so we are praying for rain. If we do not get some rain soon, we might end up with only the first fruit.
TRAVEL TIME
With the North American over, we have than just garden to attend to. We began getting ready for our trip back to Colombia. This year we must renew our Cedulas, or Colombian identification cards, as well as our visas. These little cards carry our picture, fingerprints, and description. They are like an internal passport that must be carried at all times. Even though they are totally separate from our visas, we must renew them or we would not be able to return to Colombia after the missionary convention is over. On top of this, I must file and pay our taxes while there. We plan to leave in a few days and return for my speaking engagements in September.
We have three urgent prayer requests for you. First, pray that God clears the way for us to get our paper work done in the short amount of time that we have. Nothing is ever easy in Colombia and there is a lot to do. Second, we ask you to pray for our safety. We must travel through some very dangerous areas of Colombia in order to take care of all this paper work. Finally, we ask that you pray for the funds with which to travel. We would like to take the children with us, but that is impossible at the moment. There has been a huge increase in air fares since last year and as a result our travel fund is again short. We need to renew the Colombian passports of the two younger children. We would also like to try and recoup Wendy's permanent resident visa. She needs to go along in order to do this.
As this very busy year passes rapidly, we have appreciated your companionship in the work. May God richly bless you, as we have traveled this road together.