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May 1974 Newsletter
THE COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
San José del Guaviare in Colombia, South America.
Volume 2, Issue 5 May, 1974
"LO SIENTO"
Our apologies to the Rittman Church of Christ. They have also increased their support to us since we arrived on the field but were inadvertently omitted from the listing. Our thanks and appreciation are given to them as well.
(PHOTO)
John Reece, Porter & Sue Riner, Phil Banta, Larry Green, Jim Locklear, Dale and Jeanie Meade, nine students from the Churches of Christ, are studying at the institute. Below: Mail delivery causes quite a stir after classes.
(PHOTO)
A NEW DAY
Perhaps a new day is dawning. I hope so. It has been a long time in coming. There are now 9 students from the Churches of Christ in the Language Institute. This current number forms more than the total number of students from the Churches of Christ in all of the 27 years of the School's operation put together. Fortunately, for us, the day has come when the churches are beginning to realize the importance of language school.
To be sure, we met with some opposition. Some individuals asked why we were going to be "wasting a year" while studying Spanish in Costa Rica. Others couldn't understand why we didn't study while we worked in Colombia. But, praise the Lord, the vast majority of persons that we spoke with during deputation encouraged our plans
This changing attitude is being reflected in the attendance at the Institute. Warren Sanders was the first missionary from the non-denominational New Testament churches to attend the Institute. Ten years later, in 1973, Danny and Sandra Shoemaker arrived. The next trimester, Porter and Sue Riner, Phil Banta, Jeanie and I, Tom and Nancy Locklear, and Joan Last arrived. The influx has continued and will so for the immediate future, with 2 new families and 2 singles coming next trimester. Praise the Lord! The churches are realizing the great importance of language school and beginning to send their recruits to learn the language before sending them to the field. This is truly a great day in the policy of the New Testament churches in their missionary effort.
THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE
It is very difficult to get a visa to Colombia. If we were to get a visa as missionaries we would be severely limited in travel and the type of work we could do by the Concordat that Colombia has with the Vatican. This presents a sticky problem when trying to get a visa. Regular readers of our newsletter are aware of the many problems we have had in attempting to get these visas.
Regular readers also remember our special prayer request in the February issue for these visas. We had submitted our first formal application without several documents that were requested by the Colombian government. Everyone from a Christian lawyer in Bogota to missionaries who worked in Colombia told us that is was impossible to get a visa without these documents. Yet these documents would have attached the "missionary" occupation in our passports. So, we submitted an application without the documents, and sent out our prayer request to you.
Friday we went to the Embassy and the consular officer told us that she had good news. Our hopes soared. We were without photo's for Jeanie's visa so we had to return Monday. We had all sorts of fears about delays. But, the things had been worked out for us before we arrived Monday. LESS THAN TWO HOURS LATER JEANIE AND I HAD OUR PERMANENT RESIDENT VISAS TO COLOMBIA. Praise the Lord! He had answered your prayers, in our behalf. "Praise God from whom all blessing flow."