A Sunny Place

A Babe, a pup and no husband in sight!

The young woman of 24 yrs of age stood in the small cement building which was the "airport," if you could call it that.  Her husband was supposed to meet her.  She'd never been here - she'd been born and raised in a small town in the US, now she stood in a small town in the middle of the amazon jungle.  Her husband and her had committed to the call to become full time missionaries.  She'd gone to language school, had her first child, and then headed down the country of calling.  Her husband had headed off first with all their earthly belongings to be brought down by canoe.  She was to follow a few days later by plane (the only means to access this town) and he would meet her and take them to their new home.  She looked around, and waited.  After a while she realized he was not here, something must have detained him.  With her four month old in one arm and a puppy in a box in the other and a few bags hanging on her shoulder she set off to see if she could find their home.  The town was small, and he'd told her enough about the place she thought she might be able to find it.  She stopped and asked directions and made it to the small cement building that was to be their home for the next 18 months.  It was bare, and had only a few rooms.  She sat and waited, cared for the baby, and watched the puppy play.

Robert looked up from the canoe he rode in and saw the plane fly overhead.  He knew that there rode his wife and child and he had no way of communicating with her to tell her he'd be late. 

Several hours later they pulled onto shore in the new town.  Robert was able to meet with his wife.  They set about setting up house.  The kerosene fridge, and the generator to run for a few lights in the evenings and at night, a small camp stove, some pots and pans, a rough make shift bed, the kerosene lanterns.  It didnt' take long.

Ann learned to make do.  She adjusted to this life that was once a life her grandmother or possibly great grandmother had lived in years gone by, and now she lived.  Chicken must be butchered and dressed for meat.  The heat was tremendous and the little girl broke out in a heat rash whenever she was clothed.  She had to spend most of her time with just a diaper on or she was miserable.  Water must be boiled or purified before drinking or cooking.  Her husband spent much of his time walking jungle trails to reach remote country churches to speak in and evangelize.  She was often home alone for days. 

Before too long she found out she was pregnant again.  The nearest doctor could only be reached by plane.  They waited until she was 5 months pregnant to schedule a flight to the city for her first prenatal checkup.  They were also considering moving to that same city to establish their church base with another missionary already stationed there.  They loaded into the DC 10, and sat on the boards along the sides of the body of the plane.  Dale held Wendy, and boxes and freight were loaded in the middle in front of them, a few large catfish were thrown also onto the floor of the plane, to be transported to the city to sell.  In this hot smelly heat they flew on their way to visit the doctor for the first time...

The Babe was me and this is parts of my life story if you haven't read a previous post, as I have time in the coming months I will post a few more to add to this for those of you who might have an interest.

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,

wendy

A Ride in a wooden canoe in the amazon jungle...

This is probably one of my earliest memories of my childhood.  I would like to post a few posts about my growing up years in Colombia, South America.  I am the daughter of American missionaries. The first 2 years of my life we lived in the amazon jungle near the equator, no electricity, no running water, no doctor.  Later we moved to a large city that sat on the edge of the Andes Mountains and the flat Amazon Jungle prairie.  I've had some interesting experiences in my life.  It interesting because to me they are normal, but after living in the US with my hubby for quite some time now, I realize some are a little unusual. :0)

This is a taste and I hope to have longer posts and start in the beginning with a few more details added in for your reading pleasure and enjoyment:

Riding in a wooden canoe and being quite scared as it rocked back and forth in the river current

Adopting my brother and being scared we might not get him

Watching cows amble down the street in front of our house

Having a monkey for a pet

Beggars commonly coming to our door to ask for handouts

Dad & Mom telling yet another story about how they got up during the  night to chase thieves off the roof before they climbed into our house

One time throwing rocks at a bull that was charging down our street

Being stopped by routine police & army checkpoints when traveling between cities.

Riding through the beautiful (and very steep) Andes mountains to travel to the capital city

Traveling to the beautiful coastal cities and riding in a horse drawn carriage around the city at night

Being stopped by leftist guerillas and through God's protection we were went on our way unharmed

Watching my dad open the lid of a can of ants a friend brought him and watching a tarantula's leg reach out

Buzzing a cow pasture with my dad in his Cessna 172 so that we could scare the cows away so that we could land

After flying as far as we could - walking another 45 minutes so dad could have a church service with the local Christians

Driving our jeep through muddy torn up dirt roads, then driving onto a small wooden rickety barge to allow them to pole our vehicle accross the river...

Piling 13 people into a 4 seater jeep to travel out to a country church's social event

Sitting playing cards by lantern light as we experienced our normal electric rationing in our part of the city in the evening

Watching for the city water that came in every 3 days or sometimes only once a week -having to check it to make sure it wasn't muddy.

Washing out the cistern that stored our rain water.

Running the pump to fill the roof top water tank from the cistern

Being bitten by a dog and taken to a vet to be sewn up without the aid of novocaine (my parents did not do this - I was with friends)

...and I hear my son calling from his crib so my online time is up - but I hope to try to fill in some of these blanks -

May you have a blessed day!!

wendy