The Trail of Mud

For the past six years, the team had never even been near this side of the Rio Verde. Then last summer "The Bridge" was built across the river, at the bottom of the hill. So this year, we were whisked across the river in the back of a pickup, and arrived at the village of Rio Verde at about midday on Thursday (last week). We had a very busy day in clinic, and saw about 90 patients. Then, as everyone turned to go home, we all anticipated the unique experience of staying overnight with the Williams and the Shaubs (Kathy Bruce`s inlaws, who also are missionaries) up on the hill. The missionaries built this home three years ago so that they could be living amongst the Awa. They built with the help of the Awa, but did so with their own hands. A remarkable feat, considering the jungle environment and the limited supply of resources.

So, this was our team`s unique opportunity to live like real missionaries, if only for about 12 hours. Better yet, Doug Williams was going to drive us most of the way up the hill in his 4-wheel drive truck. However, it had rained a lot (which is saying a lot, here) last week, and the trail was `slightly muddy`. Doug is a great driver (besides being a full fledged jungle man), but his truck was no match for the mud, what with half a ton of team members in the back of his truck. We got stuck -- completely stuck in a quagmire. He ordered most of us to walk on ahead up the remainder of the hill to their home (a mere 200 yards or so). Wasn`t as simple as that, however. We all slogged in ankle deep mud all the way up. Thankfully, we all had boots. But, poor LInda slipped and fell up to her elbows and knees into the thickest mud ever. I tried to rescue her, but it took an intrepid mission intern (David) to actually accomplish the task. Finally, we made it, laughing most of the way (mixed with a few tears and a lot of sweat).

Dinner and the rest of the evening was quite an experience, but I don`t have time to share it all. What I did want to share was Doug Williams response to my question : "What difference, if any, has the team`s efforts made for the Awa over the past six years?" After mulling the question over for a time, Doug recounted a story of a prominent man in the Awa community. The man had two daughters who had been tragically lost to drowning in a river 3 years earlier. A few months later, the man asked Doug where his daughters are today. Doug admitted that he struggled to answer the man, not knowing the daughters`spiritual condition. Finally, though, he realized that both daughters -- like many of the Awa who are not Christians -- had come to one of our medical clinics in the early years of the mission. And, like all who attend those clinics, they had indeed heard the gospel presented by either Doug or Kevin Bruce. So, he was able to give at least some potential comfort to the man, saying that they might be in heaven, ready to greet him someday should he choose to go there as well.

That one thought carried this tired sojourner through the rest of that unique night of adventure, somewhere in the Western hills of the Andes.

With peace and contentment,
Tim