hundreds of years ago by an Indian woman. It was very small, but when she took it home she insisted that it grew larger. After awhile it got so large that she could not keep it in her humble home, so sent for the priests to take it to the Church. There it grew until it reached its present size. It is said to have performed many miracles of healing and other wonderful things. We also visited a Mission school for girls and the Evan gelical Church in Buga. Work in this very fanatical town is difficult. Only a few days ago the priests incited a gang of boys to throw stones at the missionaries, but when they came to do so, the boys in the neighborhood of the Mission got together and drove them away. These neighborhood boys are not Christians, but they respect the good work the Mission is doing. We enjoyed our fel lowship with the faithful missionaries who are carrying on for the Lord in the midst of real difficulties. Easter Sunday, March 25 , 1951 What a blessed contrast this day was to the past days of this week! All that we have seen of hopeless idolatry and ignorant superstition only makes the blessed privi lege of worshipping our Risen Lord with this group of believers all the more precious. Very little, if anything, is made of the resurrection in this land, but to this group of believers the presence of the Risen Lord was a very real thing. After a very active Sunday School, which met at 8:30, we joined with about 300 Christians in a wonder ful Easter service at 9 :30. At that early hour, they were all gathered in their places, and we sang together of the joy that was ours in the Risen Lord. Dr. Talbot had the privilege of speaking at this service, and as the message went out in English and Spanish, we were all blessed in the realization of the meaning of the coming into this world of the Saviour, of His death for us, and of His resurrection. In the afternoon groups went out from the church for country evangelistic work. In the evening there was another great gospel service, when about 300 folks gath ered in the chapel. In view of the opposition and perse cution they are enduring, it is a modern miracle to see the wonderful response there has been to the gospel here. Thus ends our first week of Adventuring for Christ in the Andes. It has been the most wonderful week we have ever known. Our hearts burn within us as we think of the great privilege that has been ours. We have been conscious of your prayers so continue to remem ber us before the throne of grace as we leave for Vene zuela, then into the Brazilian jungles.
Picture of Catholic procession in Cali by Mr. Davis. Note image of Virgin Mary. balcony and soon the procession came in view again. What a sight! As far as the eye could reach, it was a solid sea of faces, and it made our hearts sad as we saw them kneel and rise, and kneel and rise again many times over, all the time reciting their ritual in the praise of the Virgin. After the procession had passed, and all the images were back in the Church, the priests took us over there to see them and other wonderful things of which they were very proud. The most famous of these was the image of the Miraculous Virgin, which dated back to around 1500 A.D., when it was said to have been found by Indians. Since then it is supposed to have disappeared several times, and always to have returned in a miracu lous manner. It is of solid stone, encrusted with gold. Many of the worshippers in the Church were angry that we were allowed to see this image, as they themselves are not permitted to see it during Holy Week. We went back to the Seminary and the priests insisted that we have coffee with them, and then have our pictures taken together. We took still shots of them and movies of them greeting us in a really enthusiastic manner. After the pictures a friend who had been very helpful to us, Sr. Don Oscar Fredrico Mejia Mejia, and a local busi ness man, took us to dinner at a good hotel. As we sat down to the table they asked if we were Catholics, and when we said we were not, they ordered, “ Three meat and two fish,” as it was Good Friday!! We got back to Palmira in time for another wonderful gospel service. These Christians who are suffering so much themselves for the faith’s sake, were very in terested in conditions in China in relation to Christian work, and we spent time in prayer with them for their suffering brethren in China. Surely we at home should pray more for these faithful Christians. Saturday, March 24, 1951 Spent the morning getting films ready to mail home, but found we could not mail them from here, so we will take them with us to some place where we can mail them. We also found that our flight to Bogota on Monday is cancelled, but we can go Tuesday. This should give us time to get a report written up for the good friends at home who are praying for us on this trip. In the afternoon we drove to a famous and fanatical city called Buga. Here we saw and photographed the second largest Church in all Colombia, the home of the Milagrosa, or the Miraculous Christ. It is claimed that this magnificent image of Christ on the cross was found
Image of Christ in procession. Picture by J. Russell Davis.
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