D A Y W I T H A M ISS ION
By ELISABETH FLETCHER
I T was a hot day—as usual—in Magangue, Colombia, South America. Pedro Gutierrez, pastor of the city’s only evan gelical congregation, climbed wearily out of bed at 5:30 a.m., dressed, and hopped on his bicycle for the short ride to the church property. At 6 a.m., a large number of sweating laborers were already busy mixing cement, heaving bricks and cement blocks on their shoulders and levelling ground. Pedro’s heart rejoiced at the realization that some not-too-distant day the growing group of believers in Magangue would have an adequate church building in which to worship their God. More than 200 in the one small room in Sunday school last week! About that same time, another evangelical worker in Magangue—Luis Calderon—made his way down to the river front of the broad, swift Magdalena River and boarded the launch of which he was captain. Today he and a group of believers would make a trip to Sucre, a town of 20,000 which had not been visited in three years and in which only one family was giving a testimony for Christ. By 8 a.m., petite little Regina Romero and Pedro’s wife Fanny were holding the opening exercises in Magangue’s evangelical primary school. About 50 pupils were on hand. Some were children of believers who would have been forced to attend Catholic mass if they went to public schools. Others were there because their parents felt the evangelicals gave better and more thorough instruction. An ordinary day had begun, for the Latin America Mission, Inc., in Magangue, a day typical of the energetic, varied missionary program carried on under the banner of the L.A.M. When Dr. and Mrs. Harry Strachan founded their Latin American Evangelization Campaign back in 1921, little did they dream that some day it would include so many facets of activity! The mission is unique among “faith missions” because it was founded as a service to other mission boards—organizing and carrying out united evangelistic campaigns in major cities throughout the continent—and it has maintained that vision of service throughout the last thirty years. Although the Strachans have now gone on to their heavenly reward,
and the mission has branched out into radio, literature, sem inary training, nursing, an orphanage, and other types of endeavor, its vision has remained steadfast, under the leader ship today of the Strachans’ son Kenneth and a staff of nearly ninety missionaries. The activities in hot, dusty Magangue are only a sample of one phase of the work. In nearby Sincelejo, Colombia, two missionary nurses are already on an emergency call to the home of a prominent local socialite who is about to be deliv ered of a child. Meanwhile, a queue is slowly gathering for consultation, and a message from the Word of God, at their little clinic. And Sincelejo’s evangelical primary school is also in session, while the pastor, of the church prepares to make his round of visits for the day. The same picture, more or less, is repeated in a number of other cities in the provinces of Bolivar and Cordoba, Colom bia. In Cartagena, center of L.A.M. work for the country, there are two churches and two primary schools instead of one, and in addition a boarding school for girls which is training the Christian wives and workers of the future. But it is in San José, capital of Costa Rica, where the major hubbub of L.A.M. work is found. Out at radio station TIFC, while programs of public service and quality music are attracting Costa Ricans to also listen to the Gospel broad casts, workmen slowly progress on an enlargement to the building. Robert and Eileen Remington, directors of the new continent-wide Pan-American Christian Network, wait eagerly for the day when the new addition will make a more adequate headquarters for this first missionary radio network in the world. The phone rings. “ Can you tell me where to buy a Bible? I’ve heard your programs and I’d like to know more about your teachings. But my family has forbidden me to listen any more. Is there some place I could get a Bible or some other literature about the gospel?” One of the staff announcers walks in. “ Discovered last night that practically everyone in our block listens to the evening symphony program and then stays tuned for the Open Bible. That’s really something to pray about in our prayer time today!” In another part of San José, the Bible Hospital is a bee hive of busy white-clad nurses and doctors in their daily routine. Many of the patients are of the better class, lawyers, businessmen, society, and the leading surgeon in the country (also vice-president of the republic) sends his patients there. But rich or poor, everyone receives a gospel witness, TIFC programs are piped into each room, and Christian literature is available for all who will read it. In the back part of the hospital is the free clinic, where nearly 1,000 patients are treated each month. Pretty young mothers with their babies are the most numerous visitors to the consulta, because the best children’s doctor in town is there three times a week. Downtown in the Bible Temple, L.A.M. church seating about 1,000 in the main auditorium and with a three-story Sunday school building in addition, the janitor is busy scrub bing the tile floor in preparation for the evening meeting. Out in the front section, a young man comes in to the Editorial Caribe bookstore to see if he can buy a book ex plaining the gospel: “ But I didn’t realize there would be so many different kinds of books about it!” he exclaims in surprise.
The missionary boat El Heraldo
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