When the Arrow Flies

IX

WHAT ARE MISSIONARIES MADE OF?

THE two missionary couples on the Paranatinga Indian station were planning an advance to unreached tribes. Government restrictions prohibited their living on the Indian post, so it meant keeping horses to cross the Red River between the territory allotted to them and where the Bacuri tribe was settled. There were cows and chickens to be cared for, and the houses needed repair. As the missionaries established a program of visiting the village, the indifference of the Indians to spiritual things began to change. The government restrictions did chafe, for they longed to make their home in the tribe; but they had to make the best of it. In July the river dried so that a child could jump across it. With the rainy season, however, it became a swollen, swirling torrent. Each Sunday morning Harry, Millie, Tom, and Betty mounted the horses that would swim them across the swiftly flowing river. After spending all day in the village, they at night again mounted the horses and, with the children in their arms, they made the return trip across the river.

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