Locked-up Overseas June 5, 2012

Locked-up Overseas

As a child I had read many an exciting tale of missionary adventures. Stories of native tribes dwelling in remote places within the Amazon, ofthe Maasai in Kenya, Hindus and Buddhist scattered throughout the Himalayas,the indigenous people living in remote villages in the Andes and many others had been my bedtime delight and morning devotions in family worship. The missionary stories of Eric B. Hare were a favorite of my older sister Wilda and I and we read them often. So I’ll admit I had pretty romantic ideas about mission work.

Now all these years later, a missionary myself, I have learned that this work is not always as romantic and picture perfect as I’d imagined. Sometimes it can be downright trying and your only stay is in knowing, “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

On our way back home to Quito, Ecuador from Guayaquil — where I’d been assisting an elderly lady with breast cancer — Oneal and I were apprehended and taken off our bus and before we knew it we were sitting in the back of a police car. (more…)