In the beginning days the missionaries themselves purchased the medical supplies needed to treat the jungle folks. The missionary was the medical supply company, the pediatrician, the doctor, the nurse, the pharmacist and on and on. It seemed you could never keep an adequate supply of everything you needed for treating malaria to pneumonia and snakebite to leshmaniasis. Supplies always ran out or got dangerously low before the next supply run to town. Supply runs you’ll remember happened only every two to three months. In the drier months especially, the round trip could be a thousand river miles.
In time the authorities became aware of the very important contribution the missionaries were making toward the betterment of the jungle peoples health. Two doctors from the department of health were instrumental in working together with the missionaries in setting up the training of tribal rural medics and providing medicines and supplies for them to work with. I’ve mentioned this very beneficial program in previous posts. Prior to the start up of this training in town these two doctors initially came out to the jungle and trained several of the missionaries over a two week period.
The doctors stayed with our family in our palm roofed house complete with its dirt walls, dirt floor and of course the well worn path out the back door leading straight to the outhouse. They took all the limitations and inconveniences of jungle living in stride. There was however one element of living and working with the missionaries for those weeks they struggled to define. They saw how the missionaries genuinely cared about the Indians health concerns. They observed and experienced first hand the sacrifices the missionaries made every day just to be there. They heard the prayers at the table thanking God for the food and for the doctors themselves. They were perplexed as to why these missionaries had come from so far away just to help the tribal folks. You must understand this was still very much a transitional period from when tribal folks were not considered by many to be humans on the same level as the National peoples. The doctors of course didn’t feel that way but it was an attitude held by many. Not having anything in their personal experience as a yardstick to compare with what they were feeling, they began referring to ‘THAT MYSTERIOUS SPIRIT’ to define what it was about the missionaries they couldn’t understand and the reason for them being there.
Though the doctors didn’t comprehend the love of Christ as being the motivation behind the missionaries lives and work, to their credit they saw there was no hidden agenda. Sadly over the years many individuals and groups have accused the missionaries of having nefarious motives for being there in the jungle. Some because they just could not believe the missionaries good intentions while others in spite of knowing the truth used it as a pretext to getting the missionaries removed. Their real issue had to do with the message of Christ the missionaries brought.
Both doctors became good friends and in time one of them was appointed minister of health over the entire country with an office in the capital city appropriate to the impotence of his position. It so happened that a number of years later one of those jungle missionaries died with leukemia in that same capital city. His widow wanted him to be buried among the tribal folks he loved. Our missionary pilot friend was on standby with his faithful little airplane to fly the body to the jungle but time was running out to get the needed permissions. The Lord brought our friend the minister of health to mind and we tried contacting his office not knowing if his secretary would believe our story of having met the doctor years ago in the jungle. Well, she did, and within the hour another missionary and I were ushered into the office, had the permission we needed and were on the way to the airport. The little airplane made the jungle strip before dark and the burial ceremony was carried out with the tribal friends and believers, the fruit of his labors, present and participating. The missionary’s widow continued on for many years serving the people she loved.
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