Land Transportation Stories |
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| Here are a few stories that emphasize the importance of Land Transportation’s role in bringing God’s Word to Bibleless peoples. | ||
Traveling by Faith |
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| Desperate to get on the already packed bus, I
climbed the three narrow, metal steps and raised my voice so all
the passengers would hear my plea. “Will anyone give up
a seat? I’ll pay your fare and you can travel tomorrow
morning.” Success! A lady jumped up, leaving me the only
woman on the bus among twenty men. We were on our way.
From my village home in a West African rain forest, I looked forward to visiting a friend, an African woman, living on an island 115 miles away. Catherine had invited me to a special Easter celebration. Having no car of my own, I sat with my bags on the edge of the red clay road waiting for a “bush taxi” to take me north. Not until late afternoon did one finally arrive, empty but for the driver, and I gladly got on. Read More. |
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A Winch in Time |
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| Mike Buchanan and his language survey team in
Republic of Congo needed a vehicle that would take them over roads
requiring a four-wheel-drive. “JAARS helped us get a great
deal on a Land Cruiser,” Mike says. That bargain price allowed
them to purchase some extras—including an electric winch.
Mike’s account of their first survey illustrates just how important that winch proved to be. Read More. |
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Road Hazards |
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| My colleague and I wedged ourselves into an old
Russian-built taxi for the trip to the airport in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. As we were zipping through the streets of the city, a
large, blue dump truck came barreling at us from a side street.
Great…ten minutes left in the country, and we’re gonna have a wreck. After having safely negotiated 795 miles of rural roads, what irony! A few seconds of creative driving prevented any paint from being exchanged, and we continued on. Read More. |
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Smoothing Bumps on the Road to Translation |
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| “The pick-up arrived!” wrote Victor Gomez, a translator and leader of Latin Americans in Translation and Literacy (LETRA), Paraguay, an organization established in 2003. “We made our first trip in it to the northern Aché community.” Victor, with wife Cristina and four team members, plans to train thirty Achés as literacy teachers and six as co-translators. Reliable transportation will help them reach their goals faster and smoother. Read More. | ||
The Chief of Ngai |
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| The Chief of Ngai perked up his ears. After the initial amazement of hearing his mother tongue coming from our car audio-cassette player, he listened—and responded—with marked enthusiasm and animation. He stared, grunting Mmmm at the amazing teaching of Zezu. For years he had heard these spiritual words—unclear for him—in the trade language, Fulfulde. Now he clapped his hands and exclaimed in amazement, Kay, kay, kay. Zezu had just fed five thousand people with only five pengs and two nzuys—incredible. Read More. | ||
The Ends of the Earth |
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| Could this be it? As I reflect on Jesus’ command to take the gospel to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), I wonder if Cajapucara, an isolated village of 300 people, might qualify. Located in a remote valley 13,500 feet up in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru, the winding, narrow, dirt road that leads to it has no guardrails, climbs over 15,000-foot ridges and descends though deep gorges clinging to the steep mountainside. Landslides and falling rocks are common and could easily sweep you over the edge into the abyss 2,000 feet below. It would be easy to get lost if you didn’t know the way. The distance from Cusco, the regional capital, to Cajapucara—as the crow flies—is only about 27 miles, but a crow didn’t make this trip. It took us all day to get here by 4-wheel-drive pickup truck. Read More. | ||
Good News for a Dry, Thirsty Land |
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| The scorching African sun burnt down on us, flies
buzzed in our hair and our face, and the language spoken around
us was incomprehensible. We were tired, dirty and very thirsty,
but our joy was immense. Surrounded by the Dadjo people of northern
Chad, un-reached and un-churched, we knew that finally Bible
translation in their language was now in progress.
We had driven 750 miles over dusty, bumpy, dirt roads, often not sure if we were actually on a road. We often stopped to wait for herds of cows, goats and camels to cross, and experienced close encounters with donkeys too, who thought the road would be a nice place to nap. Finally the truck inched down a narrow path and stopped at a mud wall. Read More. |
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JAARS, Inc. PO Box 248 Waxhaw, NC 28173 |
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