Home > Today's Christian
> 2003
> January/February
Without a Trace
On a dark night ten years ago in a remote jungle town, Colombian rebels pointed rifles at three missionaries and told their wives to pack the men's bags.
by John W. Kennedy
 2 of 7
Nancy Mankins wanted to travel by river to a Panamanian town for help, but the dark prevented such a venture from being safe. Besides, Kuna men warned her that the invaders threatened anyone who left the village. The Indians had seen 100 armed men surrounding the village in trees and on rooftops as the abductions took place.
From that point on, the women never saw or talked to their husbands again. The circumstances of that January night a decade ago this month serve as a reminder of how dangerous missionary life is in today's world.
Life in the jungle
Dave and Nancy Mankins accepted Jesus as their Savior on the same night in 1976, and they soon heard about NTM, an organization based in Sanford, Florida, that has 3,200 missionaries worldwide. The fact that some people still didn't have a written language enthralled Dave. He gave up his career as a draftsman and Nancy left her work as an escrow officer. After Bible school and language instruction, the Mankins in 1986 became the first of the three missionary families to arrive in Pucuro. Although missionaries had lived in the community as much as 15 years earlier, those predecessors taught in Spanish rather than the Kuna native tongue.
Dave translated chronological Bible lessons—beginning with the creation story from Genesis—into the Kuna language and by January 1993 he had finished the resurrection of Jesus.
The Kuna dialect spoken in Pucuro is found only in three additional villages. Just 700 people in all speak this variation of the language. Most huts in the village had dirt floors, bamboo-like bark walls, and a thatched roof, with no electricity or toilets. Residents made a living growing rice, bananas, or avocados.
Three nights a week, Dave would teach Bible lessons to between 30 and 80 Kuna Indians who gathered in the village meeting house. Nancy made audio recordings in Kuna of Bible lessons for women to hear in their homes.
In 1993, the Mankins planned to be in Pucuro another ten years, figuring enough villagers would be discipled to carry on the work by 2003. Two years after the Mankins family arrived the Tenenoffs moved to Pucuro. The couple met when Rick worked as a police officer and Patti as a 9-1-1 emergency dispatcher. Patti invited Rick to church and he became a Christian at the first service he attended. Rick picked up a missionary application on their honeymoon in 1981 and they joined NTM a year later.
As with Dave, Rick was intrigued that some tribes had no written language. Tenenoff organized a Kuna/ English/ Spanish language dictionary and by 1993 had compiled it on a computer up to the letter T.
Browse More Today's Christian
Home | People of Faith | Stories of Hope | Today's Culture
Build Your Faith | Laughing Matters | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today Free!
|
 |
|
Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.
Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.
If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.
Give Christianity Today as a gift
Order a gift subscription!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
