Rustic Travels

In the late 1950s, Sophie Mueller, a blue-eyed, single woman with a background in journalism and art, travelled the rivers and jungles of Colombia, spending several days each month in each village. There were no planes, no hotels, no restaurants.

Travel meant sitting on the rough wooden bench of a dugout canoe for days on end, often followed by a trek through the dense jungle. Sleeping arrangements were a hammock hung under palm-thatched huts alongside the villagers. And food consisted of whatever the people were eating that day, which could be anything from smoked fish to tasty wild boar to palm grubs or chicken foot soup.

A Thwarted Attack

There was that one day though, when the witch doctor cooked up a chicken soup for Sophie with a little something extra added. The villagers watched as the unsuspecting Sophie ate the soup laced with the most potent poison known in the jungle, a poison known to kill a person within five minutes. And the witch doctor had added enough to kill five grown men.

The villagers watched and waited for the inevitable — but it didn’t happen. Though Sophie experienced some vomiting, she did not die. And that didn’t make sense. But questions as to the potency of the poison were quickly dispelled when some of the village dogs found Sophie’s vomit and did what dogs do, after which they promptly fell over and died.

God’s protective power was evident, and the witch doctor who had prepared the soup turned from witchcraft to God. Sophie became known as a daughter of God and was allowed to travel safely in the jungle wherever she wanted.

An Open Door

What Sophie couldn’t have known was that God would use her testimony to pave the way for others to follow. Others such as Mark and Joyce Cain.

“Sophie opened the way for us to go in there and reach [the Guahibos],” Joyce said. “We were accepted as a team into the tribe because of Sophie’s stamp of approval.”

God used Sophie to open the doors wide. Read how God continued His work through the lives of Mark and Joyce Cain. Read how they’ve had the joy of seeing those they have discipled become the disciplers. And, please pray for the continued work among the Guahibos.