February 2005

As we cross Brazil toward Bolivia, we are asking ourselves, “How did we get here?”

Julie replies: “At age 18, I jumped at the opportunity to go to Puerto Rico through the VIM Program, Presbyterian Volunteer in Mission. There I worked at El Guacio Centro de Servicio Cristiano, a rural development project that included a model farm, a clinic, a mission church, a conference and retreat center, and a crafts workshop. It was administered by the Presbytery of Puerto Rico, having been recently transferred from the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the management of the Puerto Ricans, and I learned much from my Puerto Rican ‘boss’ and other co-workers. This was at a time in the history of Presbyterian mission work when many successful programs started by U.S. missionaries in other countries were rightfully being turned over to the capable leadership of local people.

“I stayed in Puerto Rico four years, polished my high school Spanish, learned much about mission work and community development, and eventually enrolled in a fine Presbyterian college there, too, the InterAmerican University in San Germán.

These were formative experiences and only whetted my appetite to work to alleviate suffering in the Third World.”

Bob adds:

“Meanwhile, I grew up on the mission field in Brazil, my father being a Presbyterian missionary there, preaching the gospel, founding churches and hospitals, mentoring and encouraging promising young Brazilian students who later grew up to become leaders in the Presbyterian Church of Brazil.

“The two of us found each other in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1968 when Bob was doing his junior year abroad studies (from College of Wooster), and Julie had been working in Puerto Rico and flew down to Bogotá for a Christmas visit with an old friend! It was love at first sight, but we were not married until 1972 in Colorado, where we spent the next several years homesteading in a mountain cabin.”

Out of these experiences, and our faith in Jesus Christ, we both felt compelled/lured/attracted to search for new ways to reach out to the poor and hungry. We felt called to serve. We learned about innovative projects, appropriate technologies, and sought to apply what we learned in our work.

As we now look back, we can see more clearly how our early experiences shaped us, and convinced us that mission work is most significant when it strengthens Christian leaders and institutions in the countries that need our help. And that requires not just occasional trips nor sending funds, but ongoing hand in hand with Puerto Ricans, Brazilians, and now, Bolivians, shoulder to shoulder day in and day out.

This is what draws us so powerfully to the Joining Hands Against Hunger program: in it we see the opportunity to work hand in hand with our Christian colleagues in Bolivia (Presbyterians and others) to strengthen, with God’s help, their leadership and their institutions to lessen the need, in the long run, for distributing clothing, medical supplies, or even the building of orphanages, as some others are doing.

And our passion now is borne out of an accumulation of conversations with thoughtful Latin American Christians, deeply committed, troubled Christians who have given themselves in ministries of compassion for years and years, and who are asking, “Why, in spite of all we have struggled for so long, does poverty and hunger continue to exist here? Why does the need for clothing, medical supplies, and orphanages continue, or even seem to be growing instead of diminishing?”

We do not know how to answer. We wonder if God is calling us to search for answers at the root level, and we are praying about this. We ask for your prayers, and invite you to share your perspectives with us as go toward Bolivia. Perhaps you know some of the answers, or at least clues.

We will certainly be asking our new colleagues in Bolivia and listening to what they consider the most effective solutions to these systemic problems and the most effective ways we can support them.

How can we truly be of assistance? We are hurrying to Bolivia to find her, and to ask her that question.

Bob and Julie Dunsmore

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 60