parachutes for Colombia

Flying low over the jungles of Colombia, pilot Russell Stendal drops homemade parachutes out of his small aircraft. Each parachute contains a Bible, Christian literature, and a shortwave radio pre-tuned to Christian stations. Russell has a deep love for the guerrillas also known as the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) even though they kidnapped him in the 1980s and held him for ransom. Colombia is one of the most violent countries in the world with fighting between the guerrillas and the Colombian army. The drug trade has fueled the violence making it dangerous for even ordinary citizens. The guerrillas recruit young children and train them to kill for their cause. They also must be committed to a Marxist ideology that demands total loyalty to their cause. Any opposition can result in death. Those who have become Christians and have turned from their violent ways have been killed and their families taken away. Flying over these jungles and dropping Christian literature into their camps proves to be a dangerous mission for Russell. If he flies too low he risks being shot at by the guerrillas, and if he flies too high he risks being shot at by the Colombian army who will assume that it is a drug runner flying the airplane. Travelling into the jungle by foot to witness to the guerrillas is also very dangerous because of the risk of kidnapping. Motivated by love and obedience to God, Russell continues to risk his life in order to witness. He writes, "I have seen many guerrillas turn from their violent ways after reading the Bible and listening to our radio broadcasts. If we want peace in Colombia, we have to point people, even terrorists, to the true source of peace and forgiveness."
I have had the opportunity to listen to Russell speak and I have read his book "Rescue the Captors." Russell writes about his life's story while he was held captive. As he reads the story to his captors they have many questions about Christianity and start to question themselves about what they believe. Russell uses this time to witness to them and encourage them to seek God.
All of this motivated me to make these parachutes (these can be ordered through Voice of the Martyrs) to help bring the gospel. With the help of some friends and family we made 40 parachutes! Our boys wrote Bible passages on them in Spanish and we shipped them off to Colombia. It was incredible to think that these parachutes, filled with Christian literature would be landing in the jungles of Colombia! We are praying that those who read and hear about the Gospel will have their hearts softened and turn to God.


Here is a short video of parachutes being packaged and dropped off in Colombia.

This video shows the extreme violence in Colombia, but also that God is at work changing even the most hardest hearts.  Do not watch this with your children because it does contains violence.