As it got dark, Paul climbed under his mosquito net. Every three to five minutes one of the guerrillas walked up to his net and shined a flashlight on him. Talk about high security!

In the morning, Paul woke up before it was light, itching all over from mosquito bites And as the long day wore on he had plenty of time to think over how he had been captured the day before.

"The storm! That's how I got here," he suddenly realized. "If it hadn't been for the storm, I would have noticed there were no people on the airstrip, as there usually are."

Then it seemed as if God asked him, "Paul, who controls the weather?"

"You do, Lord," Paul prayed. And if God actually wanted them to land, well then, "Lord, that would mean that you want me to be right where I am!" Paul whispered. For the first time he began to relax a bit.

But the next question was, "What do you want me to do here, Lord?" Paul looked around. Maybe he was there to tell the guerrillas about Jesus. So he tried to talk to them whenever he had a chance. But he soon found that the guerrillas' training had made them very hard against any idea of God.

One guerrilla tried to explain it to Paul, "You're just like that log over there -- both made of the same stuff. For me to kill you would be just like chopping that log over there with an axe."

How very wrong! And what an awful thing to believe! When Paul was alone again, he opened his Bible.

He started reading in 1 Peter that we have hope and a treasure that can't be destroyed. Because we believe in Jesus, we have a joy that just can't be explained.

Paul started feeling excited. How different his whole life was from the guerrillas' lives because he believed in Jesus! He felt great -- so great that he started to think about escaping. After all, he had the key. But only God could help him get to the airplane.

That afternoon Paul had a visitor. (Click on the picture to go to a larger picture you can print out and color.)

That afternoon Paul had a visitor. While the other guerrillas were dressed in camouflage or old army uniforms, this man looked like he had stepped straight out of a city office. Clearly he was a big boss guerrilla. He asked Paul lots of questions about himself and New Tribes Mission, and asked to see all of Paul's licenses, passport, and other papers.

He was very pleased to see that Paul was not only a pilot, but a certified airplane mechanic as well.

This was bad news ...

Turn the page

Go to the activities

Go back to