Mowing The Airstrip

Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Genesis 18:14

Gladis Gibson, mowing the airstrip.
Chupientsa, Ecuador, SA 1959

photo by Bill Gibson

Mowing the airstrip with a push mower! This was how my mom got her exercise. Every Saturday afternoon, she was out there mowing.

The airstrip had to be kept level, and well mowed. A pothole, a rock, a large clump of grass in the wrong spot, and the plane could flip and crash.

Each week, my dad walked the length of the airstrip and looked for ant hills. Ant hills very quickly turned into potholes in wet weather. We’d pour kerosene into each hole, and set them on fire.

I always felt bad for the ants, but it had to be done.

A Letter from Gladis

Macuma, Ecuador
January 18,1958

Dear Friends

May this be a year when many souls are won to Christ through your efforts there and ours here. Maybe this will be the year that the Lord will come. Again, we want to tell you , "thank you" for your faithful monthly support. We value your prayers and your friendship. If at any time we could be of help to you friends by writing a letter or article, we would be only too happy to cooperate.

We were happy to have our little Shirley come home from school for almost three weeks. She was so happy with her baby sister and all the things she can do now. Now she is back in Quito for another four months of school. And the Lord keeps on giving us grace each day for the separation. When Bill left here, her last words were, "Send Mommy as soon as you get home." As you know that is impossible, but I do hope to pay a short visit in Feb, Lord willing. We would be glad for your prayers for Shirley as she goes to school.

We have cause to rejoice because some have come to know the Lord in the past few weeks. Some who seemed so hard and given to witchcraft that they seemed impossible to be reached. But God is able to do the impossible. Petsain had the most evil looking eyes and was so hard. One day he got sick and thought he was going to die. After treatment, he got better and started really listening to God's Word and at Christmas, he gave his heart to the Lord, or as they say "I took God's road and now I am very happy." He needs prayer because the only way he has to grow is to come to church and listen to the messages. There is no Bible for him to read and besides he doesn't know how to read.

Last week I had to play dentist again. Up to that time I had pulled about eight teeth. On Thursday a woman came with a big molar to be pulled. After four tries I gave up for the day, and she was ready to rest also. Friday she came again and I was still unable to extract that tooth. So she went home miserable and I stayed here miserable. She endured that pulling with only aspirin and did not once cry out. I was weak from the effort of trying to get it out.

Now she will have to wait until a doctor can come and if the rood is around the jawbone she will have more trouble. Imagine living where there are no dentists. She was grateful that I tried to relieve her misery. She has other troubles. A long time ago, a man bought her and her little daughter for his wives. She was his wife and raised several children. Now the daughter is grown up and the mother is thrown away while the daughter has become the favorite wife. Women's lives here are very sad. Some day the power of the Gospel will free them. There are so few of us to do what needs to be done. Pray that more come and help us.

On Monday, Lord willing, Bill and I will fly down to the Atshuaras. Bill has promised that I will come with medicine. It should be a real trip for me. These indians took years to contact on a friendly basis, now they want us to visit. I will write you about it next week.

Sincerely, Gladis Gibson
Letter to "Friends of Sooner"

Letter from Gladis - 1953

August 3, 1953
Riobamba, Ecuador

About eight 0'clock we heard a thud and the tinkling of broken glass. Since there was no electricity, we took the lamp to investigate and I had Shirley. We found that some one had thrown a rock at the Scripture verse in the window. It was quite a mess and we were a bit excited.

Later, I put Shirley to bed and she said, "Fraid." So when we asked why, she said "Wock, winno, fraid." No amount of words nor rubbing could make her forget, so I took her in my arms and rocked her and she was quite and soon off to dream land.

Later, we retired and were thinking about all the things that had happened. The electric plant had been damaged by high water, the train has been out for a few days, the folks in Shell are completely isolated and it will take a year to fix the road, washed away by high waters, the whole mission station at Shandia was washed away. The thought came to me of the possibility of thieves entering the house under cover of darkness and besides, we know we are hated.

I remembered that the Lord said in the last days fearful things will happen, including earthquakes. It was four years ago in this same month when the other great quake came. First thing I know, I was worrying about all this and wondering what we would do and we talked it over and decided that what we would do if there was time.

Suddenly, my stomach was a knot of fear, and I prayed. The Lord so graciously answered and reminded me of the verse "Perfect love casteth out fear" and I felt I was cradled in His arms just as I had done for my little girl a while before.

How simple is the trust of a little child, and just so should be our trust in the One who is our Father, Friend, and comforter.

Suddenly in the midst of all my mental activity, Bill asked if I was afraid and I could honestly say no because His perfect love had cast out all fear. Praise His name.

Bill and Gladis Today

Bill and Gladis are still actively sharing the Gospel Message of love and hope.

Bill is an Elder-Preacher at Grace Chapel in El Paso, TX. He leads and teaches at a weekly Bible Class in a mobile home park. He also leads a hymn sing at a Retirement Community weekly,and is the leader of the Jesus Team who does programs of music and message to different groups. Every morning he prays for many folks.

Gladis identifies her self as a "helper", this she does by letter, phone, and the Baptist clinic. To serve there, she has kept her RN license current so she can do the cancer screening for the Spanish speaking women who prefer a female to do their private tests. To each she gives her own special gift of love and comfort, and an religious tract provided by a friend.

Together, they act as a source of compassionate love and support to many folks in El Paso and beyond. Here you see a picture taken at the Tuesday Bible Class, Dec 2006.



UPDATE: On August 13, 2009, Bill went to be with the Lord. (You can read about it here and again here.) Gladis continues the ministry. She particularly enjoys her work with the Jesus Team at The Village Oaks, as well as the weekly Bible study, letters of encouragement to her many friends and supporters, and her work at the cancer clinic.

Letter from Gladis - Ecuador, 1957

I found this letter yesterday, and I thought I would share it with you as I found it interesting and inspiring as well; a little peek into the day to day life of a missionary nurse 50 years ago.

Macuma, Ecuador
Sept 27, 1957

Dear Friends,

Your letter was so very, very welcome. The first from your part of the country since we have been here. It seems that I have already answered since I started a tape to you folks and answered some of your questions. We started a tape once before but it was such a jumbled conglomeration that we thought it best to make another. So in a week or so you should be hearing us. And that will mean in the near future we can expect to hear the voices of some of you. At least if we could have a recording of the service, say on Sunday Morning with Brother Claude preaching. My we miss hearing the Word in our language but all the more reason to master this tongue, the Jivaro language.

Bill is away at present, has been gone for over a week. He and the other missionaries went to an Indian Conference in another part of the jungle. Those tennis shoes that you folks got for him are being put to good use. He is walking back - a three day hike. He should arrive tomorrow and he will tell you all about the trek on the tape.

The day after everyone left, I delivered my first baby, and the first baby in the little bamboo clinic. And since we are talking about "firsts", the first baby for a little girl wife. She is about fifteen. I felt as if some one was praying for me because the Lord gave wisdom and it was a normal birth. Was I scared? Well, if I had stopped to think, I would have been but I felt the presence of the Lord and knew that all would be well. That was the first time that any Indian woman had asked for help during childbirth. So it was a real victory. Praise Him.

Shirley is very happy. She has six rolly polly puppies to play with. I am sorry to say that they are the source of about two dozen chigger bites that she has tonight but she will get over them. We just have to get used to bites. She is having Kindergarten every morning when I can possibly have it. One day she drew a man with his arm sticking out. She explained that he must be a missionary since he was shaking hands with some one. She carries a puppy to church like all the Indians. Yesterday, she said she wanted to grow up to be a Jivaro woman.

It is hard to say what effect the martyred missionaries had on the work here. To me there seems to be a much better spirit among the Christians and so many more have taken Christ as Savior. On the other hand two of the seemingly most stable believers are now walking far from the Lord. Just today Mrs. Youdarian was here for a few hours before going to an out station. She is radiant and you marvel to see how the Lord has brought her through. She is endeavoring to learn the Jivaro language. Her mother visited her for about two months and it was a great blessing to them both.

The tape recorder has been a real help already. We use it in language study and will do more with it when Bill gets back. It is so important to get the language from the Indians. They are amazed at what the recorder will do. We want to record them talking for you. It has worked just fine. Bill had to build a dry cupboard to put it in. that is a box with a light bulb so it will be kept dry, there is lots of moisture in the air. We have been so grateful for it and think of you folks every time we use it.

Until your letter we hadn't known about the gifts you were sending. We praise the Lord for His supplying our every need. We pray that He will richly bless you as you give so that these here may be reached. We have just taken on the financial responsibility of the clinic. the Indians pay some for the medicine but they cannot pay the cost. Would you folks object for the money to go toward medicine? Or for helping pay for the trips of the little airplane to bring in supplies? Just be frank with us, we feel it is better to have everything out in the open between God's people.

There are a few things that would be so helpful. For instance: rubber bands, paper clips, scotch tape, string, shipping labels. We have to mark everything. Just plain needles and Singer needles that will sew size 30 thread. Imagine my forgetting that. How can I ever use the thread that you all gave? I have already done some canning with the lids.

Well, I see I am getting long winded, so I'll sign off for now. We will be looking for another letter. Greetings to all the friends and tell them that we praise the Lord for every one.

Love to all,

Gladis

Visiting Nurse

I do trust in the steadfast love of God
to time indefinite, even forever.
~Psalm 52:8

Gladis Gibson, missionary nurse.

Cumai, Ecuador SA, 1954, photo by Bill Gibson

The soft focus of this image really brings home the soft quality of Gladis Gibson’s heart and her healing work.

In order to make a home visit, everything that might possibly be needed was packed into a big basket that had originally been intended as a bassinet. The trick was to pack the basket as light as possible, because it had to be carried, and at the same time put as much into it as you possibly could because you never knew what exactly would be needed.

All the visits were made on foot, as there were no roads and no cars. I’m not entirely sure why horses weren’t used more often. It could be that they weren’t practical, because of the density of the rainforest and the depth of the mud.

About Bill and Gladis

In 1949, Bill and Gladis Gibson left family and friends behind and began their lives together as missionaries to the Jivaro (Shuar) Indians in Ecuador South America.

This took an incredible amount of courage and faith because at that time, the Shuar were fierce indigenous people living in the Amazon rainforest, actively engaging in feuds, vendettas, witchcraft, and violence. They were called Headhunters because the most common way to deal with enemies was to kill them, cut their heads off, shrink them, and display the shrunken heads as trophies.

There are a couple of movies currently out on DVD that dramatize the murder of several christian missionaries by the Huaroni, a nearby tribe. If you haven't seen the movies: End of the Spear or Beyond the Gates of Splendor they are both worth watching.

Gladis Gibson, was born and raised in Oklahoma. She picked cotton in the cotton fields as a little girl. When she graduated from high school, she went to nursing school in Canada, and Bible College in Kansas City. She had no plans to get married or raise a family.

Bill Gibson grew up in Michigan. He was a soldier in World War 2, and after the war, he enrolled in Bible College in Kansas City. There, he met Gladis. They fell in love while sharing a waffle at a nearby diner.

Bill is a self taught photographer. The majority of these photos were developed by hand, in a darkroom that he built. The chemicals and photo paper he used had to be flown in, presumably from Quito, the capitol city of Ecuador, and possibly from the US.

They had three children, Shirley, Grace, and Billy. Billy went to be with Jesus soon after he was born. Many personal sacrifices were made as these two brave and loving people dedicated their lives to following God’s will.

Today, Bill and Gladis are retired and living in Texas.