Jorge and Donna Osorio worked alongside Bert and Colleen in Peru for almost twenty years, first in the jungle and later in the coastal city of Trujillo. Donna has provided a great description of what life was like on their river trips in the early 1980s:
I have a fond memory of Bert and Colleen arriving at a port town far up the Huallaga River. A place where time had stood still with no electricity and only dirt roads. After dinner Bert would light a hissing gas lantern and Colleen would pull out her accordion. They would walk from their boat using flashlights to see the way. They were never alone as a group of children would be pressing in, watching their every move. They then set up for a meeting in the town plaza hanging the lamp from a tree, not too close or they’d be eaten by bugs attracted to the light. Colleen would start with the accordion and soon their powerful singing voices would join in. Their music seemed to reach the entire town.
Once people gathered Bert would preach with such authority and power. Colleen sat nearby nodding furiously and laughing at his jokes. They had been evangelizing together for decades in meetings just like this across the northern jungles, the Andes, and the dry deserts of Western Peru. Some came close to the light, others lingered in the shadows, but all heard the message of hope. By Donna Osorio Orcutt
Thank you, Donna. You can read similar stories in Love So Amazing: The Missionary Biography of Bert and Colleen Elliot.
It is available to preorder now.