Journey to the Land of the Inca

Four assignments, copious tears, unspeakable joy, thousands of miles across South America from the mysterious and ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in the cloud shrouded Andes, to the remote villages on the Amazon River, as well as cities in the Amazon Jungle only accessible by plane or boat, Richard and Cheryle Whitaker faithfully completed the last of their four assignments in South America.Tirelessly they served the Lord in various capacities, never wavering, but with resolution they faced the daunting task of developing and building the Quito, Ecuador Employment Resource Center, and later the development of a Perpetual Education Fund program for the countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.Uruguay was their fourth and final assignment where Cheryle supervised the mission office, and Richard served as a counselor and companion to the mission president.The pages of this account almost quiver with details you rarely hear or read in mission reports. Richard is refreshingly, almost shockingly, straightforward and honest as he appropriately tosses into the trash the proverbial “rose-colored glasses” in his recounting of their experiences. The joys, the challenges, the frustrations, the foibles of human nature in leadership, the physical dangers that they both faced time and time again is palpable, and intense, leaving you with no doubt as to their commitment to their covenants to sacrifice and love the Lord and His work. Unspoken is the selfless service exhibited by both, but most especially by Cheryle who subjugated and subdued her mother’s heart to leave her children and grandchildren again and again, year after year.Although their final assignment was fraught with physical and emotional difficulties that dramatically included Cheryle being robbed on the street and her suffering a near fatal fall down a flight of seventeen stairs in the mission home, she never complained, but put her trust in the Lord.This is Volume 3—Journey to the Land of the Inca—from Whitaker’s A Remarkable Journey series. It is more than a journal or a memoir. It is a legacy for all time and all people, but primarily for their children and grandchildren, and those who follow. It is their “footprint” in history’s “sands of time” and in the building up of the Kingdom of God in the South American countries.When the final page is turned and the book is held in your hands—or more likely to your heart—there will be no doubt that Richard and Cheryle will long be remembered, respected, appreciated, loved and missed for the love and service they rendered, and the sacrifice they faithfully and willingly gave of time, means, energy and health to fill their “Errand from the Lord.”