The Journal of Jim and Joy Hadfield

This blog is an intriguing snapshot about the daily life of a protestant missionary family living for fifteen years in the remote north eastern town of San Joaquin de Agua Dulce in the province of El Beni, Bolivia. They lived a very simple lifestyle alongside the local folk, without electricity and running water. It describes a specific era that does not necessarily reflect the current worldview. It is a snapshot of the mid twentieth century in a culture far removed from the

Army Ants - On New Year's day Jim went to San Ramon, making his first river trip in the new casco and motor. While he was away, early one morning I got out of bed into my shoes and walked across the earth floor to make up Lucille's bottle of milk in the kitchen. The doors onto the back verandah were both shut, and before I could open one to get some daylight, I felt a strange sensation of something moving on my legs. Rushing back into the bedroom and throwing open that door,

In late November, Jim was able to purchase a casco, a hollowed-out cedar tree trunk about 24' long, 1 1/2" thick, and spread by fire to about 3'6" wide. For a casco this was small, but wider than a canoe (a plain hollowed-out log not spread by fire that rolled too dangerously for a motor). Through an Arab merchant, Jim was able to order some tins of gasoline to come from Brazil by river, making the freight less costly than by air from Cochabamba. A few of the tins arrived

A rest in Cochabamba In mid-September, with the temperature a constant 100°F. day and night, Lucille was not progressing very well and we were feeling the effects of more than a year in the Beni climate, so we decided to go to Cochabamba for a few weeks. To secure our goods as much as possible, Jim nailed boards behind the two doors onto the back verandah and the wooden window shutters, fastening the front door that opened onto the footpath with a couple of heavy padlocks.

We lived in St Peter Street, so on his birthday there were special celebrations to mark the event, as there always were for every saint of the Catholic Church calendar. In each case, the appropriate image was taken from the church and paraded around the streets. On the eve of St Peter's day, his image was carried shoulder-high to the end of the street and into an native hut where a crowd passed the night with it. In the darkness of the night these processions looked quite w

As the time came closer for the arrival of our baby, Jim did not travel too far from home. Indoor meetings were crowded to capacity with about 25 in attendance, including a number of soldiers from various areas of the Beni. A few people of the town showed interest by buying Bibles and New Testaments, so we were seeing some sowing of the seed of the Word. Arrangements had been made with Mrs Vi Trotman to travel from Santa Ana to take the confinement due about 25th July. B

The heat was quite trying until in early May we enjoyed a very welcome cool change brought by a strong south wind. The suraso* lasted for a few days, the temperature gradually rising to the normal 90°F again, but we appreciated having a blanket on the bed for a couple of nights. * Garden Produce With the rainy season behind us, our gardening efforts were a little more productive, and also we were able to buy fresh milk each day. From our box of lettuce we were getting abo

A week after the trip to Puerto Siles, Jim made another trip to San Ramon, together with three companions, paddling the canoe. He had good opportunities for visiting the homes with the Gospel, holding meetings for the believers, for the children, and a Gospel meeting in their little church with about 50 mostly young people. Arrangements were also made for some necessary repairs to the church property there. It was good to see improvement in the work since the previous visit

Two cascoe's or canoes at San Joaquin Port. The closer one has cow hides for shelter from the sun. Towards the end of March Jim was offered a trip to Puerto Siles on the River Mamore, travelling across the lagoon in a canoe fitted with a motor. At that time of the year it was a three-day trip by oxcart, although only about 33 miles away. The trip turned out to be very hard, in fact the man with whom he went said it was the hardest trip he had ever made, so Jim had a good in

Snake One Sunday afternoon Jim was walking past our woodpile and almost trod on a deadly type of snake. It slipped down a hole in the ground nearby, but he dug it out with a mattock, though in doing so he managed to cut the snake in half. The living half, with the head, raised itself up from the ground and struck at the mattock head three times, so he divided that piece into three. Even then, the part with the head started to move away, and Jim had to chase after it with

Butter It was the custom of the people always to make any trip pay for itself. The usual profit margin on anything they brought back and sold was 100%. Don Oscar Giese, son of a German father and a Bolivian mother, was an innovative and enterprising fellow. From time to time he or his wife made trips to Cochabamba and brought back odds and ends to sell from the front door of their house, not far from where we lived. Sometimes they also had items from their cattle ranch

Similar instruments used in those days for tooth extractions Unless there was a doctor doing his time of national military service with the army, it was not usual to have any trained medical help in the town. Just a few months after going to San Joaquin I developed an abscess on a large molar, and Jim had to rise to the occasion and extract the tooth. This was the second time he had come to my help. In Totora the local chemist/dentist had snapped off a molar at gum level

{AI generated image) Tall yarns and big ideas were very common in conversation, especially if there could be any faint possibility of collaboration in gaining the proverbial pot of gold. One chap had a talk with Jim about radar equipment to locate gold in an old Jesuit farm out from San Ramon. He claimed to have the map and details of buried treasure there, saying that in the early days, four Jesuit priests with forty mule loads and 120 Indians all loaded with gold went to

Humming Birds In one of the lower branches of a mango tree in our yard we found a tiny nest about the size of a small egg-cup, but not quite as deep. It was neatly made with what looked like cotton and spider-web. In it were two very small eggs smaller than my little fingernail, while the minute mother humming-bird sat in it like a majestic queen. When we approached she darted here and there with her tiny wings going so fast that they could scarcely be seen. It was the noi

[Image purchased from Shutterstock] Christmas day fell on Sunday and our evening meeting was quite good, two young soldiers who were believers took part. We gave an imitation lantern lecture with the power lantern behind coloured drawings. For each fulfilled prophecy of the Old Testament, concerning the birth of Christ, a star appeared in the darkness surrounding the drawing of the world, until finally the darkness disappeared and the world was lit up by the Cross. Christma

Immediately after the Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) Jim made his first trip to San Ramon by canoe, in company with three other fellows. The canoe was a hollowed-out cedar tree trunk about 25' long and with four paddles they fought the swiftly flowing Machupo River from 6.30 a.m. until 10 p.m. when they finally reached the town. Although they hugged the banks, weaving in and out of trees growing on the water's edge seeking to escape the current, progress was slow. Jim d

About four months after arriving in San Joaquin, Jim made the acquaintance of Don Olegario Anez, an elderly man who had formerly lived in San Ramon and was a believer. However, he was afraid to show his colours by attending our meetings, because he feared the priest's threats to his livelihood as well as to that of his family. In the next few months, on two occasions he came into our Sunday evening meeting but made no commitment. One Sunday in February, early in the mo

Blindworms, toads, spiders all tried to take up residence in their home but worst of all - "crunchy grubs" With the beginning of the rains in early November we found that the insects and crawly things really started to appear. Walking around the bed one morning I almost stepped on a small snake. Actually it was a harmless thing, also called a blindworm, and lived in the soil. In the corner of our bedroom a big brown toad took up residence, but we left him there to help keep

Almost four months had passed since our arrival in San Joaquin. The Sunday morning open-air Sunday School was continuing with good attendance, and two boys came over to our house one night to accept the Lord, showing a clear understanding of the Gospel. With the priest out of the town for a while, our Saturday night open-air meetings in the plaza were well attended, and about 20 were present at our Sunday night indoor meetings. Our indoor meetings were quite informal, and we

On 24th September, just two months after our arrival in San Joaquin, the first commercial flight to come through after the revolution was a cargo plane, and on it were all our boxes. This caused much rejoicing, and we thanked the Lord for His protecting care over our goods. We hurried to get everything unpacked and the house in order, because with the approach of the wet season we needed to have everything up off the earth floor because of mildew, snakes and large venomous s