Rescue the Captors

by Russell Stendal

As a young boy Russell lived a comfortable life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was a successful engineer; life was good. They lived the American dream, until one day when Russell’s father brought home a book to “broaden their horizons” about Indians living in South America.

Little Russell was appalled at the Indian’s living conditions and challenged his father with a question: “Why do they live like this?”

“I guess it’s because no one has ever taught them or shown them a better way,” his father responded.

Four years later, the whole family moved to Colombia, South America, as missionaries with the Wycliffe Bible Translators.

While in South America, his family started a wholesale fishing business in order to support their missionary work. During this time, Russell learned how to fly a small airplane where he would buy fresh fish then fly them to the marketplace. He also flew much-needed supplies into remote villages. And on one near fatal but comical adventure, he flew a live pig to the marketplace in his rickety airplane.

Russell had many near-death experiences while flying over the dense South American jungle. Once he found himself being shot at in mid-air by the Colombian mafia.  The mafia constantly offered him large sums of money to transport illegal drugs. Although Russell never accepted their offers, he admits, he was certainly tempted at times.

Then the unthinkable happened. After landing his plane in a remote village, Russell was ambushed and kidnapped at gunpoint by Marxist guerrillas. Shortly thereafter, his parents received a letter from his captors: “We demand 12 million pesos by December 25, 1983 or we will kill your son…”

I can only imagine the sheer horror his parents must have felt.

Curiously, Rescue the Captors was written while Russell Stendal was in captivity. Amazingly, Russell found favor with his captors. They provided him a typewriter, a makeshift desk, and would eagerly standby to read what he had written. (In fact, Russell dedicates this book to one of his captors: Manuel.)

But life was far from comfortable; for 142 days, Russell was tethered to a rope unable to move about freely, tortured, and almost bitten by a venomous snake.

The core of this story is how God’s love infiltrated the hearts of guerrilla soldiers and challenged their ideology. The ordeal was life-changing for Russell as well.

Being a missionary in the sweltering jungles of South America is not for the faint-of-heart. I admire Russell and his family’s perseverance and determination.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Rescue the Captors, and eagerly look forward to reading Rescue the Captors 2: Faith Can Move Mountains.

 

Rescue the Captors is published by Life Sentence Publishing, LLC, and is available in book stores, on Amazon and on Kindle.

*Disclosure. This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from Life Sentence Publishing.