an outsider's view on jungle work

John Crosby was a long time columnist for the New York Herald Tribune. In his book With Love and Loathing he describes meeting, "a white-goateed man, tough as wire, had been missionarying through Africa and South America for thirty years."  I've posted the complete excerpt about this meeting on the family history blog, but below is what I found to be an interesting description of what jungle work is like.

“The upper Amazon teems with missionaries, all of them marvelously resourceful fellows. Along with bringing the word of God, they must know how to take an Evinrude [brand of outboard engine] apart, heal the sick, teach the children, rescue the flooded, speak two or three languages and half a dozen Indian dialects, and do about a million other things only dimly related to the Gospel."