“I understand that this department has gathered a considerable amount of data on radio broadcasting experience and problems around the world. Do you have much on South America?” Clarence inquired.
“We have some, especially on the larger countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina,” the official replied.
“And what about Ecuador?” Clarence asked.
“We don’t have much on Ecuador. There’s no radio there,” the official said, rising from his chair and walking over to a file cabinet from which he pulled a brown folder. “This is all we have,” he said as he took his seat again. He opened the folder and turned it so that Clarence could see. “As you can see, reception conditions there are just about nil.”
“But if a radio station were to be built in Ecuador, where do you think is the best spot to put it?” Clarence asked.
The official picked up the folder and scanned it before he answered. “I would definitely not put up a radio station in Ecuador at all,” he replied. “Get as far away from the equator as you can. Try some other country down there, but keep away from the equator,” the official repeated for emphasis.
Clarence sat stunned for a moment. The equator went right through Ecuador—that was how the country got its name. And Quito, the capital city, where they planned to build the radio station, sat high in the mountains on the equator. Finally Clarence could not think of anything else to say, so he thanked the official for his time and left.
As he walked out of the State Department building into the stifling afternoon and made his way back down Pennsylvania Avenue, the words of the State Department official rang in his ears: “Try some other country down there, but keep away from the equator.” These were not the words Clarence had been expecting to hear. What should he make of them?
Chapter 7
Ecuador at Last
Several weeks later Clarence was still pondering the warning of the State Department official when he received a letter from Ecuador, from Reuben Larson. He eagerly tore open the envelope and read. Reuben reported that things were going well. He had described to Stuart Clark the plan to establish a Christian radio station in the country. Stuart was John Clark’s brother and served as the field director for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Ecuador. He was excited by the prospect of a radio station and had offered to throw his energy and influence into helping Reuben win approval from the government for the project. Reuben reported that the initial meetings between him and Stuart and government representatives had been favorable and that they believed it would not be too long before approval for the project was given.
As he read, Clarence could not help but wonder what was going wrong at home. God seemed to be moving all sorts of obstacles in Quito so that the plan to establish a radio station would get a fair hearing before the government. But in the United States everyone who knew anything about radio thought it was a terrible idea to locate a radio transmitting station in Quito. Clarence did not know what to think, and over the next few weeks the gap between what was happening at home and the wonderful breakthroughs in Quito widened.
Several days later Clarence received another letter from Reuben. Reuben reported that the president’s secretary was willing to push for the radio station, even though the secretary had confided in Reuben that as a strong Catholic, he thought it should be his duty to oppose a Protestant venture such as this one.
This was enough for Clarence. Although he did not understand why God was leading them to set up a radio station in a place everyone seemed to object to, he decided to move ahead with the plan anyway. He encouraged himself with the words from Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Clarence had to admit that things did not make sense, but he decided to advance in faith. He booked passage aboard the Santa Inez for August 20, 1930. This was the same ship that John and Ruth Clark were returning to Ecuador aboard following their furlough. Clarence figured that they could use the twelve days of the voyage to continue planning for the radio station.
This gave Clarence only three weeks to get ready for the trip and to talk about the project with as many people as possible. When he told Katherine of his plans, she gasped and flopped into the nearest chair. She was silent for several minutes, and then she seemed to collect herself. “In that case,” she told Clarence, “you are going to need all the help you can get. I’ll leave the girls with Ruth and Chet, and we’d better get started. We have a lot of people to see before you sail.”
At that moment, more than at any other, Clarence was grateful for his wife’s faith in the project. Katherine was right: he did need all the help he could get.
The two of them set out on a whirlwind tour from Chicago to New York. They had intended to go north to Canada, but their car broke down several times, and they had to change their plans. The twelve years under Paul Rader’s ministry had brought Clarence into contact with many prominent church leaders from a number of denominations, and now he contacted as many of those leaders as possible. When he asked to speak to them and their congregations about the vision of a radio ministry in South America, he received a variety of responses. Some pastors arranged special meetings and opened their pulpits for Clarence to speak. Others were more skeptical and put off meeting with Clarence, saying that their congregations were not yet ready to think about using such a new technology as a missionary tool.
Clarence and Katherine spoke wherever and whenever they could, and to their surprise, many people began to take an interest in seeing a radio station established in Ecuador.
When Clarence arrived in New York, he learned that the Santa Inez would be sailing a day early, on August 19. He went straight to the Ecuadorian consulate to secure a visa for his trip. On August 15, while he was still in New York City, he received a cable from Reuben that read, “25-year contract granted! Jeremiah 33:3 and Zechariah 4:6! Come!”
Clarence could scarcely believe it. The Ecuadorian government had granted them a contract to establish and run a Christian radio station in their country. He pulled out his leather-bound Bible and looked up the two verses Reuben had alluded to in the cable. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). Clarence bowed his head and said a prayer of thanks to God. Indeed, it had not been their might or power or diplomacy or anything else that had secured the contract to run the radio station. It had been God working on the hearts of men in Ecuador on their behalf that had brought it to pass. When he had finished praying, Clarence laid aside his Bible and went off to tell Katherine the good news.
With his visa in hand, Clarence realized that he had just enough time to head to Massachusetts to visit Richard Oliver Jr. Richard was in Dudley, sixty miles southwest of Boston. Clarence had already asked Richard to move to Ecuador once the radio station was established and head up the musical side of things for the radio broadcasts. Initially Richard had wanted to accompany Clarence on this trip, but it had not worked out financially for him to go along.
Excitedly Clarence showed Richard the cable he had received from Reuben, and the two of them rejoiced. Then the two men climbed into the car and headed for Boston, where they played on the Mountain Top Hour radio broadcast from WEAN.
At lunchtime on August 19, 1930, Clarence stood at the rail of the Santa Inez, waving to Katherine as a tugboat pulled the ship away from the pier in Brooklyn. Soon the vessel passed through the Verrazano Narrows, at the entrance to New York Harbor, and headed out to sea. It headed south down the east coast of the United States before turning west and heading for Panama, where it passed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Inez then steamed south along the west coast of South America before finally reaching Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main port. Throughout the voyage Clarence and John and Ruth Clark talked excitedly about all that lay ahead with the radio station now that they had been granted a twenty-five-year contract.
From the moment he saw Guayaquil from the deck of the Santa Inez, anchored in the Guayas River, Clarence liked the place. The river was alive with small boats and balsa wood rafts loaded with enormous stalks of bananas or mounds of coconuts headed for the market. Overcrowded ferry boats carried people from one side of the river to the other, while large barges ferried crates of cargo ashore from the freighters anchored in the river or farther downstream in the Gulf of Guayaquil. The edge of the river was lined with palm trees drooping in the languid afternoon heat. Small huts and shacks were scattered along the river’s edge, where there were no docks. And stretched out beyond the docks and the palm trees were the streets and buildings of Guayaquil, alive with people and cars and activity.
Finally, after clearing customs and immigration and being ferried ashore in a small launch, Clarence stepped onto Ecuadorian soil. It was as though electricity pulsed through him at that moment. After his negative experience in Venezuela, he was excited to know that the government of this country had already given its permission for a radio station. Now Clarence and his partners had to make it happen!
Waiting at the dock in Guayaquil to meet Clarence and the Clarks was Paul Young, who was full of excitement for the future of radio broadcasting in Ecuador.
The following day John and Ruth Clark and their children set out for Quito and then on to Ambato to resume their missionary duties. Once they had left, Clarence sat down, pulled a fountain pen and several sheets of paper from his leather satchel and wrote a letter to Katherine.
Sunday, August 31, 1930
Dearest Sweetheart,
At last we have arrived in Ecuador. Our boat docked yesterday at about 4:00 PM, and Mr. Young with several other missionaries met us.…
Our steamer had to anchor in mid stream, and our luggage, with us, was taken off by launches. The tide—a very swift one here—was running out, so we had quite a thrilling journey to shore, about a mile away.
Guayaquil is by far the biggest and nicest South American city I have seen so far. I expect we’ll stay here a week and then move on up to Quito to see Stuart Clark. Reuben has gone back into the jungle and will not be out until the Field Conference to be held Oct. 3 to 9. This means I will probably have to go into the jungle to see him, first, so I can hurry things along and get back to you.
Boy, oh, boy! How I miss you, honey. If there weren’t so many missionaries around and so much to do—I would mind this lonesomeness much more.…
God is moving in a marvelous way down here. I have not seen such open-hearted attention to the gospel anywhere before.…
There seems to be every opportunity in the world to get out the gospel here. I only hope the radio project proves sufficiently practical from what I find out here to be used of the Lord for souls. I can see an increasing need for us all to know the language well.…
Tonite, I am to bring the message; there will be between 200 and 300 present. I know you will be praying, darling. I remember you all each morning and evening.
Clarence was kept busy during his week in Guayaquil. Every day he was up early and on his way to speak and play his trombone at various church meetings in Guayaquil and some of the outlying small towns. During this time Clarence, who always liked to be on time, found one aspect of living in Ecuador very frustrating. Nothing seemed to run on schedule. Clarence would arrive at the railway station with Paul Young to travel to an outlying town, only to find that the train had left early or had been cancelled or was running two hours behind schedule. And, of course, getting to the railway station was equally as frustrating. The railway station was located across the Guayas River from the city, and to get there required a ferry boat ride. But like the trains, ferry boats were either early, late, or canceled. On more than one occasion Clarence found himself riding on horseback to get to a meeting venue because of the unreliability of the train and ferry boat schedules. Describing the situation in his journal, Clarence wrote, “This is the land of mañana for sure. The auto truck we are to take at 7:00 AM does not get away until 9:30.… We’ve missed two trains lately, so not to be fooled today, we arrive at 4:00 AM to catch the 4:30 train. It finally pulls in at 5:15, and doesn’t leave till after 6:00.”
