A Mission Interrupted

Before she became a casualty of the drug war, Veronica Bowers waged her own crusade from a houseboat on the Amazon River

How is it that a woman from Virginia with a glossy American smile ends up in a seaplane, carrying her infant daughter over the jungle canopy of Peru? There are an estimated 420,000 Christian missionaries worldwide, but most Americans cannot fathom the choices made by Veronica (Roni) Bowers--a woman who raised her children on a houseboat on the Amazon and preached the gospel to people who have never seen a light bulb. Behind the battery of urgent questions about the tragic downing of the missionary plane are quieter ones about the people who died.

Roni Bowers' life looked a lot like...

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