Family Members of 2 Kidnaped Missionaries Keep Prayerful Vigil : Hostages: The men, including the father of a Santa Clarita student, were abducted by rebels in Colombia.

Family members and co-workers of two U.S. missionary workers taken hostage by leftist rebels in Colombia are waiting, and praying, to hear from the kidnapers.

Scott Welch, the son of one of the kidnaped men, attends The Masters College in Santa Clarita. He was unwilling to discuss the situation, fearing it might endanger his father.

His father, Steve Welch, 41, of North Platte, Neb., and Tim Van Dyke, 41, of Towanda, Penn., were kidnaped Jan. 16 when 15 to 20 members of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces raided a missionary facility near Villavicencio to protest the presence of American troops in the country.

About 250 U.S. military personnel are in Colombia building a military base, radar stations, a school and a health clinic, according to U.S. officials.

Guerrillas took the two men into custody after initially holding 70 people, mostly schoolchildren, at the site, according to New Tribes Mission, which runs the facility. There were no injuries in the incident and those detained said they were treated courteously.

“We’ve got word from the kidnapers that they (Welch and Van Dyke) are healthy,” said Dave Zelenak, spokesman at the New Tribes Mission headquarters in Sanford, Fla. “They’re going to be sending something along for proof of life and possession.”

Welch is the maintenance manager in charge of construction at the missionary school. Van Dyke is a school official, Zelenak said.

All missionary personnel and children were evacuated from the school the day after the incident. They were relocated to temporary quarters in other missions in the country, and teaching resumed this week in the Villavicencio homes of some missionaries.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, about 50 miles west of the rural village, do not expect an immediate end to the kidnaping.

“These things, usually they do not break fast,” said L.W. Koengeter, public affairs counselor for the embassy. “In the past, it has taken months to resolve the situation.”

Embassy officials predict the New Tribes Mission headquarters will have a larger role in negotiating the release of the hostages than the embassy, because the victims are missionary workers.

Most recent contact with the guerrillas occurred Sunday via a radio conversation plagued with static and fading signals, at which time the kidnapers reportedly promised proof that Welch and Van Dyke were in their possession. A New Tribes Mission spokesman described the kidnapers as “friendly but businesslike” in discussions.