Wednesday Book Review

Yes, I know that it is Thursday - but, I am determined to stick with my self-imposed schedule of Wednesday Book Reviews - even though I did not get this week's posted yesterday. Bear with me, it helps me to feel more on top of things.

This week, I want to share a book with you that I just finished reading for the second time. Our family uses a homeschool curriculum called Sonlight. I love it because of all the amazing books we have been privileged to read over the years. Books that I had never heard of. Every year there are several missionary stories as well, and this particular book is one of my favorites, simply because it is modern. I love reading about Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, and Gladys Aylward - but, they lived so long ago. Bruchko was first published in 1973, that was the year I was born, so I will still claim it as "modern." Though my kids may disagree!

Bruchko is an autobiographical story, which means it was written by the author himself. I like this, because I feel like by hearing the things that happened straight from the person they happened to, you get more depth of feeling and more intimate knowledge than hearing it through a third person. Bruce Olson was a young man, just nineteen years old when he set out from his home in Minnesota. His calling was to take Jesus to the Indians in South America, yet he had no mission board backing, no support from his family, no money, and no firm plans. He just knew that God had called him, a gangly, young man with thick glasses who had never really been popular in school and became even less popular when he found Jesus and tried to share Him with his strict Lutheran parents. His pastor and friends from church did not understand, but he did have one friend, whose father was the pastor of an inter-denominational church who had also met Jesus. It was in this church that Bruce first heard of foreign missionaries and felt called to that lifestyle. However, even the missionaries would not accept him because he did not have the proper education or the backing of a church. Bruce went anyway.

It was through a series of harrowing events and near death experiences that Bruce finally found the Motilone Indians in 1961, and convinced them he came in peace. This was the tribe that he felt God was calling him to minister to. The problem was, that no white person had ever lived after coming in contact with this group of Indians, therefore there was no one who could explain even a word of their language to Bruce. It took months for Bruce to realize that the reason he was having such a hard time communicating with them was that they spoke a tonal language, something that linguists were convinced did not exist anymore in the South American jungle. Finally, Bruce began to understand their language and even to write some of it down. Yet, still it took years for him to be able to share Jesus with them. Their lifestyle was just too different, the words they used too foreign to even try to communicate the gospel.

Finally, Bruce was able to find a way to communicate in a way that they could understand and as is often the case, he found that in fact, they were ready and eagerly waiting for "the man with the yellow hair to bring God out of the banana stalk." When a banana stalk is cut and its leaves unfurl, they look just like a book, the Bible - God in a banana stalk.

It amazes me each and every time I read missionary accounts that God has indeed put a longing for Himself inside of each person. Don Richardson, called it "eternity in their hearts" and his book by that title shares account after account of missionaries coming to an uncivilized tribe of people and finding that they have stories in their history of the "white man" or the "man with yellow hair" coming to share the secrets of God with them.

Romans 1: 19-20 says, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse"

God has clearly revealed Himself in creation to all men, and he has made Himself known. Even in the deepest recesses of the jungle or the most barren desert, He is there, and He is drawing His people unto Himself. We are all without excuse.

In Bruchko, Mr. Olson is able to communicate about Jesus in a way that a few Motilone understand and soon there is widespread revival among the tribes. God has come out of the banana stalk! Jesus walks their trails with them! Bruce shares that he feels the key to the real and lasting change was the fact that unlike other "board trained" missionaries, he did not attempt to make the Motilones into white men. He did not tell them that they had to wear American clothes, sing American hymns, and change their traditions. He showed them that Jesus came for all men and that he created all men, equal in His sight, but very different in culture. He figured out how to introduce medicine to them in a way that they were not threatened. He patiently showed them about sanitation, but he worked with, not against their own witch doctors. Soon, the Indians themselves were running their own schools, health clinics, and growing crops. He remains, even now, the only white man ever to live among this tribe.

Foreign missions is a passion of mine and as I study more and more about it, many mission boards are finally seeing the error of trying to go in among primitive tribes and convert them, not into Christians, but into Americans. Jesus was not an American and it seems to me that if he created a people, He can reach that people exactly where they are. Certainly there will be customs and habits that need to change, but the only real and lasting change is when He changes a heart. Otherwise, you force someone to be like you and as soon as you are gone, he reverts back to what he is used to. The biggest push in missions right now is "national pastors." American mission boards are sending down just one or two American couples to find and train nationals to minister to their own people. After all, they know the language, customs, and way of life better than we could ever learn it. It seems to be working out very well. Imagine that Bruce Olson thought of it 35 years ago, without the aid of seminary!

As a note, I do want to say that this book is excellent, but it is a little graphic. Sonlight includes it in our 4th grade program as a read aloud, which means the parent should read it to the child. That way you can edit as you need to for your child's maturity as there are some intense scenes. You can get it from Amazon, but I have never seen it in a store. Enjoy!