Sunday Snippet: Se7en Missionary Biographies You Really Should Read…

It’s one of those weeks… you will have to wait for “The Week That Was Post…” to see who visited us today… needless to say we have had no electricity and my blogging was literally powerless!!! Anyway, I promised you a week of books and then our school book boxes arrived and we have been busy… so busy…

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But I thought I would tell you about Se7en Great Missionary Biographies that you can read as a family. You will be amazed at how rewarding it is and how much of the story your children will absorb and take on board. I think it is so important for us as a family to learn about what other folk have done – just to stretch our horizons that extra mile, and show us just what can be done. For myself it is always good to read about other folk and their daily trials, it somehow puts my itty-bitty problems into perspective!!! Most of these books will have you gasping in amazement and really truth is often far more fantastic than fiction!!! So here comes a collection of great Missionary biographies and I am sure you can add heaps to the list:

  1. Bruchko: This is one of those amazing books that will stop you in your tracks. It is the story of a young man who heads for the Amazon jungle to share the Gospel with the Motilone people. His work is harrowing and he suffers enormously and yet he never gives up, he just persists and persists and persists. Certainly nobody could make up some of the things that he experienced and it is eye-opening to see how far we could go for the gospel. This book is really food for thought, when I was nineteen I was at University and a lost tribe anywhere was furthest from my mind.

  2. "Torches of Joy: A Stone Age Tribe’s Encounter With the Gospel (International Adventures)" (John Dekker, Lois Neely)

  3. Torches of Joy: I shared this book with a Sunday school class of primary school children a couple of years back and I had the kids dashing back for the next chapter week after week. Life simply becomes astonishing when you give it all up and go and live in a remote and wild place in order to serve the Lord. This is the story of the Decker family and their move to the live with the primitive Dani people. One of the most interest interactions was when John Decker got to go on his first hunt and he shared a chocolate bar with some of his fellow hunters. The local hunters reckoned it was about as tasty as a wild pigs liver. A very interesting read as even the ordinary things to us are really quite beyond imagining.

  4. "Children of the Storm: The Autobiography of Natasha Vins" (Natasha Vins)

  5. Children of the Storm: This is the story of Natasha Vins a young girl that grows up in mid twentieth century Russia. While she is raised in a christian home she quickly realizes that nothing good comes to those that don’t promise their allegiance to the state. Her family suffers tremendous hardship, not least of all imprisonment, for their loyalty to Christ. Natasha has to make a decision regarding her christianity. Initially she is a nominal christian and simply follows where her parents have led, this book trails her souls searching and her call to follow Jesus whatever the cost.
  6. Evidence Not Seen: This is the story of Darlene Diebler Rose and her experiences as a Prisoner of War in a Japanese concentration camp in New Guinea during World War II. This book has stood me straight and tall on days when I want to give up because of a few things that went wrong. Her witness forces me to toss any dismal “self-pity days” right out of the door!!! She suffered so many hardships and her physical pain and emotional suffering so intense and yet she didn’t ever lose faith. One day when she was quite literally starving to death she longed and prayed for a banana… well of all people, the cruel man in charge of the prison brought her an entire bunch of bananas, clearly her life of faith had great effect on his life and many others that she lived amongst.
  7. End of the Spear: Is the story of Steve Saint the son of Nate Saint, who was killed in 1956, along with five other missionaries by people of the Waodani Tribe in the Amazon jungle. This book is really the story of what happened after the gruesome massacre the stopped the world. How he returns to the Jungle with his wife and teenage children to help this tribe. He writes not only from his own perspective but that of the tribesmen providing insight and understanding to the situation.

  8. God’s Smuggler: If you have never read this book then stop reading our blog and read this book until you are finished it!!! It is the story of Brother Andrew who grew up wanting to be a spy, I live with at least two of those, so it is of topical interest around here. Brother Andrew is a factory worker in Holland and is called to smuggle bibles into the countries of Eastern Europe that were closed to the Gospel for so many years. If you are an armchair traveller you will love this book, if you are an adventurer – well there is plenty of that and if you are wondering if God performs miracles in modern times then this book is packed with them!!!

  9. The Hiding Place: This is the story of the life and times of Corrie Ten Boom who was the daughter of a watchmaker. During World War II they hid and protected Jewish friends and neighbors in secret compartments around their home. When their home was raided the Jews managed to escape but the Ten Boom family was sent to a concentration camp. Corrie Ten Boom survived against all odds and went on to serve the Lord for the rest of her life.
  10. And the Se7en + 1th Book:

  11. Peace Child: This book tells the story of Don Richardson, his wife Carol and their young family as they head out to live amidst the Sawi People of New Guinea. They found themselves in a treacherous position stuck amidst conflicting factions in a place where betrayal was a way of life. The Sawi people were a cannibalistic tribe living in a very remote area, there was no back-up close by. And yet the Richardson’s managed to use the analogy of the local custom of a “peace child” and Jesus Christ as the ultimate offering… provide them with a readable alphabet and a translation of the New Testament in their own language. The action is packed and you will have to read through some sections so fast just to see the outcome… exciting times. This book will really convince you that the life of a missionary is not at all for the faint-hearted.

There you are se7en + 1 books to inspire you, tell us about your favorite Christian Missionary Biographies in the comments.

8 Replies to “Sunday Snippet: Se7en Missionary Biographies You Really Should Read…”

  1. That is a great list! The only one I’ve read so far is The Hiding Place, so I will add the others to my list of future reads. Thanks:)

  2. Hay FloridaMom2Se7en… I am so glad I could inspire you!!! Go on get yourself to the library already… though be warned these books will change your outlook on life and you may have a whole new priority perspective after reading any one of them!!! Hope you are having a fun week!!!

  3. Hi se7en!! this was so very helpful and a great reminder to open these books up to my kids!! wow! I especially remember reading Hudson Taylor, and he just blew me away!
    Grace to you! xx

  4. Hay Mliss, I used to stay with friends, that only had these sorts of books lying around, during the school holidays. And since I read anything and anything that crossed our path I read them all!!! Very life-changing, I can tell you that!!! Hope you have a great week!!!

  5. Thank you for the great suggestions! These books look like great reads! Love to see the pics of all your little ones reading – brings a smile every time! 🙂

  6. Hi Denise, Thanks for stopping by!!! I have to say I think that is one of my all time favorite pictures!!! Not technically brilliant… but everyone is in it and busy – totally not posed just life as it really is!!! Hope you have a great weekend!!!

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