Five Fall Favorites {Missionary + Bonfires}

Welcome to day four! Goodness, it seems like this party just started, and now it's nearly over. Today's genre is missionary, and I've got two fictions and three biographies for y'all. :D Make sure you read all the way to the end too, because I have a giveaway update for y'all! 

Doesn't that look inviting? There's just something special about a bonfire in the fall of the year. It's a bit chilly today, so grab a stack of books and settle in for some warm reading! 

THURSDAY: MISSIONARY

Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World by Deb Brammer 

Deb Brammer’s Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World is a Christian fiction missionary story set in Taiwan. When Amy’s family moves to Taiwan to begin missionary work, she is determined to be a good missionary. But the neighborhood girls laugh at her, and Sunday services at the Chinese church become an ordeal. It seems that the only place she feels comfortable is at the English-speaking school with her peanut butter friends. In this middle-grade book Amy struggles to trust God as she learns how to live with new people and understand a different language. 

This book was part of my homeschool curriculum in 3rd grade (I think), and I've read it several times since then. It's a really great story of one girl's struggles to figure out where she belongs when her family leaves the US behind to become missionaries in Taiwan. The Chinese setting was pretty cool, and reading about Amy's difficulties in fitting in at school and making friends was pretty great. :D

The Other Side of Infamy by Jim Downing 

War is uncomfortable for Christians, and worldwide war is unfamiliar for today’s generations. Jim Downing reflects on his illustrious military career, including his experience during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to show how we can be people of faith during troubled times.

The natural human impulse is to run from attack. Jim Downing—along with countless other soldiers and sailors at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—ran toward it, fighting to rescue his fellow navy men, to protect loved ones and civilians on the island, and to find the redemptive path forward from a devastating war. We are protected from war these days, but there was a time when war was very present in our lives, and in The Other Side of Infamy we learn from a veteran of Pearl Harbor and World War II what it means to follow Jesus into and through every danger, toil, and snare. 

I signed up to review this book through Tyndale Publishers because, I mean, he was at Pearl Harbor y'all. (Need I say more?!) I was expecting an okay-but-not-amazing account of Pearl Harbor and WWII through one man's eyes. What I was not expecting – and what I got – was an amazingly-told story of one's man life, both physical and spiritual. Jim Downing, co-founder of the Navigators (a ministry organization reaching out to service members), is a grounded man of God and a light of hope to those around him. At the publication of this book (2016), he still travels to speak and spread God's word, though now over 100 years of age. 

Read my full review here.

Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer by Janet & Geoff Benge 

Flying soon captured Nate's heart. His air service ministry to isolated missionaries put him on a path of destiny that would ultimately end with a final airplane flight with 4 missionary friends to the "Palm Beach" landing strip in the jungles of Ecuador.
The men's lives given that day not only opened a door to the gospel for the unreached "Acucas"; it has been said that possibly no single event of the twentieth century awakened more hearts to God's call to serve in missions. 

Chances are, you've heard of the story of Nate Saint. But, sadly, I hadn't until this book was chosen as a read-aloud for the Potts family homeschool. (I knew a little bit of the story from reading about Jim and Elizabeth Elliot here and there for school, but I didn't even know the other men's names or any details.) But oh my goodness, I remember sitting in our basement as Mom read the last chapters of this book aloud, and nearly tearing up. Those men loved God so much, had such a strong faith and such a burden for the Aucas, that they were willing to lay down their lives for the furtherance of the Gospel. They are true heroes in this world. <3 

Left to Die by Ivy Rose 

Lindy Greene’s life is perfect. Too perfect. But living as a missionary nurse, serving in a rural hospital in China, soon brings the disaster she fearfully anticipates. All of her well-thought-out plans for the future disintegrate after pulling a fatally ill, disfigured, abandoned child from a pile of trash. She doesn’t even like babies.

Nathan Thomas can’t find balance. College suited him just fine until his cash ran out, forcing him to the Chinese mission field with his parents. The chaotic atmosphere in China does little to relax his agitated mind, and the pretty blonde nurse at the clinic does nothing to help him focus.

The Chinese mission field isn’t for the faint of heart. Nathan wonders how he can survive his remaining time there, while Lindy struggles to help everyone she can. With different ideals pulling them in separate directions, there is one thing drawing them together: a tiny, sickly, crippled orphan who relies on them to stay alive. 

This was beautiful!! Earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to review Ivy Rose's second published book, a contemporary novella set on the missionary field of China. And I was not disappointed by the story in the least! Precious and heart-rending, I cried and laughed and smiled as I read the story of Lindy, Nathan, and an abandoned baby girl. <3 

Read my full review here.

Cameron Townsend: The Good News in Every Language by Janet & Geoff Benge 

The Cakchiquel man became indignant when Cam offered him a tract in Spanish. 'Do you have one in Cakchiquel?' he asked. 'There are none, I'm sorry,' replied Cam. 'Well,' retorted the man, 'if your God is so great, why can't he speak my language?'"

In one decisive moment, Cameron Townsend understood that God had called him to translate the Bible into the language of his Guatemalan friends. For Cam, the obstacles were small when compared to the growing reward of helping the diverse people of Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru read God's life-changing Word for themselves.

Quick on his feet and slow to give up, Cam started Wycliffe Bible Translators with the dream of making the Good News available in every language. Since 1942, Wycliffe has translated Scripture into hundreds of languages, spreading God's Word to people all over the world. 

Like with Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer, this book was a read-aloud. I don't remember it quite as well as some of the others, but I do remember really enjoying the missionary's story. We laughed many times over Cameron and his wife's incidents, but of course there was many a serious moment as well. Cam is a pretty cool nickname too, if I do say so myself. ;)

The giveaway update! As of yesterday evening, the grade prize party giveaway reached 75 entrants – meaning a second place prize has been added. The second place winner will receive three ebooks (choices from the basket) and possibly an Amazon gift card (depending on whether the winner is US or international). Click the image below to get your entries in! 

The new goal? To see if we can hit 100 entrants for a third place prize. Spread the word, friends and book lovers! 

Who's enjoying this party as much as I am? :D

~Faith