Let your child’s mission transform your whole family. This empowering book will teach you how to turn the pain of separation in to joyful communion. Learn to read and write by the Spirit, making each letter from home a precious message that draws you and your missionary closer to God and to each other. Realize the promised blessings of missionary service for your entire family as you serve the Lord together.
Vincent Donovan is best known as the author of the influential bestseller, Christianity Rediscovered (1978). This new book contains the monthly letters he wrote home from Tanzania between 1957 and 1973. These letters give us previously unknown stories: how Donovan met Julius Nyerere, first prime minister of Tanzania; how a group of Protestants attempted to kill him; of his early disastrous attempt to hear confession in Swahili; of the relationship between Donovan's work and Vatican II; and much about the mysterious Sonjo tribe, among whom Donovan spent his last years in Tanzania. They also give insights, from the hilarious to the poignant, into Donovan the man in relationship to his family, his missionary colleagues, and the Maasai. Copies of original photographs are also included. Most significantly, the letters show Donovan's evolution over the years from a young missionary who was passionate about acquiring land for church buildings, into a mature visionary convinced that the only job of the missionary is to preach the gospel. A concluding essay looks at the legacy of Donovan, thirty-five years later, with contributions from three Spiritan missionaries who continue to live out his legacy in Tanzania and elsewhere today. Finally, the essay looks at Donovan's continuing influence on contemporary renewal movements in North America and in Britain. Those who have been inspired by Christianity Rediscovered--missiologists, church renewal leaders, and students of Gospel and culture--will find much here to delight and to challenge.
"When the author's father died, Marc Jolley decided that he needed to write something for his sons about what was important in his life. The result, while not a full autobiography, deals with three things in his life that have shaped it more than others; it is about what he loves: baseball, God, and family, but not necessarily in that order all of the time. This memoir, then, is about what the author "knows" and to that extent, each sentence is true in the best tradition of Hemingway. Safe at Home is both a phrase used in baseball and an expression that captures the importance of family." "This story is about how faith, family, and baseball have intersected in his life, an intersection that occurs at home. Critical moments of Jolley's life have seen God, baseball, and family impact at very important times in his life. Whether losing game after game in little league, watching the World Series with his father, or quitting the high school team, the presence of family and his faith shape how he overcomes disappointment or celebrates the sheer joy of playing. Collecting baseball cards in 1968 provides him with a lesson in race and his mother's faith that opens his eyes to a world he never knew."--BOOK JACKET.
The last book before the new millennium, and the entire subject is change. Letters From Home talks about who we are, explaining the big picture and the meaning of life.
Never intended for anyone’s eyes except parents, these letters are now compiled by the author for her adult children to read and relive the life they loved growing up in Zaire, Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo). Stored by her mother-in-law in old film boxes for three decades, they serve as a record of daily life in a family learning to survive and thrive and do ministry in a developing country. Daily water and electricity and regular mail became luxuries to celebrate in prayer and praise. Often considered by others to be a unique life, in reading you may encounter the unique, but guaranteed are also some boring details that were not omitted in the copying process so the children would understand what life involved for their parents. Whether unique, boring or difficult, these were deemed a privilege by the author and her husband who regard themselves as simply obedient to a call to that life out of their deep love for Jesus, their Lord and Savior who loved them and gave his life for them.
Connect with your missionary--even from far away--with this book full of inspiring messages you can enjoy together. Inside you'll find 104 mini-lessons, in letter form, designed to send to your favorite elder or sister each week. Whether your missionary is preparing to leave or already in the field, these lessons are the perfect way to keep you both focused on Christ all mission long.
