Rescue the Captors 2 {A book review}

I would like to tell you about a book that I have been reading aloud to the kids lately. It is a true story about a daring missionary in Columbia - Russell Stendal and his family. This book has introduced us to a world we knew very little about - one filled with war and fighting (between Guerrillas, Paramilitary and the Colombian Government Military) and a God who can work in the midst of any sort of struggle and do things that are completely amazing. We also read about people who are willing to serve our God no matter how dangerous the situation that they have to go through in their service to Him.

 This book drew me in from the very preface. In it we read a little about the author - Russell Martin Stendal. First we read that he was born in Minneapolis, MN which I found interesting since that is our state. But what I found really cool was the fact that when he was 4 years old he prayed asking God to send his parents to the mission field so that he would have to wait until he grew up to be a missionary. I just find that pretty neat - that a 4 year old would want to share Jesus to those in other countries that don't know Him. But what is really, really neat is that God did answer that prayer and by the time He was eight years old his family was heading to Colombia to serve God there.

  This book is Rescue the Captors 2 - implying obviously that it is the 2nd in a series. I was a bit concerned to get a book 2 of a series which I hadn't read book 1 to but it didn't matter. He goes back and explains book 1 briefly and we had no trouble getting into the story from where he started this book. His first book was written during/about the time when he had been kidnapped by guerrillas and held hostage for months and he realization that though he desired rescue for himself the ones that truly needed rescuing where the ones that had captured him.

  The book that we are reading is about he and his family's years in Colombia after his rescue and of his ministry to the guerrillas and many others. He talks off traveling through many a battle line, avoiding land mines as they travel through heavily mined areas, Reaching out through books and running a radio station, flying in a small plane and dropping literature and other items by parachute while dealing with people shooting at him from below. He tells many a scary story where God works things out in amazing ways.

  The kids really have enjoyed this book, as have I, and are always begging me to read another chapter. This is pretty easy to do as the chapters are quite short. This is a small book but packed with many stories and pictures of God's work in Colombia.

  Amazon has this book available if you would enjoy reading it yourself (and I think you would).

I did receive this book for free for purposes of reviewing but the thoughts expressed are my own.