Found In Translation

Witnessing to the lost people of Ciudad de Plata—Silver City—with my singing, my testimony, and my modest Southern charm—I’d use that Spanish-English Bible if I needed to—would be the thrill of my young adulthood, especially when we won everyone in Silver City to Jesus in two weeks. Well, almost everyone. They might not let us visit prisoners, and they might be afraid to let us convert high-ranking government officials.

Book: Found In Translation – An Altered Hearts Novel by Roger E. Bruner with Kristi Rae Bruner, Barbour Publishing, 2011

 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 13-20

Subjects: Missions, Salvation, Trust in God

Summary: Kim is fully prepared for this missions trip. She has “a professional-quality hair dryer; enough matching shoes and purses to have a fresh look every day; a treasure chest of my best cosmetics and toiletries; enough clothes to wear separate day and night outfits for the next fourteen days; a steam iron and travel-sized ironing board; and a small, high-power portable karaoke system with dozens of accompaniment CDs and tons of extra D-cell batteries. Oh, and a thick Spanish-English Bible”. She’s studied evangelism at the local mission she worked at for a time. She’s ready to go… until she misses her first connecting flight and arrives late, making all but one person in the group mad at her – including the leaders. If that’s not bad enough, she learns that she missed the e-mail that told of the change in missions. Instead of doing evangelism in the city, they will be doing construction at a small, tornado-destroyed village in the middle of nowhere. All those going on the mission need a sleeping bag, pillow, work clothes that can get ruined, bug spray, sunblock and lots of deodorant. They need to be prepared to live outside for two weeks, have no access to electricity or plumbing. Oh yeah, and the translators were part of the people they would have been with in the capital city. So as far as they can tell, no one on this team speaks any Spanish. And the villagers speak no English. Kim is NOT prepared for this!

Notes: This is a growth story. Kim’s dad jokes that he wonders “if the airlines are up to our well-intentioned Kimberly.” Her reputation is having her heart in the right place, but being a spoiled, financially well-off, American teenager who is also known for being irresponsible makes her actions a tad bit off. God isn’t done with her though. He has some plans for Kim on this trip and will see that she learns them – willingly or unwillingly. It’s a lesson in relying solely on God. Taken out of her comfort zone and being put into an environment where her good intentions aren’t anywhere close to enough to be successful, Kim has to rely on the One who can make things successful.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Philippians 1:6 – Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.