Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Venturing with God in the Congo
Our family and I had the opportunity to read Venturing with God in the Congo by Darrell Champlin and published by Conjurske Publications. An autobiography that tells of the Champlin’s adventures from deputation through many adventures throughout their many years in the Congo. Their adventures are best summarized in the words of Borden of Yale: “NO RESERVES, NO RETREATS, NO REGRETS.”
If you love missionary stories, this book is for you. If you want your children to have a heart for missions, then read this book to them. Learning about the world is important for all families. Even though we do not travel off the homestead, I believe the skills and hard work they learn on the homestead will prepare children to be missionaries in primitive areas if that is how God leads them. Learning homesteading skills that they can teach to native people to improve their quality of life.
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Adventures of the Congo
If you love to hear the exciting adventures of missionaries, you must read Venturing with God in the Congo. There is adventure after adventure throughout this book. Here are just a few chapter titles that will satisfy the curiosity of your family.
- Watch Out for Wild Boars
- Threatened with a Spear
- You Are Not Going to Die
- Mauled by a Leopard
- At Death’s Door: A Very Close Call
- Terror in Congo
- Abducted by Drunken Soldiers
These are just a few chapters throughout the book. I read this book with my 11-year-old son who is an avid reader. He devours a chapter book in a matter of hours. However, this was a challenging book to read, for not only him but also me. However, it was worth the challenge.
Our Favorite Adventures Throughout Venturing with God
Giving a Hippo a Headache
One of my favorite adventures was Giving a Hippo a Headache. In this chapter, Louise Champlin’s older brother, Bob Grings had to cross the Kasai River and set out in a dugout canoe with two local men. The river was a mile wide. Hippos, who are very territorial and very dangerous lurked in these waters. Their canoe passed over a submerged hippo and he attacked. The men were able to climb trees growing out of the swampy water. Eventually, the hippo gave up and the men escaped.
However, there was another day when Darrell Champlin was crossing the river in a primitive ferry and was met by three hippos. You will have to read the rest of the story about how he gave the hippo a headache in the book. It is sure to make you chuckle.
Rogue Elephant
One of my son’s favorite adventures was about a Rogue Elephant. A rogue elephant was terrorizing the people in the jungle. It was wounded in the shoulder by a human. Now whenever the elephant found the human scent, he wreaked havoc. Darrell Champlin read an article in Reader’s Digest about a professional bounty hunter named Elephant Jim who dispatched angry elephants such as the one terrorizing the Champlin’s village. Based on what he read, he went hunting for this rogue elephant with men from his village. You will have to read the exciting chapter to see if he successfully stopped the rogue elephant.
Unashamed to Share the Gospel
We love exciting adventures about Missionaries. Venturing With God in Congo certainly has many exciting adventures. We loved to see how God worked in the lives of Darrell and his family.
The amazing stories of salvation among these heathen people can only be explained by the miraculous work of our Blessed Savior. It touched my heart to hear these amazing stories. It grew my faith to know that we serve the same loving, powerful God.
The book also described the sorrows the Champlin’s experienced. Which helped us to love his perseverance to continue to serve God in the midst of trials. Darrell Champlin no doubt heard the words, “Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant when he died in 2015.
He is an inspiration to my son to serve God more. At the beginning of the book, Darrell Chaplin gave his vision of missions. This is an inspirational vision for my son to strive to achieve.
Physical Quality of the Book
- Venturing with God in Congo is a high quality, hardcover with a beautiful inviting cover, durable pages, and sturdy binding.
- The pronunciation tips for the language of Lingala, a timeline of important events, a map of congo, family tree are very helpful.
- The short chapters assist in using this book as a family read-aloud. You can read a chapter here and a chapter there throughout the day
- We enjoyed the photos of the Champlin’s in the middle of the book.
A Missionary story that will impact your life and education
Venturing With God in Congo is a high-quality missionary book. You will be motivated to serve the Lord where He leads you, even in trials. But you will learn about a culture very foreign to American culture.
We learned a lot about the African Congo. You could certainly do a lot of further study on the topics of this book such as animal studies:
- hippos
- elephants
- pythons
- termites
- cockroaches
- antelope
- crocodiles
- Leopard
You could also study how Congo has changed since the time period of this book. Some questions we would like to research are:
- Is Christianity still spreading in Congo?
- What is the current political climate?
- What is the economy like today?
Our Final Assessment of Venturing with God in Congo
We were entertained. Darrell Champlin has a matter of fact, yet humorous writing style. We laughed, I cried. We were amazed by God’s provision and grace to a family living in His will. I appreciated the scripture scattered throughout the book. We thoroughly enjoyed this book. I always enjoy reading about how the Champlins survived in primitive conditions. It helps me learn about how we can improve our homesteading skills through the experiences of this missionary book
Finally, as much as we loved this book, please be aware there are many characters to keep straight and difficult African language pronunciations. The book is written at a high reading level. An average reader may get frustrated and give up. Thankfully, the chapters are short, which helps. It makes a wonderful, exciting read-aloud for families. Highly recommended!
Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew also reviewed this product too. I encourage you to read more reviews at the Homeschool Review Crew. I hope you enjoyed this review and you can find many other homeschool product reviews on my website.
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