Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures

By Gwen Toliver

From the hot, steamy jungles of Indonesia to the highest mountain passes in the Andes of Peru, Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures takes you on an unforgettable adventure around the world.

Hang on to your hats! Seed Sowers tells twenty one true tales of modern-day missionaries

whose lives were anything but boring.

Crazed wildcats, angry witch doctors, heart pounding jungle rides down white-water rapids, terrifying headhunters and cannibals, and frightening first contacts with unknown tribeseach story bears testimony to the brave missionaries that God calls to serve.

Each one of them is a seed sowerplanting the seeds of Gods Word in the lives of people around the world waiting for Scripture in the language of their heart.

I cant wait for you to read the stories in this book! They are the best! These are stories of real, normal, everyday people who stepped out in faith to do what God called them to do and have done extraordinary things!

from the foreword by Gracia Burnham, missionary, speaker and author of In the Presence of My Enemies

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449771317

Gwen Toliver

Even though Seed Sowers: Gospel-Planting Adventures has been a major part of her life for the past two years, Gwen Toliver considers serving her family her primary occupation. Along with her husband, John, and their crew of eight children, Gwen has been serving with Wycliff e Associates since 2010. Wycliff e Associates is a ministry committed to serving Bible translation organizations in support roles. Currently, the Toliver family is serving at the Linguistics Center in Dallas, Texas. Gwen writes about family and ministry at ToliversToTexas.com. Above everything else, Gwen desires that Philippians 1:27 is evident in her life: “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…” (NASB).

Book preview

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

1. Don’t Lose Your Head!

2. Rough Trail from Pomabamba

3. Dirty Shorts, A Wildcat, and the Lady Named Dorothy

4. When the Tall Lady Cried

5. It All Started With Dionisio

6. The Magician’s Son

7. Never Give Up!

8. The Whistling Man

9. Call from the Jungle

10. First Contact

11. The Stolen Book

12. Believe the Bird

13. Two Christmas Miracles

14. Five Empty Vessels

15. Something Lost, Something Gained

16. Lost Contact

17. Fire at Corralito

18. The Bloody Arrow

19. Jungle Flight

20. Bridge Over the Kagua

21. The Incident

Afterword

Appendix A: What is Your Heart Language?

Appendix B: Language Surveyors Needed!

Bibliography

About the Author

FOREWORD

By Gracia Burnham

There is an old Jewish proverb that says: Why did God make people? He loves their stories!

I love hearing people’s stories, but the best stories in the world are missionary stories. When I was a little girl, my mom would read missionary stories to me. Then I got old enough to read for myself and discovered books like, Mary Slessor: White Queen of the Cannibals. The title alone made me know that the book would be filled with thrilling adventures. I loved the story of this lady who boldly faced African chieftains and was responsible for doing away with the practices of eating humans and killing twins when they were born. I was amazed that God could use a normal everyday girl to do something great for His Kingdom! Women like Mary Slessor became my heroines and mentors.

So, you won’t be surprised to hear that I became a missionary when I grew up. My husband, Martin, was a jungle pilot in the Philippines. We loved our ministry with all of our hearts.

Martin wasn’t an ordinary pilot; he was born to fly in the jungle! He could put a loaded Cessna down on a short jungle strip just where he needed to and get it stopped in the next few hundred feet. He did that day after day for fifteen years, serving missionaries who lived in jungle villages.

Then one day, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and were taken hostage by a group of militant Muslims. For the next year, we lived with these men. We ran for our lives through the jungle, evading the Filipino military, who were trying to rescue us. We endured gun battles. We starved and slept on the jungle floor and drank dirty river water. And in the middle of that horrible situation, God began teaching us several important lessons—lessons like forgiveness and loving our enemies. Lessons on trusting God even when He seemed far away.

The sad end to this story is that after more than a year of captivity, Martin was killed in a gun battle. But I was rescued, and I got to come home and be a mom to our three children. I don’t live in the Philippines any more. I live in the United States, and I travel around and tell my story and encourage others to make their lives count for God.

God writes very good endings to life stories! In the past few years, He has allowed me to locate some of the very men who held us captive. They are in a maximum-security prison in Manila, Philippines, and I have begun to communicate with them and have been able to show the love of Christ to them. And, you know what? So far, three of them have come to know Jesus as their Savior!

God has been very good to us. My children are grown now. They all love the Lord. My son, Jeff, flies airplanes in Africa—he’s a missionary pilot like his dad.

I can’t wait for you to read the stories in this book! They are the best! These are stories of real, normal, everyday people who stepped out in faith to do what God called them to do and who did extraordinary things! Maybe some of the people you read about here will become your heroes and mentors, even though you may never meet them. Notice that they all give God the glory for everything that has happened. I like that.

God can use anyone, you know. And He can use you. These missionaries are ready to hand the baton of Bible translation to the next generation of missionaries. Perhaps God will challenge you, while you are reading this book, to be one who answers His call to accept the baton and run with perseverance the race marked out for … you!

In Christian love,

Gracia Burnham, Speaker and Author of In the Presence of My Enemies

PREFACE

Two years ago I began interviewing some rather amazing people. Over the past several decades, every single one of them has been involved in the work of Bible translation in some way. Hearing their stories—adventurous, spellbinding, scary, sad, and hilarious—left me completely amazed at what they were able to accomplish.

Yet, as they told me quite regularly, these stories weren’t truly theirs. They were God’s stories. He had planned out their lives and ministries long ago.

Many of them decided to be part of God’s work in Bible translation when they were young. They heard that among the thousands of languages spoken around the world, very few people had a copy of the entire Bible available in their own language. Therefore, even though the mission was dangerous and full of uncertainties, they decided to devote their lives to giving the gospel to people—people who did not have even one word of Scripture written in their heart language. And that’s when their lifetimes of adventure truly started!

Bible translation sounds simple. You take the Bible, and you just write down the words into a different language, right? Wrong. Translation is actually very complicated. Much training is required to learn the skills of linguistics and translation. The translator must learn another language—in fact, usually more than one—and adapt to a new culture and a new way of life. Even in these days of advanced technology, translating just the New Testament can require twenty or more years of faithful, diligent labor by a team of believers.

When God divided the languages at the Tower of Babel thousands of years ago, He knew He was making extra work for His people. Having only one language would have been so much easier! Yet, that wasn’t God’s plan, and He has given those of us who love Him the task of taking the gospel around the world. God has given us that assignment, and He also has given us the Holy Spirit to provide wisdom, strength, and knowledge to complete the assignment.

Are you interested in languages? Maybe the work of Bible translation would be a great job for you! But if not, many more people are needed to support the Bible translator, including language surveyors, computer technicians, accountants, pilots, teachers, and administrators. Just as a farmer relies on a variety of elements in order to reap a good harvest—quality seed, good soil, and plenty of rain and sunshine—spreading the Word depends on many of God’s people. Each of us can be a seed sower who does his or her part to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

In the pages to follow, you will read about the amazing people I interviewed. They spent years and years on the mission field. From Papua New Guinea to Peru—and everywhere in between—they did their part to bring the gospel to the millions of people who are dying without ever hearing or reading a single word of Scripture.

The endings are not always happy. Sometimes sad things happen. But my prayer is that young and old alike will catch the passion for serving God – no matter the cost.

Now, come along with me and read all about these seed sowers. You will find true stories of crazed wildcats, angry witch doctors, heart-pounding jungle rides down whitewater rapids, terrifying headhunters and cannibals, and frightening first contacts with unknown tribes. In the midst of it all, you will read about normal, everyday people who were committed to giving God’s Word to those who need it. God has used these seed sowers to do mighty things for Him.

The pages of this book are full of their gospel-planting adventures! Ready? Let’s get started.

CHAPTER ONE

DON’T LOSE YOUR HEAD!

Don’t worry! one of the men shouted as the canoe sliced through the water. The roar of the rushing rapids nearly swallowed his words. We’ve made it through the worst part. Going upriver will be much less dangerous!

Rose Dobson breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the other three missionaries-in-training who shared the canoe with her. The trip downriver had been rather hair-raising, and now they could relax a bit as they turned the canoe around for the upriver trip back to Jungle Camp. Exhausted after their ride through the whitewater rapids of the south Mexican river, they looked forward to getting back to a hot meal and a quiet evening in the mud huts they called home.

Rose smiled as she plunged her paddle into the dark waters. She had loved every minute of Jungle Camp, and these months of preparation were exactly what she had needed. She had no doubts that working as a Bible translator was exactly what God wanted her to do.

As the canoe glided smoothly through the water, Rose and her three friends laughed and chatted. In some areas the trees on both sides of the river nearly brushed their heads. Vividly colored jungle birds called loudly from their perches in the dark green trees that thickly covered the shores. Rose enjoyed taking in as many sights of the beautiful scenery as she could.

Suddenly, as they rounded a bend, the river went from peaceful and calm to wild and dangerous! Rose clutched her paddle tightly as she and her friends struggled frantically to keep the canoe upright.

One of the men yelled instructions in a rapid torrent of words that matched the speed of the dark, rushing river: Keep paddling! Don’t stop! he yelled.

The powerful current thrust the canoe from side to side. Despite their best efforts, the canoe was going to tip over.

Jump out, or you’ll be trapped underneath! he called just before he dived overboard and plunged into the swirling depths. Rose leaped as far from the tipping canoe as she could and swam away from it with strong strokes, but just as she glimpsed shore, the strong undercurrent grabbed her body, its cold grip pulling her deep into its clutches.

Rose plunged beneath the surface of the raging waters! With great effort, she broke the surface, gasping and flailing for control. Rose sucked in a mouthful of air just as the current grabbed her again, forcing her even deeper into the murky waters.

Rose thrashed and fought against the current. She tried to swim to the surface again and again, but each time the current dragged her back down. Her arms ached. Her burning lungs screamed for oxygen. Panic rose up inside her. She didn’t have the strength to fight much longer.

Through the murky water, she caught a glimpse of a kicking foot. She hesitated to grab it—what if the other person was floundering too? She would hate to pull someone down with her.

As the foot disappeared from sight, the thought of death didn’t even enter Rose’s mind. Darkness engulfed her and Rose’s head dipped beneath the surface one last time.

Suddenly she was snatched from the darkness and her head burst out of the water! With a giant gasp, life-giving oxygen filled her lungs. Air had never tasted so sweet.

One of the men, upon seeing her limp body in the river, had pulled her to safety, flinging her on top of the capsized canoe. She had no doubt that he had saved her life. God wasn’t ready for Rose Dobson to die yet.

A few minutes later, Rose collapsed on the rocky shore with her friends and rested briefly before they decided to pick up the canoe, carry it past the rapids, and try to maneuver through the angry waters again. Rose was almost too tired to move. She prayed for strength as they slid the canoe back into the water.

The dangers of their journey weren’t over yet. As they approached more rapids, Rose prayed in desperation: Lord, I’m so tired! If we dump again, I won’t be able to fight the water.

Then she heard the still, small voice of her heavenly Father speak to her heart: "I took care of you back there. Can’t I take care