Storytime -finished for summer '07

Oops! I still haven't gotten that picture I was supposed to post. Maybe tomorrow...

Today was the last day of storytime for the summer. The theme for camp this week was superheroes so I told some superhero missionary stories. First was about a guy named Alvin Frey who served with Gospel Light Mission in northern Canada. He fell through ice with a tractor in negative 35 degree weather and lived to tell about it. Then he was accidentally burned on his face, arms and torso so badly that skin was hanging in shreds from his face. He was flown to a hospital where doctors and nurses exchanged worried glances and whispered to each other while they treated him as best they could. That night he went through great bitterness over the whole incident but then he remembered: "in everything give thanks." He turned his heart away from bitterness and toward God with thankfulness. The next morning a miracle had happened; his face was healed. The rest of his body still required him to be in the hospital but he left in record time and with very little scarring on his face.

The second day I told them about the superhero missionary Hudson Taylor who even had his own superhero outfit. (He was one of the first missionaries to try dressing like the indigenous people.) Finally, today was about the superhero missionary team that was martyred by the Aucas: Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian. They didn't seem to succeed because they were killed before they could witness to the Aucas but it was their very martyrdom that got the attention of the Aucas so that they were eager to listen when other missionaries came to tell them about God. Besides the Aucas, there have been thousands of Christians around the world who have stepped up to the challenge to serve God more fully because of the example of those five men. "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Elliott

If you have the chance to read a biography about missionaries, you should really do it. You're almost always guaranteed an exciting story not to mention encouragement to serve our Lord more faithfully. I enjoy the Heroes Then and Now series published by YWAM. Those books are written in an easy reading format and are readily available.