End of the Spear

The book I read, End of the Spear, by Steve Saint, is the sequel to Through the Gates of Splendor. First, Through Gates of Splendor is about five missionaries who go to Ecuador to try to reach a tribe called the Waodani. It ends with the missionaries being killed by the "Aucas" or Waodani. End of the Spear begins the son of one of the missionaries living with the Aucas to teach them about God, or Waengongi, as the Waodani call Him. He decides to bring his family down to live with him in Ecuador so he can resume teaching the Aucas about God. They spend about two years with the Aucas and decide that it's time to go home. At the end of this book, the main character's daughter dies of a blood vessel bursting in her brain. This book is all about following God's Will.

There are several aspects of which I liked about this book. It is amazing how He can even use a tragedy to bring others to His love. That's exactly what happened here. I loved how God changed these peoples' lives with His love. I think my favorite part of this book was when Mincaye, one of the Aucas who had killed Steve's father, told Steve, "He is taking her to live with Him now. Being an old man, I will go live there too, very soon. If you will only walk Waengongi's trail, then you dying, you will come to His place, and Stephenie and I will be there waiting. Happily, we will great you" (316). Mincaye accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior after he killed Steve's father. He was Stephenie's adoptive grandfather. To me, this quote from him shows how much he has changed from the time he was living in anger and rage to now, living in God's love and mercy.

There are a few things I didn't really like in this book. It kind of bored me in all the geographical descriptions of Ecuador. The way that Steve's family got to and from Ecuador was by plane, so it had many pages of describing the plane and how it flew. I'm not big into physics, so the aerodynamics were confusing to me. Other than that, I thought it was an awesome book.

Saint, Steve. End of the Spear. 1. 1. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005. Print.