Books for Christian Girls: "Mission of a Lifetime" by Priscilla J. Krahn

About this book:

“A missing airplane . . . Hostile tribes . . . Mysterious kidnappings . . .
Responsibility falls upon twenty-one-year-old William Rodriguez when his missionary parents disappear in the hostile jungles of Columbia. Willie knows that he has to go find them, but what will it cost him? When his dreams and his very life are on the line, Willie doesn’t know whom to trust. Will he be able to overcome his past mistakes and the present failure that seems set on destroying his mission?
When Willie finds himself in the midst of a drug smuggling ring, difficult decisions are thrust upon him. Can he escape his captors before his family is killed? Can he find forgiveness in his heart for the very people who ruined his life or will it only bring back more painful memories? Will he be able to survive the mission of a lifetime?”

Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, remembered, & talked about; Many Prayers; ‘Praise God’ is said twice; Quite a bit of Witnessing; Many talks about God, what He wants, & being missionary; Most ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Willie’s family are missionaries; Quotes at the beginning at each chapter from Christian leaders/missionaries; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of missionaries, the mission field, witnessing, & martyrs; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, translating Bibles, Bible colleges, & Bible studies/classes; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of those in the Bible; A few mentions of sins; A couple mentions of blessings;

*Note: Mentions of people believing in spirits haunting others; A couple mentions of superstitions.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, a ‘stupid’, and three ‘wimp’s; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Fighting, Being tortured, Knives, Pain, Injuries/Wounds, Blood/Bleeding, Blacking out, & Nearly dying many times (mostly semi-detailed); Being tied at a stake & nearly dying by fire, & the heat and smoke (semi-detailed); Being tied-up/held hostage, freaking out, & held at knifepoint (up to semi-detailed); Being slapped, hit, & threatened (up to semi-detailed); Watching loved ones tortured, hurt, in pain, & nearly killed (semi-detailed); Many mentions of parents missing & possibly being killed/dead; Many mentions of threats, torture, pain, injuries/wounds, blood/bleeding, bruises, & being starved (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a murder, murderers, & recalling that day (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed, happened prior to the book opening, but our main character was there); Mentions of a tribe of people killing many others & deaths; Mentions of awful people slaughtering & attempting to slaughter others (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of finding bodies (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of people thinking Willie murdered his brother (he didn’t); Mentions of the possibility of being killed; Mentions of kidnappings; Mentions of fighting, fights, & battlefields; Mentions of crimes & criminals; Mentions of illegal drugs, drug lords, smuggling rings, & drug sellers and makers; Mentions of drinking & alcohol; Mentions of illnesses, epidemics, shots/needles, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of arrests; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of hunting & knives; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of wars; A few mentions of tattoos; A mention of suicide; A mention of a possible fire; A mention of wild animals eating dead bodies; A mention of hatred;

*Note: A mention of the Boy Scouts.

Sexual Content- A girl tries to kiss Willie (doesn’t happen); A few (unwanted) touches (barely-above-not-detailed); A bit of noticing; Mentions of a girl who has feelings for Willie & is very forward; Mentions of Willie’s commit to save himself for his future wife & not being tempted; Mentions of kissing & kisses;

*Note: Mentions of women being treated like property & buying not-detailed selling them.

-William “Willie” Rodriguez, age 21

P.O.V. switches between Willie, E.N.(x3), & Carmen (x1)
240 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Please let it be known that I despise giving out one-star ratings. It’s not fun and I don’t like it. I was going to give this book a two-star rating because of all the faith content, but unfortunately, the violence and torture parts grew and grew. It’s a simple fact that books with a lot of violence receive low ratings on BFCG. No matter the rest of the content, if there’s a lot of torture or violence in a book ranging in semi-detailed to detailed, I have to stick with that rule.

That’s not to discount the message of this book of what missionaries go through in foreign fields. (Albeit, this family had nearly every torture method thrown at them.) There were many talks about and witnessing to others that was nice, but, unfortunately, we have to mention about all the violence and that effects our ratings.

To some, this book would be fine. To those wanting to read about a missionary family and their troubles, this book would most likely be fine. But, we at BFCG have to look at the overall content. To the author who wrote this book, please do not let this low rating discourage you. Because of the content, your book just wasn’t a good fit for this blog, but we did like the faith content and enjoy seeing the Rodriguez’ family’s faith.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!