Bruchko

What happens when a nineteen-year old young man from Minnesota leaves his home to go to the Native Indians of the jungle in South America with a desire to bring the Gospel to them? This is what we found out recently as our mom read the book Bruchko to us. Bruce Olson left the USA to go to Brazil with a heart to evangelize the Indian tribes in South America. While in Brazil, Bruce learned about the Motilone tribe and felt quickened that they were the ones that God wanted to send him to. The Motilones were an ancient tribe of Indians living deep in the Columbian jungle; they were known for their fierceness to outsiders. Oil company workers testing the soil on Motilone land had either been shot at with long, sharp arrows or had mysteriously disappeared to never return. Bruce knew all this but still wanted to go and minister to these people. After traveling for days, weeks and months he finally contacted the Motilones - but not on pleasant circumstances! Bruce was shot in the leg by a five foot long arrow and then surrounded by tribal men. He was taken to their communal home where, surprisingly, they kept him alive and fed him. When he told them his name, they could not pronounce it properly. Instead, what came out was ‘Bruchko’ and this became his Motilone name.
This book is so fascinating and I encourage you to read it if you haven’t already, and even if you have, read it again because you will surely be blessed!