Customer Reviews

All The Day Long Missionaries Reaching Tribes in the Amazon (2000 publication)

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First of all, in honesty I have to admit to a certain amount of bias. I am the fifth child of Joe and Millie Dawson. I was born in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, and continue to work there with the Yanomamö. I read ALL THE DAY LONG to my three boys. I could not help but appreciate the legacy that we had as a family doing pioneer missionary work among the Yanomamö. I grew up speaking Yanomamö as a first language, and learned their culture, as only someone growing up with them can know it. But I had never really communicated much of my early years to my sons. ALL THE DAY LONG really inspired my boys, and it helped bridge the generation gap that is always present between the young and the old. The book chronicles the lives of three people. The author calls them ordinary. After reading the book that is the last adjective I would use to describe them. Joe and Millie Dawson are from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Bautista, or Chief Shoefoot is from the middle of the Amazon rain forest in southern Amazonas State in Venezuela, So. A. Their lives are intertwined by their many adventures there in the jungle. Adventures ranging from being attacked by a horde of army ants, to going down through the middle of a water fall in their dugout canoe when their motor quit. But through it all they saw God intervene in a most personal way, and guide their lives as they served Him there in the Rain Forest.

If you are interested in missionary work at all, especially in South America, this is a "must-read". I sat in awe of the simple faith that inspired such an amazing story. This book is the American missionary side of the FANTASTIC book, "Spirit of the Rainforest: A Yanomamo Shaman's Story" by Mark Andrew Ritchie. Today, most of us wait until the exact right time with the exact right funding and support and all the common sense we can muster before we move. The Dawsons show us that when God calls, moving in faith is more important that moving in logic. Highly recommended!

From time to time a book comes into ones life and moves both heart and soul. I too was there, I too saw those people that I came to love and admire, saw their difficulties and triumphs. If ever I doubted you (this goes for both Joe & Millie Dawson and my own amazing parents), if I ever doubted your heart and devotion for these people and for your Lord, well I don't any longer. You have inspired me again; you have moved my spirit in a way that I thought would never be again. Truly these "ordinary people" were and still are quite remarkable. Read this book and have your heart and soul touched like it has never been touched before...

As I read the story I couldn't help but remember so many of the things Mom was talking about. As child # 10 I wasn't there for all of them but even so, most of the stories in the book were told to me from the time I was a small child. It was wonderful to hear about all the times God reached down and worked miracles. And then, as I got older, to see then first hand. I am truely blessed to have such a family.

As I read the story I couldn't help but remember so many of the things Mom was talking about. As child # 10 I wasn't there for all of them but even so, most of the stories in the book were told to me from the time I was a small child. It was wonderful to hear about all the times God reached down and worked miracles, and then, as I got older, to see then first hand. I am truely blessed to have such a family.

As I read the story I couldn't help but remember so many of the things Mom was talking about. As child # 10 I wasn't there for all of them but even so, most of the stories in the book were told to me from the time I was a small child. It was wonderful to hear about all the times God reached down and worked miracles, and then, as I got older, to see then first hand. I am truely blessed to have such a family.

This is a first person story by a friend's Mom about raising her family in the Amazon jungle with hostile native indians. It is interesting, educational, and inspiring. I recommend it as great reading and source of encouragement. Lots of humorous life events included. Millie Dawson's son, Mike Dawson wrote "Growing Up Yanomamo" that won an award as Book of the year in 2010 for biography and has a new follow-on work (actually part II of the story) named "I can See The Shore" (also available on Amazon.com) that is not only an inspiring and heart-warming volume, but helps readers complete the important understanding of the activities presented in "All The Day Long" and "Growing Up Yanomamo". I was privileged to spend an evening with Mike and his wife Keila Dawson recently and can share that their stories, as presented in these volumes, are just the "tip of the iceberg", so to speak. I was inspired, encouraged, my heart ached, and I cried (yes, grown men do cry) at Millie's and Mike's presentations and openness of their joys and traumas of life, and how God works through them. I highly recommend these books, especially to those who first read "All The Day Long" and then "Growing Up Yanomamo". You will truly have your emotions touched with laughter, sadness, joy, sorrow, and most of all inspiration to further illuminate your own life.