jsburt's review
5.0
Loved this book! Way more detail than the movie (which I also enjoyed) with a lot of great spiritual insights. I would recommend this one to all my friends.
swoody788's review
4.0
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, and definitely more than the movie. Groberg had some incredible experiences and as much as I loved reading about each one I loved even more the insights he gained from his time in the Pacific. I know my own upcoming experience will be different but this was a great read in preparation for my departure (I'm moving to the Marshall Islands to teach English for a year). I think I'll appreciate it even more when I get back.
kdferrin's review
1.0
Way way way too much repetition, yes there are a lot of hymns about the sea and girls were always begging you to sleep with them I get it.
audrey_earl's review
5.0
I read this book so quickly because the story was so fascinating and I could not wait to read about his next experiences and the lessons he learned. The next time I read this I want to go slower because there were so many things he wrote that made me think a bit, things that I want to ponder more about because I never thought of it in that way.
rebeccabateman's review
4.0
(After a seemingly endless stint of four and five star ratings, I was hoping to find in this a book to which I could give three stars, bringing my average down. After all, how do you appreciate the really good books if you give everything such high ratings? Alas, I was too touched and inspired by this book, and couldn't give it less than four.)
This book has been divided into easy-to-read-in-a-sitting chapters, which feel like mission stories read over the pulpit. The writing wasn't spectacular, but it was clean and honest.
I was especially inspired by Elder Groberg's desire to live like the people and I was fascinated at the idea (the implementation is another story) of the lifestyle of the Tongan people: less need for new clothes, laid-back attitudes, truly taking care of others, visiting at all hours of the day/night - because people could be asleep at two in the afternoon just as easily as two in the morning!
Here are two of my favorite moments:
"The father carried the seemingly lifeless body of his little ten-year-old boy wrapped in a large tupenu (piece of cloth). As the father lowered him from his shoulder and put him into my arms, he said, 'He has fallen from high in a mango tree and hit his head and back on the heard roots. Here, make him well and bring him back to me.'
"I looked at the limp body and said, 'He's dead. What can I do?' The father just looked at me and said, 'Whether he's dead or not, I do not know. What I do know is I want him well again, and you have the power to do it.'
"I said, 'Life is from God. If God has allowed his life to leave, we should be reconciled.' He responded, 'I've talked to God. I want my boy back now more than God wants him now. Make him well. It's fine.'"
... (hours of praying pass... he is inspired to perform CPR on the boy, the boy regurgitates half-digested mango pieces and slowly comes back. By morning, the boy is fine.)
"... I picked him up and carried him to his parents [who had been waiting all night] outside. As Feki opened the door, the whole family stood waiting. I simply handed the little boy back to his father and said, 'He'e, ko ho foha. Kuo sai.' ('Here is your son. He is all right.') (pp. 49-52)"
and
"It was a marvelous thing to see how united everyone was. No one had watches, but everyone knew when the church service should be over. It was a united sense that everyone felt. I suppose sacrament meetings were somewhere between one and two hours, but they never ended too soon, nor went too long. You learn to feel things together in this more communal setting than when there are watches and individual time schedules. The one rule they never broke was this: when the smell from the umu (meal) came through as being done, the closing song and prayer followed rapidly (p.35)."
This book has been divided into easy-to-read-in-a-sitting chapters, which feel like mission stories read over the pulpit. The writing wasn't spectacular, but it was clean and honest.
I was especially inspired by Elder Groberg's desire to live like the people and I was fascinated at the idea (the implementation is another story) of the lifestyle of the Tongan people: less need for new clothes, laid-back attitudes, truly taking care of others, visiting at all hours of the day/night - because people could be asleep at two in the afternoon just as easily as two in the morning!
Here are two of my favorite moments:
"The father carried the seemingly lifeless body of his little ten-year-old boy wrapped in a large tupenu (piece of cloth). As the father lowered him from his shoulder and put him into my arms, he said, 'He has fallen from high in a mango tree and hit his head and back on the heard roots. Here, make him well and bring him back to me.'
"I looked at the limp body and said, 'He's dead. What can I do?' The father just looked at me and said, 'Whether he's dead or not, I do not know. What I do know is I want him well again, and you have the power to do it.'
"I said, 'Life is from God. If God has allowed his life to leave, we should be reconciled.' He responded, 'I've talked to God. I want my boy back now more than God wants him now. Make him well. It's fine.'"
... (hours of praying pass... he is inspired to perform CPR on the boy, the boy regurgitates half-digested mango pieces and slowly comes back. By morning, the boy is fine.)
"... I picked him up and carried him to his parents [who had been waiting all night] outside. As Feki opened the door, the whole family stood waiting. I simply handed the little boy back to his father and said, 'He'e, ko ho foha. Kuo sai.' ('Here is your son. He is all right.') (pp. 49-52)"
and
"It was a marvelous thing to see how united everyone was. No one had watches, but everyone knew when the church service should be over. It was a united sense that everyone felt. I suppose sacrament meetings were somewhere between one and two hours, but they never ended too soon, nor went too long. You learn to feel things together in this more communal setting than when there are watches and individual time schedules. The one rule they never broke was this: when the smell from the umu (meal) came through as being done, the closing song and prayer followed rapidly (p.35)."
anitad's review
4.0
i read this book to fulfil the goal "read a book by or about a missionary" i watched the movie first. both are good. i don't feel as if i missed anything if i just watched the movie first. there are a few spiritual gems about how he felt about the sea slipped in the book that aren't in the movie. either choice is a good one.
joriekae's review
3.0
I read this book slowly, but really enjoyed it. I appreciated how Groberg wrote about God's presence in his life from various angles. At times, God was undeniably present. While at other times, God was a quiet notion or feeling. Groberg expresses how you can have faith in all these aspects of God.