Bruchko is the amazing true story of a missionary who travelled to South America to teach a hostile tribe of indigenous people. Known as the Motilone Indians, they were feared for attacking anyone that came near them.
Bruce Olson travelled to South America after finishing high-school without money or a ticket home. Without even his parents to turn back to, he persevered through loneliness, hunger, disease and torture to preach to people that everyone thought were unreachable. This has significance in what we were doing in Mexico for the people there. Bruce had innumerous reasons to not go, but our only excuse is our personal lives. To be fair, it is not easy work to go to another country and spread the word of God, but it seems petty that we think our free time and leisure too important to help those in need.
Something that was fascinating was that despite the belief that almost all S. American tribal religions are animistic and satanic, the Motilone's religion had parallels to the message of Christ. Bruce Olsen was, through prayer and leading of the Holy Spirit, able to identify and recognize their legends and beliefs and bring them the saving message of Christ.
In a pivotal moment, the Motilone were explaining one of their greatest legends; they believed they were led astray by a false prophet and a man would come with a "banana stalk" to bring them back to God. They believed that they had lost God, they hung their heads and were ashamed that they had listened to false prophets. Bruce realized that the banana stalk resembles a book and pulled out his Bible. Not realizing that God is not literally in the Bible, one of the Motilone even tried to eat it! To explain Jesus coming to the world, Bruce remembered one of their legends about a Motilone wanting to help the ants. The legend says that he became an ant was able to explain and help them. After gaining their trust, he returned to being a man and they recognized him and he was able to help them. Through this the Motilone came to faith in Christ. By being patient and not try to change them, Bruce used their beliefs to bring the light of God into their culture.
Another thing that comes to light over and over again in the book, is that despite Mr. Olsen's inadequacies and unpreparedness for situations God continually prepared the way for him. All of his experiences come to the biggest trial of his life when he is kidnapped and held hostage by communist militia. He was held for 9 months in several different camps in the middle of the jungle. Many other prisoners broke under the mental and physical torture, but even enduring that, Bruce still felt compassion for them. He taught the soldiers how to cook proper meals and showed them how to choose and properly administer medicine to those who were sick. After he got access to a Bible the soldiers started to ask questions about God. Near the end of his imprisonment he had brought nearly half the guerrillas to the Lord. Although the commanders still insisted he be "executed", they provided blanks for the soldiers in the firing squad.
