WRITTEN BY WENDY RIUNGU.

Bruce Olson a teenage boy leaves home and heads into the jungle to evangelize a murderous tribe of South American Indians.

It all began when Bruce left the United States he had very little faith that he will be able to fulfill God’s will. The missionaries too had warned him about the Motilone tribe as it was believed to be brutal and heartless in which it was true but he still insisted on going. Touched by missionary reports, Olson felt God’s call to minister to Indians in South America. When he was nineteen, Olson embarked on the journey that would change his life forever. He headed to South America with little more than the clothes on his back.

He first got disappointed when he got off his plane and the missionary who was supposed to pick him did not show up. Olson’s first contact with local missionaries was disheartening. The missionaries looked at Olson as an outsider and refused to include him in mission work because he had come without sponsorship. Instead of doing mission work from the beginning, Olson attended a university in Venezuela and began learning about the South American Indian tribes.

Months later, Olson set off into the jungle looking for the Motilone Indian tribe. He first came across the Yuko Indians. After spending a year with the Yukos, he ventured deeper into the jungle to find the Motilones. His initial encounter with the Motilones was frightening. He was pierced by an Indian arrow and later almost executed by the Motilone chief. Bruce endured dysentery, hepatitis, and a chronic problem with parasites during his first few months in the jungle. However, none of these trials convinced him to turn back. Instead, they emboldened him to continue his work and to take joy in this time of “suffering” for the Lord’s work.

Upon his return to the Motilones, Olson received the name “Bruchko” since they were not able to pronounce his name clearly. He began to accompany the men on their fishing and hunting expeditions. He slowly adjusted to the Motilone diet, and he began to pick up on the tribe’s tonal language, differentiate past and present tense. Still, he faced periods of discouragement as he did not know how to share the Gospel within this foreign and difficult context.

The book takes a turn when Bruce befriends a young Motilone warrior – Bobarishora (“Bobby”). As Bobby became a leader of the tribe, Olson’s influence expanded and his opportunities for service were multiplied which was promising. There happen to be an epidemic of pink eye that hit the tribe. Olson obtained antibiotic cream for the Indians but the witch doctor refused the outside help. In an attempt to win over the witch doctor, Bruce purposely contracted pink eye and allowed the witch doctor to treat him with his own antibiotic cream. And from then, the witch doctor gained his trust and began to use Western medicines and the tribe took steps to better sanitation.

Olson’s opportunity to share the gospel came shortly after the experience with the witch doctor. In the jungle, he came upon several Motilone Indians who were digging a hole in an attempt to find God. Olson began to teach them about the incarnation and Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross. In order to drive home the biblical teaching about God becoming man, Olson told the Motilone fable about a man who became an ant. Bobby was the first Motilone to convert to Christianity, but it took several months before the rest of the tribe had made up their minds. Bobby, as the tribe’s leader, sang the Gospel story, and his testimony influenced the other Motilones to put their trust in Christ. From the moment of the tribe’s conversion, Olson speeds up his account and skips over years with very little detail. Bobby married and had children. Olson met and dated a girl named Gloria who changes her course from law to medicine so as to help the Motilones. Tragically, she was killed in an automobile accident shortly before they were to be married. Olson was also involved in international organizations as an advocate for the Motilones and their traditions. Olson’s discipleship of the Motilone tribe continued through his efforts to translate the Gospel of Mark and then the New Testament.

Bruchko is an autobiographical book by Bruce Olson, telling the story of his work as a Christian missionary with Motilone Bari Indians, an indigenous tribe living in Colombia and Venezuela. Bruchko is a remarkable tale of adventure, tragedy, faith and love. It shows how, despite incredible dangers and obstacles, one humble man and a tribe of primitive, violent Indians by joining together in simple obedience have been transformed forever by the sovereign will of God.

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil, men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.”