An Asian Harvest

     BOOK REVIEW:   Leaving home and his native New Zealand aged 16, Paul Hattaway found himself in Australia, homeless, hungry, and lonely, sleeping on the roof of a public bathroom. "A waste of energy" was his high school principal's assessment.
     After a fellow factory worker helped him to find faith, he quickly became convinced that God was calling him to China and in 1988 Paul arrived in Hong Kong with nothing more than a backpack, a single contact, and $50. He began to work as a Bible courier, carrying hundreds at a time across the Chinese border under the noses of the guards.
     Today Paul Hattaway leads Asia Harvest, the ministry he founded, which supports thousands of indigenous missionaries (meaning natives) and has supplied over 10 million Bibles to China and millions more to Christians throughout Asia.
     An Asian Harvest is his astonishing story.


     MY REVIEW:   I read The Heavenly Man last year, and while I enjoyed it, I never got around to seeing what else Paul wrote. As it happens, he has written several, some of which are: Operation China, From Head-Hunters to Church-Planters, and China's Christian Martyrs. You can find the rest of his books, as well as information on Asia Harvest at asiaharvest.org.
     Autobiographies don't often interest me. This one, however, is greatly an exception---it did not take long for me to read it, and I enjoyed every page. The only fault I can find with it, is when you are done, it is hard to find another book to match it. ;)
     Paul's life was one he lived entirely for God. I was amazed at his story, how his faith held him through, and the battles he faced. The most striking one to me was his battle to marry his wife, Joy. A fellow missionary with an amazing reputation and seriously double life went so far as to slander Paul and Joy to keep them from marrying, and even after they did he was not put off.
     I absolutely love reading books like this that leave one feeling they were there, know that much more about it, and were touched in some unknown way. I would hugely recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

   I received a copy of this book from KREGEL PUBLISHERS per their blogger program and was only asked to write an honest review.