Nordskog Publishing Inc.

Noble Novels
Jungle Sunrise

JUNGLE SUNRISE

by Jonathan Williams

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ISBN:  978-0-9824929-8-7
Pages: 230

About the Author

Jonathan WilliamsJonathan Williams served as a missionary with the International Mission Board’s Xtreme Team in the jungles of Peru for two years. It was there, lying under a mosquito net in a hut in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, that Williams began to write his first novel, Jungle Sunrise. 

Living with a previously unreached indigenous tribe, the Amarakaeri, Williams experienced first-hand the beauty and danger of native life as he had the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hunt with bows and arrows, fish with spears, navigate the rivers, and encounter every aspect of the tribe’s culture. This breathtaking scene of the Amazon serves as the backdrop for Jungle Sunrise. 

Williams, 30, writes and lives in North Texas with his beautiful wife, Jessica, where he pastors Body Life church and serves as the Campus Pastor for Trinity Christian Academy as he pursues a Masters of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His passion and desire is to inspire readers with creativity and truth. 

www.junglesunrise.com

Media Appearances


Today's Author on BlogTalkRadio
Interview on Active Christian Media
The Christian Author Show
The God Show with Pat McMahon (KTAR-FM 92.3) Wednesday/July 14, 2010 @ 1:00 PM PST

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A unique and captivating novel by a member of the Xtreme Team, who risk their lives and endure unthinkable physical deprivation while assisting native people in the most remote areas of the world. This novel has been written out of the rich background of that experience. It is evident the author has been there!

He unlocks the secret of how to begin life anew, as the book’s central character moves from a depressing, directionless life to a rewarding and incomparable adventure, discovering the ultimate meaning in life through trials and tragedy. One warning: do not start reading until you have some time because you won’t put it down.

Virtual Book Tour Aug 2 - 27

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

Jungle Sunrise is a unique and captivating novel, written by a member of the Xtreme Team, an inimitable group of men and women who risk their lives and endure unthinkable physical deprivation while attempting to find and assist native people in the most remote areas of the world. Author Jonathan Williams has written this novel out of the rich background of that experience. He unlocks the secret of how to begin life anew, as the book’s central character moves from a depressing, direc- tionless life to a rewarding and incomparable adventure. One warning: do not start reading until you have some time because you won’t put it down.

— Paige Patterson President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Jonathan Williams skillfully transports the reader between two worlds in a captivating and suspenseful book. Having traveled in this setting with young missionaries seeking to reach isolated jungle tribes, I can attest to the authenticity of experi- ences encountered in this rich yet challenging environment. It is evident the author has been there! A subtle Christian testimony is effectively woven into the novel through intriguing personali- ties as they discover the ultimate meaning in life through trials and tragedy.

— Jerry Rankin President, International Mission Board, SBC

I admittedly struggled with the approach to take with Jungle Sunrise. First, the conditions weren’t ideal—My review copy arrived via email, and reading off a screen automatically propels me into “editing mode.” Furthermore, trying to read while monitoring a study hall, well, has its own challenges. But the more important reason is this: Any story, whether biographical, autobiographical, or fiction-based-on-real-events, that deals directly with saints, missionaries, and martyrs creates in me emotions so deep I can’t quite articulate them. This is true whether it be the gut-wrenching Tortured for Christ, the mind-boggling collections of what Muslim converts to Christianity endure, the novelSafely Home, dedicated to the persecuted church in China, or the stunning tragedy of Beyond the Gates of Splendor and The End of the Spear (both about Jim Eliot and Nate Saint and their families).

There is something in me that resonates with the writer of the book of Hebrews when he so curiously declares these men and women “men of whom the world was not worthy.” If you’ve read anything on the persecuted church—past or present—I trust you understand what I mean, because this is the very thing that Jungle Sunrise is.

The editor/writer in me knew immediately why the book begins with the delightful missionary couple in the deep parts of Peru—Memphis and Abigail Jones—rather than its featured protagonist Jonah Frost. I’ll admit, Jonah is both difficult company and ominously understandable as a disgruntled creative type who’s hit complete rock bottom. But that’s really the beauty of Mr. Williams’ craft, here: I am Jonah Frost, lost and hopeless, desperate. Jonah Frost is me. And Memphis Jones is the hands and feet of Jesus his Savior. Memphis, this sort of American titan with both physical and spiritual prowess—by far the favorite, is everything Jonah wants and simply isn’t. And, without any condescension or emasculation, he helps Jonah out of the whale, so to speak. (No, I’m not giving a tired cliché. Jonah is in a place of despair, death and darkness—which is exactly what the prophet would have experienced in his living, underwater coffin.)

It’s really taken me several days to process this. Whenever a book is based off an author’s real-life experiences, I really do hesitate to criticize the unfolding of events that probably really were that out-of-this world. Christianity’s all about the supernatural anyway, right? I mean, we do maintain God came to earth as a man, ran around a strip of the Middle East for a few years, died, and came back from the dead.

But I had to wonder why Williams devoted so much time to some parts of Jonah’s journey. And I think I understood: There’s a subtle development as Jonah’s experiences in the jungles of Peru begin to turn death into life, and it can only be seen by first watching Jonah unravel.

I’m already risking spoilers in this review, so I won’t say too much more. I will say this: The jungle is amazing. In places it felt like The End of the Spear, Apocalypto, and Safely Home all rolled into one (assuming it isn’t sacrilegious to put those in one sentence)—even beginning with a jaguar hunt complete with a celebration. Williams chose a variety of characters: a feisty Spanish photographer, a snotty anthropologist, a dedicated linguist, a dead-in-the-water writer, and an energetic, lovable American missionary couple.

All of that to say, I really did enjoy the story of Jonah’s adventures, which proved all-around moving, one of those that lingers awhile after the final pages turn. It’s a worthy tribute, I think, to the saints who pave the road ahead, and a tale of hope and encouragement to the rest of us—we Jonahs—coming up behind.

—Reviewed by Kaci Hill (fictionaddict.com)

This is a well-written, thought-provoking, and moving novel that you will speed through until you finish! The story centers around the lives of the six main characters, a missionary couple, writer, linguist, anthropologist and photographer, each with their own purpose for entering the jungles of Peru. The author follows their lives, with plenty of twist and turns along the way. It was a very entertaining, yet touching read.

—Review by Book Bargains and Reviews

For Memphis and Abigail Jones, life was an adventure.  Their time as missionaries to the Amarakaeri tribe in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle had presented them with great opportunity but also great risk.  However, it was time to leave the Amarakaeri tribe, who was now like family, and show God’s love to a newly discovered people group, the Isconahua.  Plunging into the unknown and having no idea how this new people group would receive them, the Jones left the comfort of the Amarakaeri people to face this new challenge.

Meanwhile, author Jonah Frost had reached the bottom.  Divorced and struggling from years of writer’s block, drunk and barely continuing to plod through each day, his brother, Noah, managed to convince him to join him on a trip to the Peruvian Amazon Jungle to study the language of the Isconahua people.  The Frost brothers along with the Jones and three other people traveled together to meet, study, and photography the Isconahua.  Though most were strangers with their own agenda when they started their journey, the seven united to survive the harsh jungle environment and through their adventures, Jonah slowly began to discover what it truly meant to live.  Inspired by Williams’ time as a missionary, Jungle Sunrise has a strong, intriguing plot in a majestic and captivating setting.

Moment of complete honesty here, I was surprised by this book.  I’ll admit I wasn’t real sure how much I was going to like it.  The premise sounded interesting, but I went in with a few reservations.  Well, Jungle Sunrise is good.  It’s actually very good.  It’s not as polished as other books on the market and could have used a bit more editing, but I loved the story.  It was engaging, had a strong plot, and you can’t beat the setting.

The Peruvian Amazon Jungle and Williams’ experiences there carried this book.  The reader is not given a romanticized picture drawn from online research but is instead presented with an insider view of both its beauty and its terror.  It is obvious the author spent some time in the jungle.  Many of the adventures and brushes with death seemed amazingly realistic.  I could not discern which events were drawn from experience and which were a product of Williams’ imagination.  Furthermore, the Jones’ lives were not portrayed as missionaries often are.  Gone are the naive ideas and images so easily conjured by those of us who have never been involved in treacherous missionary work.  This book presented a different side to missionary life which greatly enhanced the story’s thrill making the adventure feel more alive.

A couple of parts of Jungle Sunrise make for some good contemplation.  For example, it puts forth the question are evangelical missionaries destroying a culture or giving to the people?  Would it be better to simply observe and take away only knowledge of who these people are rather than interact and share ideas?  I loved this debate.  Both sides of the argument were well presented and it added an extra layer of tension.  I had never given it much thought, but this question adds another perspective to how missionaries can be viewed by those outside the church.

This book does have some not so subtle evangelical messages, but they’re not overpowering.  It also has a few areas that needed some additional editing, especially in the opening pages.  Overall, though I enjoyed the story and the setting is simply spectacular.  After all, with heart pounding hunts and near death experiences in an exotic location, what’s not to love?

—Review by Melissa Willis (www.thechristianmanifesto.com)