I Can See the Shore: Growing Up Yanomamo Today

Venezuela missionary Michael Dawson continues his story (following Growing Up Yanomamo) about adventures and indigenous Yanomamo people they work with in Venezuela. Their daughter Mikeila is born after a long labor with no C-section until almost too late, due to no insurance. She struggles for 5 months to survive, and then after charming everyone for almost 6 years, the Lord takes her home. The pain and grief is revealed in this book, along with stories of local witch doctors and others. The plight of the missionary is revealed along with their heart to help the people.people they work with. Their daughter Mikeila is born after a long labor with no C-section until almost too late, due to no insurance. She struggles for 5 months to survive, and then after charming everyone for almost 6 years, the Lord takes her home. The pain and grief is revealed in this book, along with stories of local witch doctors and others. The plight of the missionary is revealed along with their heart to help the people. This book stirs the heart and is good for all who enjoy missionary stories.

Excellent book.

Awesome book. We had Mike's parents at our church when Millie published her book, "All the Day Long". An inspiring family! I love to fly and watched their home video of picking up the plane in boxes, putting it together and then their take off. A continuation of their faith that began with moving their family from rural Virginia to the jungles of the Amazon. Mike's book continues this ministry of God's love and mercy in their hearts.Ginny Hamrick

Anyone interested in missions or the amazon needs to read this book!Mission life is not all one thinks it is!

Heartfelt, real, spiritually sound.

I actually read the forward of this book before going back to read Growing up Yanamano. My family has known Paul Dye most of my teenage and adult life and I wanted to read what he said about this author. It had been Mrs. Dye's recommendation that brought me around to owning these books. She had congratulated Mike (on Facebook) for an award he received on this book.As I was saying, I was reading the foreward to the second book and immediately learned that Mike wrote both books with the intent on it being one. It was others that convinced him to make it two - one being on his childhood - growing up with his parent's, who were Venezuelan missionaries to the Yanamano and how Mike was actually born among the tribe of the Yanamano - thus the name of his first book, and how he and his 9 siblings grew in faith and learned to love the people and country. The first book was fun and a constant adventure.If you've ever read Dean Koontz (and generally, I'm sure Christian book readers may not read other genre) but if you did - I'd say the end of his first book is much like the end of Dean's book ODD THOMAS. It's a shocker and makes you jump out of your seat and say OH NO, THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! But instead of being a fiction writer like Dean Koontz, it was absolutely real.Because I too live in the real world and have had OH NO THAT CAN'T HAPPEN moments in my life, I grabbed Michael's second book and read anxiously, wondering what a man of God does to deal with such moments. And there he was, dealing with another OH NO moment. I gained great insight, Bible verses, and calming strength as Michael Dawson dealt with his own horrible tragedies.Yet, his second book wasn't filled with tragedy. I don't mean to make you think if you buy this, that's what you'll be reading. It's much like the first book, with accounts and memories of his childhood memories and current life of his sons and daughters. He looks back upon his life to give him strength and help him through. It's a wonderful and at times, delightful book. I read through it like I was drinking water after a long thirst.When I was finished, I had to write my missionary friends to find out if he and his family were still in Venezuela, because he'd finished his book in 2006. They are. Their only pilot is facing a crisis. He needs a liver transplant so they haven't had a pilot since November 2010. If you'd like to learn more, Google Michael Dawson's name and learn about his friend and pilot - Dale. I did.

Although I enjoyed Growing up Yanomamo, I had some questions I wanted answered. I Can See The Shore answered most of those question. This book is different than Growing Up Yanomamo in that the first book was mainly short stories. Although there are some short stories in the second book, there are two major story lines in I Can See The Shore. In the first you are invited to live through the authors emotional experience of having a special child, raising her in the jungle, her impact on the people around her and then eventually her death. The second is a detailed description of the initiation process of becoming a witch doctor. With both books I could not help but gasp, cry or laugh out loud while reading, thus causing raised eyebrows of curiosity by those around me. If you are like me, not only will you learn about another culture, you will start to ask interesting questions about your own culture.

8-2011. Mike Dawson's work "Growing Up Yanomamo" won an award as Book of the year in 2010 for biography and this follow-on work (actually part II of the story) is not only an inspiring and heart-warming volume, but helps readers complete the important understanding of the activities presented in "Growing Up Yanomamo". I was privileged to spend an evening with Mike and Keila Dawson in Virginia and can share that their story, as presented in these two volumes, is just the "tip of the iceberg", so to speak. I was inspired, encouraged, my heart ached, and I cried (yes, grown men do cry) at Mike's presentation and openness of their joys and traumas of life, and how God works through them. I highly recommend this book, especially to those who have read "Growing Up Yanomamo". You will truly have your emotions touched with laughter, sadness, joy, sorrow, and most of all inspiration to further illuminate your own life.

Just what we have come to expect from Mike Dawson: a book that is hard to put down. In the high times and the hard times God is always there.