Friday, May 3, 2013

A Dream So Big by Steve Peifer

Steve and Nancy Peifer experienced tragedy when their son Stephen was born with trisomy 13 and died after only eight days. Overtaken with grief and seeking God to make sense of the pain, Steve sensed God saying to him, "Make your wife's dream come true." Nancy's dream was to be a missionary. Out of tragedy, God took a grieving heartbroken couple and their family to rural Kenya to be dorm parents at Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school for missionary kids. A Dream So Big recounts their journey and how God made beauty from ashes, taking an unlikely man and using him to start a feeding program in schools throughout Kenya and to build computer centers to train these children in technology to help educate them out of poverty.

I have a heart for Africa and read books any chance I get on how people are making a difference there. This book was different than most I had read. I think it is the honesty in which it is written. I appreciated and could relate to the struggles that Steve encountered as he wrestled with Kenyan culture and the obstacles he faced in trying to feed the children. Much of the story is told through excerpts from emails he sent to financial supporters in the states. Some of the emails were humorous stories of life at a boarding school with the students and other were heartbreaking stories of poverty.

A Dream So Big has something for everyone. While reading this book, I learned more about third world relief work, about boarding school life, and about how God makes heroes out of people who will for the most part live in obscurity with virtually no recognition for the difference they have made. These people, like the Peifers and others you will meet through this book, are the modern day heroes of the faith.

This book will educate, challenge and inspire you to dream big, to live a life of purpose in service for others, especially those who have are born into and live in poverty.



I received this book from Booksneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.