The Brinkman Adventures: Season 3 digital MP3 download (also available on 4 CD's) is an audio drama that includes 12 episodes, or 5+ hours of listening. Each episode is about 25 minutes long and is geared toward the entire family. The episodes are stories of faith that are based on true events. In fact, after each episode, you are encouraged to go online to read the stories behind the stories.
The Episodes
In God's Mule, we hear the stories of Thomas Gomez who leaves his Harvard education behind against his father's approval to become a missionary in Tibet. He spends three years in Tibet serving people, distributing Bibles, and introducing people to Jesus along side a seasoned missionary, but then a prayer changes his life and he answers the call to do the impossible - to bring 300 Bibles across the border into Bishmar... with God's help, of course. But will he and Don be able to distribute the Bibles? Are there any Christians in the city of 3 million people? Thomas is "Gods mule" and learns that with God nothing is impossible.
In Mountain Mover, Thomas continues sharing his missionary stories around the campfire... He ends up carrying 14,000 bibles and then in 2005 takes 23 people with 5000 bibles. Then 64 people with 10000 bibles and God protected them all. Then Thomas' father has a change of heart and joins him and he makes the trip with 375 people! This time god performs the biggest miracle of all and moves a mountain to get them over the border. But is someone following Thomas? Is he in danger?
In The Silent Ambassador, Ester wants to help poor people so decides to start a shoebox club - even though she is afraid of talking to people. Will she get help? Will God provide the supplies for the shoeboxes? And will Ester get over her fear of of people and have the courage to speak to them?
In Translating Troubles, Omar has faith in God but he does not understand the English Bible. Will God send someone to help translate the Bible for the Ulunka? The Johnson's, a missionary family, come to translate the Bible but they are struggling and are ready to give up. Can Omar help them?
Ian is encouraged to Man-Up when he and his father Jack Brinkman are on a trip hiking on a glacier and is put to the test when his father falls into a glacier mill hole. Ian learns what it means to be brave to help rescue his father, but he encounters danger on his rescue mission and Ian has to be really brave.
This episode was a little Scary! Malachi wanted to skip it, but he was glad we finished it and it ended up being his favorite episode.
In Acorns and Oaks, Mr. Benti visits and shares how he bought a missionary camp for $1 with money donated from the ice cream money saved by a little girl - the only donation raised during the fundraiser. This camp helped 140,000 children make a decision for Christ.
A Saint's Story Parts 1 and 2 are based on the true story of Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint, when he was involved in an accident. Is this the last chapter of his life? After Steve's accident, he brings honor to God by continuing his mission's work through the pain and suffering. Through his work at ITEC, he helps create inventions and focuses on teaching indigenous people how to help themselves and ultimately spread the gospel and show the power of forgiveness. Steve Saint plays himself in these episodes.
In Untouched, The Waodoni host tours where people can come and learn how they survive in the rainforest. This episode includes a special guest appearance.
Busy Bees and a Bullhorn is a fictional story from the Brinkmans life, though many real life elements are included.
Missionary Tourist Parts 1 and 2
Anthony and Mike go on a missions trip to build an aquaponics system for an orphanage. They end up going into a village with two women to give out gospel tracts and CDs but things go very wrong. This episode includes violence and dangerous situations that may not be suitable for sensitive children, but they ultimately help Anthony fully commit his life to the Lord.
Our Thoughts
The download quality of the audio series is excellent. The sound is crisp, clear and high quality with good sounds effects, music, and of overall good quality. I liked that the episodes were only 25 minutes long. They were a quick listen before bed time or entertainment on short road trips.
While I enjoyed listening to these with the younger three children (ages 4, 8, and 10) and recommend them if you want to provide your children with Christian inspirational missionary stories, they are not a great fit for our family. My children learned how God can move mountains, reach His people with the "gospel", and change the hearts of men, but it was necessary to have discussions on the gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ that are not taught by the modern Christian church. Furthermore, we don't celebrate Christmas and I had to pause The Silent Ambassador to explain the heart of this missionary approach to my children. They seemed to get it and it was Eliana's favorite episode because she admired how brave the girl was to help people. I am used to adjusting things to fit our family, but it is much easier to read over these types of things in books than it is in an audio recording.
Some smaller storylines involving the Brinkman family and friends are interwoven throughout the series. This was a little confusing to me at times. I felt these jumped around too much and think these storylines could be more developed to make each episode flow together more smoothly as they did in Season 2, but we enjoyed Season 3, and my kids were sad to see it end after the last episode.
We own a few of these (free gifts) from My Father's World. I'm not much an audio learner, but my girls are better ...probably because I read aloud to them :) Thank you for sharing your experience.
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