God's Tribesman: The Rochunga Pudaite Story

by marti-hefley-james-c-hefley, Marti Hefley

"The Bibles are here! The Bibles are here!" came the excited screams from the people of Hmar tribe in India. For many years they had been waiting patiently for a Bible in their own language. It had finally arrived.
The amazing thing was how God had orchestrated the whole event. Many years before God had called a young man from Wales to go to the hills of India. He fervently preached the Gospel, and some of the tribe accepted Christ as Savior. However, because of unusual circumstances, he had to leave suddenly. Amazingly, the small band of Christians continued to grow as the new Hmar Christians shared their faith.
Chawnga, the Hmar pastor, began to pray for someone to translate the Bible into the Hmar dialect. His son, Rochunga, felt God calling him to this enormous assignment.
God's Tribesman is the story of Rochunga Pudaite - how he gained an education and translated the Bible into the Hmar language. The drama of his life will encourage you to put aside your fears and follow God to the "end of the horizon."

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, School, Christian, History, Religion

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Yibbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful story. It is filled with the pain caused by prejudice and deep poverty, but it is also filled with the great joy of forgiveness and God’s provision. It is the story of a man who faced down the temptations of great power and prestige to make an eternal impact on his country.
It starts out when Ro is just a little fellow and doesn’t fully understand why his father would leave everything they know endangering his wife’s life to preach the Gospel. Then it follows him as he struggles to gain an education, often walking for days just to get to school. Along the way, he shares his adventures as a spy, escaping tigers and murderers, bitter disappointment, and temptations. It ends on a triumphant note as his faithfulness results in the New Testament being translated for the first time into his native language. It is a beautiful story.
It is written for a younger audience so the vocabulary is simple. Still, it is a wonderfully encouraging book that I would recommend to everyone.
I can’t help but contrast this book with K.P. Yohannan’s book. This book has much the same message and covers many of the same years. Both men were working in India through the years that foreign missions were being forced out of the country. But while Yohannan focuses on the bad that he saw in foreign missions, Ro, even though he personally suffered under mission politics, decided to forgive and focus on the blessing that those foreign missionaries brought him and his people. Ro also helped start an organization in the USA to help support national churches, but his focus is much more self-effacing. He is willing to work with anyone American, Indian, or Tribal who wishes to spread the Gospel. He wanted the native churches to become self-governing and self-supporting. This was all 20+ years before Yohannan began his ministry. This book didn’t leave you feeling guilty or manipulated. It left you praising the Lord and encouraged to obey Him in every way He would lead you.

[Morgan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for school and I actually enjoyed it. Honestly, I thought it would be dreadful because of the dozens of missionary stories that I've heard already but it was actually very interested and unlike any I've heard before. The story of Ro's life was lovely and I felt like his and his wife's relationship was depicted beautifully. I even teared up a few times, lol. But anyway, I'd probably even read this if it wasn't for school because it was pretty entertaining and I read it in under a week.

[GraceWastheAnswer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very good book, about a young boy, growing up in India, trusting in Jesus, and then coming to America as a missionary. It is not your normal missionary book, and is a little alien by just the difference in culture. Many of the stories contained withing are simply amazing, and miraculous.

[Jackson Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it for school! Pretty good!

[Kari Kraemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a vague memory of Rochunga Pudaite visiting my church way back in the 70s and the copy of the book I own was signed by him, Rochunga was the son of Chawnga from the Hmar tribe in Northeast India. Rochunga's father heard about Christ from Watkins Robert a Welsh missionary, who had traveled to India. Rochunga traveled at age 10, 96 miles through the jungle to begin his education knowing that he wanted to translate the New Testament into the language of his people. He eventually went to Scotland and to Wheaton College to further his education. I was inspired to read this biography because of Rochunga's deep faith in God and how he never wavered from his goal of making the Bible available for his people. Rochinga started the organization, Bibles for the World.

[Godofredo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must admit that I didn't have the time to savour this book properly but the short time I had it I didn't enjoyed it at all. It is true that I found certain parts highly enjoyable and interesting but other were simply dull and monotone, not to mention the ending which I think wasn't "worthy" of the book itself. Perhaps, if the next time I read it more calmly I'll find it more interesting and enjoyable that this short and somewhat forced experience.

[Joyfully Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for school and it was super interesting! I loved seeing how drastically someone's life can change once they've received Jesus!
Although, the one thing I didn't like was how it ended quite abruptly. I was expecting it to end when he died or retired or something like that.
Other than that it was a lovely book!

[Joy Krizyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vision. To get the bibles to the hands of many people in different languages.

I love how the story was narrated and how again the Lord has been so faithful to deliver His words to different nations.

I love to learn about other groups/tribes life, their background and their history and their culture.

[Euna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's direction, leading and faithfulness is written all over this book!

[Jan Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of how God used one family to influence a large area of India.

[MaryEllen Bream · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of this I really enjoyed simply because it was an encouragement to see the power of God's Word in action. I do think it could have been more colorfully written.

[Deedeebear3! · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very good! I had a hard time understanding what they were saying at points, though. I found myself reacting out loud when things would happen to him!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good entry-level book on this evangelist. I enjoyed reading it.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, and Rochunga's story is certainly inspiring. I'm disappointed in the writing style, which is merely adequate (I've found this to be the case in other books by the Hefleys as well). There are significant gaps in details that suggest the only informant for this book was Rochunga himself. What about comments from his fellow students in Glasgow or Wheaton? Or information from his co-workers in the mission? Or fellow Hmars who have known him for a long time? There's nothing like that here. Nor is there more than the barest of details about the context of India during the years the story covers. This could have been a much richer book if some more research had gone into it.

[Sarah Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting. I really liked how it was written it felt like a biography but it also felt like a fiction story. Like I said before it was somewhere in the middle. But I really enjoyed this story all in all. For it being a school book for English it was a pretty good one. It was also really easy and quick to read, I was never really bored during it which is always good in my book. It never had those lagging parts like some books do. Of course it was a very short book which also made it good for me. I didn't think it needed to be longer. A 3/5 on Goodreads and as my personal rating a 6/10. :)

[GraceWastheAnswer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very good book, about a young boy, growing up in India, trusting in Jesus, and then coming to America as a missionary. It is not your normal missionary book, and is a little alien by just the difference in culture. Many of the stories contained withing are simply amazing, and miraculous.

[GraceWastheAnswer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very good book, about a young boy, growing up in India, trusting in Jesus, and then coming to America as a missionary. It is not your normal missionary book, and is a little alien by just the difference in culture. Many of the stories contained withing are simply amazing, and miraculous.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book as much I have enjoyed another books by the same author, Peril by Choice .

[Juliana Marez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I could read over and over.

[Cortney Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic biography

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for school - good story, Rochunga was an amazing person, but it still read like a grade six biography rather than a ten/eleven one. Slightly insulting.

[M.K. Aneal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome, inspiring story!! Worth every moment of my time!!

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endearing story of a faithful servant of Christ. A gripping story of adventure and answering God's call on his life. Read it in 8 years ago for school.