Jamie Wright’s beliefs ( missionary work sucks in many aspects) and her writing style (be prepared for a lot of raw language) will infuriate some readers but attract many others. The reader should be able to predict which category he/she fits into before even opening the book. This is particularly true as she has a popular blog on these subjects. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it without reservation. Fresh and scintillating, it provokes thought and, hopefully, dialogue.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I followed Jamie's blog for a while, but then stopped because it was pretty snarky and she curses a lot. For me, it blocked the heart of her message. Not everyone agrees with me though. This girl is popular. I did like her book. She insists we take an honest look at the way we do Kingdom work, and make it about Jesus, rather than tradition or convenience. I admire the work she's done.

I was challenged and offended and amused and felt criticized by this book. Missions work is imperfect as is the church and those the church sends. The best thing about this book is that she honestly looks at her experience, the worst part is that she overgeneralizes her experience to all missions work.

Jamie Wright rather unexpectedly found herself a missionary in Costa Rica with her husband and three sons. She quickly discovered that they didn't have the right training to do this job and that they had been sent to an area with many people who were doing the same work. She had been writing about their experiences to family and supporters back home. But as she became more lonely, disheartened, and worried that they might be doing more harm than good, she started writing the truth. When she was dubbed "The Very Worst Missionary" by a supporter withdrawing their contribution, she agreed and wondered if the worst missionary is the one presenting a perfect picture while falling apart on the inside or the one who admits that they are a mess and need grace just like everyone else.

Wright starts off her book with an apology, recognizing that her story and the ways she tells it are probably not what you expect. Snark and swearing are not always welcome in books about faith, but she wields both throughout The Very Worst Missionary. She begins by explaining their family's journey to faith and how they felt like they had found a home in their local church. But it wasn't long before Jamie noticed a disparity between what Jesus said and what the people in her congregation did. In spite of her questions, she and her husband Steve took their youth group on a short missions trip to Costa Rica and felt like it might be the perfect life for an adventurous family who loved Jesus.

Jamie's life and work in Costa Rica are nothing like she expected and she realized that her family might be hurting the very people they wanted to help. This is not a book that wraps up nicely in a bow. Wright says early on that she still struggles in her forties with many of the things that she struggled with as a teenager who wandered a college campus in a biker jacket at fifteen. In part, this may be what was frustrating to me. She does an excellent job of articulating the things that are wrong with the way that the American Christian church sends missionaries out into the world. But after pointing out the problems, she doesn't offer a solution. Maybe I am putting too much on one person but I want to know what we should be doing, not just the things we as the church do terribly wrong. However, if you see some problems with the concept of modern missions, Jamie Wright is right there with you. Even if she doesn't have the answers, she has some really funny stories to keep you company along the way.

The Very Worst Missionary
A Memoir or Whatever
By Jamie Wright
Convergent Books April 2018
230 pages
Read via Netgalley

Reading TVWM was both entertaining and somewhat troubling. Jamie's writing about her experiences, feelings, and thoughts are brutally and sometimes hysterically honest. Her narratives are frequently laced with expletives when describing what is going on in her head as well as what she actually thinks and writes or verbalizes about and to others. So, if you are easily offended by reading such language and know that you will have difficulty keeping an open mind because of it, this book is probably not for you. On the other hand, if you want to read and learn about someone's actual experience as a Christian missionary and what they learned from it, you just might really appreciate it..

Jamie Wright is a Christian woman with a huge set of balls. If you found that sentence completely distasteful, this may not be the right book for you. The author is a former missionary, and she tells her story without any of the holier-than-thou stuff that people often mistake for Christianity. She's funny, often cynical, profane, and I give her all the credit in the world for writing this book and telling her story.

Self-awareness is a challenging thing. Not only do you see all the flaws, but you will inevitably feel the hypocrisy of doing things wrong while trying to do the right thing. That's pretty much Jamie's tone when she writes. Despite good intentions, her time spent with her family as a missionary in Costa Rica opened her eyes to a lot of problems with the church and the missionary process. So, she tells it like she sees it. I imagine it is not well-received by some Christians, which is why I admire her so much for doing it. I found it inspiring. I was not raised with religion, other than summer Vacation Bible School, which I soon realized was a way for my mother to have some time to herself during the summer. Faith is something I've thought a lot about in my adult life and I enjoyed this book. It has given me much food for thought.

Basically, I loved it.

I first stumbled across Jamie Wright's blog in March of 2011. I immediately loved her writing, her stories, and her perspective.

If you are offended by "profanity", this *might* not be the book for you. (However, as others have said, if you watch R rated movies, you can handle this book, and you should.)

Jamie's memoir is hilarious, but also honest. I think she is asking good questions and pointing out things that need to be brought into the light regarding short-term missions and the Missionary Machine in general.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Madeleine Lambert, and I didn't want to stop listening. It's just under 5 hours and I could have kept listening for 5 more. I hope Jamie writes more books in the future. (By the way, if you tend to buy books on Kindle, and you buy this one on Kindle, you can add on the audiobook for $7.47, which is what I did.)

One of the many parts that resonated with me was when Jamie was talking about reading through some awful book with the church ladies and it was saying ridiculously wrong stuff about how medication and professional therapy are not the answer for clinical depression, and how a man should have strict authority over his wife, and they got to a part about the importance of "quiet time" and how "you can sleep when you're dead". So the leader was admonishing these young sleep-deprived mothers to forgo even more sleep so they could have their precious "quiet time" in the morning. And Jamie finally lost it on them. (I was cheering for Jamie. :-D) Here is part of what she wrote in response to the legalistic idea of a mandatory "quiet time":

“I don’t think that’s how it works. I really don’t. I think God is with us. Like, day in and day out, in the chaos and the noise and the silliness of life, He is there. The God of your precious, untouchable ‘quiet time’ is a present witness to our nonstop lives, never absent for the clamor of our kids’ laughter, their squeals, their skinned knees, their fussing and whining and raging fits in the Target parking lot. God is not withholding Himself from us, waiting for us to come to Him in the wee hours of the morning as a measure of our devotion!" (82)

Every now and then, you read a book that makes you laugh and makes you think. For me, The Very Worst Missionary by Jamie Wright is just that book. The author gained fame as a blogger while on the mission field in Costa Rica. However, I was not one of her many fans – simply because I had not found her yet. And, now that I have found her, I am going to be telling everybody to READ HER BOOK!

The book, essentially, is Jamie’s story. It covers her personal religious background, which is unique. And, then, her teen pregnancy and marriage to her husband (they’re still together). It was during these trying years as a young mom that she became involved in The Church (capital “C” on purpose) and was wholeheartedly invested in mom’s groups and what have you. After her husband embraced The Church, they became the go-to couple for church service and spent time working with the youth. After serving as youth group leaders, they felt called (or so they thought) to be missionaries. They ended up working as missionaries in Costa Rica for several years.

It was during these years on the mission field where Jamie began to really address some tough faith questions and general concerns about Christian missions as a whole. She came to discover that maybe what she was doing was not so helpful after all, and she began to feel concerned about being a cog in the Christian missions machine.

Aside from the memoir part of the book, Jamie’s reflections on her personal journey, marriage, and the Christian community are at times hilarious and profound. She stays true to her faith, but she raises challenging questions about why the North American Christian community does some of the things it does. But, while she pokes fun at some of the ultra-churchy experiences she had, she also makes fun of herself. And, she treats those who do some of the same things gently acknowledging that those moms’ groups were vital to her.

And, for anyone new to her writing, she does not hold back. She is crass and uses plenty of colorful language. Anyone easily offended by four-letter words should pass on this one – but you will be missing out. Then again, maybe these are the same people who would withdraw financial support because a four-letter word means you can’t serve (such as happened to the author). Or, if you don’t want to find out about North American missions are often viewed by those who live in foreign countries, you might want to pass.

After they left Costa Rica, her husband took on a church leadership role where he works to advise churches about missions, and Jamie advocates for the changes that need to be made. So, this is not a book about bashing missions. It is a book that tells one couple’s experiences and lessons they learned and what they want to change.

I don’t know if Jamie is actually the very worst missionary, but she’s probably one of the least typical missionaries. And in her first book, you can see why that is a very good thing.

Jamie shares stories from her life, growing up Jew-ish, her difficult adolescence, life as a young mother, all the way through to her five year stint as a missionary in Costa Rica. Like her popular blog, her writing is filled with humor and with heart, and you come away from this book feeling like you have a new friend who will hang out with you at the mall or the bar or the church. And I’m pretty sure that’s who Jamie is. An honest, beautiful, broken, strong woman. If getting to know someone like that better appeals to you, get this book.

***So I reallly only read and review Christian Fiction, clean mainstream fiction, Christian Living, and/or clean memoirs. So I feel the need to be really honest with this review up front before I even start my review. This book has some things I feel very passionately about (missions trips and "white people" saving the world) but it also includes some things I really don't care for (profanity...and lots of it) but all that being said I'm still glad I read it. And unless you are a stay at home person who only watches Christian TV and only listens to Christian music I'm guessing you hear profanity everyday. I know I do and I know my husband does. It doesn't mean that we cuss but we do hear it.***

Now that that's out of the way. Here is my real review:

I believe I was in Bolivia, South America the first time I ran across Jamie Wright's blog because a friend told me about it. I was there as a volunteer at an baby orphanage for 3 months but I did not consider myself a missionary and I was not there with any money that I had fundraised and I did not think I was saving the world. I was just holding babies, doing lots of laundry, washing dishes, and supporting my friends that worked at the orphanage. I wasn't taking anyone's job from them but I was lightening the load a little. But even then there were times when I wondered if it was fair to the kids to only be there for a limited time. In the end I decided it was since they were truly too young to remember me anyway and I knew the tias apprecaited the help.

I'll admit that Jamie's langauge sometimes grates on my sheltered ears but what she has to say is so important. I loved reading about how her childhood shaped her life, about the early years of her marriage, how they decided to go to Costa Rica as missionaries for five years, and ultimately how they decided to return to the United States.

There is a lot of truth in the beginning of this memoir as she talks about how she was able to learn about faith without the bias or expectations of her past. When you grow up in the church there are a lot of things that you can't easily change about your intrinsic beliefs. I honestly hadn't ever thought about that and apprecaited her perspective.

It was interesting to read about her youth, the early days of her becoming a Christian and also their marriage. I love that she might have started out quiet in small groups but eventually found her voice adn that it wsn't any different than this book or her blog. I really value people who are honest and I love the stories she shared but I won't say why so as to avoid spoilers.

The biggest reason I read this book was to learn more about their time as missionaries - especially because I spent 7 weeks in langauge school in Costa Rica where they served as missionaries for five years. There were so many ancedotes that made me smile in remembrance of my time there. Most notably her opinion of papaya, her description of the rain, and even the mention of Coke light in a baggie.

I appreciate her honestly in that they discovered that not all missionaries should be missionaries. That sometimes it shouldn't come down to whether an organization believes you were "called." I love that her and her husband actually made the most friends and had the most impact through his time playing football. I love that she calls out people who perpetuate the problem by going down for a week, doing something the locals could have done on their own, hand out a bunch of stuff, and then go home. All while spending thousands of dollars.

When they came back to the States she quickly realized that God's command to love your neighbor works everywhere for everyone. That our true calling is to love.

She shares so many truths that this book really is worth the read. It gave me a lot to think about and hopefully this book will be eye opening for a lot of people.

One last warning if you made it this far. In addition to the profanity this book also talks about premarital sex, drugs, homosexuality, and pornography.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I read and followed Jamie's blog many years back when I was also on the mission field, so I was fully aware of what I would be getting with this book. I am not bothered by cursing, but I will admit some of her unconventionally irreverent descriptions of things even made this easy-going reader a little uncomfortable. It is part of her plan and please know going in that that is not the point. Please see past all that for the point.

Be prepared to pull your boots up and be slapped around a bit. The author holds nothing back. She will make you look at your own life in a new way as she lays hers open for inspection. Her authenticity and humor will hold you as you read her crazy antics, and possibly your heart will be changed.

My "Missional Mama" blog title paled in comparison to the ultra cool swag like name, "Jaime, The Very Worst Missionary". I was a little envious. Being a former missionary, I think it is very pertinent that you understand that what she is saying about missions was also what I experienced. I had many quandaries about being in South America and if what we were doing was in fact worth the huge sacrifices being made to keep us there. There were so many questions and not many answers. Plus we dealt with the craziness of life abroad including electrical house fires, boils, having money stolen, our car being broken into, and deep depression. So, her stories resonated from a place of understanding and head nodding.

This is an important conversation starter. Please read this book with friends and talk about what stirs your heart. Give it to your Pastors and leaders, your friends interested in missions, and send it to your missionaries. Look deeply at the conversation Jaime is starting here and see what your is your part in the next best thing to do

*This book was given to me by NetGally in exchange for my honest review.

Have you ever traveled to another country to paint a wall? [YES} Are you a painter? [NO} READ THIS BOOK

Have you ever traveled to another country to build something [YES] Would you live in a house you built? [NO] READ THIS BOOK.

Have you ever funded a teenager or a not-a-painter to paint a wall or a not-a-builder to build a house? [YES] READ THIS BOOK

If you have ever gone on a mission trip, thought of going on a mission trip, supported someone going on a mission trip or been asked to give money to someone on a mission trip BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT THIS MOMENT. If you work for a church that has a missions pastor, buy them this book.... and depending on your relationship with them maybe apologize for the salty language hahahaha! If you are in some sort of Christian college or whatever this should be required reading, get it and read it and recommend it to everyone.

After 12 years living and serving cross culturally in Zimbabwe (as a self-funded 'missionary') this book touches on at least 1 million conversations I have had. I have never fit into the structure of any "missions organization" and struggled with that in various degrees for 12 whole years. And then I read this and I found where I fit. Thank you Jamie for writing about your experiences and what you've learned. I am certain that this book will widen the much needed conversation around missions and what we need to do better and what we need to stop doing IMMEDIATELY without passing GO!

Read this book if you have a sense of humor, enjoy an expletive thrown in regularly or have ever used an expletive in a conversation about a short term missions experience.

Do not read this book if you are overly sensitive to salty language. It's ok some people are more precious than others. If you are precious this book may offend you. Leave it for now.

My first alarm bell when I opened this book was that the intro is written by Jen Hatmaker. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but she didn't write this book - just the intro - so I didn't want to let that color my impressions of Jamie's writing.

Then, I flipped over to the prologue. First page of the prologue has profanity in it... Next page drops the f bomb. When a book is advertised under the label of Christian, that's not what I'm expecting. I'm disappointed because Jamie's story sounded really interesting, but I don't think it's appropriate to include foul language and cursing throughout. Just my opinion and obviously others disagree.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

This is an honest look at the author's life leading up to (a Jewish background and a teen mom) and during her family's time as a missionaries in Costa Rica. She begins to point out flaws she witnessed in the Christian missionary world that she was a part of. I actually wished she would have given more examples, so those who sponsor missionaries would have more information to take under advisement. (I'm guessing more of this is on her blog, which I intend to check out.)

I enjoyed this book and received an advanced copy via NetGalley.

Funny, poignant, and really honest. I love how the author shares her experiences and doesn't sugar coat anything. I wish the swearing in the beginning of the book was as carefully used as it was later. Early on, the shock value was distracting, whereas later in the manuscript the word choice was more thoughtful and added needed emphasis to the author's point. I'll re-read this book and recommend it to friends.

Hilariously funny, but oh so truthful. And while I understand some "good" Christians might take offense to her book, I think God will be laughing right along with her. Loved this book.