Heidi and Rolland Baker are well known for their missionary work in Mozambique, and this is their second book. It's 192 pages, easily readable, and with plenty of photographs. The sheer scale of the work of Iris ministries in Mozambique and recently more widely is very striking – this is an increasingly large scale operation involving many people and huge budgets. But I have to say I was surprised by the book. The Bakers' commitment to ministry is very great, and the testimonies to their work extraordinary. But the book is slightly oddly written – lots and lots of exclamation marks, but a curious absence of emotional engagement with the reader. It reads as if written at a remove from the events it describes – which makes it hard to identify with, hard to get into, and somehow slightly unreal. I'm not sure what to make of it.

There’s always something in these books from Heidi and Rolland that catches you unaware. In this book, that is actually a narrative of the last five years of IRIS Ministries in Mozambique, they managed to bring me closer to an understanding of our Saviour’s love and the reality of how we can pour that love out to others. Through examples of their unceasing work among children and adults in Mozambique they take the reader through what appears to be everything they could have thrown at them. From cyclones to their plane crashing they continue to bring the good news to thousands, to plant churches and care for thousands of orphaned children (although that is not a word they use as they become Mama and Papa to them). Yet this book isn’t just the story of their continuing life work and mission – it is a teaching book if we read it right. It teaches of His love, His grace and His abundant trust in each of us to do His will. They use example from their work in the countries they serve to help us in our daily walk with God wherever we live.