I read More Than Conquerors by Kathi Macias years ago, but it is one of those books that really stuck with me. It opened my eyes to the real life struggles of those living and ministering in Mexico. This book is a highly recommended read! It is also only $1.99 on Kindle right now — what a deal!
True love ignites their passionate pursuit of His call. With violent crime on the rise and the political climate changing throughout certain parts of Mexico, the opportunity for open Christian witness, particularly in some areas of Chiapas State, is rapidly decreasing. Hector Rodriguez pastors a small church in the tourist-popular border town of Tijuana. He also routinely carries Bibles deeper into the hostile areas of Mexico, where he ministers despite increasing difficulty and persecution. Hectors mother accompanied him on one of those trips and felt God called her to stay in the little village of San Juan Chamula, where she uses the Scriptures to teach reading to the families who are open to it.
Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer and radio show host who has authored 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley.
You can find Kathi online at www.kathimacias.com and at her blog http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com
My Thoughts:
Conquistadores — conquerors — this word still inspires hatred and fear in the hearts of the descendants of the once flourishing culture of the Mayans. The Mayans were a people with a very advanced civilization. They had a written language, a developed religious and governmental system, and arts, architecture and literature. A once great society they were finally conquered by the Spanish. However, their language and traditions continue to exist in many central American countries as well as Mexico. Kathi Macias’ newest book, More Than Conquerors, introduces the reader to the modern Mayan, one who still clings to traditions, superstitions, and suspicions of those they term outsiders.
Macias sets her novel in two locations in Mexico — San Juan Chamula in Chiapas State and Tijuana just south of San Diego. San Juan Chamula is a remote Mayan village in the rain forest. Tijuana is separated from San Juan Chamula not only by distance and bad roads, but by a lifestyle termed primitive even by those living in the poverty stricken border town. But both towns share one thing in common — the grip of evil on their populations. The evil is palpable in the confused psuedo-christian/Mayan worship in San Juan Chamula and in the gang violence of Tijuana.
The scripture that inspires the title of this novel, Romans 8:37, states that children of God are more than conquerors of the things that seek to keep them from the will of God — fear, death, persecution, ridicule, evil forces, and evil men. The verse is illustrated in the characters Macias brings to life on the pages of her book. Like Macias’ first book in the Extreme Devotion series (No Greater Love), More Than Conquerors is not an easy read. The characters are faced with real life struggles and obstacles. Gang violence, open opposition to the gospel, family and societal pressures are just a few of the things she writes about. The christian life is not presented as a happily-ever-after fairy tale, but as gritty, ugly and tear-filled, yet possessing the peace and joy that only God can give to those He loves.
This book is for those who want to live what they say they believe. Highly Recommended.
(Thank you to Pump Up Your Book and Kathi Macias for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Jolissa Montoya believes God is calling her to work with the disadvantaged children in her inner-city neighborhood. There’s only one problem: The children wouldn’t be able to understand her. Jolissa suffers from a speech impediment and has a thick accent because Spanish is her first language. Ridiculed through much of her youth, she is quite shy and reticent to speak. She is convinced that what God has spoken to her heart is impossible. Impossible, that is, until one day when her confidante shows her a quilt — a quilt that depicts the life of a courageous woman. Can another woman’s courage move her to try the impossible and step out and follow God wherever He leads her?
Will God protect and keep them safe in the midst of persecution?
Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored more than 50 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Her novel set in China, Red Ink, was named Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and was also a Carol Award Finalist; her October 2012 release, Unexpected Christmas Hero, was named 2012 Book of the Year by BookandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.
A young Chinese woman, Zhen-Li—raised to observe the party line, including its one-child-per-family doctrine—falls in love with and marries a Christian, and adopts his faith. Though the couple downplays their Christianity in an effort to survive, Zhen-Li’s family is appalled, and she and her husband are ostracized. When she becomes pregnant for the second time and refuses to have an abortion, the persecution begins in earnest. Zhen-Li’s parents, under pressure from the government, pay to have Zhen-Li kidnapped and the baby aborted.
True love ignites their passionate pursuit of His call
Forbidden romance, an unlikely martyr and an even more unlikely hero. Orphaned four years earlier when their parents, active in the African National Congress (ANC) movement against apartheid, were murdered—16-year-old Chioma and her 15-year-old brother Masozi now live and work on an Afrikaner family’s farm.
Diversity Between the Pages 