On the Trail with a Missionary

Holly Semmens Wilson

Reviewed by: Patricia Clawson

On the Trail with a Missionary, by Holly Semmens Wilson. Independently published, 2023. Paperback, 28 pages, $6.99 (Amazon). Reviewed by OP member Patricia Clawson.

Holly Semmens Wilson, wife of OP pastor Larry Wilson, adapted an autobiography of her great-grandfather to encourage children to become interested in missions. John Semmens was a Methodist missionary to the indigenous peoples of Northern Canada for twenty-seven years. This true short story, based on his journal and photographs, tells of his dangerous trip with a guide to a new mission station in 1876. Holly’s family members, who also are John Semmens’s great-grandchildren, helped to bring this story to life. Laurie Semmens Ostrowski designed the twenty-eight-page, self-published book by blending Holly’s words with Jeanne Walborn’s evocative colored-pencil drawings.

To highlight its authenticity, a photo of John’s congregation giving him a tearful farewell is on the back cover. This attention to detail adds a rich texture which builds the tension for the reader and keeps the pages turning.

Experienced Methodist missionary John Semmens answered orders from his mission board to minister to a new flock downriver at the Norway House. John and his guide paddled their canoe downstream for several days, then decided one night to camp on an island in the middle of the river where breezes might keep the pesky mosquitoes at bay. All went well until thunder and lightning announced a storm, which proceeded to blow away first their tent, and then their birchbark canoe. Their misery the next morning grew as they realized their food supplies were limited; no one had traveled this river in many days; the shore was a mile away; the waters were rough; and John couldn’t swim. How God in his mercy answers their prayers and rescues these men puts a smile on the reader’s face.

This exciting true story will hopefully encourage children to trust in God, not only as they read of how he spared the lives of John Semmens and his guide, but also to one day answer their own call to missions.