Season 3
Episode 25: God’s Mule

Tomás’ stories are very similar to those told about Brother Andrew.
To learn more about carrying Bibles to closed countries check out this book: “God’s Smuggler” by Brother Andrew.

Brother Andrew was another Bible smuggler. Here he is a young and then older man. He never lost his passion to get the Word of God to the unreached.

Episode 26: Mountain Mover
Tomás’ dad really did become a Christian and started coming on trips with Tomás to smuggle Bibles.

No Bishmar isn’t a real country… we made it up to protect the people involved in this story.
In the real story Tomás wasn’t chased through the city by policeman.
They actually brought him to the interrogation room right from the airport.
To write the real John Benti, please submit your message using our contact page, and it will be forwarded to John.
Episode 27: Silent Ambassador




Episode 28: Translating Trouble


Making it Work

Episode 29: Man-Up







Fun Facts

Episode 30: Acorns & Oaks
Although a lot of this story is about Mr. Pennington and Ms. Bernice, the real story is about the amazing miracle of Mr. Benti(Name changed) buying a camp in Hong Kong for one dollar. While he and his wife were there, they became aware of the plight of many orphans who were swimming to Hong Kong from China.
John and Donna Benti
It’s true that his friend was in charge of all government lands, and while Sunshine Island looked perfect, it wasn’t God’s plan. When they found another option for the camp, a good friend assured John that he could raise all the money needed. Surprisingly, after visiting many churches, they received only one donation from a little girl named Melinda. She wrote, “Here is my ice cream money for the month. Please use it to buy the camp.”
When John shared the letter with the owners of the land, God did something in their hearts through this little girl’s act of generosity. They decided to sell the property to John for a single dollar. It’s amazing what God can do with one person who is willing to listen and obey.



It’s true that over the years they have had one million three hundred thousand campers, and of those campers one hundred and forty thousand children claimed to have made decisions to follow Christ.The story about Charlie’s fund is true and based on a young boy who, like Charlie, started a fund to build churches in Africa. We wanted to show how older people and younger people are equally important in serving God. Video of boy who raised money for Africa.
Ms. Bernice & Patrick Pennington are fictional characters, although the Brinkmans do have an elderly neighbor who they adore. Aunt Sarah conceived of the idea of a sleepwalking Ms. Bernice.
She based the character off a friend who not only sleepwalks, but also collects things from her nighttime excursions. Sometimes this lady will sleepwalk and go outside and take things out of her neighbors cars! Once she woke up and found a whole bunch of ground meat that she had cooked up in her sleep! Our talented engineer/producer Jim Reith plays Patrick Pennington as well as several other voices in the Brinkman Adventures. When acting we have another capable engineer take the helm. Fun Facts
This picture of Mr. Pennington and Charlie is actually a picture of the boy who plays Charlie and the man who plays Jack (Mike Landers). We made Mike appear older so he would look like Mr. Pennington.

Mike Landers and “Charlie” Pose for the cover of Acorns and Oaks
To make the artwork for our albums we start with real photos of our actors and then digitally paint them. This symbolizes the way we start with true stories and combine them with a fictional family.

The person who plays Bernice also plays another important character at the end of season 3. Can you figure out who that is?
Episode 31: A Saint’s Story pt 1
We tried to tell this story as true to life as possible. So everything you hear on this episode is what happened in real life.
The most amazing part is that Steve Saint actually played himself. (except when you hear him as a boy of course!)
Here are some of the elements we wanted to bring out in this episode.
Steve really did get injured while testing a wing on an experimental aircraft.
He also is the son of Nate Saint, the missionary pilot who was killed with 4 other men in 1956 when they went to tell the Waodani about Jesus. Since then much has happened in that tribe, and in the Saint family.

This picture of Nate Saint stands over the phone he once used in Shell, Ecuador.

When Steve was a boy he lived with the Waodani for a while, too. While there the Waodani man who was involved in killing Steve’s father became like a father to Steve. He taught Steve how to survive in the jungle and watched over him. When Steve was older and had his own family, he left a successful business and took his family back to live with the Waodani. He went there to help. But while there Steve discovered they needed something different than he thought. He saw that many Western missionaries were coming in and doing things for them, like building churches, preaching, and doing medical care, but this just made the Waodani more dependant on outsiders. He realized they needed to be taught to do the things that were being done for them. They told Steve they wanted to know how to fly planes, and how to fix each other’s teeth, how to have a business and how to share the gospel with their own people. So Steve went back to Florida and started inventing things that the Waodani could use in the jungle. He called his orginization I Tec.


This chair, solar powered drill and other tools all fit in that blue back, and can be carried easily through the jungle.
Most of all, Steve wants to help the Waodani share the gospel with their own people. They are doing this and it brings him great joy!
Today Steve’s children call this man Grandpa, the man who killed their grandfather in 1956.

Fun Facts

Ian also got a ride in the Maverick. (VIDEO OF IAN IN MAVERICK )
Episode 32: A Saint Story Pt 2

Steve one week after his injury

The Mavrick. A flying car built to help indigenous people share the Gospel.
The story about Mincaye going to India at the end is also true. In this story an Indian pastor and his leaders wanted to learn how to fix teeth so they could have a way to show the people they cared and loved them while they preached.

The Indian pastors learning to fix teeth.

Mincaye extracting the woman’s tooth.
For Steve the biggest moment came when he realized that the hands that killed his father were now covering his as they prayed for the lady. And the heart that was once full of fear and hate was praying that God would not only fix this woman’s tooth, but he would fix her heart, and show her how to walk His trail, and be changed just like Mincaye was.

Mincaye praying for that the God would fix the woman’s heart.

Steve speaking at the Global Missions Health Conference, uses his injury to teach.
Kitri and Isaac did not ride in the Maverick but Jack (Ian Bultman) did and he loved it! Watch the video here:
This episode was recorded on three continents and in two states.
Mincaye’s lines were recorded in the jungle in Ecuador, the Indian pastor’s lines were recorded by an actor in India, and Steve Saint’s lines were recorded in Florida. The rest of the actors were recorded in Wisconsin.
Ian spent 2 full days recording with Steve Saint. It’s not easy to act something that is a reality in your life, especially when it is a very hard reality. Steve did an amazing job, and we are so honored and humbled that he would be willing to play himself in these episodes.

Episode 33: Untouched
The Real Story
The Waodani really do host Wao Tours where people can come and live for a week in the rainforest. The Waodani love hosting and teaching how they survive by using the natural resources all around them.
Mincaye’s daugher teaching how to make a jungle backpack.
Getting out of the canoe at camp
Not only do they teach people to make spears and blow guns, but also how to use them to hunt and fish, and then how to prepare the food over their fires.
Aunt Sarah learning how to skin a Coati over the fire.
The Waodani teach visitors how to gather the plants they use to make rope, and then weave it into baskets and hammocks. People also participate in clearing the dense jungle overgrowth and plant gardens of plantain and cassava root.
Mincaye teaching Gerry how to make a spear.
The Waodani include visitors in their traditional ceremonies and share stories about how God changed them from being a people who once killed each other to a people who love and tell others about Jesus. It is a truly amazing and life changing experience!
There really was a group of non-Christian anthropology students who went on a Wao Tour, and realized, as they sat around the fire, that the Waodani were actually the feared Auca people who they learned about in school. The students were shocked as they listened to how God changed the Waodani. This is where the idea for the Corey character came from.
Mincaye sharing stories around the fire.
There really was an outsider who got bit by a snake and was saved by a Waodani named Tementa. In the real story Tementa flew the person out in a powered parachute so they could get medical attention.
The Waodani really do fish by pounding a certain poison root and putting it into a mesh bag. Then they drag it through the water, which causes the fish to float to the top as they get oxygen deprived. Then they can easily spear them.
Making it Work
Corey was a fictional character that we added by combining the college students and the person who was saved by a Waodani from a snake bite.
Through Corey we wanted to show how many people think it’s best to leave isolated tribes alone. They think bringing Christianity and technolgy to a tribe ruins the peopl. But the Waodani show us that before they met Jesus they were living very unhappy lives full of fear and killing. Instead of stripping them of their culture Jesus stripped them of the things that were destroying them. And by obeying God they have a society that values all life, justice, and healthy relationships, and works to support the weak and vulnerable.
The Waodani also teach us that they need to be the ones who decided how much technology and tools they want to use.
The Brinkman family didn’t go on a Woa Tour, but Aunt Sarah did. In fact, that is how you are able to hear the real Waodani in this episode.
She had never done audio recording before, let alone in the jungle. But she had so much fun and she fell in love with the Waodani people.
After doing some recording with the kids
Aunt Sarah learning to climb a tree the Waodani way. (With a little help!)
Read her blog about it here.
She loved trying all the different kinds of food, like cassava root, sting ray, and toucan soup.
Aunt Sarah and Mincaye’s daughter enjoying fried plantain
We were so privileged to have Mincaye’s lines played by his son Ode, and Timenta’s lines by Mincaye’s grandson Minewa.
Minewa, Mincaye’s grandson who played Timenta in the episode.
Aunt Sarah recorded with them late at night when the day’s activities were done. They stood in the dark by a pond, and bugs swarmed around their headlamps. They laughed and laughed as they had to redo lines because the bugs kept getting in their mouth, or flapping their wings on the white pages of the script.
The real Mincaye gives a message at the end of the episode, and he is also the one who sings the chant you hear in the middle of the episode.
Mincaye giving a message to the listeners of the Brinkman Adventrues.
Want to go on a Wao tour? Click here: http://www.itecusa.org/trips.html
Fun Facts
The Brinkman’s never met the Johnathan Park actors but Ian Bultman and Pat Roy (who write’s Jonathan Park Episodes) are friends. Pat was Ian’s inspiration and mentor as he started the Brinkman Adventures, and so to have the Parks show up in this episode was a real honor for the Brinkman team. And it was a fun way to help both stories.
When you listen to the Jonathan Park episode that came out at the same time you will hear that they also meet the Brinkmans. In their story you hear this very same scene, but from the Park’s perspective. Later you will discover that the Parks end up needing to use all the equipment they were transporting for the Brinkman’s. They also helped our story by giving Corey some of the answers to his questions about Creation.
Episode 34: Busy Bees & A Bullhorn
This story is for the most part fictional though many of the elements were taken from the “Brinkman’s” life. Ian Brinkman really does raise bees with his youth pastor. The idea of the bees becoming mean came from some bees his uncle Nate raised when he was young. They turned into “killer bees” trying to sting for no reason whoever would go outside.

Ms. Bernice is another character that is made up, taken partially from the Brinkman’s real neighbor, and partially from a woman that Aunt Sarah met up at Alaska Bible Institute. In the story Ms. Bernice was unknowingly married into the mob, and does crazy things when she sleep walks!
So… all the hours and hours of work that is done to put these recordings together and make them sound good is done by…. Mr. Pennington! (Jim Reith) although he doesn’t sound like that in real life!

Episode 35: Missionary Tourist pt 1

In this story we had Anthony and Mike going to build an aquaponics system for an orphange. That wasn’t what the real team went to do. But aquaponics is a great system that is helping people all over the world.
Here are some guys that give you a good look into how it works, as well as plans to build you own: The Urban Farming Guys (get ready for their wacky humor)

Photo Credit: Johann CC BY-SA 2.0
Episode 36: Missionary Tourist pt 2



Season 3
Episode 25: God’s Mule

Tomás’ stories are very similar to those told about Brother Andrew.
To learn more about carrying Bibles to closed countries check out this book: “God’s Smuggler” by Brother Andrew.

Brother Andrew was another Bible smuggler. Here he is a young and then older man. He never lost his passion to get the Word of God to the unreached.

Episode 26: Mountain Mover
Tomás’ dad really did become a Christian and started coming on trips with Tomás to smuggle Bibles.

No Bishmar isn’t a real country… we made it up to protect the people involved in this story.
In the real story Tomás wasn’t chased through the city by policeman.
They actually brought him to the interrogation room right from the airport.
To write the real John Benti, please submit your message using our contact page, and it will be forwarded to John.
Episode 27: Silent Ambassador




Episode 28: Translating Trouble


Making it Work

Episode 29: Man-Up







Fun Facts

Episode 30: Acorns & Oaks
Although a lot of this story is about Mr. Pennington and Ms. Bernice, the real story is about the amazing miracle of Mr. Benti(Name changed) buying a camp in Hong Kong for one dollar. While he and his wife were there, they became aware of the plight of many orphans who were swimming to Hong Kong from China.
John and Donna Benti
It’s true that his friend was in charge of all government lands, and while Sunshine Island looked perfect, it wasn’t God’s plan. When they found another option for the camp, a good friend assured John that he could raise all the money needed. Surprisingly, after visiting many churches, they received only one donation from a little girl named Melinda. She wrote, “Here is my ice cream money for the month. Please use it to buy the camp.”
When John shared the letter with the owners of the land, God did something in their hearts through this little girl’s act of generosity. They decided to sell the property to John for a single dollar. It’s amazing what God can do with one person who is willing to listen and obey.



It’s true that over the years they have had one million three hundred thousand campers, and of those campers one hundred and forty thousand children claimed to have made decisions to follow Christ.The story about Charlie’s fund is true and based on a young boy who, like Charlie, started a fund to build churches in Africa. We wanted to show how older people and younger people are equally important in serving God. Video of boy who raised money for Africa.
Ms. Bernice & Patrick Pennington are fictional characters, although the Brinkmans do have an elderly neighbor who they adore. Aunt Sarah conceived of the idea of a sleepwalking Ms. Bernice.
She based the character off a friend who not only sleepwalks, but also collects things from her nighttime excursions. Sometimes this lady will sleepwalk and go outside and take things out of her neighbors cars! Once she woke up and found a whole bunch of ground meat that she had cooked up in her sleep! Our talented engineer/producer Jim Reith plays Patrick Pennington as well as several other voices in the Brinkman Adventures. When acting we have another capable engineer take the helm. Fun Facts
This picture of Mr. Pennington and Charlie is actually a picture of the boy who plays Charlie and the man who plays Jack (Mike Landers). We made Mike appear older so he would look like Mr. Pennington.

Mike Landers and “Charlie” Pose for the cover of Acorns and Oaks
To make the artwork for our albums we start with real photos of our actors and then digitally paint them. This symbolizes the way we start with true stories and combine them with a fictional family.

The person who plays Bernice also plays another important character at the end of season 3. Can you figure out who that is?
Episode 31: A Saint’s Story pt 1
We tried to tell this story as true to life as possible. So everything you hear on this episode is what happened in real life.
The most amazing part is that Steve Saint actually played himself. (except when you hear him as a boy of course!)
Here are some of the elements we wanted to bring out in this episode.
Steve really did get injured while testing a wing on an experimental aircraft.
He also is the son of Nate Saint, the missionary pilot who was killed with 4 other men in 1956 when they went to tell the Waodani about Jesus. Since then much has happened in that tribe, and in the Saint family.

This picture of Nate Saint stands over the phone he once used in Shell, Ecuador.

When Steve was a boy he lived with the Waodani for a while, too. While there the Waodani man who was involved in killing Steve’s father became like a father to Steve. He taught Steve how to survive in the jungle and watched over him. When Steve was older and had his own family, he left a successful business and took his family back to live with the Waodani. He went there to help. But while there Steve discovered they needed something different than he thought. He saw that many Western missionaries were coming in and doing things for them, like building churches, preaching, and doing medical care, but this just made the Waodani more dependant on outsiders. He realized they needed to be taught to do the things that were being done for them. They told Steve they wanted to know how to fly planes, and how to fix each other’s teeth, how to have a business and how to share the gospel with their own people. So Steve went back to Florida and started inventing things that the Waodani could use in the jungle. He called his orginization I Tec.


This chair, solar powered drill and other tools all fit in that blue back, and can be carried easily through the jungle.
Most of all, Steve wants to help the Waodani share the gospel with their own people. They are doing this and it brings him great joy!
Today Steve’s children call this man Grandpa, the man who killed their grandfather in 1956.

Fun Facts

Ian also got a ride in the Maverick. (VIDEO OF IAN IN MAVERICK )
Episode 32: A Saint Story Pt 2

Steve one week after his injury

The Mavrick. A flying car built to help indigenous people share the Gospel.
The story about Mincaye going to India at the end is also true. In this story an Indian pastor and his leaders wanted to learn how to fix teeth so they could have a way to show the people they cared and loved them while they preached.

The Indian pastors learning to fix teeth.

Mincaye extracting the woman’s tooth.
For Steve the biggest moment came when he realized that the hands that killed his father were now covering his as they prayed for the lady. And the heart that was once full of fear and hate was praying that God would not only fix this woman’s tooth, but he would fix her heart, and show her how to walk His trail, and be changed just like Mincaye was.

Mincaye praying for that the God would fix the woman’s heart.

Steve speaking at the Global Missions Health Conference, uses his injury to teach.
Kitri and Isaac did not ride in the Maverick but Jack (Ian Bultman) did and he loved it! Watch the video here:
This episode was recorded on three continents and in two states.
Mincaye’s lines were recorded in the jungle in Ecuador, the Indian pastor’s lines were recorded by an actor in India, and Steve Saint’s lines were recorded in Florida. The rest of the actors were recorded in Wisconsin.
Ian spent 2 full days recording with Steve Saint. It’s not easy to act something that is a reality in your life, especially when it is a very hard reality. Steve did an amazing job, and we are so honored and humbled that he would be willing to play himself in these episodes.

Episode 33: Untouched
The Real Story
The Waodani really do host Wao Tours where people can come and live for a week in the rainforest. The Waodani love hosting and teaching how they survive by using the natural resources all around them.
Mincaye’s daugher teaching how to make a jungle backpack.
Getting out of the canoe at camp
Not only do they teach people to make spears and blow guns, but also how to use them to hunt and fish, and then how to prepare the food over their fires.
Aunt Sarah learning how to skin a Coati over the fire.
The Waodani teach visitors how to gather the plants they use to make rope, and then weave it into baskets and hammocks. People also participate in clearing the dense jungle overgrowth and plant gardens of plantain and cassava root.
Mincaye teaching Gerry how to make a spear.
The Waodani include visitors in their traditional ceremonies and share stories about how God changed them from being a people who once killed each other to a people who love and tell others about Jesus. It is a truly amazing and life changing experience!
There really was a group of non-Christian anthropology students who went on a Wao Tour, and realized, as they sat around the fire, that the Waodani were actually the feared Auca people who they learned about in school. The students were shocked as they listened to how God changed the Waodani. This is where the idea for the Corey character came from.
Mincaye sharing stories around the fire.
There really was an outsider who got bit by a snake and was saved by a Waodani named Tementa. In the real story Tementa flew the person out in a powered parachute so they could get medical attention.
The Waodani really do fish by pounding a certain poison root and putting it into a mesh bag. Then they drag it through the water, which causes the fish to float to the top as they get oxygen deprived. Then they can easily spear them.
Making it Work
Corey was a fictional character that we added by combining the college students and the person who was saved by a Waodani from a snake bite.
Through Corey we wanted to show how many people think it’s best to leave isolated tribes alone. They think bringing Christianity and technolgy to a tribe ruins the peopl. But the Waodani show us that before they met Jesus they were living very unhappy lives full of fear and killing. Instead of stripping them of their culture Jesus stripped them of the things that were destroying them. And by obeying God they have a society that values all life, justice, and healthy relationships, and works to support the weak and vulnerable.
The Waodani also teach us that they need to be the ones who decided how much technology and tools they want to use.
The Brinkman family didn’t go on a Woa Tour, but Aunt Sarah did. In fact, that is how you are able to hear the real Waodani in this episode.
She had never done audio recording before, let alone in the jungle. But she had so much fun and she fell in love with the Waodani people.
After doing some recording with the kids
Aunt Sarah learning to climb a tree the Waodani way. (With a little help!)
Read her blog about it here.
She loved trying all the different kinds of food, like cassava root, sting ray, and toucan soup.
Aunt Sarah and Mincaye’s daughter enjoying fried plantain
We were so privileged to have Mincaye’s lines played by his son Ode, and Timenta’s lines by Mincaye’s grandson Minewa.
Minewa, Mincaye’s grandson who played Timenta in the episode.
Aunt Sarah recorded with them late at night when the day’s activities were done. They stood in the dark by a pond, and bugs swarmed around their headlamps. They laughed and laughed as they had to redo lines because the bugs kept getting in their mouth, or flapping their wings on the white pages of the script.
The real Mincaye gives a message at the end of the episode, and he is also the one who sings the chant you hear in the middle of the episode.
Mincaye giving a message to the listeners of the Brinkman Adventrues.
Want to go on a Wao tour? Click here: http://www.itecusa.org/trips.html
Fun Facts
The Brinkman’s never met the Johnathan Park actors but Ian Bultman and Pat Roy (who write’s Jonathan Park Episodes) are friends. Pat was Ian’s inspiration and mentor as he started the Brinkman Adventures, and so to have the Parks show up in this episode was a real honor for the Brinkman team. And it was a fun way to help both stories.
When you listen to the Jonathan Park episode that came out at the same time you will hear that they also meet the Brinkmans. In their story you hear this very same scene, but from the Park’s perspective. Later you will discover that the Parks end up needing to use all the equipment they were transporting for the Brinkman’s. They also helped our story by giving Corey some of the answers to his questions about Creation.
Episode 34: Busy Bees & A Bullhorn
This story is for the most part fictional though many of the elements were taken from the “Brinkman’s” life. Ian Brinkman really does raise bees with his youth pastor. The idea of the bees becoming mean came from some bees his uncle Nate raised when he was young. They turned into “killer bees” trying to sting for no reason whoever would go outside.

Ms. Bernice is another character that is made up, taken partially from the Brinkman’s real neighbor, and partially from a woman that Aunt Sarah met up at Alaska Bible Institute. In the story Ms. Bernice was unknowingly married into the mob, and does crazy things when she sleep walks!
So… all the hours and hours of work that is done to put these recordings together and make them sound good is done by…. Mr. Pennington! (Jim Reith) although he doesn’t sound like that in real life!

Episode 35: Missionary Tourist pt 1

In this story we had Anthony and Mike going to build an aquaponics system for an orphange. That wasn’t what the real team went to do. But aquaponics is a great system that is helping people all over the world.
Here are some guys that give you a good look into how it works, as well as plans to build you own: The Urban Farming Guys (get ready for their wacky humor)

Photo Credit: Johann CC BY-SA 2.0
Episode 36: Missionary Tourist pt 2


