What begins as a 1,200-mile honeymoon road trip to Florida becomes a 20-year, 30,000-mile missionary journey across three continents in the new memoir It's a Long Way to Florida, by authors Brooke and Patricia Sadler. The book, released today, chronicles how a simple wedding in Michigan in 1957 and a surprise red Falcon car intended for a dream honeymoon in St. Petersburg, Florida, instead led the couple into decades of service in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
According to the Sadlers, divine interventions rerouted their path from the beaches of Florida to the unknowns of South Asia. The memoir offers an honest and gritty account of modern missionary life, including a harrowing 12,000-mile overland family road trip from London to Sri Lanka through military checkpoints, surviving national food famines, and economic collapses. The authors emphasize that the greatest rewards often come from life's inconvenient detours.
The book recounts extraordinary acts of faith, such as Brooke smuggling truckloads of flour past five armed military checkpoints during a government-declared famine to feed starving church workers in Colombo. Another story describes a decades-long friendship with a local Buddhist High Priest that saved the mission school's land from government seizure. The couple also opened their home to more than 80 orphaned children over the years, starting after their young adopted daughter, Pami, asked a poignant question that sparked a legacy of care.
"We never could have mapped out the life we lived," says co-author Brooke Sadler. "Every time we faced an impossible logistical problem or a dangerous crisis, the answer arrived in a way we never could have engineered. We wrote this book to remind readers that when God redirects your route, the detour is very often the destination."
Now retired and living in Greeneville, Tennessee, the Sadlers run Nolichucky Cabins, a mountain retreat and glass wedding chapel, where they continue to serve their community. It's a Long Way to Florida is published by Brooke & Patricia Sadler and is available for purchase online via major book retailers. The memoir targets fans of Christian memoirs, inspiring biography, and extraordinary travel narratives, offering a practical template for living by faith.
