In the mid 1800s a pioneer missionary took the gospel to two Portuguese speaking nations: Medeira and Brazil. Dr. Robert Reid Kalley was in the same league as Hudson Taylor and Adoniram Judson as far as his effectiveness as a missionary, but he lacked the fame of his peers. This biography goes a long way towards remedying this slight.
Kalley was a Scottish medical doctor who, due to health concerns of his wife, moved to the Madeira Islands off the coast of northwest Africa. There he modeled the medical missionary for future generations, brought many to Christ and established a vital church in Madeira which so enraged the Roman Catholic population that strong persecution ensued. The Kalleys had to flee to Scotland and the Maderian believers (which numbered over 2000) to the West Indies. Ultimately a large number of these relocated to Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois.
After the death of his wife, Dr. Kalley remarried and eventually headed to Brazil. There the Lord used him to found the first Protestant church in the country. Though faced with many obstacles, persecution, political opposition, disease, etc., the Kalleys were able to oversee a thriving work for the Lord which opened up that great nation for Christ.
This biography of the life and ministry of Robert Kalley, a friend of Hudson Taylor and Charles Spurgeon, a selfless servant of God and a visionary missionary, is encouraging, convicting and a great blessing.