In their new memoir, It's a Long Way to Florida, authors Brooke and Patricia Sadler recount how a planned honeymoon road trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1957 transformed into a 20-year, 30,000-mile missionary journey across Asia. The book, published by the Sadlers, provides an unvarnished look at the realities of missionary life, including harrowing travels, economic hardships, and miraculous interventions.
The story begins with a simple wedding in Michigan and a red Falcon car intended to carry the couple to Florida. However, divine detours led them to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where they spent decades establishing public health programs, running boarding schools, and managing international adoptions. The memoir details specific events, such as Brooke Sadler smuggling flour past armed checkpoints during a famine, forming a lasting friendship with a Buddhist High Priest that saved their mission school, and opening their home to over 80 orphaned children.
"Every time we faced an impossible logistical problem or a dangerous crisis, the answer arrived in a way we never could have engineered," said Brooke Sadler. "We wrote this book to remind readers that when God redirects your route, the detour is very often the destination."
The memoir is available for purchase online via major book retailers. For readers interested in Christian memoirs, inspiring biographies, or travel narratives, It's a Long Way to Florida offers a grounded template for living by faith. The Sadlers, now retired in Greeneville, Tennessee, operate Nolichucky Cabins, a mountain retreat and glass wedding chapel where they continue to serve their community.
