When I joined a study abroad program in college, I left America and never looked back. I donned the Spanish name “Pepe”, and stayed out at flamenco bars until sunrise. I ate every type of chorizo I could find. I went on weekend trips to Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome. I started drinking coffee. I was a Spaniard through and through.   I never struggled with culture shock. I acclimated immediately. What I never expected, however, was the jolting experience I would have when returning to my own native culture. In the book Culture Shock! (recommended reading for all...

My father, Douglas Drevets, graduated from Wheaton College.  His freshman year of college he reconnected with an old friend from middle school summer camp, Seth Barnes. They quickly became fast friends.  During their stay on campus, along with a motley crew of companions, they staged a noble and prolonged effort to liven the other students’ quality of life with colorful antics such as disrupting chapel, covering toilet seats with plastic wrap (my dad’s idea), and engaging in other acts of public menace. They eventually graduated, were employed at various...

Cora Healey traveled to the Philippines this summer, with AIM’s Ambassador program.  They got the opportunity to work in slums of Manila and she shares some of her experience below. Our team had the opportunity to go with Cebu City Alliance Church (CCAC) to feed and teach a Bible story to a group of children in a village in the city. Once we were done teaching, the kids lined up to be served food and I stood off to the side to watch.   There was a little girl kneeling down in the dirt next to me and I knelt down and attempted to ask her what her name was....