Adventures in Missions

A New Normal.

September 7, 2013
Adventures
Guatemala

We have only been in Antigua about a week, but some things have already become normal and routine. Here are a few things that we are used to already : 1. Having PB&J for lunch daily. 2. The three alarm clocks we don't have to set: squirrels dancing on our thin roof, the neighborhood rooster, and the church bells that ring every hour. 3. People peeing in the street. Yes, women too. 4. Nutso driving. Our host informed us "Cars are not your friends here." We are learning that statement is 100% accurate. 5. The pouring rain and...

What I Learned About Myself Through a Boy Named “Trouble”

September 5, 2013
Adventures
College Mission Trips

Adventure. Community. Life Change. That's what Danielle Alig of our Swaziland Passport team experienced this summer. She signed up for Swaziland with a desire to love on orphans–underdogs. Much to her surprise, she not only encountered them but realized through one little boy that she too was an underdog in desperate need of a Savior. Here is her story. My heart fights for the underdog and against the big bad bully. My heart aches for the ones who are picked on or are generally ignored. Swaziland has hungry children everywhere you look. Throughout the country, we found...

Creepy Crawlers and Training Camp

September 3, 2013
Adventures
Guatemala

Can I just say one thing? The bugs in Georgia? No thank you. They are large and in charge. Wasps nests in the showers, spiders dropping down during worship, and the various winged ones flying every which way. Besides the pests, training camp has been such a blessing. Spending four days in Gainsville's woods was such a necessary time just to meet the team and prepare our hearts. Besides all the brilliant speakers we heard and tasty food we ate, there were a few activities. One that stood out for me was the surrender hike. Before the hike started we all wrote on pieces of paper...

Setting Fires for Souls

September 3, 2013
Adventures
Long Term Missions

Being the USA, idol worship can seem outdated. Out on the field, however, it is a very real influence to natives and the missionaries working with them. The Shauls are a long term missionary family who have been preaching to the natives about serving God alone. After two weeks of working with the indigenous people, the people were ready to cast down their idols as a sign of visible transformation to serve Christ. HE made darkness his covering, HIS canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before HIM hailstones and coals of fire broke through HIS clouds....

Intro

August 31, 2013
Adventures
Guatemala

Hi everyone! So this is my first blog ever and it's going to be pretty random with basic introductions. First I'll introduce the team. Grace just graduated hs and is from Bozeman MT. She's doing a gap year and is the daughter of a pastor. She also has a huge family, 6 siblings! Next is Mandy. She's 22 and is recently engaged! She is from Littleton CO and is studying ESL. Then there's Mercediez who is 21. She used to live in CA but now is in Florida. Lastly our amazing leader, Morgan. Who three months ago finished the world race! And if anyone is reading this...

Announcing 2013 Epoch Awards Finalists

August 29, 2013
Adventures
Missions (General)

Celebrating Unsung Heroes Unsung hero n: a person who makes a substantive yet unrecognized contribution; a person whose bravery is unknown Epoch 2013 honors the unsung heroes; the people who cross the boulevard or the world to serve where poverty, drought, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, homelessness, and fear reign. For these heroes, this is more than planting churches and discipling – this is life. And we want to give them a lot of money to continue doing what they do. This October, we're hosting presenters like Jon Acuff ("Quitter,"...

Passport Immersion: The Time Has Come

Excitement stirs in 50 Passporters this week as they pack their final belongings, say their final goodbyes, and depart on their 9-month mission adventure. Training Camp has come and gone. Relationships have been formed that will last a lifetime. Brothers and sisters will gather this week to face the nations. These Passporters blow our minds. They’re leaving behind the comfortable American life that the world screams is important… and are diving into some of the darkest places on the planet. The nations will be changed with just the simple decision to GO. Not only the...

God Encounters All Generations

August 22, 2013
Adventures
Youth Missions

If taking care of orphans and preaching is not your thing, don't let that stop you from doing missions. All you need is a willing spirit to let God change you. A group of youth discovered this during one of our Adventures Encounter trips to Chicago, where the happiness of God went above all barriers and went straight to the heart. Our youth participants found themselves shocked at where God showed up, and they shared this story. During our time in Chicago, we had the chance to visit a couple different senior centers. Some of the students have never been to one...

Help Us Make Anthony’s Dream Come True

One of the best things about being a missionary is getting to be part of individual people's stories. We've met and fallen in love with thousands of people around the world, and we've gotten to help write little pieces of their stories – pieces where they understand how much God loves them, pieces where they learn to love each other, and pieces where their dreams come true. But sometimes someone's story stops early – it gets cut off when tragedy strikes, and we don't get to see how it would have ended. That's what happened to Anthony, and...

5 Reasons Married Couples Should Go On Mission Trips

Recently, Joe and Brandi Mendenhall went on a short term trip to Haiti with Adventures Encounter. They left their two young children for a week and trusted God to do something huge on their first mission trip. After their return home, Brandi joined us in a brainstorm about why married couples should go. 1. You'll fall more in love with your spouse. Well, we can't exactly promise that – you've gotta want it. But we've consistently seen God do incredible things in the marriages that have gone to the field. You get to see your spouse step more into who God...

The Day Our Translator Asked Jesus Into Her Heart

August 13, 2013
Adventures
Youth Missions

Adventures staff member Nicole Ricketts recently led an Adventures Youth trip to Nicaragua where God taught her that sometimes the people he sends us to reach aren't the ones we planned on. I could tell our team was a little uneasy when they found out two of our translators weren't followers of Christ. It seems natural to want translators for your missions team who understand the basis of what you are trying to communicate, but God had bigger plans for our team this week. As I was preparing for this trip, the Lord told me a lot of my ministry would be outside...

Running to a Crazy God

Laura Kurtz wanted to run from a lot in life (becoming an adult, changes, what her life was), and she thought a Passport trip was the perfect means to run away. Instead, what she found was much deeper, and more life changing than she ever expected. When I signed up to go to Nicaragua, I was running. Running from reality, from growing up, from the future (futile), and mostly from fear. However, I didn’t run to a third-world country, or an orphanage, or even into the arms of a smiling child; I ran to my Savior. Francis Chan tackles this topic in his book Forgotten God, where...

Author: Adventures