Author: Adventures

He Knows. A Story of One Encounter.

     It's funny how God knows. I mean I've grown up saying God is omniscient but do you ever stop to really think about that? Literally, He knows. Everything. He knows what foods we'll wake up craving and what will happen in the next five minutes. He could tell you every single person you drove by today and what car they were driving. And bigger more important things like how you felt when your mom died or how that one incident would shape the rest of your life. He knows those too.    He also knew of this one encounter I would have… ...

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When a Wrecked Perspective Leads to Hope

Susan Stilwell recently joined our Wrecked Vision Trip to Guatemala. Susan is a wife to Steve, and mom to Scott and Sarah. She makes her home in Roanoke, VA where she teaches Bible studies, writes, and speaks. She's also helped lead pilgrimage trips to Israel. Susan spends her mornings drinking coffee and watching the sun rise, and can be found on Twitter (@susanrstilwell) and on the web at SusanStilwell.com. I applied for the Wrecked Vision Trip on a whim. I’d recently returned from a fruitful trip to Belize, but I knew the Lord wasn’t calling me to...

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Waiting by the Gate

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Honduras for a week on ministry. Our team went to Porto Cortez (a city right on the ocean) with the purpose of pouring into Iglesia Zion Wesley Huci (a local church). Instead we were blessed as many Christians surrounded us with love and truth.                                                 Each time we went...

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How To Further Your Global Impact

What do you do when you have a life-changing experience? You share it with others.  Seventy-eight adults who have previously participated in Adventures’ trips came from around the country to participate in leader candidate camp. They took time off of work, university and away from friends and family. Flying across the country, spending hours in traffic and even missing once-in-a-lifetime events, they gave of their time to come be a part of something bigger than them.    Those seventy-eight adults gathered at Adventures in Missions in Gainesville, Georgia to...

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The Story of Maria; A Life Revived

When I first met Maria, her hands were shaking, her eyes were drooping, her emotions were hiding, and her hope was disappearing. She lives with her son and his family, and her day consists of constant pain and sitting outside in a plastic chair. The first few times we went to pray for Maria it was obvious that she didn’t have much hope left in her. When we would talk with her, she would try and respond, but it all came out as painful mumbles. Most of our information about her came from her daughter. All she was able to tell us was what area she needed prayer in. Our team is a group of...

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The Ripple Effect: How a VBS Plants a Church for Refugees

Youth mission trips are unique opportunities to experience something new, to grow closer to your youth group, and to get out of your comfort zone and experience God's word in a real, and tangible way.   Over the course of a week, a youth group from Houston, Texas, partnered with Juan Pablo of World Impact in Dallas to teach Vacation Bible Schools in the local refugee community. When they arrived, he had no idea they were about to change his ministry and his life.               Traditionally, VBSs teach bible stories, make...

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Do You See the Light?

In Malawi, Africa, Colten Murray and his Passport team walk a road that takes them by a witch doctor’s home three times a day. There, witch doctors are sought out by people to heal the sick and contact the spiritual realm. People give them respect and honor, unaware of the darkness.  Colten waves back as the witch doctor smiles a friendly smile and waves at the team when they walk by her house to get water.   But she knows their light outshines her darkness. She even went as far as to have the path moved away from her house because the Christians were coming too...

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Emotionless Orphan, Deep Healing Love (Pt. 1)

I walk into the infant room at the orphanage, look down and see a small child, sitting, observing, but not being affected by the joy, the screams, or tears being shed around her. She sits, emotionless.    We stare into each other’s eyes, but she does not move. No matter what I do she doesn’t react. But I knew I was not supposed to leave her side, that there was a purpose greater than I knew. The time comes when I must leave, so I kiss her head, tell her I love her, and walk away. I was confused and overwhelmed by her walls. God, why does she feel nothing? Why...

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A Smile from the Heart

After missing a week at the dump our team was more than happy as we loaded up in the white rusty van with no seats that we call "Petunia". The children were there to greet us like usual as we pulled up, all smiles, giggles, and quite a few "Holas". I smiled and hugged the kids while my eyes kept wandering around for my amigo, Enner. With me being sick the past two times, it had been three weeks since I'd seen him. I spotted his brother and asked him where he was. He replied back that he had died.. I didn't laugh at the joke. Grace, Rob and I were walking down...

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Our Trash, God’s Treasures

Katie Axelson is a freelance writer/editor who's striving to live a story worth telling. The next phase of her story will include the World Race (January 2014). She blogs at KatieAxelson.com and The Write Practice. My head spun around as the mother shouted, “No! Yucky,” and snatched her curious two-year-old’s hands away from the airport garbage can. That’s when reality hit. I had been back in the United States for less than an hour and already felt my first re-entry culture shock. It might seem natural for a mother to pull her child’s hands away...

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Deepest part of the ocean

One of the things that I have learned sense I have been here in Guatemala is how much I need to trust God. Now, that is something that God showed me a while ago. He taught me that it doesn't matter my circumstance and it definitely doesn't matter if I am comfortable. But trust in him with EVERYTHING!   That's easier said then done.. so that's what I did. I would say that I trust in The Lord and not actually 'trust in him with everything.'  There was nothing testing my faith though. I was very comfortable and kept myself...

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How A Red ‘X’ Can Free A Slave (Or 27 Million)

SLAVERY IS WRONG. YOU KNOW IT. WE KNOW IT. AS A COUNTRY, WE'VE OFFICIALLY KNOWN IT SINCE 1863. BUT HERE'S SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW — SLAVERY STILL EXISTS. WE WANT EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE 27 MILLION MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, JUST LIKE THEM, LIVING IN THE SHADOWS. IN BROTHELS. IN FACTORIES. IN QUARRIES. WORKING AS SLAVES. IN 161 COUNTRIES. INCLUDING OUR OWN. WE ARE HERE TO SHINE A LIGHT ON SLAVERY. NO MORE BONDAGE. NO MORE SEX TRAFFICKING. NO MORE CHILD LABORERS. NO MORE, STARTING NOW. "So, how does this red X thing help?" ...

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