Author: Adventures

High School Missions | A Summer to Brag About: Living National Geographic

Let’s be honest — anytime we hear the word Africa, we hear the opening theme of The Lion King playing in our head. Or the TV could be off but in our mind’s eye, scenes from shows on Animal Planet or the Travel Channel play.   What if you actually go to Africa — specifically Uganda, Kenya and Swaziland — and experience Africa for yourself?   Because it’s one thing to see the desert or a lush jungle-scape, and it’s quite another to feel the arid or moist air on you skin or the grainy sand or green grass below your flip-flopped feet. ...

Continue reading

High School Missions | A Summer to Brag About: Yo Hablo Español

Maybe you’re a math person; you truly enjoy algebra and trigonometry. But you barely grasp the grammar of the English language. Foreign language in general is your Achilles heel; the Everest that stands between you and your science-y, techie career.   And, quite frankly, you are super annoyed. Those conjugation drills! The subjunctive — isn’t that some kind of eye disease?! THIS IS SUCH A WASTE OF TIME!!! you shout — in your head, of course, not actually out loud (though it would be really funny, but not advantageous) — as you struggle through the...

Continue reading

It’s Not Too Late: Summer Missions for Youth Groups

God is inviting your youth group to come away with him. There’s still time to sign up for our 6 or 9-day urban, rural, or international missions trips. You’ll lead children’s ministry, coach sports (in select locations) and serve communities (under your and our leaders’ guidance, of course).   This is your chance to get away for awhile.   Being around the same people all the time will bond you quickly and strongly. You won’t be able to avoid one another; you’ll begin to understand how amazing God’s grace is — especially when you...

Continue reading

Parents, We Believe in You!

Kelly Chadwick is the Program Coordinator for both our Ambassador (high school) and Passport (college) programs. She worked with high school students full-time for 6 years as a youth director before going on Adventures’ eleven-month trip called the World Race.  She has been on staff since 2009.  Dear Parents, While your high school student may believe that they’re the ones setting out on this adventure, we know that you are probably taking the biggest risk of all! Sending your student on a mission trip, away from home, and possibly to the other side of the world...

Continue reading

Haiti: Two Years Later, We Tarry On

I want to say Haiti has changed a lot over the past two years. But I can’t. The emergency aid effort and the donations that flooded into Haiti after the quake undeniably helped save lives and provided basic and essential services, including food and water, to millions. But rapid progress in Haiti’s reconstruction and rebuilding has been quite another issue.  Yet the thing that struck me when I first visited and continues to strike me today is the energy, creativity, and the intelligent spirit of Haiti’s people – despite the daily difficulties and the...

Continue reading

Expect Nothing But the Miraculous

We often begin a new year with expectations, some new and some carried over from the previous year. Maybe we begin without any because we can’t bear the possibility of disappointment of unmet expectations. We approach ministry and missions similarly. Is there a discrepancy between what you anticipate from missions and what you read of Jesus’ ministry in the gospels, e.g. Matthew 10? When you think about being a part of a church community, is it like the early church as described in Acts? Stephanie May of the September 2011 A squad shares what she’s learned...

Continue reading

Going on a Matthew 10 Mission Trip

When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had no place to stay so Jesus sleeps in a trough. Could you imagine then, over thirty years later, Mary being surprised at the way Jesus leads? We read in Matthew 10 how Jesus sends out the twelve disciples; similarly, Jesus sends out another seventy or so followers, as found in Luke 10. Both times he instructs them to: proclaim that the kingdom of God is near heal the sick travel light. He also tells the twelve to cast out demons, cleanse people from leprosy, and raise the dead.  Do you wonder what it’d be like to...

Continue reading

I AM HIS BELOVED AND HE IS MINE

After three and a half incredible months in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, our time has come to an end. What a blessed journey it has been. My life will never be the same.    Before this trip if you had told me how hard it was going to be, I most likely would not have come…but praise God I had no idea, because I am so thankful for God’s work in my life. My life will never be the same. God truly transformed my life and my love for Him has blossomed into something so beautiful.    The Christian journey is not always easy, but it is so rewarding. If...

Continue reading

Following His Will with JOY in my Heart

It’s hard for me to grasp the concept that my time in Puerto Barrios is done, at least for a little while. I won’t be holding orphans, teaching them how to walk, and playing with Dalia every Monday. I won’t be at the Children’s Hospital every Tuesday coloring with sick kids and talking with concerned parents. I won’t be talking to prostitutes or walking through garbage dumps every week anymore. Some things I’m happy are coming to an end- cold showers, constantly sweating, power outages, water shortages, rice and beans, pila washing, and language...

Continue reading

Alllrriggghttt Sistaa Time to Go!!

Tomorrow at 11:40 p.m. I start my journey back to the United States.It seems so surreal that tonight is my last night in Cambodia, that tonight was our final team dinner, and that tomorrow morning will be my last morning waking up next to my teammate Amy in our fort at the YWAM Base. It seems like yesterday I was having a mental breakdown trying to pack for this trip and now I am all packed up to go home to Prescott, AZ. I am excited to go home to a lot of love, snow, and Christmastime! But the next few days are going to be very bittersweet. The coming days will involve some of the...

Continue reading

Shine Your Light for the World to See

“We know that if the life we live here on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house in heaven that isn’t made by human hands. In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven. After we have put it on, we won’t be naked. While we are in this tent, we sigh. Then eternal life will put an end to our mortal existence. God has prepared us for this and given us his Spirit to guarantee it.” These past three and a half months have been the craziest, hardest, most...

Continue reading

Two Ways to Get Youth Involved This Summer

Your youth are looking for an incredible experience this summer.  And we know that you want to help them make memories, and grow in their faith while serving people around the world.  We can help.   Want to take your group on a trip where they can grow in their relationship with the Lord? We have urban, rural, and international sites where your youth will lead, coach, and serve. Through ministry with kids, sports outreach and serving local ministries, these students will see the value of their presence and observe first hand the move of God through their contribution....

Continue reading