Author: Adventures

Demanding Results

This past week was a Cambodian holiday. Everyone that is able to leaves their schools and jobs and returns to their villages and families for the week. Due to the holiday, most of the girls at TransformAsia left the center, and our classes were postponed until next week. So this week, instead of teaching English and Bible classes, we visited an orphanage and a place called Rapha House, which is a home for girls who have been rescued out of the most intense sex-trafficking cases. Rapha House provides these girls with a home, trade training, counseling, lawyers, and resources they will need...

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Nothing to Lose

The whole country of Cambodia went on holiday this week.  Woo hoo.  That means my team didn’t really have any ministry to do.  As a result, I’ve spent the whole week reflecting. Oh, the joys of reflecting.  After several days of gruesome wrestling and struggling and searching, I finally feel at peace. It all started when I asked God what He wants from me specifically on this trip.  There is so much to be done here—we have five weeks of English classes to teach in Battambang, then a month of working at an orphanage in Phnom Penh.  After much...

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Tweezing.

Due to the Cambodian holiday this past week, we had to put a slight pause on our ministry, which provided some intense downtime. We were able go to an orphanage called the RAPHA house, where 60 -100 girls ranging from 7 to 15 in age, are rescued from sex-trafficking. Not only is a shelter and food provided for these girls, but they are able to attend English classes, learn a specific trade and speak with a counselor whenever the need arises. The young women are allowed to stay at the center for up to two years; at the two year mark they are sent into a halfway home, where they can stay for...

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An AMAZING week!

I'm happy to say that his week has been AMAZING. We are beginning to do a lot of different ministries which makes everyone on my team very happy. This week we went to numerous church services, a local park to watch break dancers and do sports ministry, the market, a children's hospital, a school for children with special needs, and bars to do prostitute ministry. If you know anything about me, you can probably pick out the two ministries above that made this week awesome for me: the school for children with special needs and the children's hospital. When we got to the...

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Little Lourdes

                Lourdes Meliza. That’s the name of the boy who’s captured my heart. He’s 11 days old in the children’s’ hospital and was born with a cleft lip. I’d say no one wants him, but I’d be wrong; I want him. And God longs for his soul. For whatever reason, financial or otherwise, his parents left him. He depends on the nurses for care and love.                                 For the past...

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No touches the Walker!

Whats up! So this is my second blog and my first in Guatemala, sorry it’s taken so long. Just been busy. Well from the flight in, till now it’s been an eye opener. It’s an incredibly beautiful place, but everywhere you look it’s completely different from home that’s for sure. While driving up here the first day I witnessed a fatality from a car wreck. Unlike the U.S. and other countries, the Guatemalan government is to poor to have cops in force street laws. So you can imagine it’s pretty dangerous. Speaking of Guatemalan law enforcement, the police that...

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Psalm 118:13-14

“I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” Psalm 118:13-14   This verse has been my strength this week. At some points this week I have definitely felt like I’ve been falling, but the Lord has been so good. Physically this week has been the hardest so far just because I was sick for the first half of the week and on Tuesday lost my voice completely. It was just frustrating because I felt useless in ministry without my voice, but the Lord is good and by the end of the day it had...

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WAKE UP CHILD. IT’S YOUR TIME TO SHINE.

IT HAS BEEN SUCH AN INCREDIBLE WEEK!   “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31   I am FINALLY in a really good place! This journey had an extremely slow and hard beginning…but Sunday changed everything! I spent several hours in the word and He opened my eyes to so much! I finally felt...

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A Brand New Day

           Warning: I am not the same person I was last week. This week has been full of growth. Last week I broke down. I was feeling inadequate and on the outside of my team. I pulled my leader Julian to the side and asked him to pray for me, but before that happened two of my friends, Joel and Walker, walked over and I poured my heart out to them and told them how I was feeling. They all prayed for me and spoke truth over me. After that I talked to my other leader, Glenalyn, and while talking to her I realized that I have built my view of...

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A Missionary Does Not Look to a Certain Mission, But to a Certain Person.

"And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Matthew 13: 57-58 Tells of Jesus' trip to Nazareth, his hometown. The last verse of chapter 13 (verse 58) remains one of the saddest verses ever. To think, the Son of God walks in and out of Nazareth without doing mighty works because of the simple and sad fact that there was no one to believe. On the other end of the spectrum in Matthew 9: 20-22 as Jesus...

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Adventures in Missions Introduces “Social Justice and the Gospel” at Catalyst Conference

Gainesville, GA, Oct. 5—Adventures in Missions is partnering with this year’s Catalyst conference (October 5-7) to unveil a visitor tent highlighting the role of social justice in the gospel story.  “Christians often focus on just the Fall and the Redemption — ‘We’re sinners and we need Jesus’ — but when we leave out the messages of Creation and Restoration, we’re cutting out half of the gospel,” said Daniel Homrich, Adventures marketing director.  The 40-by 80-foot tent will allow conference attendees to journey...

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A normal day in the life of Derek… In Guatemala

So… This is my first blog. The deal is… I’ve been in the old Guatemala (there’s not a “new” Guatemala, or an “old” Guatemala, that’s merely a phrase) for about three weeks now. I would like to say that I just didn’t have time to write a blog prior to my first installment, but that’s not true. The truth is, things just got hectic as soon as we got here and wasn’t able to explain to you fine people what happens here on the trip. So here it is, and I’m just going to tell you about what goes on throughout the daily...

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