Author: Adventures

AIM and Awana: Same Direction, Different Paths

In October, 22 year old Emily Tuttle of Duluth, Ga. was in training in the rural northern part of her home state for the World Race.  She, along with over a hundred other young-adults, begins her trip in January in Haiti, then will minister in South America, Southeast Asia and conclude in East Africa. But Tuttle already grew up with the world at her doorstep; her family lived in a neighborhood populated primarily by recent immigrants.  Whereas her classmates from her Christian school were mostly white, her friends and neighbors were diverse not only in culture and...

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AIM November 2010 | Known & Loved

This month’s newsletter features: •    A Word from Our Director •    Featured Story •    Upcoming Trips •    Stories from the Field •    Videos from the Field Dodging Bullets for the Gospel in Matamoros | Seth Barnes AIM has had a ministry based out Matamoros, Mexico for almost 20 years.  During that time, our leaders have been friends with a woman named Manuela, the sister of the notorious Tony Tormenta.  Tormenta headed a drug cartel until he was killed a few weeks ago in one of the gun battles...

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From Awareness to Action

Kelly Chadwick has been serving as the program coordinator for our Real Life program for over a year now; previously, she went on the World Race in October 2008, during which she rose up as squad leader in January 2009.  Prior to participating on the World Race, Kelly served as a youth director at a church in Colorado.  She wrote the following post about moving the collegiate generation of believers into followers of Christ. The proper way to start a blog is with a catchy sentence or unbelievable fact that will get your attention and cause you to become so sucked in that you...

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Gratuitous Gratitude

Five years ago, in Swaziland, our missionaries spent Thanksgiving day in ministry.  Bethany and Keith, who is Canadian, taught some children at the carepoint in Mihlanga about Thanksgiving then asked the students what they were thankful for.    Here are a couple responses from the students, first in this trip report (under the section by Katy Howry): One twelve year old boy answered, “I am thankful for my grandmother.” His grandmother is blind and bedridden, and he cares for her. She is his only living adult relative. He is thankful for her, [even though she]...

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How to Prepare for Next Summer’s Mission Trip Now

How to Prepare for Next Summer’s Mission Trip Five Steps for Getting Ready Now for Your Next Mission Trip We know that it’s only November, but there is a lot you can be doing to prepare for next summer’s mission trip now. To get the most out of the week or two that you’ll spend overseas (or overland) next year, here’s what you can be doing between now and then to get ready:   1. Pray. It may be a “given”, but it doesn’t hurt to remind you to be praying about every aspect of your next mission trip. Now is a great time to start praying...

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Jesus, the Ultimate Short-Term Missionary

A lot can happen in 24 hours. Each season of the TV show 24 traced one day in the life of Jack Bauer, a federal agent who fights off terrorism, played by Kiefer Sutherland.    24 hour-long episodes, each filled with action, suspense, plot-twists and tension, comprised each season. While that show might have been just slightly larger than life, the reality is that one day can make quite a difference. Jesus began his ministry when he was thirty years old. He spent three years displaying the Father’s love and power through his teaching, healing and deliverance.  ...

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AIM Newsletter | Restoring Sight and Representing Christ

In this month’s newsletter: Thoughts from Our Director Feature Story Upcoming Trips Field Stories  Thoughts from Our Director Parents, Send Your Kids on a Mission Trip | Seth Barnes In this video, Seth encourages parents to send their children on missions; he shares from his personal experience of taking his four of his five kids to Peru for a month. Seth Barnes: Short Term Missions Story from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo. Featured Story Sight to the Blind | Nick Hindes Nick Hindes is leading a Real Life team in Kenya.  Earlier this month, he and his...

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Back from the Mission Field: Reverse Culture Shock

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...

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Heartbreak in Mexico

Here’s a story of heartbreak by Naomi Skeltis from a mission trip to Mexico this summer:       I hadn’t seen her in two years. The last few months she had been popping in my head so I really wanted to visit her. My team and I showed up at her door. I yelled and she came out. The look on her face told me something was wrong. I went up to her and she fell into my arms crying.   She started weeping, so I asked her what was wrong. She said her husband was gone. In my mind, I thought she meant he had left her for another woman or something. Then she continued on...

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New Resource for Youth Workers

“Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, The Message)   Missions and discipleship go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly.     What is it about spending a week in the mountains of southern Mexico, sleeping on a dirt floor of a church, singing and listening in a third...

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Sight to the Blind: a Real Life Story

Below is an excerpt of Nick Hindes’s account of the Real Life: Kenya team’s encounter with a Maasai man named Mussa:   Two weeks have passed since our initial emigration to a country that we previously knew so little about. Eleven days have been spent visiting two very distinct and different tribes: the Maasai and the Turkana. Both live off the beaten track of “normal” civilization, and forgo many modern conveniences in order to preserve culture, heritage, and history. Much of the time has been spent visiting homes and “evangelizing” to those who...

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Real Men Go to Matamoros for Missions

Thirty men – ten young men and twenty not-quite-as-young-anymore men – from Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia went to Matamoros, Mexico with AIM last week.    This brotherhood spent five days in Mexico and didn’t waste a minute.  They hit the ground running soon after they arrived; their first day, half the group painted while the other half assessed the site where they would build two houses in the squatter community.   Early on during the trip, it had been raining but praise God for answering prayers for sunny weather!  The men...

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