Adventures in Missions

Changing Contexts: Translating Stories from the Mission Field to Home

“You wouldn’t understand. You just had to be there.” Words such as these are often rooted in ignorance or insecurities that destroy conversations before they’ve started. In truth, we’re all guilty of such rhetoric at some time or another. Our youth return from short-term mission trips and aren’t quite sure how to put their experiences into words, or maybe they (and we?) are tempted to exercise some sort of experiential superiority over their peers who were not on the trip. Whatever their reasons for not properly communicating the...

Why Wasn’t I Born in a Slum in Kenya?

This week, a group of young adults went into the Kenyan slums during their Real Life mission trip. To say the very least, it was a life-changing experience for them. On the Kenya blog, you can read their in-depth reports, but we’ll highlight just a few here. Amy Johnson remarked on the unimaginable sights she saw in Kibera: Imagine: smelling burning trash, food cooking from little shacks, and trash dumps. Imagine: feeling the rough, dirty hands of children all over your skin because they have never seen a white person before. Imagine: seeing shack after...

A Summer of Firsts in Missions

Sixteen year old Erika Disney went to Tennessee with AIM and is her very first missions trip. In a short period of time, young Erika has grown tremendously. This week of roughing it in Appalachia mountains, where the showers are cold and the air is hot, prayer walking, house painting and worshiping the Lord, has transformed her. I’m feeling God just like I did when I first accepted Jesus as my Savior. Crazy isn’t it? I honestly didn’t think I’d feel that God-high ever again. I was completely wrong. How I’ve been going on without this God-high is...

College Missions Opportunities in the Fall

We currently have teams of short-term missionaries all over the world this summer. Here are just a few highlighted stories from college-age mission trips, as well as some upcoming opportunities to go. Israel: “The Foolish Things” by Christina Appelgate As I played with the children throughout the night I started thinking about the children: Who prays for the forgotten refugee children in the middle of a barren desert? Who cares about them? Who wipes the snot from their runny noses? Who teaches them the “ten little monkeys” song? Who spends $4,400 to travel across...

AIM June 2010 Newsletter

AIM June 2010 Newsletter • Word from our director • Upcoming Trips – From youth to adults • Stories from the Field – Hear what others have to say :: Word from our Director – Seth Barnes :: A healing in Haiti Evansbord was taken to a witch doctor at two months old. He lays knees to his chest, feet crossed flat against himself-fifteen years in the same position, immobile and mute. Evansbord is being healed. This video shows more of the story. Here are some update from an earlier...

What Can Happen When You Give Three Days to Jesus

What can Happen in Three Days? Check out what Jimmy Hutson has to say about it! This is a question that I am sure many of you have asked when looking at the 3-day trips that AIM has started offering this year. Well, I am here to share with you a story that shows with God 3 days can be a lifetime. Recently, Westside Church from Omaha Nebraska partnered with Cornerstone Baptist Church and Our Calling in South Dallas and below is summary of what happened. Day 1 God revealed to Westside church how he wanted them to pray for Dallas. It began with Isaiah 62:1-6 and a...

Thailand: The Land of Smiles

Come and be a part of what God is doing in Thailand! While in Thailand, Adventures in Missions is partnering with some local ministries familiar with the area. Working together, the ministries will provide a comprehensive view of human trafficking and ministry related to trafficking. Teams will travel to villages and do ministry to impoverished families at risk of having children trafficked or driven into the sex trade in Thailand. There will also be opportunity to visit homes for children who have been trafficked, teens who were in high-risk, and women who have come out of...

Fathering Swaziland

Come and be a part of what God is doing in Swaziland! Participants on this trip will be working with the large number of orphaned children through Pastor Gift, working in care points to feed and educate orphaned children. Though devastated by the rapid spread of HIV, Swaziland is an absolute place of smiles and hope. Participants can also expect to teach and preach at area churches as well as participating in children’s ministry, pastor’s conferences and hospital ministry. Get to Know Swaziland ...

Hong Kong: The World’s Fair of Food

If you are 18-22, you should seriously consider being a part of what God is doing in Hong Kong by going on an AIM mission trip for young adults. This trip will be heavily focused on prayer and intercession. The first five weeks will be spent working in Hong Kong with long-term ministries who have an established presence in the area. This will be a time of preparation and planning to enter the mainland for the last 4 weeks of the trip. There will also be opportunities to work in a global distribution center with worldwide connections. Goods sent from this center touch the...

Get to Know Brazil, Home of Christ the Redeemer Statue

If you are a college student you should and wanting to spend a semester abroad – consider being apart of what God is doing in Brazil! On your Brazil mission trip, your team will be partnering with Paul Perry from Global Equip in Brazil, alongside local churches. In serving the Brazilian church, you may have the opportunity to preach, teach from the Bible, host spiritual retreats, or simply meet the felt needs of the congregation. You will also have the opportunity to serve the community in drug rehabilitation centers, children’s ministries, local service projects,...

Do We Need to Cease Going on Mission Trips?

Writing in Sojourners, Troy Jackson declared that it’s time to declare a moratorium on short-term mission trips. He makes the following points: According to Wycliffe Associates, approximately 1,600,000 Americans participate in mission trips each year. Assuming a cost of approximately $1,500 per person for the average trip, American Christians are raising and spending more than $2 billion each year on mission trips around the world. In some cases, the mission trips reinforce Western paternalism while adding to dependency by indigenous peoples. Far too...

A Mouse Chewed His Nose

Jumbo and his wife Kriek currently serve with Adventures In Missions in Swaziland. You can read their personal blog here. This week I have gone out with the Capital church from Salt Lake City to their care point, Mkhombokati It has been fun hanging around and watching the team doing their thing and how the kids respond to that. Capital is always one of our best prepared teams and we just always stand in amazement at all the creative ways they minister to the kids while they are here. They did bring a bunch of supplies for just a team of 10 people, but the kids are having so...

Author: Adventures