It has been a year full of great stories. We’ve seen God show up for his people – both the people we’ve set out to serve in the nations as well as our participants themselves.
Below we’ve put together this list of great stories from our programs. We hope they encourage you and remind you that God is always up to something good behind the scenes — even when we don’t see it. And if reading these stories prompts you to be a part of it, we’ve attached all the info you’ll need. We hope you join us in 2014 for another adventure!
(For 18+, 5-15 days. Click here to see where you could go!)
Denish Heesch and her team visited Merger, Haiti on an Adventures Encounter trip. She tells the story of one family who experienced a miracle in the rubble of the earthquake.
When they finally rescued Clarice and Meloonda, Meloonda was unresponsive and not breathing. They worked to try to restore her breathing but her father and some of the other men said she was dead. They started to wrap her up and prepare her for burial. Clarice called out to God, “Oh, God, I am your servant! Please give her back to me, as I have loved and served you.”
Read the rest of the story here.
(For 18-35 year olds, 9-11 months. Click here to find a route!)
(For 18-22 year olds, 1-3 months. Click here to find a summer location!)
Ellie Hillhouse and her Africa Expedition Passport team allowed Christ to shine through them in the dark country of Mozambique as they prayed for a woman to be healed.
Three days ago I stepped into a small, candle-lit house to find a woman lying on the couch covered in a blanket with beads of sweat rolling down her face. Malaria. We didn’t know this woman’s name, her story, or if she knew the Lord. We didn’t know her favorite color or what made her laugh but God did. He formed her and created her very being. And that was enough.
We prayed that grace would fill this dark room. That the Holy Spirit would overwhelm this place with healing. Nothing happened.
Read the rest of the story here.
(For churches that want to establish long term international partnerships.
Click here for more info!)
The Body (Rock Hill, SC) partners with a Cuban church through our Church to Church program in Sancti Ispiritus, Cuba. They have committed to being an intricate part of what God is doing in Cuba and continue to see Him move in incredible ways, like when they saw a witch doctor meet Jesus.
From a distance, I noticed the commotion. A crowd gathered.
Voices rose. Violent wailing. Words flew through the air like slashing swords. This meant war. These were the hardest demonic attacks yet, he had explained. It was taking everything he had left.
“We rebuke every demon in the name of Jesus. We bind the enemy in Jesus name and say flee! You do not belong here!
Come out of him! Be set free…”
Read the rest of the story here.
(For Junior and Senior High youth groups, 1-2 weeks. Click here to take your group!
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.
All week three tough-looking teenagers sat on the curb across the street watching kids laugh and play and eyeing the teens leading animated songs about a man who died on the cross. At the end of the week, Juan was approached by the teens who had been watching from the curb.
(18+, single or family, 6+ months. Click here to find a new home!)
When Miguel and Kristen Shaul, long-term missionaries who run one of our Discipleship Training Centers in the Dominican Republic, responded to a knock on their door, they found a young local man desperate for discipleship. They way they chose to respond would change their lives, and Ronnie’s, forever.
Beyond the lush beauty of the Dominican Republic, families lie in ruin. Single mothers struggle to make ends meet, and children grow up without fathers. Ronnie Herrera was one of those children.
“As I grew up, my picture of a father was just talking on the phone with him. That’s all I had. You talk on the phone with him, you ask for things you want from the States or money you need from him, but we didn’t really get into a deep relationship with him. Nothing deeper like a father/son relationship.”
Ronnie felt hopeless.
Read the rest of the story here.
(For 14-18 year olds, 2-4 weeks. Click here to take the next step!)
On one of our recent high school trips, Dolly Lee was able to meet her sponsored child. They never expected how priceless of a gift it would be.
I wasn’t surprised she said he was kind, because in his first letter, he asked me to pray for his dad to stop drinking. With tears streaming down her tired face, Berta told us her husband abandoned them three years ago when he began drinking. When Davy said I was his sponsor, he walked from behind his mom, and we hugged. My heart warmed like a growing fire.
Read the rest of the story here.
(Adventures Staff—It could be for you! See our latest opportunities here!)
All of these trips don’t just happen. We have a hardworking, dedicated staff that spends every single day writing, marketing, organizing logistics, planning trips, fundraising, running Training Camps, networking alumni, innovating, and trusting the Lord to make it all happen. Stephanie Bernotas, who works on staff as our Social Media Manager, writes about how God shows up for our staff, even when things feel impossible.
Do you ever feel to small to be used by God? Well, good news. God uses the little guy. Which is a good thing, because sometimes, on staff here in Gainesville, we really feel like the little guy.
When we drive into work, and there’s a caravan of 20-something year old missionaries pulling onto Wellspring Trail in the middle of nowhere, Georgia. It feels fake. It feels like people our age are still supposed to be in our parent’s basements, still waiting to finish their education before they can “start real life.” But here, you’ve got a bunch of us. Living off really little money. And doing really big things.
Read the rest of the story here.
No matter where you end up going, and even if you end up staying, we’d love to hear your stories! Follow or tag us on social media when you post about what God is up to in your life!
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