My gaze traveled across the weathered faces of the villagers. For a moment, my eyes connected with Pastor Nathan’s. All week, he had taken us from village to village across his home country of Papua New Guinea. He’d helped us spread this message of forgiveness. I wondered if he was weary of hearing it by now. “If you have someone …
Hope Among the Lepers
The guide paused at a home with a white door. “Hello,” he called in the native dialect. “We’re here to pray for people. Can we pray for you?” he asked. An elderly man inside the house invited us to sit with him. He smiled as we knelt next to him on the dirt floor. Our prayers felt small in the …
Mandela Day: Make A Difference In The Lives Of Others
Tomorrow, the world celebrates Mandela Day. Nelson Mandela, a man who was imprisoned for 27 years for opposing the injustice of the Apartheid government in South Africa, emerged an ambassador of hope, reconciliation and utterly committed to giving his life for others: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we …
5 Ways God Turned My Life Upside Down in DTS
I’ve had some really tough things happen in my life and I always believed that God caused them. When I was a teenager, I had a miscarriage. It rocked my world. I was so angry at God for putting me through something so painful. I lived with that anger for several years until one of our DTS speakers said, “God …
The Smile I Will Never Forget
We worked with a lot of kids on our DTS outreach to Costa Rica. I met some of these kids in orphanages and slums, others in churches and schools. But no matter where I met them, their precious faces linger in my mind long after we said our goodbyes. I still remember the first kids we met. A group of …
The Gift Of A Listening Ear
It was a hot day in Constanța, Romania. Our DTS team was surrounded by protestors advocating for bike lanes in “Old Town.” But we weren’t interested in protesting. We wanted to share God’s love with people. “I have an idea,” my teammate, Summer said. “Why don’t we ask people to tell us what they love about their city?” “Great idea!” …
Children’s Ministry Melts a Father’s Heart
Our kids’ Bible study was drawing to a close. My two teammates and I had thoroughly enjoyed teaching and interacting with the kids. Yet we did not expect what happened at the end. Our translator approached us with one of the student’s parents. “This man was sitting in the back while you taught,” the translator said. “He’s not a believer. …
Putting Faith Into Action
Although I know I should be sleeping, I’m wide awake! It had been an exhausting 24 hours as I said goodbye to classmates who went on other outreaches and boarded this plane for Costa Rica. Still, my mind won’t shut down. It races through all the firsts for our team — first outreach from our base to Costa Rica, first flight …
My Little Light: Did My Mission Trip Really Make a Difference?
My teammates and I boarded our flight to Mexico for a Spring Break mission trip. We had prayed many times for this trip and felt that even though it was only a week long, it was going to be “oh so sweet”. I’d never been on a mission trip this short and I wondered — How much impact could a …