Kelly Chadwick is the Program Coordinator
for both our Ambassador (high school) and Passport (college) programs. She worked with high school students full-time for 6
years as a youth director before going on Adventures' eleven-month trip called the World Race. She has been on staff since 2009.
Dear Parents,
While your high school student may believe that they're the ones setting out on this adventure, we know that you are probably taking the biggest risk of all! Sending your student on a mission trip, away from home, and possibly to the other side of the world could be more of an exercise in faith for you than for them. While they get excited about a new culture, playing with kids, exotic locations and living out the Gospel, you think about things like safety and transportation, risks in third world countries, and sickness or emergencies. And while we know you're excited about this experience with them, we understand your need to make sure they'll be safe and well cared for.
We believe in your student and the impact they can make around the world.
My staff and I are passionate about seeing this generation reach out to the world with
the transforming love of Jesus Christ. We believe that His presence has the power to bring hope
where there is suffering, healing where there is brokenness, and life
where there is death. We desperately want them to be a part of what God is going to do this summer.
We also believe in you and the calling God has given you to help your student navigate through this world. We know this might be new for you, it's probably scary, and you aren't sure you're up for it.
I want to say Haiti has changed a lot over the past two years. But I can't. The emergency aid effort and the donations that flooded into Haiti after the quake undeniably helped save lives and provided basic and essential services, including food and water, to millions. But rapid progress in Haiti's reconstruction and rebuilding has been quite another issue.
Yet the thing that struck me when I first visited and continues to strike me today is the energy, creativity, and the intelligent spirit of Haiti's people - despite the daily difficulties and the challenges. Haitians are survivors; realistic, but not defeatist. They still hope for change and believe that some day, change will come.
-- Caroline Gluck, for Oxfam, on her return to Haiti, now two years post-earthquake; read the entire post.
On our end, we continue to send short-term teams and connect North American and Haitian churches. This month also is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month; through last autumn's crisis with the Son of God orphanage, we experienced at an even more personal level how extreme poverty is a catalyst of trafficking; so, we continue our microfinance efforts to empower the people to be self-sustaining.
For last year's update on the progress that had been made, click here. A chronicle of the crisis can be read here:
All the progress made wouldn't have happened without you; thank you.
On this second anniversary, let's resume the campaign/petition for a full, high-level of investigation of the social services agency (IBESR: Institut du BienEtre Social et de Recherches). Click here to sign the petition, if you hadn't already; or, share it (again).
If you've already served in Haiti short-term and are interested in serving for longer, please call us at 800.881.2461.
What are your expectations of a short-term missions trip? Does it match the Bible's description of Jesus's ministry? We often train our World Race missionaries to release their expectations. One of them discusses holding one kind of expectation.
We read in Matthew 10 how Jesus sends out the twelve disciples; similarly, Jesus sends out another seventy or so followers, as found in Luke 10. Both times he instructs them to:
Adventures is preparing to send out mission teams to several locations this summer We are
looking to reach more people and launch more short-term missionaries out into the
world this than ever before.
For the past 20 years, we have seen how these missions experiences
have radically changed the lives of the participants. See what some of
them are saying about how an Adventures trip transformed them.
Your youth are looking for an incredible experience this summer. And we know that you want to help them make memories, and grow in their faith while serving people around the world. We can help.
Want to take your group on a trip where they can grow in their relationship with the Lord? We have urban, rural, and international sites where your youth will lead, coach, and serve. Through ministry with kids, sports outreach and serving local ministries, these students will see the value of their presence and observe first hand the move of God through their contribution.
Do you have students that need a longer, more personal missions experience? Some of your high schoolers need to be thrust into a deeper adventure this summer. Why not send them for 2-4 weeks on a individual trip? They will join a team of 7-12 more students and leaders to travel overseas and impact the world in a unique and life changing way.
For more information on specific trips, encourage your students to check out www.adventures.org/ambassador or call us at 1.800.881.2461 ext. 290
Filmed on location in Jinotepe, Nicaragua, this video gives a glimpse of life on the mission field and what this missions experience means to our collegiate missionaries.
Going on a family mission trip may be one of the best decisions you could make for your family. Getting out of the house and out of your comfort zones will teach you to depend on God and to trust each other in deeper ways. I may be a little biased, but I highly recommend that more families go on mission trips together. -- Seth Barnes
Seth Barnes got off the phone with our Haiti staff and this is what he reports...
When the government took the kids away from the SOG orphanage, they left in one or two buses (we couldn't confirm). They divided them up by gender, the girls in one orphanage and the boys in the other.
They didn't tell us where they'd taken the girls, but we knew where the boys were. It was a very confusing situation. We had to drive around for 3 1/2 hours trying to find where the girls were.
When we finally found the girls orphanage, we counted just 31 there. We were gratified to see that they seemed to be doing well.
The story was not as positive with the boys - just a few there. The director of that orphanage had been initially encouraging, but when we arrived said, "You don't have authorization." He seemed upset and shooed us away.
As we looked around, we could see why he might be concerned. Some of the boys who looked to be 6 and 7 years-old were on some kind of work detail, swinging pickaxes.
All told, we are missing 46 orphans, 23 girls, and 23 boys. We don't know where they were taken or how they are doing. One of them, Magdala, is especially precious to the Barnes family.
We don't want to stop fighting for these kids until we know where they are and know that they're cared for.
Please keep praying and sign this petition asking for an investigation. Every time someone signs a new email gets sent to the President's office asking for an investigation. We're up to 2,600 already!
Today, the Associated Press released an article announcing the closure of the Son of God Orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti. The children were removed by UNICEF and taken to new homes.
All of this happened because you raised your voices.
This kind of action is a rare occurrence in the developing world, and the timing of it is nothing short of miraculous. In recent years, only one other orphanage has been shut down by the Haitian government.
The director of the orphanage was arrested in June on charges of trafficking after he was caught trying to sell a child to an aid worker. His wife has been running the orphanage ever since. She denies charges of neglect, while malnourished children wander the premises. Along with several other organizations, we began investigating this case a year ago when first suspecting foul play.
And today, justice is served. Thank you for your prayers, blogs, petitions, and all the other ways you got the word out.
Everyone we talk to says this shouldn't have happened. Not in a week. Not even in month. Five days and twelve thousand signatures later, the lives of fourty-six innocent children are saved. I am in awe of our God.
We believe in your student and the impact they can make around the world. 
What are your expectations of a short-term missions trip? Does it match the Bible's description of Jesus's ministry? We often train our World Race missionaries to release their expectations. One of them discusses holding one kind of expectation.
Adventures is preparing to send out mission teams to several locations this summer We are
looking to reach more people and launch more short-term missionaries out into the
world this than ever before.
Filmed on location in Jinotepe, Nicaragua, this video gives a glimpse of life on the mission field and what this missions experience means to our collegiate missionaries.
They didn't tell us where they'd taken the girls, but we knew where the boys were. It was a very confusing situation. We had to drive around for 3 1/2 hours trying to find where the girls were. 
Today, the Associated Press released an article announcing the closure of the Son of God Orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti. The children were removed by UNICEF and taken to new homes.