Missions Report stories from 11 months and 11 countries
This past year...
This has been an amazing year! I left in early July and got back at the end of May. During that time I went to 11 countries and spent 1 month in each one. From Asia to Africa and beyond, God used your support to send me and help, preach, work, love, and more. It has truly been the most exciting times of my life. God has been so good and I’ve been fortunate to experience some amazing things. This is what this document is for, to share these stories and experiences with you. Coming from a business minded family I understand what “return on investment” means, and in a real way you invested in me to invest in the lives of others. So this is a comprehensive report on the fruit your finances have produced. It may be lengthy but I promise it’s worth the read. Your money has changed my life and many others.
Here's a brief video to recap last year.
Over 500,000 people were impacted by my life last year.
That’s right, over half a million people were reached. For every dollar given to me God allowed me to share the gospel with 30 people. This was made possible by the website www.PathAndPavement.com. I try to regularly update what I'm up to on that website. Whether adventure or missions, my travels are all there. That website contains my pictures, videos, blogs and more and has attracted a lot of attention. Let me explain a little more...
One blog I published was titled “My Date With A Prostitute”. You can read the original article at PathAndPavement.com but in short, God led me to a very unique experience with a woman whose profession was prostitution. I wrote the article and God set it to the wind. Five different websites shared this article and cumulatively the number of reads reached over 500,000. This article explicitly shares the truth about how God views us and how He loves everyone. God used this interaction and event in my live, combined with the gifting for media He’s given me, to share the gospel with over half a million people.
It blows me away when I reflect on all the ways God used me last year. In a very digital age I’m learning the power of the internet and how God can use media to reach people. Not all the feedback I got from this website was supportive or positive however, which shows me that it’s not just Christian circles viewing my content.
God has given me the ability to tell a story digitally.
At almost every ministry I went to I was asked to produce media. This came in the form of photos, videos, brochures, and more. Missionaries needed content and I was there to deliver. Whether logos for ministries in Africa, or promotional video's for Thai orphanages, I was able to use my gifting to help aid these people. Most of the videos I made were for missionaries who wanted to promote their ministry or send for support back home. God used me to give them tools they can use for years to come. The pictures and video’s I took facilitate support for these missionaries.
Here's an example of a video.
Month by Month Review
India
The work: Film, photograph, lead services, door to door evangelism
My work in India was almost exclusively to produce media. I traveled to 5 different cities through a network of church plants our host had started. The organization was called Covenant Worship and they were using music to bring Indians in and share the good news with them. They would offer free music lessons and share the gospel with them there. It was very successful and many young men and women were getting saved, and in turn becoming worship leaders. I left the footage I took with their media staff member.
Amongst all the traveling and churches we visited my team and I were able to pray for hundreds of Indians through door to door evangelism and shared testimonies at every church service we visited. Many of these services were in houses or on the street where people would sit on the floor.
Nepal
The work: Film and edit a promotional video
Again the host asked me and a fellow member of our group to help them make a video promoting their ministry and the things they were doing. You can view the video below. This was a challenging task because they had several areas of ministry and it kept us very busy. This host had a policy however that was a mandate every day. Each day our group of 50 would spend an hour minimum listening to God. Not reading the Bible, not worshiping, sitting in silence to hear the heart of God. His philosophy dictated if we as believers haven’t taken time to listen to God, how are we to ever know what God would want from us for the day. This experience still has impacted me to this day.
This is the video I helped produce with the help of Julia Robertson.
Cambodia
The work: Construction, Teaching English, Leading Sunday Services
This country was by far the most rural country I was in. Deep in the backcountry of the Kampong Speu province is a small village. This village has a man named Ra who is doing everything he can to change his environment. He organized english classes for the community and about 30 children come everyday. He also led a church service that mostly children came to. He would preach and teach children about the Bible. Ra’s problem however, was that he barely had a facility to work in. He himself lived in a bamboo hut and the classes and services took place in roof-only barn. We were able to pour concrete and build a foundation for this building. We worked construction during the day and taught classes in the evening. My team and I were allowed to lead church services. I led worship on a guitar each Sunday and taught a lesson in one of the rotations. My team also taught english to these students who were thirsty to learn the “great English language”. The regular teachers were glad to hone their skills and the students were happy to learn from a native english speaker.
This is a time-lapse video of the average day in Cambodia.
Thailand
The Work: Construction and paining, making and filming promotional videos.
Thailand was gorgeous! Steep hills and friendly people made this an unforgettable month. I stayed at a place called Agape Orphanage, which was a refuge for children that had HIV or AIDS. The age ranged from 0 to 18. They did a great job facilitating care and recovery for these children.
For one week I was transferred to a completely different city and ministry because there was a need for men at an all boys camp. For the rest of the time though the work we did comprised of construction and a lot of painting. This work was on a building that would be used to house academic and vocational classes. I was also asked to make a video for the orphanage that you can see below. It was an amazing month serving these children like this and playing with them was incredible. Many of them had little or no contact with adult men. When I would pick them up they had a great time playing with my facial hair.
Malaysia
The work: Caring for children, helping facilitate children’s daily routine, a anniversary celebration.
At the start of the month in Malaysia I was named a team leader, which means I was responsible for facilitating a healthy spiritual atmosphere and handling logistics for a team of 7. We were placed at a group home for children that either had no parents, or the living conditions at home forced them out. Our work was to encourage them, help them in their homework, and help them along in their daily routines. What was interesting was that this very month the home celebrated it’s 150th year anniversary. Our team was told how invaluable we were in helping prepare for the celebration. I was also utilized to make yet another video for the festivities, highlighting the various points of the home.
An average day in the life in Malaysia
Namibia
The work: Finding new partners for future missions
In Namibia my assignment was unlike any other for the rest of the trip. My team's job this month was to find people and organizations that future teams could partner with to do work. We were sent to Namibia with no contact, no agenda, and hardly any budget to make this happen. When we got off the bus in Windhoek we prayed as a team that the Lord would provide. We had collectively set a goal to try and find at least 5 contacts. In the end we were able to travel all over Namibia and we found 9 different organizations and people that would be a great fit for future teams to help with. This ranged from youth ministry, to bush evangelism. God also crossed our paths with on particular african man who blessed our team with over 500 dollars USD. It was very humbling to see generosity like we had from the Namibian people. We were able to use that money in South Africa to bless a pastor there. One of the contacts we met was leading a youth camp. Pictured above you can see that my team and I were able to work for a few days with the students, there were 70 in total.
This was a Christmas I would never forget.
South Africa
The work: Door to door evangelism
We arrived in avery dangerous area of South Africa that was just on the outskirts of Cape Town. This dangerous area was in desperate need of help and encouragement. We were able to go door to door and develop relationships with the people there. Our work will be a small step in a long ladder to redemption for this community.
Above you can see a picture of my teammate praying for a girl that we were able to build a relationship with. She was part of a church that was actually a cult and we were able to plant a seed in her for Jesus Christ. One of the ways we were able to build this relationship was by carrying water. There was no plumbing in this slum and women would have to carry large buckets of water to do anything. I would offer to carry as many buckets as they needed while my teammates built a relationship with the women, when I got back we shared about a well that never would need refilled.
Ushering in a new year in South Africa...
Swaziland
The work: Sports Ministry, graphic design, video production, photography
Swaziland is known as one of the poorest countries in the world and has one of the lowest life expectancies. The healthcare there is terrible and with the rampant AIDS epidemic it’s known as the land of orphans. It was my teams job to go to different communities and work with the children there.
Through sports we brought the gospel through words and actions. When the organization we were working with, Hope Chest, found out I could do media production, they utilized me to the fullest. I designed logo’s, tee shirts, pictures, video’s, and more. I mainly worked in the office at their headquarters in Manzini and the head of their different departments would come to me with projects for me to do. I was able to meet all of their requests and my “to do list” was empty by the end of the month. Working with these people and loving these children was completely life changing.
This is a very different church experience!
Dominican Republic
The work: Preach, construction, teach english, tutor children
The work in the Dominican Republic took place on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, where a pastor named Juan took us in and let us work with him. Juan has a church with about 60 members and 30 children. The area where he works is in a rough part and the children there were in need of help academically, so Juan used part of the church’s property to build a classroom where the children come to receive tutoring in their studies. They also receive English classes once a week in addition to their studies.
We were asked to help with the children during the evening and during the day we helped paint and fix up the church, along with building Juan an office. Everything Juan did for the church was for free and he desperately wanted support to do it full time. He asked for help in raising support and with that another video was made. I recorded everything he did during the week and also interviewed him about his ministers. I then met with a local friend and translated the entire thing into english. It was a very time consuming project but he now has the ability to show potential supporters what he does and how they can help - whether they speak english or Spanish.
This was a welcomed "break" in the action....
Haiti
The work: Help another american team setup for revival, work at an orphanage
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and still has not recovered from the earthquake. This month was split into two halves. The first half of the month was spent with another american team to setup a revival in Port Au Prince. Hundreds came across the three day production and it was great to see the results from our efforts. We were also able to hand out small care packages with basic hygiene products along with Bibles.
The second half of the month we moved into an orphanage and originally were on the schedule to do some basic construction there. When those plans fell through my team decided to dedicate our energy to organizing games and devotions for the children. We concluded our time there with a pizza party and I had the opportunity to share the gospel. Eight children came forward and received Christ. Thankfully we had a great translator and the manager of the orphanage was a believer. These children have Bibles and are in a great place for growth.
Jamaica
The work: construction, speaking and leading church services
I came into Jamaica with the anticipation that it was the last country I would work in on this trip. My team and I worked for a pastor in the city of Browns Town. This small mountainous village was not at all what I expected when I thought of Jamaica. We worked with the pastor of a small church and helped with construction on both his church and personal property. We were specifically placed with this pastor because his church was struggling. We were able to encourage them on Sunday mornings by leading music and preaching. Door to door visits were also a big boost to the moral of the church and numbers nearly doubled within a week. It was a great month and a fantastic way to finish the trip!
What's next?
It’s official, I’m going to South America!
I had a great last year traveling to 11 different countries and ministering to people in almost every way imaginable. Every month was a new experience and I worked with hosts doing everything from building churches to digging toilets, from preaching the gospel to making video’s. It was an incredible and life changing experience to be able to do work like that.Through these travels God has cultivated in me a great skill set and experience for international travel and cross cultural missions. I was encouraged to consider applying for another work opportunity this organization offers that is much more cutting edge. The organization is the same as before and is called Adventures in Missions. They recently started a program that sends in people to find new areas that need ministry. I prayerfully considered it and ultimately I was accepted to go.
My mission to South America will be for the same organization that I traveled with before but the work will be different. Instead of going to areas in South America to preach, teach, etc, I will be going to find areas where none of that is going on. My mission will be to gather logistical information on unreached areas.
For three months I will be traveling to Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and ending the trip in Columbia. I will be on a team of 3 (including myself) the entire time.
Not only will we be looking for unreached areas but we will be pioneering routes through these countries for future missionary travelers. This includes information on border crossings, what public transportation looks like, safety information, routes through the Amazon River from Brazil to Peru, and more.
I need $7,000 in order to complete this work!
I would be honored to have you partner with me in this endeavor and support me to make this happen. To find out ways you can continue to support my mission work visit PathAndPavement.com and thank you so much!