Mission Adelante serves "a mission field in our own backyard." But, what about the need to send missionaries abroad? In our passion to involve ordinary, everyday Christians in cross-cultural missions in our city, we are not unaware of the constant and urgent need for missionaries to serve in foreign fields as well. In fact, you might be surprised to know that Mission Adelante has played a role in equipping and preparing 12 missionaries who have gone on to serve on foreign fields. Serving here sometimes leads to serving abroad!
As a missionary on the foreign mission field for more than three years, I can't count how many times I've been asked about culture shock and how we and the kids dealt with it. The truth is, I don't think it was much of an issue for us after our time with Mission Adelante. From having a Mexican woman live with us for nearly a year and a half, to leading Spanish-language Bible studies in our home or attending and serving in a Spanish-language church, we'd already experienced many cross-cultural challenges in Kansas City. --Seth Sears, Missionary in Costa Rica
It is my belief that missionaries who begin foreign missions assignments with significant home-side ministry experience make a much greater impact than those who show up in foreign contexts with little or no experience at home. And, imagine the difference it would make if that home-side experience were cross-cultural! Many missionaries these days serve on a foreign field for 2 years or less. This is barely enough time to learn the language and begin adapting to the culture. If a missionary is also having to learn how to do ministry during this time, little kingdom work is actually accomplished.
Mission Adelante is really good at celebrating relationships. We always made friends in our English classes, probably because Latinos are generally warm and easy to make friends with. The relational ministry style of Mission Adelante turned out to be great preparation for the kind of friendships we've formed here in Colombia. It helped build our confidence that we could build relationships with people, even when we couldn't communicate perfectly. --Sam Posladek, Missionary in Colombia
It has been fun over these first six years of ministry with Mission Adelante to see God bring emerging missionaries to gain valuable training and experience with us. This kind of dynamic interaction between home-side missions and foreign missions is fostering an exciting Kingdom synergy that benefits both the immigrant mission field in our own backyard, as well as the mission field in far-away places! Because Jesus said, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few", Mission Adelante will always be serious about developing workers for the harvest, whether here or abroad!Here is a list some of the missionaries who have served with Mission Adelante before going to a foreign field. We are honored to have served with you!
In other news:
- Our summer interns have arrived! Much of the Mission Adelante Missionary Team community enjoyed welcoming them at a cook-out on Saturday night. Blake Johns will be working primarily with the Latino kids, and upon meeting Blake for the first time, a number of the boys seemed to be magnetically attracted to him! Lindsey Bokach will be working primarily with Bhutanese kids, so Bhutanese Outreach interns Hannah Hume and Drew Hammond are showing her the ropes. Lindsey especially enjoyed her first experience visiting a Bhutanese family in their home at the beginning of the week.
- The Summer session of Bhutanese Outreach launched on Tuesday night, with a very strong showing of volunteers and well-planned programming. We expect the participant numbers to increase during the next couple of weeks, after a few things get ironed out. The Latino Teens outreach launched last night with a cook out at David & Brooke Coon's home, and four new teenagers present. They're following God's leading into a new stage of meeting teenagers on their own turf. Our Latino Outreach staff and volunteer team are eager for our Latino outreach launch this evening!
- The Holy Spirit is imparting an understanding of Scripture and spiritual things to an extended Bhutanese family that meets together for weekly worship. Last weekend, they remained together much longer than they typically do, until they were satisfied with their grasp on the meaning of the passage they were studying.
- The Latino and Bhutanese kids are going to get to enjoy three weeks of evening kids' camps put on by three of our partner churches. Come on down some evening if you would like to join in the fun, June 12-14, 19-21, and 25-28. Also, pray that God will make these great outreach events effective for reaching more neighborhood kids.
Prayer needs:
- Praise God for supplying a driver for our mini-bus on Tuesday evenings! This volunteer role is crucial, as transportation is foundational to our Bhutanese friends' ability to participate in our programs.
- Please pray for safe travel for our LIT students and volunteers on their reward trip to North Fork River this weekend, as well as safety on the river and in the campground. Also, pray for the kids to see their smallness, relative to God's greatness and purity, as is so well demonstrated by nature.
- Pray for vision and wisdom for Kristen Maxwell, as she continues to formulate plans for Leaders In Training for Bhutanese students during the '12-'13 school year, and as she invites others to be a part of it.
- Pray for Mission Adelante staff to pace ourselves this summer by planning well and taking things as they come, and to trust God for the time and resources necessary to carry out our mission. (Can you tell that there's an awful lot going on up here? :-D)
Current needs:
- Two females to serve as mentors for Bhutanese teenage girls each Tuesday evening through August 7. Please contact Hannah Hume at hannahh@missionadelante.org.
- Kids summer clothing to stock our Resource Center, and two sofas, which have been requested through our Resource Center. Please contact Molly at 913-281-6274 x5.
- A ceiling-mounted projector in a protective cage for use in our kids' room.
- Saturday, June 30, 9:00-12:00 Adelante Missions Institute Seminar at Mission Adelante featuring Noel Castellanos, CEO of Christian Community Development Association. There is limited space, so we've offered priority registration to our staff and volunteers, and are now opening registration to a wider group. There is a cost of $10 per person, which includes a continental breakfast. Register here.
- Week of July 2 Summer break; no programs