Hello Friends and Family,
Hope you all were able to have a wonderful Christmas and New Year with the people you love. Brittany and I had the privilege to spend the holidays with our families. After 3 days of driving through a snowstorm to get from North Dakota back to Gainesville, GA, we finally had a few days to be in our own home for the first time together. We are now staying with Brittany’s parents in Kingsland, GA. We will be here for the next few weeks to meet with people and share about our ministry.
Brittany and I have been reflecting on the past year and all of the ways the Lord has been orchestrating the details of our lives. The last year has been one of the most significant and powerful years for us, and we can’t help but praise God for all the ways he has come through for us again and again. When we think about the last six months, the only word that comes close to describing how we feel is grateful.
In the last year, God has been working in our hearts to serve Him full-time, and not only to serve him but to also completely surrender our lives to Him. Not only in a theoretical way, but also in real tangible, practical ways. As all of you know, Brittany gave up her role at Chick-fil-A, a workplace and job that she was very good at and a place where she was incredibly valued. In a similar way, the Lord led me to move to Georgia without much of a plan. We have surrendered what is comfortable for what is honorable in God’s eyes. And He has met us with Grace every step of the way.
Not only were we both offered roles for Adventures in Missions to work and pour into youth full-time, but we have the privilege and opportunity to be on the mission field together, to use and grow in our unique gifts, and to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Thinking about where each of us was only one year ago, there aren’t really words to describe how excited and hopeful we are now. We know God has led us to Adventures in Missions for a reason, and we have seen first hand the impact of these short-term missions trips in the lives of the people we serve. We have seen the impact on the youth groups and family groups, and mission teams that we send out. We have seen the impact on church leaders, youth pastors, and our own project leaders. We have seen the homeless fed, we have seen the needs of the poor being met, we have seen the hopeless offered hope, we have seen many come to Christ. What we have seen is the power of God at work in a broken world.
As all of you know, none of what we are able to do would be possible without each of you. Each one of you, praying for us and giving generously toward our mission, is responsible for all of the fruit of our ministry. We pray each of you will be richly rewarded in Heaven for your sacrifices on Earth (Philippians 4:17).
Over the last year we sent around 500 people (mostly youth groups) on mission trips to Hilton Head, Asheville, Chicago, New York, Bismarck, New Orleans, Rural Mississippi, Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. Brittany and I and two others have now joined our Short Term Missions team, and we now already have more than double our total trip participants signed up for trips this coming year (around 1000 people are signed up for trips in 2022). We will be working wholeheartedly to make sure that each team has a powerful experience and leaves impacted for life.
As we start the new year, Brittany and I are now back in a season of full-time support raising until we can reach our monthly support goal. As many of you know, we are so eager to participate, administrate, and lead numerous trips this summer as soon as possible. Before we can get started though, we are seeking and asking for people to join our team, pray for us, and support us financially. Many of you are supporting us monthly, and many of you have given annual gifts or one time gifts. We are unbelievably grateful for all the ways the Lord has provided for us in this season, through each and every one of you. However, we are still in need, and I would like to kindly ask each of you to pray about and consider giving a monthly donation to us so that we can begin our full-time ministry.
Currently, there are so many teams waiting to be sent, and our team doesn’t have enough manpower to mobilize all of the participants without us. Our need is urgent and our prayer is that by the grace of God, we may be fully funded by the beginning of April. We know that many of you are already giving all that you can, and we do not take any gift for granted, but we are eager to get started and we would simply like to invite you again, to give if you have the means and feel led by the Lord to do so.
If anyone is reading this from the Kingsland, Georgia area (South Georgia) and would like to hear more about what we will be doing with Adventures in Missions, we would love to meet with you, even if you do not feel let to donate. We are searching for prayer warriors and people who can connect us to other potential partners as well. If anyone reading this is interested in giving for the first time, please reach out to one of us. You can contact Brittany at 912-674-3712, and you can give me a call or text me anytime, my number is 701-681-1349.
Please be praying for us while we are in Kingsland. Pray that we would be able to meet with people who share our heart for this ministry in a way that would bring people to be a part of it. Please pray that the Lord will supply every need of ours as we meet with people. Please pray that the Lord would put the right people in our path who can encourage us, be encouraged by us, and who we can share our faith with. Our unique opportunity in this season is that we get to consistently meet with new people. We see our support raising season as a season where we are able to have divine appointments with people who may not have any relationship with Jesus. We hope to pray with, minister to, and love each person that we meet with.
Thank you for all your support this last year, and for your continued prayer and encouragement toward us. We have been so blessed and feel so loved. May the Lord bless you and keep you all!
Ben H.
