If you ever think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito!Wendy Lesko Small communities often struggle to provide a healthy outlet for their young people. As a result, many teenagers find themselves suffering from depression, loneliness, drug abuse and teen pregnancy, among other things. Papakaio is a small community, but they know how … Read More
A Very Kiwi Christmas!
Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.Eric Sevareid Being on the other side of the world made it impossible for us to travel back home for the holidays, therefore, we decided to celebrate the season with our new friends in the … Read More
Papakaio School
When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.Pauline R. Kezer For the past three and a half months, the team has been living in the Papakaio community in New Zealand. However, Papakaio has become more … Read More
Farm Life
Sometimes you fall out of love with what you do. Some days, you wake up and wish you worked on a farm.Jonathan Anderson When I was a child, I often heard my mother talk about how she dreamed of one of her daughters marrying a farmer someday. Funny thing is, none of my sisters nor I married a farmer. None … Read More
Legacy Ski Camp
“Landscape affects you.” Bernard Sumner There is no amount of words that can describe the thirty-hour travel time that it took us to get to our final destination. However, there are also not enough words that can describe the feeling of shock and awe you feel as you watch through window-seats on either side of the plane the landing road below … Read More
Monastery of the Holy Spirit
“My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.” John Keats The first time Abante International visited the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia was five years ago. The experience was interesting and unforgettable for several reasons; one being that we were able witness and compare the things we were learning there with the things we were … Read More
Vessels of Honor
The Refiner [God] is never very far from the mouth of the furnace when His gold is in the fire.Charles Spurgeon I’ve never been one for much pain. Nor would any of my closest friends or family have labeled me an “adrenaline junky” growing up. I still don’t like roller coasters, and if given the choice, I would choose the … Read More
Nexus in The Gap
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.Franklin D. Roosevelt A fun night of building community, as well as meaningful memories with the amazing young people of Nexus Youth Ministry was exactly what our team needed to get our missional heart checked and prepared for practical kingdom work. We do … Read More
What a Way to Begin the 2019 Journey!
Expand Thy wings, celestial Dove, brood o’er our nature’s night; on our disordered spirits move and let there now be light.Charles Wesley Who is Holy Spirit? Is He a person? How do we get to know him and understand him better? These are some of the questions that come to mind when we think of the Spirit of God as … Read More
Bonjour is Only the Beginning
MONTPELLIER Packing, loading and unloading is nothing new for the Abante colleagues. This time our routine was met by an extra excitement but also some sadness. There was the excitement of meeting former colleagues Louisiana & Antoine Michel, and the sadness of coming to the realization that this was the last European trip as a team. It felt surreal, but … Read More