trip summaries | summer 2013 emmaus road teams

NOTE: Dates for each trip depend on a number of variables - in-country partner needs, team member summer commitments, Mayterm participants, etc. After all the information is gathered, dates will be finalized taking all factors into consideration. There is a section in the application that will give you an opportunity to highlight any summer conflicts or time frame preferences you would like us to consider when placing teams.

Guatemala City, Guatemala

Work and live alongside amazing Guatemalan staff and missionaries at Casa Bernabe' caring for over 170 children rescued from abandonment, TRAFFICKING, and other forms of severe trauma. Casa Bernabe' values prayer and believes that healing happens as we bring the children into the presence of the Lord.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in Guatemala will include: Helping in the School, Vocational Training Center, Sports and games, Gardening and Work Crew, Worship Arts Program, or wherever the need is.

Time Frame: 8 weeks (Summer 2013)

Cochabamba, Bolivia

Hospitals of Hope is a non-profit Christian MEDICAL missions organization - aiming to improve the healthcare of the under-served in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Their goal is to use medicine as a vehicle into the hearts of people, to demonstrate Christ's love by showing the value of each person cared for. Pre-med and biology students will get the opportunity to see medical missions in action first hand and assist by shadowing doctors and working in medical outreach clinics. The team will also get involved in the local community by visiting orphanages, reaching out to street kids, and supporting the local Bolivian church.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in Bolivia will include: Medical Outreach Clinics, Shadowing Doctors and Medical School Students, Community Outreach to Orphans & Street Kids, Local Church Involvement

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Altea-Alicante, Spain

Build community through cultural diversity and expressions of the ARTS. Team members will have the opportunity to be a voice and catalyst for God’s work in the area of the arts, culture, and community while serving alongside the Edge Project mission at their art gallery in Altea-Alicante, Spain. The team will be culturally immersed while living in community houses located throughout this coastal village. Historically this town is known for the arts and is currently home to the University of the Arts. The Edge Project's art gallery will be the central place of discovery, connectivity, and expressing faith in Jesus Christ.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in Spain will include: Spiritual Conversations, Historical Exploration, Cross-Cultural Immersion, Expressions of Faith, Self-Discovery, Creative Art Events, Simple Missions, Community Living, Relationship Building, and Language Learning.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Jerusalem, Israel

Musalaha is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians as demonstrated in the life and teaching of Jesus. They endeavor to be an encouragement for and advocate of RECONCILIATION, first among Palestinian and Israeli believers and then beyond their respective communities. Musalaha also aims at facilitating bridge building among different segments of Israeli and Palestinian societies according to biblical reconciliation principles.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Lugazi, Uganda

Faith Children's Home and God's House of Miracles - pastored by Pastor Hudson Suubi - exists to bring a hope, future, and a destiny to vulnerable children and widows in Lugazi, Uganda. Experience EVANGELISM and COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT in a brand new and powerful way. The team will be working primarily with orphans, widows, and elders at Faith Children's Home - a sustainable community designed to support the widows who then care for the orphans there. Participants will also 1. engage in community outreaches to hospitals, prisons, and schools, 2. minister in village churches - working with youth, 3. help at a national radio station, and 4. teach AIDS and HIV awareness to both teenagers and adults in the community, and 4. help with renovations to the Faith Children's Home.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in Uganda will include: Orphan and Widow Care, Community Outreach and Evangelism, Local Church Involvement, Radio Broadcasting Opportunities, HIV & AIDS Counseling, and Construction Projects.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Taiwan & Korea

Build relationships through MUSIC and relational camps with an indigenous tribe in Taiwan (1.5 weeks) AS WELL AS with North Korean refugees in South Korea (2.5 weeks). Team members will have the opportunity to be a voice and catalyst for God’s work among an indigenous Taiwanese community whose highest value is music. The music camp in Taiwan will focus on music, relational English conversation, and cross-cultural exchange with local families in a unique homestay environment. Experience with choral, worship band, and/or choreographed music are all encouraged but not required. The music emphasis could use strong musicians and worship leaders that could help children to learn Christian music. This could include more contemporary worship, instrumentation, rhythm, choreography, choral, and possible traditional worship. In South Korea, the Emmaus Road team will support similar camps for North Korean refugees, impoverished communities, as well as a larger children's camp outreach to help children from the local Christian community grow in their walk with Christ. In addition to music, the latter camp will also have opportunities to use science, crafts, cooking, cultural exchange, and ESL as mediums for development and incarnational ministry.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Kathmandu, Nepal

Transformations Nepal is a registered religious non-profit organization aimed at reaching out to the unreached people groups of Nepal. New Life Nepal was founded by a former Hindu priest in training who now works to develop the poorest communities holistically both through church planting and COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT projects. Last year's team supported recent church planting efforts by TEACHING ENGLISH in a Katmandu primary school. NOTE: This is a historic time in Nepalese history - the year 2006 was the first time Christian evangelism was allowed. Come be a part of history in the making as Jesus Christ is openly shared in the culturally rich and vibrant country.

Potential opportunities looking ahead could include: Teaching English and/or Basic Computer Skills, Agricultural Development, Teaching Sewing Classes to Ladies in the Community, Relationship-Building with Local Youth Susceptible to Drug Addiction, and/or Rural Community Developement Projects

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Qingdao, China

The International Care Community was formed to aid in the creation of "sustainable communities that transcend temporary mission efforts by providing ... for the ongoing operation and spiritual enrichment" of ministries like the Sarang Orphanage in Qingdao. As a recent Emmaus Road team member concluded, "At this ORPHAN CARE community, there is no question that God is central." Daily worship is a unique blend of Mandarin, Korean, and English and team members will have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ in imaginative ways with both MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED children as they live life with them. Be a part of this unique opportunity to do incarnational ministry in a Restricted Access Nation.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in China will include: Reaching Out to an Unreached People Group in a Restricted Access Nation, Relationship Building with Orphans through Sports / Arts & Crafts / Praise & Worship / or any other Creative Ideas that the team comes up with, Teaching English, and Assisting in a school built this year on the property.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Tokyo, Japan

Japan is still one of the largest "unreached people" groups in the world, with less than 1% of the population Christian. Our Emmaus Road Japan team will participate in a CROSS CULTURAL EXCHANGE with Jiyu Gakuen - a school which officially maintains its Christian roots but where many of the students and faculty are not believers. The team will also partner with Mizuba Community Church - a bilingual independent church - in reaching out to the local community. Our team will concentrate on making good relationships with the students of Jiyu Gakuen through helping with English classes, after school activities, sharing their faith through "doing life together", and serving the local community at Mizuba Community.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Indonesia

Using a BUSINESS AS MISSION model, Sea Tribes will introduce our team to a village setting for home stays lasting several nights with the intent of beginning to plant kingdom seeds in that location - via cultural exchange. We will partner with Sea Tribes to not only plant new seeds, but also to help nurture those that have already been sown. The team will live with a local family - eat together, go fishing together, cook together, play sports with the people of the village, etc. Our teams will aid Sea Tribes in creating inroads for not only learning about the host culture and people, but also to share the Christian faith legally via a business model in a Restricted Access Nation. Our team will have a great near immersion experience while being exposed to a non-Arab Muslim contextual ministry as well as a Business as Mission strategy for reaching Unreached People Groups.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)

Manila, Philippines

Kids International Ministries has been helping to bring an end to poverty both in Manila's urban slums and on the island of Mindanao through SPORTS camps, building projects, tutoring, feeding programs, agricultural development, education, and other various community development endeavors. Sports - basketball in particular - is a major pasttime in the Philippines and Kids International Ministries has utilized it as a way to create inroads in relationship-building in their slum community. Among others, Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra visited their facilities in 2010 and we will be sending a team to support their ongoing efforts.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in the Philippines will include: Sports Camps, Tutoring, Education, Care Giving in a Children's Home, Teaching PE, Swim Lessons, Building Projects, Community Development, Intercessory Teams, and Relationship Building with Local Community.

Time Frame: 8 weeks (Summer 2013)

Mahajanga, Madagascar

Red Island Restoration aims to see Madagascar restored in Health, Forests, and Hope in Christ. Our team will partner with a local organization who has a deep understanding of Malagasy culture and language as well as a powerful love for their home country and the Malagasy people. Through PUBLIC HEALTH & REFORESTATION projects, the Emmaus Road Madagascar team will come alongside our partners in support of their ultimate aim - to bring hope in Christ to their Malagasy community. In the realm of public health, our team will help lay the foundation for a much needed Women's Center/Birth Center that will meet needs that poverty and social injustices have prevented especially for women and young girls. In the area of agriculatural development, our team will come alongside the Hands in the Dirt Nursery Training Center in support of their work as well as work alongside Malagasy men and women to plant propagules in the mangrove forests.

Your experience with Emmaus Road in Madagascar will include: Work Project Readying the Women's Center/Birth Center for Future Use, Agricultural Development, Relationship-Building with Malagasy young people, Rural & Community Development Projects, Pick-up Soccer Games with Local Youth, and a variety of Incarnational Ministry opportunities.

Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks (Summer 2013)