Top 25 Places: #s 5-1

#5. Ecuador
June 2002
The summer before my senior year of high school, I took my first overseas mission trip, to Ecuador. This trip proved to be a major turning point in my life, as it was on that trip that I first felt God's calling to ministry and my eyes were opened to missions. As far as I can remember, it was also on this trip that I preached the gospel for the first time in my life.


#4. Jamaica
April 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001
My family was pretty darn spoiled growing up, as one of our favorite vacation spots was the Caribbean island, Jamaica. For me, Jamaica is synonymous with beautiful beaches, awesome food, super friendly people, and lots of great family memories!


#3. Chicago
Several times a year.
Ever since I was a kid, Chicago has been my favorite city in the world. After now having traveled all around the world, it continues to hold that title. Chicago is a beautiful city, home to all of my favorite professional sports teams (Bulls, Bears, White Sox, Blackhawks), as well as the best pizza in the world, Giordano's. I find any excuse I can to make it up to Chicago several times a year.


#2. Florida
About a dozen times growing up.
Another favorite family vacation spot growing up was Florida. These vacations included multiple trips to Disney World, staying at beach resorts in places like Sarasota and Panama City, and visiting my grandparents in Sebring and Avon Park.


#1. Home Sweet Home!
Birth-Present Day
The more I am away from home, the more I realize what an awesome place it really is to live. There's nothing like being close to family and friends. Home-cooked meals every Sunday with the family are nothing to be taken for granted. Several friends of mine from South Africa are interested in visiting the States someday, and I often get asked about the best places to visit in the U.S. Somehow, Indiana never quite makes the list of exciting places that I would suggest for other people to visit, but yet it's my home and I love it!

Top 25 Places: #s 10-6

#10. Beijing, China
September-December 2006
I spent the first semester of my senior year of college studying abroad in China, where I lived in the capital city of Beijing. Beijing is one of the biggest cities in the world and home to thousands of years of history. A few of the more famous sites to see in Beijing are Tiananmen Square, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, among many others. A piece of my heart will always be in China, and I would love to go back to Beijing someday!


#9. St. Thomas/St. John, US Virgin Islands
May/June 2006
For my parents' 3oth wedding anniversary, our whole family spent a week vacationing in the US Virgin Islands. We stayed at a resort on the island of St. John, one of the most amazing places I have ever seen and home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I wish my parents had 30th anniversaries more often!


#8. La Republica Dominicana
July 2004
The summer after my freshman year of college, some friends and I went on a sports mission trip to the DR with an incredible organization called SCORE International. We played a ton of basketball and shared the gospel all over the island country. It was a blast!


#7. Noatak, Alaska
May 2004
Also during the summer after my freshman year of college (it was a busy summer!), I took a trip to Alaska with several other students from Bethel College, most of whom were basketball players or members of the Chapel Band. We spent two weeks in Noatak, Alaska, a tiny village located 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle! Literally, the only two ways to get to the village were by bush plane or snowmobile. We flew in on a bush plane and spent two weeks running VBS and a basketball camp for the kids there. I'm convinced that God did some of his best work when he created Alaska, and it's probably the only place I have ever been to that is still almost entirely unadulterated by humans. A couple interesting funfacts from my time in Alaska: 1) The sun never went down while we were there--which was a lot better than the alternative of never seeing the sun!; 2) I walked about a mile out onto the ocean off the Alaskan coast, which was completely frozen!


#6. Honduras
April 2003
My senior year of high school, I passed on the standard spring break vacation and went on my second mission trip instead, to Honduras. The 6 months of mental and spiritual preparation for this trip, led by my youth pastor, Terry Bley, were a time of immense spiritual growth for me. The trip itself challenged my faith and furthered my passion for cross-cultural ministry. I believe God was laying the foundations for my future ministry throughout this trip.

Top 25 Places: #s 15-11

#15. India
January 2008
Through a series of events that only God could have orchestrated, I was blessed with the opportunity to be the youth speaker at a family camp in Raghunathpur, a small town in the West Bengal province of India. It was on that trip that God clearly confirmed my call to missions. I absolutely fell in love with the Indian people, and at first I was convinced that God was calling me to India. Here's a short excerpt from my journal while in India:

"I feel so incredibly blessed right now. The last few days have been some of the best of my entire life. I have been literally pouring my life out to the people here--especially the youth and children ... It is such a blessing to minister and to share God's love with the nations..."

It was through that experience that I seriously pursued opportunities in missions last year, which led me to South Africa this year. India continues to be on my heart often.


#14. Mexico
June 2007
This was my first mission trip as a youth pastor. I had the awesome opportunity to spend a week investing in the lives of some pretty incredible young people from St. Mark Missionary Church, while also investing in two Mexican families for whom we built homes. What a great experience!


#13. Hawaii
December 2006
Quite possibly the most perfect place God ever created. I got to spend a few days there with some good friends on our way back from China, and I used the opportunity to catch a few waves!


#12. Shanghai, China
October 2006
While spending a semester abroad in China, our group was blessed to be able to travel quite a bit. We traveled 13 hours by train from Beijing to Shanghai, where we spent a week being tourists. Shanghai immediately became one of the coolest cities I had ever been to. One of the biggest cities in the world (pop.>20 million), they call Shanghai "The New York City of China" because it's the biggest city in China and also the center of fashion and pop culture. Check out the futuristic skyline!


#11. Great Wall of China
September/October 2006
Quite simply the greatest man-made structure I have ever seen. Construction on the wall began in the 7th century B.C. and continued on for several centuries through many different Chinese dynasties. For anyone interested in history, this place is a must see. The Great Wall stretches over 4000 miles across the northern border of China. Simply amazing. I had the opportunity to go to the wall on three occasions during my time in China, spending the night in watchtowers on the wall two of those times. Pretty awesome!

Top 25 Places: #s 20-16

#20. Cape Town, South Africa
May 2009
Spent a week on vacation there with my friend Tara and one of my favorite families in the world, the Linharts! Cape Town, located on the Western Cape of South Africa, is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world...for good reason!


#19. New York City
August/September 2008
Spent a week sightseeing there last fall with my buddies, Teddy and Jordan. NYC is a stinkin' huge city, home to quite a lot of history and several sports teams that I love to hate!


#18. Iguazu Falls, Brazil
July 2008
Popped across the border into Brazil for a day and night during a short-term mission trip to Paraguay. Iguazu Falls, located near the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, is quite simply one of the most amazing natural phenomenons I have ever seen. God saw what He had created and said, "It is good!"


#17. Paraguay
July 2008
I spent a couple weeks there on a short-term mission with some of my favorite people in the world from St. Mark Missionary Church! I fell in love with the kids there--especially this little guy, Niko.


#16. Israel
March 2008
I got the awesome opportunity to spend a week there at a conference called Global Youth Initiative, with youth workers from all around the world. Israel opened my eyes to the Scriptures in a whole new way--an amazing experience that I would highly recommend for every believer.

Top 25 Places: #s 25-21

In honor of my 25 years of existence, I've compiled a list of my 25 favorite places that I have visited in the world. And, since it was nearly impossible to rank these places, I simply put them in reverse chronological order, starting with places that I have recently visited and moving backwards. Enjoy!

#25. Zanzibar
September 2009
Spent a weekend exploring there with a couple good friends. Beautiful island, interesting culture, great people, incredible food!


#24. Tanzania
September 2009
Taught youth ministry classes there for almost 3 weeks. Tanzanians are some of the friendliest people I have ever met!


#23. Zimbabwe
August 2009
Helped lead a short-term mission trip there. Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in the world, torn apart by 30 years of dictatorial rule. Still, the people are resilient and also among the friendliest people I have ever met.


#22. Namibia
August 2009
Took a short-term mission trip there with my church from South Africa. I never knew the desert could be so beautiful!


#21. Kruger National Park, South Africa
July 2009
Spent a weekend safari there. Kruger is one of the most incredible national parks in the world. We saw lions, elephants, rhino, giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys, water buffalo, fish eagles, and a whole lot more!

Back From Tanzania

I arrived back safely in South Africa this morning, after spending the past 17 days in Tanzania. The past couple weeks were filled with countless challenges, but even more blessings. At the end of it all, all I can say is "God is good!" I've got so much to share about my experiences and the ways that I saw and experienced God, but those stories will all have to wait. After two months of nearly non-stop travel to six different African countries, I am officially exhausted. To add to the exhaustion of all the travel, I contracted malaria while in Tanzania, which I'm still recovering from. All that to say, it's time to rest! More updates will be coming soon, but for now just praise the Lord with me that lives were changed in Tanzania, and that the Lord's hand of guidance and protection was with me. Thanks so much to all of you who are praying!

Bwana asifiwe (Praise the Lord),

Adam

While I'm Gone...

Since I'll be gone for the next few weeks in Tanzania, likely without any internet access, I decided to schedule several blog entries to post while I am gone. In fact, there should be one new update each day while I'm gone. Many of these blog entries will revolve around my experiences in Zimbabwe, as well as things I have been learning while here in Africa. So, the point is, don't check out while I'm gone! Stay tuned for lots more pictures and updates from my experiences in Africa!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

After six days and five nights in the Big Apple, Teddy, Jordan, and I returned home yesterday. Our journey home went something like this:

• walked several blocks from our hotel in Lower Manhattan to the subway station
• rode the subway downtown to Madison Square
• took the train for the nearly two-hour trip from Downtown Manhattan to Long Island
• rode the bus from the Ronkonkoma train station to the Long Island Airport
• flew in an airplane from Long Island to Chicago
• rode in a car back to my new home at 809 33rd St.

One day...six modes of transportation!!!

All in all, we had a GREAT trip. Check back in for some pics and stories in the near future!