Horvath's Family Trip

What a Way to Start a Year! - By Andrew Horvath

My name is Andrew Horvath and I am 11 years old. One Tuesday morning in October when we were reading the Bible and my Dad had already gone to work, we started talking about a family mission trip. When Dad got home that evening, Mom told him that we had talked about taking a mission trip. Then he remembered that he had to go to a Suwannee Baptist Associational Meeting that night. When he got back home from the meeting, he had information about a family mission trip to Brazil right after Christmas.

Mom and Dad knew right away that God wanted our family to go. I did not really want to go to a different country, but after a while I decided that it would be fun.

So on December 28, 2005 we left for Brazil. After visiting the first village for two days, we went to the town of Novo Airão on New Year's Eve. On January 1, 2006 I went looking for people to witness to with Cade (my friend who is my age). Mr. Shawn Bennett and Javier (a translator). We went down the road and saw two boys sitting down on the side of the road. They told us that they already asked Jesus into their hearts. We talked with them a little more about Jesus and then we prayed with them. Then we went a little further down the road and saw some boys playing soccer in a front yard and Javier asked them if we could play some soccer with them. We played soccer for about 20 minutes, then Javier asked them to come over to the side of the yard. Then I shared my testimony and Cade shared the Evangecube. All 8 of the boys prayed the prayer to ask Jesus to come into their lives. What a way to start a new year!

Brazil - The beauty, the animals and best of all, the people. - By Phillip Horvath

That is why I went to Brazil, to change hearts towards God. This trip was my first mission trip. What better way to start going on mission trips than with your siblings and parents? The trip I am talking about was the first Amazon Vision Ministries Family Mission Trip. Almost everybody on the trip had someone else there related to them and the ages ranged from 7 to 87 - just to show that it can be done!

Since this was my first mission trip, I really didn't know what to expect from the people. When I got down there, I found out that the people were very receptive to foreigners.

On this trip we went to 2 villages and a larger town called Nova Airão. I had my first prayer walking experience there at Nova Airão. It was an awesome experience, especially being with family. I would encourage anyone to do family mission trips. You don't have to be an adult to be used by God. On the last day of 2005, I saw the answer to a prayer I had been praying all year. I was out walking along the street with Mrs. Sheryl Bennett and Dexter, the translator. I met a guy not much older than me and was able to lead him to Christ! Later on he came to the church service that we helped with. I'll be ready to go again anytime!

Lingering Rewards - By Cindy Horvath

he AVM Family Mission Trip had such a profound impact on our family in many ways while we were there, but also during the short 10 weeks of preparation that we had together. We had to schedule time together to practice giving our testimonies, sharing the Evangecube, working on scripture memory, talking about what to expect and how to fit into another culture. Of course, all of these pre-trip experiences just served to solidify our family and helped us to focus on the most important things in life.

The preparation definitely helped us all to become more effective soul-winners (even 11 year old Andrew witnesses). Also, I have no doubt that by hearing the gospel presented so clearly time after time, day after day, is what convinced our youngest daughter, Caroline to recently commit her own life to Christ. Thank you, AVM, for allowing us this opportunity!