South America 2013

Let the adventure continue! The Williams Family is heading out on another journey. Kinda the same, but different. We had a great time in Central America last year and were amazed at the interest we had upon returning. It was a perfect “get your feet wet” kind of missions trip. Our family learned a lot about one another, the world, a different culture, God and LOTS of other things; so we decided to do it again.

This year we will be traveling to South America. We depart Madison, WI on December 9 and return April 9 (4 months). Our first stop will be Quito, Ecuador where Don’s parents were most recently serving as missionaries. We then head onto Lima, Peru to serve with Kids Alive Intl. The director, Mike, played soccer with Don in college. From Peru we head to Sao Paulo, Brazil to work with ABBA Ministries and stay with longtime friends, Thomas and Suzanna Smoak. Finally, from Brazil we head back across the continent through Argentina, and ending in Santiago, Chile where we fly out April 9.

Since last year, we have started a non-profit called The Yada Project. The purpose of The Yada Project is to serve alongside missionaries around the world and facilitate a fair-trade store for missions groups and/or artisans they work with. Our main goal is to serve and encourage missionaries that we will be visiting; get a glimpse of how God is at work; bring that story back to the local church and launch a fair-trade store online. We will be building relationships with artisans throughout South America to help give them a larger market for their products and to provide hope for their future.

We will spend this trip furthering relationships with the local missions. We also plan to do some construction work, help in orphanages, and lead some soccer camps.

We have made some amazing, God-ordained connections already and are excited to see how the plans continue to unfold. Be sure to sign up for the blog to stay up-to-date on our journey!