“I don’t want to marry him! Yes, there was a time I thought I would become his second wife, but not now! I don’t want to sin against God.”

“I really want to go to an Adventist school. Going to public school is so hard because they teach us things I don’t believe in, and I’m not learning about God. I feel shy to leave my village and come to the mission high school, but I wish I could.”

“My spiritual life is stagnant, like my prayers aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not understanding Scripture when I read.”

These were some of the poignant statements made during recent mentoring sessions with 15 young people from several areas of our mission work.

Our format for the week was taken from the themes of Steps to Christ. We did inductive Bible studies on a number of themes: sin and why it separates us from God; God the Lawgiver; humility and pride; repentance; consecration; how to pray; purpose of prayer; meditating on God’s Word; discernment; wants versus needs; what to do about discouragement.

Studying things out for themselves kept the students actively involved and alert. The activities each day helped them become a cohesive group. It was delightful to see even the extremely shy ones smiling, participating and obviously enjoying themselves.

As one girl hugged me goodbye, she said, “I’m no longer shy to attend the mission high school. I want to come and learn. I want to be a missionary to my people!”

At the close of our week, we had a special prayer for two of the girls who are being harassed by guys wanting to marry them, including the girl being targeted for a polygamous marriage. There were tears of joy as they looked forward to what God would do for them.

These are just a few of the reasons we have a missionary-training high school and why we hold this yearly Bible Camp. It gives us extra time to come alongside our students and help them identify their burdens and lay them down as they draw near to Christ.

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