This year began as a sad one for ShareHim because we lost our founder and our first visionary, Elder Robert Folkenberg, Sr. in December. His guidance up until the very end of his life has proved to be such as asset for our current staff to continue to forge ahead and continue his legacy of sharing Jesus around the world, both for the benefit of the local congregation and just as importantly for the lives of those who are able to participate with us by sharing Jesus where they are.

In 2016, ShareHim has benefited from the generous financial support of ASI. By allocating monies that are directed to helping young people go on a life-changing trip with us, ASI has played a vital role in their lives.

This year, we took a group of students from Union Springs Academy in New York to preach campaigns in the Philippines. With the guidance of Elder Luis Leonor, the teams in San Pablo City were able to see God working first hand as these young people preached sermons for the very first time. They were even able to make appeals to their congregations to come forward and join them at the altar to make a lifelong commitment for Christ.

The next ShareHim trip that involved young people was conducted by students from Mt. Pisgah Academy. This very enthusiastic group from North Carolina travelled all the way to Lesotho in southern Africa. While there, the groups preached to both large and small congregations. This group not only made an impact on the town of Leribe in Lesotho, but the trip made a big impact on them.

Two of the young preachers chose to be baptized while on the trip. One of the students who was baptized was a girl who had grown up in the Adventist church and believed most of the beliefs of our church. She was, however, hesitant to be baptized into the church because she was not sure that she believed in the Spirit of Prophecy and Ellen White’s prophetic gift in the church. As a result of the study and sermon preparation that she did on the trip, she decided that she did believe in the Spirit of Prophecy and that she wanted to be baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.
We are investing now time and funds in preparation for an upcoming trip with young people from all over the US to hold meetings in southern Africa. We are working with many of the Unions and Conferences in the North American Division to recruit young people who want to have the awesome experience of sharing Jesus with others.

We are so grateful to ASI for their part in making these trips happen, and we are continually reminded of the reason that we work so hard to conduct these trips when we hear stories from past participants about how their lives have been changed.

Just recently, a mother of one of last year’s trip participants told us about the difference this trip made in her daughter’s life. She told us that she was worried about the direction that her daughter’s life was taking; she felt like she was hanging out with the wrong crowd and dressing unlike a Christian young lady should. She prayed that something would come into her life that would make a difference for her. Her answer to prayer came when the young lady went on a ShareHim trip to preach the gospel. She told us that her daughter’s life is not the same; she came back a changed person. Her daughter is now holding weekly Bible studies in their home and is now a good influence on all of her friends. The mother wanted to know when her son could go on a trip with us. She wants her son to have the same experience that her daughter did.

Thank you so much for your involvement and support of this program. We are very excited to be able to continue to support our youth so that they can have a life-changing experience sharing Jesus.