The following morning, his words and snapshots were found in the inboxes of more than 1,000 family, friends, and supporters. Focus International, part of APU's Office of World Missions, sent 13 teams on trips this summer. The 131 faculty, staff, and students ministered on five continents. Team India, led by Bachman, emailed images and text several times throughout the four-week trip. Technology, and in particular, email, has had a profound effect on our mission trips.
Technology is no longer an anomaly for missionaries to posess.
And each day, the possibilities abound. Such progress has a profound effect not only on missionaries in foreign lands, but also on their supporters back home. When images and letters come back from overseas, it creates a sense of 'I can do that' in people who may be scared to go into the mission field. Ellis tells of a missionary living in Burkino Faso, West Africa, who lives without the basics many take for granted, but has the ability to email. This missionary occasionally has electricity, drives two hours for butter, has water trucked in every couple of weeks, but communicates with her supporters via email.