There is no feeling like the fourth attempt to open your mailbox and realizing that your efforts were not in vain; you have a yellow slip. Someone from home loves you and sent you a care package.
If you opened your mailbox last week and noticed that you had a little yellow slip, you may have been confused that it was not telling you that you had been sent something from home. But do not worry – this is something better.
The Global Missions Experience is coming, and it is going to be big. The GME will be hosted at Camp Tahkodah Sept. 27-30. Students can look forward to a new hands-on experience that takes you across the globe and introduces you to a variety of cultures. This year the GME offers 10 different tracts of classes so that students from all majors can learn and be a part of a mission experience that is relevant to them. Five keynote speakers from all different continents have been invited to come share their stories, including Junior Vivi Vitalone’s father, Vittorio Vitalone, an anesthesiologist and missionary in Italy.
According to Shawn Daggett, Harding’s Associate Professor of Missions, Vittorio Vitalone was an ideal candidate to represent Europe at the GME this year.
Daggett and Vittorio Vitalone met in 1983, right after Vittorio Vitalone had finished medical school, and would eventually spend ten years doing mission work together.
“What’s really special about Vittorio is that he’s a medical doctor and he supports himself while doing mission work in his own country, so he’s a self-supporting evangelist,” Daggett said.
“I think he will give a really good start to this because he’s practicing what we’re trying to show – that no matter what your career, it ought to be given up and sacrificed to God’s kingdom and God’s mission,” Daggett said. “He’s living that out.”
Vittorio Vitalone visited Harding last fall to speak in chapel and hosted several student groups interested in missions.
According to Daggett, Vittorio Vitalone continues to hold meetings throughout Italy and sometimes even throughout Europe. He has also led medical mission campaigns to Cambodia, the Ivory Coast and to Honduras, in efforts to get Europeans involved in mission work; to get doctors, nurses, and evangelists in different parts of the world.
Among other keynote speakers are Brian Davis of Mumena, Zambia; Bob Brown of Central and South America; Robert Lawrence of Alaska and Jonathan Straker of Japan.
So whether you are interested in being a missionary or just want learn how to further the kingdom of God with whatever path you choose, check out the Global Missions Experience coming Sept. 27-30.
