Miracle Allows Iowa-Missouri Pathfinders to Attend Oshkosh

During Anna Coridan’s freshman year at Union College, she signed up to be a student missionary and God opened the door for her to go to Nepal. Her year there turned into an inspiring adventure, and she determined to return to Nepal after she completed her education.

In 2014, after graduating from Union with a bachelor’s in nursing, she immediately landed a job at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Kansas. But she didn’t forget her love for Nepal.

One Sabbath some friends strongly encouraged Anna to introduce herself to children at a park who were from Nepal and with whom they played soccer.

As Anna began to talk to them, one Nepali girl introduced Anna to her mother, and they decided to get together the next day to cook some native Nepali dishes. After spending eight hours with that family—and feeling like she’d spent a day in Nepal—Anna began to cry.

“Here I’ve been praying to go back to Nepal and not seeing the people in front of me,”

she realized.

New Change for Youth

And so Anna began her next mission adventure—in Kansas City. She soon made another new friend, a teen boy named Aadesh. “We should start a youth group,” he said. Anna agreed, having realized that the

kids needed opportunities to experience something different.

Aadesh invited five of his friends to join the group, and they came up with the name New Change for Youth (NC4Y). Friends invited friends, and before long Anna was leading a large group of kids. They played soccer together and won first place in a tournament.

When Iowa-Missouri Conference leaders suggested starting a Pathfinder club, Anna hesitated. “The group isn’t associated with any church, and most of the youth are not Christian,” she pointed out. Some were Buddhist, some Hindu. “Besides, I don’t know much about Pathfinders!”

That’s when she was introduced to Anne Wham, a retired youth director for Dakota Conference, who has a heart for all youth.

That first year the club consisted of 36 Nepali kids. Soon there were 54 Pathfinders representing eight different countries. And miraculously, in answer to prayer, God sent families who spoke the languages needed to join the leadership team.

Dreaming of Oshkosh

With a truly international club, the NC4Y team created a budget and realized they would need $36,000 to go to the 2019 Chosen International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—enough for tickets, tents, uniforms, transportation and food. They had $10,000, so they still lacked $26,000.

Again the staff prayed, wondering if going to Oshkosh was worth that amount of money. But Anna explained,

“The environment where the kids live is full of crime, drugs and gangs. We felt convicted that a week away from this, seeing something different, could change their lives and help them know they belong to something big.”

They decided that if God opened the door, they would go. That’s when the CEO of AdventHealth Shawnee Mission told Anna about a couple in the Kansas City area who invest in young people. A meeting was set up for March, but by then the Camporee tickets had all been sold.

“If God can provide the money, He can provide the tickets,”

Anna’s mom told her.

So they went forward with the meeting, and 24 hours later the couple completed the entire budget. Then, through much prayer and another miracle, the tickets were obtained.

“Every step has been impossible,” says Anna, the missionary to Nepal and Kansas City.

“But God provides at just the right time and when you need it most.”

Courtesy: North American Division

See the NC4Y club in action. Adventhealth.com/ NC4Ypathfinders

Lori Peckham is a communication professor at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.