The Aust family has supported Connect 2 Ministries for years, and they make a point of including their children, Eisley and Avison, in family ministry. We asked Kevin and Tina to share today about their experience getting their whole family involved in missions.

One year, my daughter, Eisley, asked our family to give Bibles on her behalf to the children in Haiti instead of buying her gifts for Christmas. I’m not sure why she did this. She was 10 or 11 at the time, and we had recently been talking about Connect 2 Ministries and the Regency Home. I remember mentioning that not everyone has a Bible in their own language to hold and read, or the technology for a digital version. We had also been discussing the potential of going to Haiti together one day on a Regency trip (obviously prior to COVID and the recent instability). A short time later, she asked my wife and I if it would be okay.

To be honest, it was probably harder for us than it was for her to make that sacrifice.

It’s encouraging to see her heart for people and her heart for the Lord. Another year, she decided to host her 12th birthday party at Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF). We had twenty kids ready to go serve together when we received a call from CHF saying that copper pipes had been stolen from their warehouse, so they had no water and needed to cancel their volunteers for the day. She was disappointed but has asked many of her friends to go with her to volunteer at CHF on other occasions and coordinated her Girl Scout Troop to come serve as well.

I believe part of what makes Eisley and her younger sister, Avison, missions-minded comes from our family values. We strive to be people who are kind, encouraging, grateful, and always looking for ways to bless others. We have volunteered regularly with CHF since the kids were 4 or 5 years old, and our family financially supports missionaries who work with Gleanings for the Hungry along with Connect 2 Ministries. We discuss these ministries often with our kids (both what they do and why we give), and we also hope to do some short-term missions with our kids as they get older.

I think a big part of it has been communicating our values to them intentionally, taking action to model those values, and providing opportunities for them to do the same. We started this from a very young age, so it is who we are. Then, we invite others to serve with us and help make them aware of the opportunities. We’ve approached missions as a community activity, and it’s become part of our regular lives as a result.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to support missions as a family, register for our March Walk for Restaveks! We’re looking forward to an exciting afternoon focused on raising awareness about restavek children in Haiti.

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