Some days June Estes pinches herself to make sure she isn’t dreaming. As an International Mission Board missionary explorer, she experiences a lot of things she never imagined doing in her lifetime: Like, standing under a string of prayer flags flapping in the wind along a remote hiking path. Or zooming around a noisy city via a bright green rickshaw. Or tears rolling down her cheeks when she finds a group of people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Representatives from 21 states came together for an intensive training on cross-cultural missions taught by International Mission Board missionaries on April 2-5. The annual Missions College hosted near Richmond, Virginia, brought IMB missionaries from all over the world together with pastors, church members and missions leaders.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from or even if you share a language, rural people connect with each other in a special way,” the IMB's Jeff Clark explains. “Half the barrier is resolved when a guy in Kenya says, ‘I’ve got 10 goats. What do you know?’ And the American answers, ‘I’ve got 60 in Indiana.’ This connection can open access for sharing the gospel."

Michaela Knippers grabs the bulky virtual reality goggles off the desk and tightens them onto her head. Her husband, Justin, is already strapped in and waving his hand in the air to scroll through different maps he sees through the goggles.

The new college student stared at his class schedule, then looked over at the woman he calls “Mom” with an excited smile. International Mission Board missionary Angela Dawson could feel Skye’s pride of being the first person in his family to go to college. She looked at the college freshman in his new uniform and did what all mothers do on the first day of school — take a million pictures.

The Netherlands is like much of Europe where only about 1% claim Jesus as their Savior on the continent. The teens on this volunteer mission trip find the indifference almost normal. As children of International Mission Board missionaries serving in Europe, or third culture kids, they’ve grown up amid spiritual lostness — but it doesn’t mean they accept it.