May, 2026 Update from the President
Dear Friends,
Spring break is the perfect time for a short mission trip! At Hartland, we are fully focused on preparing missionaries. Although we emphasize hands-on outreach experiences during the school terms, mission trips during the breaks are usually the highlight of the school year. There’s no substitute for the experience!
In March this year, a team of 52 missionaries—comprising 50% Hartland staff and students and 50% friends of Hartland—arrived in Limón, Costa Rica. They were there for ten days to lift up Christ and help Him change lives.
Belkis Rondon, a Hartland staff member, is very happy that her teenage son went with her. He had been living with his dad in Colorado and wasn’t quite a “friend of Hartland” in the past. He had declined the mission trip to Mexico in 2025. Three years before, after being at Hartland’s youth camp without his phone, his comment was “I’m never doing that again!”
Belkis says, “This year I told him I was going on a mission trip to Costa Rica, and to my surprise, he said, ‘I want to go too.’”
God was already working!
Our Mission
To equip missionaries to transform the world through Christ.
We are training missionaries to touch people’s lives with God’s love through a biblically based educational program that combines academics with practical service and outreach.
We Envision
Hartland alumni serving in every nation, supporting the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to prepare the world for Christ’s soon return.
Our Motto
Educating for Eternity, Serving Today!
How the Team Made an Impact
The divinely inspired philosophy of mission given to the Adventist church is beautiful! Like Jesus, we are to mix with people showing interest and concern, meet felt needs, teach practical truths, and invite them to follow Him.
The Costa Rica mission trip was very intense because time was limited. The team held five health fairs offering lifestyle education and medical and dental services. They also gave around 100 evangelistic and educational presentations, which included sermons and Bible messages, mental health seminars, personal testimonies, vacation Bible schools, and a concert.
The team ministered in churches, schools, an orphanage, hospitals, and public spaces. They reached out formally and informally to adults, youth, and children. Like Jesus, they spread inspiration and encouragement to everyone. Thousands of lives were touched in one way or another.
How the Team Was Impacted
Yetzley Fuentes, a student from the US, realized how much the knowledge she takes for granted can touch and bless others.
“One moment that really impacted me was during the health expo. I was giving a simple health assessment to a lady and explaining the importance of not eating between meals, sleeping on time, and drinking water. After I finished, she just looked at me and said, “Why has nobody ever told me this before?” That moment hit me. We take for granted the knowledge we have, while so many people are still in the dark.”
With God’s blessing, a little can become much! This lesson impressed the missionaries again and again.
Sebastian Parrado, a student from Colombia, comments, “One of the most significant aspects of the mission trip for me has been seeing God’s work in acts that seem small yet are powerful. I gained a new perspective on the nature of ministry in its simplest form. God does not require us to do great works but only to be willing. He showed me how He can use our story and turn it into a story of hope for the people who need it.”
It wasn’t only the residents of Limón that were blessed. The missionaries themselves were encouraged. They found that the people they were ministering to also ministered to them!
“Would You Do This Again?”
And how did Belkis’ son do on the missionary team?
Belkis recounts, “I watched him, serving at the health expo, washing dishes without being told to, helping wherever he could. The moment that touched me most was seeing him with the orphans. Something changed in him. He saw a different reality, and he realized how blessed he truly is.
“I joined Hartland College because I believe in its mission. I support the students, I drive them, I travel with them, I serve alongside them; but deep in my heart, I always prayed, ‘Lord… let my son experience this too.’ And God answered.
“As we were leaving the airport, I asked him, ‘Would you do this again?’ And he said… ‘Yes!’”
How You Can Help to Change Lives
Every year, we have more scholarship applications than we can supply from young people called to be missionaries. Some students have to wait for several years before we can give them a Missionary Training Fund (MTF) scholarship.
The world’s need is pressing, and the time is late. So for next school year, we are making a special effort to fund 40 students with our Missionary Training and Worthy Student Funds. That’s an increase of 20 students from this year!
Will you help us? You can learn more at hmr.hartland.edu
God uses Hartland’s professional missionary training to connect people to Himself. The students and all the people they minister to receive life-changing instruction and experiences. Both Sebastian and Ming are MTF students.
Please prayerfully consider becoming a vital part of this. Every financial gift helps to change lives!
We ask for your continuing prayers. Thank you so much for your support.
May God bless you.
Norbert Restrepo
President, Hartland College
Hartland Donor Relations | relations@hartland.edu
(540) 672-1995