Matcha, Missionaries, and More!

Introduction

Do you remember where you were on New Year’s Eve? Maybe you hosted a party with friends or stayed up late watching the finale of Stranger Things (no judgment). 

Those are typical activities to ring in a new year. But for thousands of college students, they sat on buses and planes traveling to Louisville, KY to learn one thing: How to make their lives count. 

That’s what CROSSCON 2026 aimed to teach thousands of young believers just a few weeks ago. We joined them to show off our latest booth idea: the Student Debt Bucket Demonstration (plus introduce them to our newest missionary partners!)

Matcha, Missionaries, and More!

You probably read that and wondered, “What in the world could that mean?” Good question—we’ll show you in a second! 

Each year, we have a booth at CROSSCON to meet students and church leaders. The design varies year to year, but always aims to introduce them to AIRO’s mission. You already know that AIRO pays student debt for missionaries going long-term to unreached people groups—it’s the barrier we started with! But many students at CROSSCON don’t, so we had to find a way to tell them! Enter the Student Debt Bucket Demonstration! 

Let me explain what you’re seeing. In short, attached to this rope is a bucket full of heavy bags of sand and rocks that represent the burden of student debt on missionaries. When enough bags are in the bucket, it gets very heavy—the only way to lift it then is with the help of others (the exception being a few very strong students). We invited students and their friends to test their strength and demonstrate the role senders play in freeing up goers—and they loved it! 

After finishing the demonstration, students got a special invitation to an exclusive AIRO event: Matcha With a Missionary! And what an invitation it was: Come hear from Kris + Linh Castro, our missionary partners headed to Japan, win AIRO swag, and enjoy a cup of matcha with your friends! 

The Castros’ story was easily the highlight of this event. They’ve been eager to leave for the missions field in Japan for several years, training and raising support to join a church-planting team there. The final barrier in their way? Student debt—monthly payments that had burdened them for years now kept them from answering God’s call on their lives. 

But not anymore.

Thanks to you and our generous community of senders, that barrier has been removed! Kris and Linh were approved for The Go Fund and are going to Japan in August of this year! They were thrilled to share this news with students and their leaders—especially the Ropeholders who made this possible. 

Kris and Linh are thankful for you, too. Your support of AIRO in our mission is helping qualified missionaries like the Castros go where the gospel is desperately needed. Thank you for playing your role as a sender and making it possible!

We send with great joy.

It’s our greatest privilege to help send missionary partners like Kris + Linh to the field and to keep them there long-term! We don’t want you to miss out on it.

Want to get in on the action? Make a gift today and advance the gospel to the unreached!