Teen Missionary Boot Camp

This is a story writer Alex Hannaford and I covered for London's Sunday Telegraph Magazine. Children as young as nine spend at least an hour a day in class practicing converting non-believers and three hours a day in brick laying classes learning to mix cement and build churches out of cinderblocks. They spend two weeks in a mosquito infested jungle sleeping in tents and drawing water with buckets from a pond to bath in and wash their clothes. Every moring they run a brutal obstacle course as a team building excersive sometimes ending up soaked and covered in mud all before the sun is up. At the conclusion of their training they ship to rural third world locations in hopes of spreading their religion. This year they plan on heading to Iraq.