My passion for missions was ignited in my childhood. After finishing college, my mother served two years as an IMB Journeyman in Liberia, Africa. I benefitted from the stories of her experiences, and they fueled a love for and fascination with the African people that has only grown through the years. I loved participating in missions as a youth; it was the main avenue where I really felt alive in Christ. However, over the years as obligations and expectations encroached, I found fewer opportunities to serve.
I graduated from Baylor with a bachelor’s degree in 2002 and a master’s degree in education in 2004. After six years in Waco, I moved south to The Woodlands to teach and be close to my family. What a fortuitous move it was, because it was here that I met Larry. He is a perfect example for me of Ephesians 3:20, because he is more than I could have ever imagined for myself in a spouse. How blessed I am to have a husband with not only a deep desire to serve the Lord, but with passions for service that mirror mine. We were married in 2005 and became very involved in our church. I taught adult Bible study and sang in our praise band. We loved our small group and built all our friendships around it. Both of our careers as a teacher and an airline pilot were progressing nicely. We had our first son, Logan, in 2008, and I left my job in order to be a stay-at-home mother. Our second son, Joshua, soon followed in 2010.
In February 2011, a very good friend approached us with a deceptively simple question. Would we be willing to join our church’s first mission trip to Ethiopia? Here was an opportunity to do what I’d always dreamed, but there were many reasons to say no. In fact, the opportunity felt like both a tremendous blessing and a huge burden. I was almost sick at the thought of leaving our very young children, the financial obligation was great, Larry’s ability to take off work was uncertain, the dangers of travel to Africa were significant. And yet, we felt as though this was exactly what God wanted for us. With some anxiety and much excitement, we made our first trip to Ethiopia in June 2011. It would alter the course of our lives.
Coming home from Ethiopia was difficult in many ways. While working in the country, we felt that we were exactly where we were supposed to be, minus our children. It was a struggle to come back and renew daily activities. In a very short amount of time, we had ceased to fit-in with our normal lives. We had a new awareness of our many blessings, hearts aching for the realities in which most of the world lives, and a deep desire to see God’s glory and word spread to the nations. Larry and I began a two-year journey that involved a new intensity of studying the Bible and teaching God’s word. We felt as though God was preparing us for our next step in missions. Over the past two years we have purged many material items and have sold our house in order to be free and ready when God speaks.
Larry went alone to Ethiopia in June 2012 while I stayed home with our newborn Matthew. How hard it was not to be together on that trip. This year, we were able to go together again thanks to very willing grandparents. We came home knowing that we were no longer simply preparing and waiting for God to speak. Ten days a year working for Him in Ethiopia are not enough, but we don't want to leave our children any more than that. We have finally fully agreed with Him that missions will be vocational for us; the question is no longer 'if' but 'when and where.'
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