From The Beginning

My (Carolyn speaking!) parents and churches were intentional in talking about missionaries all throughout my childhood.  We frequently prayed for missionaries together as a family, we read books and stories about them, and we supported them financially.  My parents stressed the importance of this work to my sister and I, but it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I understood what a missionary really is.

When I was in middle school and high school, I had opportunities through my church to attend numerous mission trips both locally and abroad. The regions I traveled to included Russia, Kenya, Canada, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh. On these trips, my heart was touched by those who were rejected by society, but found community through the church and the love of Christ Jesus. I learned many things on those short-term mission trips, but the greatest theme that I learned through all of them was the great depth of love the Father has for His precious children.  When I was young, I committed to live my life wherever the Lord directed me, serving whomever he would have me serve.

I majored in Linguistics in college, and thinking that missions could be in my future, I also took many missions-related classes. I also chose to study abroad in the Middle East with the intention of learning about that part of the world in case that would be a direction the Lord would call me.

Dan and I met in college, and while I clearly felt called to marry Dan, he at that point did not have his heart set on being a missionary. However, his heart was set on following Christ and he recognizes the voice of the Holy Spirit, so I trusted that the Lord would guide Dan as the spiritual leader in our marriage if we were to go into missions.

During the first year of our marriage I continued to pray for those missionaries for whom I had been praying for over the years.  And Dan and I began financially supporting missionaries from and through our Church.  I still had a very strong desire to serve the Lord as a missionary, but He gave me peace to wait on Him as he prepared Dan, and the path ahead of us. Then, shortly before our one year anniversary He began stirring Dan's heart. Dan will explain more specifically in our next post; it was wonderful to watch the Lord work in Dan's heart as He aligned our desires to serve him in missions.