Adventure: The Beginning

It’s been a long time coming. A dream expanding in my soul since that day we moved “home.” I was just 12, moving back to the tiny village of Reinland after 3 years in South America as a missionary kid. I knew it would be missions, somewhere, sometime, and I only dreamed it would be with a husband and babies. It was all I could think about. Taking my white babies to a Spanish country and letting them run wild in diapers while I did… something… anything… We didn’t know it was coming until it was here- slapping us in the face – in a good way. In a perfect way. It came fast and furious, and yet… I knew it was coming long before the adventure started. Since Hayden, just three years ago, I knew- I would finish my second mat leave, and we’d be gone. I didn’t know where, couldn’t envision it. But after mat leave number two in my head, my planning just disappeared. Dropped off a cliff. After mat leave number 1, I returned to my favorite place on earth and I worked for exactly 12 months before we awaited the arrival of Sawyer. He came, early, and I knew in my heart that February – while it was supposed to mark the return of work-/ marked a new adventure. We both knew. And then Adventure tumbled into our laps, spilled over in coffee dates and phone calls and interviews. It all happened so fast. And then …. silence. We waited. Weeks. And while the devil fought to use this time to discourage us, the Lord used it to refine us- to solidify what our hearts were after. We wanted Him. And we wanted Him fiercely. We knew the way this would unfold, heard the Holy Spirit loud and clear but the devil has a way of lying in a voice that sounds like truth. We fought hard to decipher his voice from the Lord’s and suddenly… We knew.. so clearly. We had answers.
But let me back up. To a simpler time.
His hands, tight on the wheel, our boys fast asleep. “Osteopathy,” I offered. “Why wouldn’t you look into that? Do something, I encouraged. You’re ready for a change, passionate about health and helping others… just try it. It can’t hurt.” You loved the idea, knew you’d thrive in the field but you shook your head. “Missions is next,” you said. “I don’t know where, or how we will ever make a plan, but missions is next.” Matt suggested the DR, said he couldn’t shake the Dominican from his heart.. and I said sure with the shrug of my shoulders. “Why don’t we meet with Bob and Carrie, who’ve lived the part and ask what we wanna ask?” I suggested.

It’s early September, and she’s agreed to meet between harvest season, her own new principal career and sending her boys off to university. She grabs her coffee, adds her soy milk and sits down across from us, buzzing with excitement. We fire questions at her, and she fires back. Life, organizations, opportunities, schools. We hammer through information and before our hour is over we ask her for contact information. Her voice, quiet, she gently warns us that should we choose to accept the contact information, and pursue this family she’s gushed over, we’ll be hooked. She whispers, it’s a dangerous game with these lovely people. They’ll love on you hard, immediately, and you’ll be gone. We looked at each other, nodded, and said
“We’re ready.” We parted ways in the dark that night. She hugged us both, and we knew. That was the week we contacted the family she had led us to. But that wasn’t the week we fell in love. Not yet. We chatted over email with them, exploring options and discussing their town. They forwarded us to an HR rep at the school they worked at.
And that’s when we fell in love.

She has a sweet southern drawl and I think we’re going to be great friends. She enveloped me with love, a thousand  miles away on a phone call explaining two specific jobs she had in mind.

She gushed over the importance of working with who we are, who God is asking us to be, not necessarily what we do. And while she was very excited about our skill sets, our characteristics, and our hearts, she continued to remind us that God calls we are and equips us . We discussed job opportunities, ways we could serve, our children, transition , life in Jarabacoa, hopes, fears… We talked about the fear of raising funds.  And she began to open my heart to better understand that our money has never been our own. And it is just that — money. It is a simple piece of paper with a number that we exchange for services and goods. And that’s it. We discussed the way our society has put so much power in money. We have idolized it, kept it a secret, let it determine our identity and our social status and our perceptions. 

I hung up the phone that day, changed. I knew that even in the decision of moving abroad to be missionaries would change who we are completely. Even if this would never work out, the process itself of preparing and planning and dreaming and following the Lord’s voice, would change our family altogether. Matt and I began to discuss the humility that comes from asking people for money.

We decided to follow through, fill out the application forms, all the while praying that either all of the doors will be open or all the doors would be closed. We talked to our parents, our mentors, our home group, and our best friends. And collectively we received an astounding answer. 

GO. 

We asked a few people if we were crazy, and they laughed and said yes: “Absolutely.. and that is the beauty of God’s work. He does not ask us to remain comfortable and cushy and satisfied. He Asks us to live a crazy love and a radical life and that looks different for all of us.”

We talk to our bosses and received glowing references, prayers, and encouragement. 

We spoke to our siblings, our church friends, our neighbors, and our extended families. We listened carefully to the words they spoke, the questions they asked, and the prayers they provided. And not one of them responded with the answer no . 

And without full details of what our jobs will look like, we accepted  positions of Kindergarten Teacher and Activities Coordinator, beginning in July of 2020. 

We have received so many questions about the ministry, the town, safety, and family. But mostly, people have asked us why we would move abroad with two small children. 

And I have the most beautiful beautiful story to accompany that question. The most incredible thing is that this has been done for generations in my family. And while Matt didn’t grow up overseas,  generations of his family have supported families like mine and encouraged families like mine to do these kinds of things. My big brother and I had a long conversation on the phone, and we discussed the significance of generational decisions. We discussed the incredible impact our grandparents’ decisions have on us, today. My entire family did not blink an eye when we presented this opportunity. Our entire families responded with a resounding “GO,” based on these generational decisions to live a life outside their comfort zone. Had my sweet, sweet Oma and Opa not made the same decision to move abroad with their tiny babies, my parents might not have done the same. But it is this generational decisions  that show us what is possible and what we are capable of alongside the Lord.

And that is exactly my answer. We are all human beings. Here. Across the world. Everywhere. And in the same way we fight for relationships, build community, and rely on our village in Canada, we will do the same in a new country. It will be hard. But it will be worth it.  And our babies will learn to adjust. They will learn to be flexible. They will learn to love others. They will learn to be accepting and uncomfortable and they will learn that the universe doesn’t always revolve around them. They will learn that hot water doesn’t always come from a tap, and that Wi-Fi is not a right, and that safety doesn’t mean a big white house on a beautiful bay with locked doors.. but rather that it means we feel safe with people we know. 

We are not alone in this journey, and we ask that you stick with us. Read our story. Spread it. Share it. Join us in prayer or financial donations or simply living out your own missional life each day.