Proverbs 20:18 (the Message) This page is our attempt to accomplish both of those statements. OUR CALLING from our ministry in the US, to Argentina...(through a series of short stories):
PRAYER
Since we’ve been married our lives have been becoming one, including our dreams. We made clear before we were married that we were leaving the door open for missions, but for now, we were moving forward
in youth ministry. We knew missions was for us, we just didn’t know when...so we prayed and we moved to where God led us (Montana for the first 5 or so years), and we’re still doing it. I (Heather) got Brad a shirt for his birthday before we were married. It had really jagged mountains on the back, and I thought he would like it. After he opened it, he said that whatever mountains those are, we need to go there one day. (Keep this in thought - we’ll finish this story later.) SHEC & HOME IN MISSOULA. SHEC (South Hills Evangelical Church) in Missoula was pretty much our dream ministry, if you can have one? We got to live out & teach our faith among people of all walks of life that didn’t quite fit the mold of your “typical” Christian church or ministry. I was mainly in charge of the skatepark & hang out area in the rear of our sanctuary, reaching thousands of kids through skateboarding, BMX, in-line skating, video games, concerts, grafitti, or even just sitting on a couch, watching TV with kids, building a responsible relationship that most had never experienced in their broken homes. Surprisingly, one day I felt God leading me to talk with Heather about moving? I prayed and a volunteer came to run things while I went to talk with her. When I asked her if she felt like we were supposed to leave, she said yes. Where? And what do we do with our house? We didn’t quite know, but things started opening up for us in Florida. After a few weeks of fighting with the thought of leaving, we decided to put our house up for sale (in a very slow market). IT SOLD IN 1 DAY!!! HELLO?!? We’re off to florida...
GRANDPA ED. We were excited to see what God had for us in Florida, but we were most excited to be around our family-especially Grandpa Ed (Heather’s grandpa). We had been in Florida for a couple of months and Heather asked me when we would move somewhere else. I turned it around and asked her. She responded, “Probably when grandpa dies.” The NEXT morning, Heather's mom called to tell us that grandpa had died. What a terrible surprise, but it was great to be close to the family during this time. ALWAYS JUNE. Shortly after the funeral, Brad was longing for something more, but was hesitant to get involved in a ministry because he felt God was moving us on. He thought our time here was over & became depressed. Mainly craving cold weather and mountains with snow. His comment when somebody asked what date it was...”It’s always June.” The weather never changes. FINANCIAL SERVICE. Our church here in Ft, Myers, Fl has been a huge blessing in our lives. God has been simply speaking to us about one thing or another after every single service. One particular month the focus was a four-week financial study. The last Sunday of the study brought up how rich we are here in the U.S., and don’t realize it. But we have an accountability, being rich, to serve. Brad turned to me after the service and said: “What if we sell everything we have, pay off our student loans, and go overseas ?” Heather said “YES”, almost immediately. (Very weird for Heather to make any decision that quick.) EMAIL TO PATAGONIA. So, that day (and throughout the next week and a half), we were filled with joy and peace, knowing this was what God was awaiting to show us. Although, we still didn’t know where to go or how to get to that answer. We were brainstorming and praying throughout the day. We looked up all kinds of websites and were throwing out all kinds of different countries to each other that could be possibilities. We decided to check out a missions agency that we had heard about through some of our kids from the youth ministry at SHEC called
YWAM (Youth With A Mission). We found a page that listed basic descriptions of each ministry opportunity available all over the world. We found a base that listed 5 basic, but foundational ministries. When we saw it, it sounded very close to the ministry that we loved and had to just leave at SHEC (Missoula). We sent them an email committed to that area, based only on the ministries listed, before we even knew what town, city, country, or even continent it was in. Oops? DREAM AREA. After the email...we decided to look up the area we had just thrown ourselves into...and it was even better than any place that we could have chosen on our own...It’s almost like God actually likes us! And had some reason to bless us. We were moving to Argentina! San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina to be exact. RETURN TO THE PATAGONIA T-SHIRT. The shirt was a Patagonia brand shirt, and the mountains pictured were the ones just south of Bariloche! Soon that dream will come true. Always Worship! And always remember that God and Him alone is the fulfiller of all our wildest dreams! Life is crazy. But God is consistent and very faithful, whether we are or not. Our mission is where we walk! Keep walkin’ with us as we walk wherever God takes us!
