Missionaries
Our family is without a doubt, Missions Minded. We first believe that the world around us is our mission field.…neighbors, strangers, people we see and meet. All of life.…our words, thoughts, actions…is a chance to express Christ to a hurting world.
Guatemala
In addition, when our children were younger, our entire family embarked on an adventure to Zacapa, Guatemala. We were able to minister to children throughout this region, stay at an orphanage, and visit the jungle, desert, and mountain regions with the purpose of sharing Jesus.
We were blessed to be able to accompany a remarkable ministry, Kaitlin Mobility Foundation, which outfits disabled children with wheelchairs. This ministry was birthed out of love for Kaitlin, a disabled little girl, loved and cared for by her devoted family, who has since went to be with Jesus. Her parents, along with supporting, funding, and traveling with their ministry….are active foster parents and are now the adoptive parents to a new son and a little girl. This family is a great example of Christ’s heart for the hurting and lost….not only at home, but actively impacting distant regions.
Philippines
My husband traveled to the Philippines on mission in 2008. We were thrilled to prayerfully support him as he pursued life-impacting evangelism, ministered to young people, and strengthened the newly established branch of the local church, overseas.
Peru
In 2005, our family had a chance to visit Peru. I was so touched by getting to travel to an orphanage with my sister-in-law while there. I can’t tell you how moving it was to witness local servant hearts so faithfully making life work of ministering to over one-hundred children by providing basic needs, day in and day out.
These children had never heard English before and it was a thrill to see their faces light up as I spoke a new and “different” language. Their faces are tattooed on my heart. I especially remember the stoic, hard-hearted one’s who remained calloused and expressionless as we went through and handed them bread and treats. Oh how I ache for the Lord to crack their hard shells so that they can fully feel the overwhelming love of God. Only He knows what they have endured in their short lives.
In late 2017, we returned to Peru. God had specifically speaking to us that it was time. We needed to be obedience. What happened was God expanded our hearts for the indigenous people, the Inca’s in Peru. We met some great contacts, visited family, and have been dream-casting about what this new season will look like. Please pray for us, as God unfolds His heart to us in the months to come.
China
October 2011, a friend and I stayed for four days inside the walls of a government orphanage in China. We where able to minister to a wide range of children, as well as build relationship with the staff there. We also visited many churches. One church we were able to share our testimony with the youth and were honored to be included in their humble prayer and worship. Seeing babies tied to potty chairs, bleeding, and witnessing children rocking back and forth to comfort themselves in their isolation is something I will not soon forget. Regardless of the worlds perception of China, God loves the Chinese and His presence is more real there than anywhere else I have seen in the world.
In 2013, I returned to China again. The first trip I “caught the China bug” and have fallen so in love with the people there. The second trip, we traveled more extensively, taking train rides through remote villages, and visiting the same government orphanage as in 2011. However, this time we also visited two more orphanages affiliated with another ministry. God’s love is touching these little ones, and as a result of the life-giving sacrifice of many servants, I will never experience ministry, or orphaned children quite the same again.
2016 My husband and I felt led to go to an orphanage God showed us. We didn’t know anything about it, except that God highlighted it on a map, and come to find out, it just so happened to be in the exact same region of Chi*a, we had intended to go to.
On this trip, God really expanded our hearts for special needs orphans. We stayed in another orphanage and were touched by the humble sacrifical service and hearts of the couple who ran it. God did an amazing work and while standing in the center of that place highlighted on the map, God put the same exact words in both my husband my heart…”The Whitfields”.
God was calling us, even then, to return to Chi*a again…
So, we returned. A year later, God answered our prayers, and we were able to bring Carol and Doug Whitfield from Kaitlin’s Mobility Foundation to the orphanage God had so clearly showed us. Their ministry makes custom wheelchairs and provides supplies to families/children in need. This particular trip a cutsom wheelchair was made, as weel as crutches and walkers were provided. God was so good to also supply many suitcases full of supplies, for both the two orphanages we were visiting, as well as two more for ShowHope, Steven and Mary Beth Chapman’s orphanages.
YWAM
On September 29th, 2011 our eldest son left on a nearly year long venture with Youth With A Mission after finishing his Associates Degree two years early. He spent the first three months in Kona, Hawaii for Bible training and then traveled to the Philippines, for two months. Midway, He was also able to attend a Global Missions Conference in L.A. Then, returning to YWAM for a final three months.
In response to the call of God, our son later spent many months in Panama, building houses for those in need. His time with staying in a base with YWAM and getting to really live “with” the people there changed our son radically. Our eighteen year old left as a boy and returned a man. We are thankful that God calls us to the nations, not only to bless others, but also to transform us, in the process.
In the summer of 2014, God wasn’t through with our family’s connection to YWAM. Our oldest daughter, after graduating, also felt called to take a gap-year after High School, doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Kona. After her three-month DTS was finished, her and her team spent the next three months in New Zealand, relationship-building, teaching, praying for, and doing summer camps with the people there. She specifially grew a huge heart for the Moari people, fell and love and one day would like to return there.
Mexico
Our eldest daughter has also developed a great heart for the nations, most specifically Mexico. In summer of 2012 she visited Rancho El Milagro or Miracle Ranch in Ensanada, Mexico. Compassion grew her already tender heart as she camped out in this orphanage, grasping the full reality that children around the world, every day, grow up without families. We are so proud of not only her call, but that she is already learning to silence herself and wait on the Lord, letting Him direct her life, at such a young age. She plans returning next summer.
Dominican Republic
Last February, God took my husband and I to a remote village in Dominic Republic with Food for the Hungry. It was a remarkable experience, living off the grid, meeting our sponsor child, doing VBS, hosting baseball camps, and building a new structure for the people of DR.
Compassion Ministry
Our family has a great appreciation and deep love for Compassion Ministries.
We had the privilege of hearing Dr. Wess Stafford, the founder of this ministry, speak at an outdoor event a few summers ago. His book, “Too Small To Ignore” has radically changed how we look at the U.S. and Third World Countries in General….most specifically, Africa.
For years we have had the joy of being able to sponsor a little boy from the very country my husband was born in, Peru. Getting his letters and pictures shrink this sometimes overwhelmingly large world, and opens our hearts even more to the plight of the less fortunate. Incredible how just a few dollars a day can actually change lives. We invite you to be a part of such a powerful, international ministry of integrity, like Compassion.
Missionaries Touching Our Lives
We thank God for the missionaries we have encountered in our own lives – The silent ones who spoke with their life’s message…as well as the bold preacher types who shared the truth of the Gospel of Christ.
How blessed to grow up in a large church that supports, encourages, and to this day sponsors dozens of missionaries. I will never forget their stories as they returned on Sabbatical and shared their bold deliverance of the Great Commission, the Good News with the most vast parts of the world.
While some dream of going on vacation to the Caribbean or the Bahamas, my greatest desire is to one day be able to set foot in Africa. (The country of our adopted daughters origin.) Not just to touch that region….but to deeply, genuinely, and wholeheartedly be touched by their people.
Our Prayer
Our prayer is that the world would see His good works and glorify Our Father in Heaven as He fulfills His Great Commission in and through each us and each of you…..following the last command of Christ:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
To read more of our personal entries about all aspects of missions, click here.
