How It All Began . . .

So how did I end up in Honduras?  It all started in 2003.  I was sitting next to someone in church, and as we got talking, he mentioned that he had just returned from a trip to El Salvador where he had worked in an orphanage.  As he spoke, a memory from my childhood came back to me that I had completely forgotten until that moment.  When I was about 10 or so, I remember saying that if I ever won the lottery, I would start an orphanage.  Even from a young age I had a heart for children.  As I remembered that memory and listened to him speak, something began to stir in my heart.  I knew I had to explore this further.  Some months later, I attended the missions conference week at my church.  It is a week when various missionaries supported by the church come and share what they are doing around the world.  As I listened to the various missionaries, my heart seemed to be drawn to Central and South America.  I decided to contact the missions director at my church and told him that I felt like God might be calling me into missions.  He asked if I had ever done a short term trip, and I hadn't.  His response was that I needed to do that first!  Made perfect sense!  So we began exploring options that would allow me to work with children in Latin America.  The first possible opportunity was a trip to Haiti.  I went to a couple of meetings to prepare to go, but because of the political crisis at the time, the trip was canceled.  We continued to wait for opportunities, but none seemed to be the right fit.

About the same time, I was in my apartment ironing one evening, when I heard the Lord say very clearly in my mind, "I want you to go to seminary."  I will never forget putting the iron down on the board, looking at the ceiling, and replying, "You want me to do what???"  I couldn't understand how that could happen since I was teaching full-time.  However, I got online and looked for seminary classes.  Sure enough, there was a seminary in Maryland not too far away, with an extension campus at a church near me.  Also at this same time, I had been working occasional weekends as a caregiver for a girl with special needs.  One weekend, not long after I felt the Lord tell me go to seminary, the father of the girl asked me if I would be interested in coming to work with the family full-time as her primary caregiver.  He knew I was teaching at the time, but thought, "You never know what the Lord may do."  I've learned over the years how true that is.  I told the father that I was actually contemplating taking seminary classes.  He said, "That would work perfectly!  You could live here, get J... to school, do your homework during the day, pick her up from school and care for her until dinner, and then take your classes in the evening!"  It really was a perfect situation, so that's what I did.  I gave my notice at the school, finished out the year, signed up for classes at the seminary, and went to live and work with this family.

In the meantime, the missions director called me and said, "There is a young man in our church who is looking into a mission organization that we have never worked with before.  Here is his name and number.  Tell him I told you to call, and see if he can give you more information about possibly serving with them."  I called the number and introduced myself to the caller.  It was the same person that had been sharing with me about his trip to El Salvador!  I met with him and he gave me the contact information for a mission agency in Honduras.  I contacted them, and in the summer of 2004, I had the opportunity to spend a month working as a tutor with World Gospel Outreach.  WGO has a children's program in Honduras that provides foster care to children who were displaced from their homes (typically because of abuse or abandonment), with a bilingual school onsite.  By the end of that month, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I returned to the U.S., excited to start the process to become a missionary.  I felt in my heart that I would be back to Honduras to live in one year.  However, the couple that I stayed with in Honduras told me it would take several years, between the preparation and language school.  I understood, but really felt in my heart that the Lord was saying one year.  I enrolled in my church's missionary internship program, and was told it would take me a few years to complete the requirements and go to language school.  I was still feeling one year, despite what everyone was telling me.  When I got the list of requirements for the internship program, I couldn't believe it.  I was already half done before starting!  I had taught Sunday school, I had taken the required financial class, and I was ALREADY TAKING THE REQUIRED SEMINARY CLASSES!!!!  I had no idea beforehand that the classes would be a requirement for the internship, but God knew.

I finished the internship requirements in February, applied to WGO in March, was accepted by WGO in April, and received approval to go by my church in May.  In June I sent out my fundraising letters, then left for a month to go on another missions trip to Ecuador (another requirement by my church before I left), and a brief visit back to Honduras.  By the time I got back from my trip, all my funding had come in.  God had done it all while I was out of the country.  WGO determined that language school was unnecessary for the role I would have at their ranch school, and my church agreed to let me go without it.  I moved to Honduras on August 15, 2005, one year after my initial visit.  Thus began my journey as a missionary.  God is good.

               Me at Rancho Ebenezer, Honduras

I spent 3 years working as a middle and high school teacher at the ranch school, Ebenezer Academy, and then took over as principal for the next 5 years.  Little did I know that the things I was learning as principal of the school were preparing me for something still to come.