Ten Years

 

Our family of seven just days before leaving Indiana to begin our work with Students International

    We’ve now been working with Students International for ten years. In August of 2001, we moved out of our house, packed our personal belongings into a small U-Haul trailer, and with our children ages 10-18 tucked safely in our Astro minivan, headed west toward California. It was a step of faith and obedience to the call of God—a terrifying excitement like you feel when you’re about ready to plunge down a screamer of a roller coaster.

    During the next ten months, Nate worked at the S.I. service center and took classes at a seminary in Fresno. For four of those months, we rented a second story apartment in a low income area, with all of our neighbors being Latino or African American. This proved to be a valuable cross-cultural experience for our family.

    In June of 2002, we boarded a plane with our final destination being the Dominican Republic. We must have been quite a spectacle as our crew of seven lugged fourteen pieces of checked luggage and seven carry-on pieces through the airports. Lowell Troyer was there to meet us when we arrived in Santo Domingo.

    God has allowed us to be part of what he is doing in the Dominican Republic. We have witnessed his transforming power at work in lives, families, and communities. We have experienced his grace at work in us, empowering us to do things that we are unable to do in our own strength and ability. Now as we transition from the D.R. to help pioneer a Students International ministry in Nicaragua, we place our trust in the One who has proven himself so faithful during the past ten years.