God's calling

In the fall of 2003, Robert and I read "The Purpose-Driven Life" by Pastor Rick Warren and it had a profound impact on our lives. What God laid on our hearts is that we need to be active Christians. We needed to be "walking the walk," not just "talking the talk." We discussed the teachings in the book, thought about what they meant to us, and prayed that God would direct our service to Him and show us His will for our lives. We talked about our desire to build churches in Mexico in our retirement years. We both had very positive experiences with the Hispanic culture and felt moved to help them. Robert had been on a mission trip to Brazil years earlier, to help build a church there, and it was a significant event in his life.

Our church scheduled a mission trip for July of 2004. It was open to adults, as well as the youth group. Robert and I decided that we could "give up" a week of our time and spend our vacation on the mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico. Greg (Robert's brother) mentioned that he and his wife, Sandi, also wanted to go on the trip. He asked Robert if he would mind if they tagged along. Robert and I were both elated to have them along! In fact, after the trip, Robert commented over and over about the great time he had with his "little brother" on the trip.

The group prepared for the mission trip by participating in fund-raising efforts. We also attended Saturday morning classes on the culture and language of Mexico in preparation for the trip. Our ministry program included a Vacation Bible School program to share with kids in the neighborhood around the church where we would be working, and construction. The church wanted our help building the foundation for the church's new sanctuary. Half of our team would be run VBS in the morning, while the other half of the team would work on the foundation. In the afternoon, both teams would work on the foundation. Each day the teams would trade places, so that everyone would have an opportunity to serve in VBS.

God began to work in the lives of the group, long before we left on the trip. We experienced God's hand at work in the fund-raising efforts in so many ways. He opened the hearts of many businesses in our area to provide items for our silent auction: free dinners, tickets to movies, bowling games, miniature golf, etc. One of the dollar stores in the area gave our youth pastor boxes and boxes of holiday items like Christmas decorations, Halloween decorations, Valentine cards, Easter items, etc. We had a very successful yard sale, and the silent auction was a big hit. Several members of the congregation donated materials or services to the auction, including a boat trip, 10 yards of gravel, weekend get-aways, a Fender Stratocaster guitar (which Katie from our youth group really wanted and won), manicures, spa certificates, etc. Even family members from other states provided items. My sister-in-law Cristina made note cards for the auction, my friend Tanya made a bead necklace, my friend Lary donated a painting, and other friends and family donated money toward the mission trip. The congregation had a wonderful time at the silent auction, teasing one another, and trying to out-bid one another. People cheered when someone won an item that they really wanted. And, in some cases, when someone really wanted something, but was being outbid, another person would step in and start bidding. Then when that person won the item, they would give it to the person who really wanted it! It was awesome and moving!

From all of the fund-raising activities, we raised a few thousand dollars. We had enough funds to help pay part of the group's travel expenses, as well as purchase the necessary building materials in Ensenada.

God really opened our eyes, minds and hearts to the Mexican people during the mission trip. They were dirt poor, living in squalid conditions with sewage running down the streets, trash in a ravine next to their homes, and unclean water. They lived in partially constructed mason block buildings and had to purchase bottled water for drinking and cooking. God spoke to our hearts and showed us that there are a lot of people in the world who need our help. We take so much for granted in the United States—items which are either scarce or not available in some countries. Resources in these countries are extremely limited, and the governments are either ambivalent to the needs of the poor, or they don't have the funds to take care of them. The most surprising thing that we saw was how the people, even under these conditions, did not complain. Their hearts were dedicated to God and they thanked Him for the blessings He gave them. They showed compassion and appreciation to our group for helping them.

Someone once told me that "there will always be poor people." It seemed like such a distant and callous view of the poor. The implication was that poor people just need to get by the best that they can; we can't be expected to help all of the poor. I thought to myself, "What if you were that poor person, living in a third-world, poverty-stricken country? What if your children were starving and you had to watch them go hungry day after day? What would you do if you were the spouse of a sick wife or husband and couldn't get them medical care?" I pictured a mother watching a truck full of food arrive in her village, knowing that her children would eat that day. How wonderful it must feel to know that someone in the world is concerned about you and your children. Someone is there to rescue you. How could you even put into words the joy of seeing your hungry children eat? When I put myself in this woman's shoes, my heart is so moved, it almost hurts. That's when God laid it on my heart that I want to be part of serving Him now. I want to help the poor. I want to rescue them—but not just from hunger and things of this life—but to tell them about Jesus, who has already "rescued" them and given them eternal life. When Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loved him, Peter responded "you know that I do." Jesus said, "take care of my sheep" (John 21:16).

Robert was also having thoughts about how we could serve God in mission work now, instead of waiting for our retirement years. At the same time that he was wondering how to approach me about serving in mission work, I was having the same thoughts about how to approach him with the idea.
This was the first indication from God that He was calling us to serve.

On the plane trip home from the mission trip, we were amazed that we had both been thinking the same thing about mission work. However, we wanted to make sure that it was God's Will and not just an emotional “in the moment” response to what we had just experienced. We agreed that God was going to have to give us a sign, or as Robert put it, "hit me between the eyes." So we made a list of all the reasons why we couldn't serve in the mission field at this time in our lives.
I'm sure God was amused by our list; and He was about to reveal His Will for us.

The following was our list:
1. Amanda and Brandon (daughter and son-in-law) lived in Boise and had been coming to our house for dinner every Sunday night. How could we leave them?
2. We made a commitment to Robbie (son) to help him with funds to finish his college degree (approximately $8,000).
3. We made a commitment to the church building fund and still owed approximately $1,100.
4. Robert was on the Church Building Committee and promised Pastor Tom that he would not leave the area before the new church sanctuary was finished.
5. We had a 4-bedroom, 3-bath home with 4-car garage that would have to be sold.
6. We both had excellent jobs and were making good salaries, including bonuses. And our work schedules were flexible. We knew we would have to let our employers know about the possibility of our mission work, and we weren't sure if we would have jobs, once we told them.
7. We had just moved back to Boise four years earlier. Robert had wanted to move home to Idaho for years. How could he explain to his family in Idaho that we were thinking of moving again?

Two weeks after we returned home from the mission trip—and before we even mentioned our thoughts about mission work to anyone—Amanda and Brandon announced to us that they were going to move back to Vancouver, Washington.

God removed the first item off our list.

We decided to move forward on the path to mission work and sent our application to Agua Viva. They called the day after they received it and said they were excited to receive our application and would be in touch. We never heard from them again. The following year, we learned that Agua Viva had been going through some organizational issues and changes.

A couple of months after we applied to Agua Viva, we heard about TIME Ministries. The president of our church board, Mel Snider, mentioned that his daughter, Selena had just been accepted as a missionary to TIME Ministries. He asked Selena to call us, and we spoke with her in November. She was excited to learn that the skills we had to offer (construction and writing) were skills that TIME needed. Selena was engaged to Andy Mack (TIME Ministries' Site Director of the Dominican Republic) and they were getting married December 18. Selena set up a meeting with Doug Gibson (the President of TIME Ministries') and us, since he and some of the other TIME missionaries were coming to the wedding. So we met with Doug to hear about TIME Ministries. We did not expect to change our minds about applying to Agua Viva, which we felt was the right mission work for us.

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21 NIV)

After meeting with Doug for three hours on Thursday evening, December 16, and learning about the opportunities for mission work with TIME Ministries, we decided to send our application to them. The Board of Directors of TIME meets every year in January and September; however, January of 2005 was too quick of a turnaround time for our application to be reviewed. Instead, we planned a trip in April 2005 to visit the TIME Ministries' offices in Dallas.

In January of 2005, I was offered a project (outside of my normal working hours). Although I used to work side projects all of the time as a contractor, I had not been offered a side project in two years, since working for Hewlett-Packard. So this project came as a surprise to me. It was excellent timing because it gave me the opportunity to make a lot of extra money. Between the money that I made on this contract, and some bonuses that Robert received that Spring, we were able to set aside the funds for our commitment to Robbie's tuition, as well as the funds for our commitment to the church building fund.

God removed the second and third items off our list.

The first part of March 2005, we listed our home for sale. We also needed to get rid of a lot of our stuff, so we began to sell and give away a lot of it. We had accumulated a LOT of stuff in our four-bedroom house, with four-car garage.

Easter morning, March 27, 2005, we celebrated the first Sunday service in our church's new sanctuary! It was a wonderful day. The sanctuary turned out beautiful (but modest in style). When Pastor Tom got up to preach the message, he reminded everyone that the most important thing about the new sanctuary was that it had room for growth; and that is what we are here for—to bring others to Christ!

God removed the fourth item off our list.

Our house sold in 6 weeks! We flew to Dallas for our first trip to TIME Ministries in April. Doug (President) and Scott (Administrator) were there to pick us up. As we were driving away from the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, I received a call on our cell phone from the title company to let us know that the sale of our house had closed and the funds were in our account. It was one more nod from God that we were on the right path.

God removed the fifth item off our list.

We were warmly welcomed by the TIME Ministries' staff and had a wonderful visit getting to know them. We were really excited because the team was really fun to be around—very committed to serving God, but they also had a sense of humor. We all met for a dinner at Scott and Jennifer's home (TIME's administrator and his wife) for Chinese food and played Balderdash. We all laughed so hard and had such a great evening together. We also attended the Hispanic Church that TIME Ministries is partnering with in east Dallas on Sunday morning for service and met the congregation. We were again warmly welcomed. We really felt like TIME Ministries was the right mission organization for us. We prayed to God and told him that we were going to move forward on this path, and that He would have to put up obstacles or block our path if it was not His will for us.

Robert and I felt like we should talk to our employers about the possibility that we would be joining TIME Ministries. We had wanted to wait until after our trip in April, to make sure that TIME Ministries would be a good fit for us. Robert went to the owner of Beniton Construction, where he worked as a Superintendent of commercial construction projects (primarily building Wells Fargo Banks and remodeling existing ones). Matt was incredibly supportive and told Robert that for the company's sake, he hoped it didn't work out because they hated to lose him. Being a Christian, though, he also understood about God's calling and that we needed to follow God's will for our lives. He was very interested and wanted to learn all about TIME Ministries. He also told Robert that if we joined TIME Ministries and then later came back to the Boise area, he would always have a job with Beniton. We were so amazed and touched by the company's reaction. We knew when Robert went to talk to them that they would have every right to replace him as soon as possible. But, they didn't even begin looking for a replacement until they knew that Robert would be leaving (which was 6 months later). It is so wonderful how God leads us to the right people, jobs, and life experiences to prepare us for His service.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13 NIV)
In the meantime, I went to my contracting agency, Axiom Consulting and told them about the mission work. They were also very supportive and told me that I had a job with them for as long as I wanted. I told them that I would have to continue working (at least part-time) in Dallas, if we joined TIME Ministries, until we could build up our support. We agreed that Lisa (HP supervisor) would probably have no problem allowing me to Project Manage her program from Dallas, since others on the team were remote contractors. So, I went to talk to Lisa in early May. When I began discussing the situation with Lisa, she said, "well, actually, I was going to talk to you also." And then she explained how HP was going to be doing some very extensive cutbacks, including discontinuing almost all contracts with agencies (which meant my contract through Axiom). Lisa told me that, under normal circumstances, she would have been fine with me continuing to work from Dallas, but the new HP CEO was getting rid of all contractors. When I asked her how long I had before the contract was discontinued, she said the end of May. I spoke with my agency, Axiom, and let them know what was happening. They felt sure that some new contracts with other companies would be negotiated by mid-June and that I would still have work.

God removed the sixth item off our list.

We found an apartment with a short-term lease (6 months) in Meridian and moved there in May. We continued to sell and give things away—we were really motivated to size down so that we would not have to move a lot to Dallas, if we were accepted to TIME Ministries.

My HP team gave me a wonderful send-off with lots of cards and gifts and good wishes. They knew about our path toward the mission field and were very supportive and excited for me.
By mid-June, Axiom didn't have any new work for me to do. They gave me a few part-time hours. They insisted that by mid-July, there would almost certainly be work for me. This worked out well because we had already scheduled our second trip to Dallas in mid-July, so I was able to go on that trip without taking any time off from a project.

In July of 2005, we were invited by TIME Ministries to return to Dallas to celebrate the opening of the new TIME Center in east Dallas. The event included the kickoff of the remodel of the building adjacent to the Hispanic church, partnering with TIME. For two days, we worked with TIME missionaries and church members, from El Pueblo de Dios church, to tear down an old house in their parking lot, clear ivy from chain link fencing, and clean out rubbish from the three-story building. On Friday afternoon, we handed out flyers to the community inviting them to a free carnival. On Saturday afternoon, around 300 people from the community stopped by and enjoyed the carnival. Along with free coupons for food, prizes, and games, the church included an invitation to attend their services. The event was a wonderful outreach to the surrounding neighborhood (primarily Hispanic). On Sunday, we attended church service at El Pueblo de Dios. Again, we were warmly welcomed. They have a tradition in their church, during the second song, to get up from the pews and walk around greeting one another and welcoming visitors.

In September 2005, we returned to Dallas to meet with the Board of Directors. On September 9, after a brief session of responding to their questions, the Board approved us as missionaries. They all hugged us and welcomed us to the TIME Ministries’ family.