The Beginning, but Not the Beginning
Updated: Mar 6, 2021
It seems like forever ago that our family began this journey of becoming missionaries, so it's strange to think that over a year of preparation is finally coming to an end. We never thought that we would pursue a life as missionaries. We've both always been involved in church and volunteered in our community, but up until a few years ago our lives were mainly centered around our families and jobs. Looking back, we can see how God was paving the way for us to become missionaries even before it was on our radar. He's kind of amazing like that. We won't delve into all the details of our calling here (although if you are curious we would LOVE to talk with you over a cup of coffee as to how God called each of us separately and together as a couple to go on this journey.) but we can see how God has used Brooke's time living in Indonesia as well as her background in teaching to prepare her for the mission field, and has used Drew's time in network marketing as well as his degree in public affairs to prepare him. Nothing about our lives has been by accident and that alone has been incredibly humbling in and of itself to know that all we have been through has been purposeful in His plan for our lives.
Our jouney to Romania began in 2016 when we took our first short term mission trip there to work with orphaned and abandoned children. The Lord opened both of our eyes to the importance of taking the Gospel to the nations, and we left Romania knowing we would be back. At first we went to Romania as team members, but then we were asked to become co-leaders and eventualy lead the trip by ourselves. Three additional trips later we both came back from Romania thinking that it was going to be our final trip. Our plan was to focus on our jobs and our family. About a month after we got back from Romania in April 2019 God began pressing on our hearts and we felt that our time in Romania was not over. We both began to look into missions in Romania where we were ultimately led to the International Missions Board. Fast forward two years later and we have been approved by the IMB and preparing for our seven week training at the International Learning Center in Rockford, VA.
We have five weeks left before we leave for training and we are feeling a range of emotions. We hope that you will come along on this journey with us by keeping up with our blog as well as praying for us. It is easy to forget how important prayer is during the hustle and bustle of every day life; however, Satan is lurking around every corner trying to make life hard. Here are several prayer requests that we have:
Pray that we have safe travels to Romania and that we acclimate to society and the culture well.
Pray that we focus on and learn the Romanian language quickly so that we can begin sharing the Gospel to Romanians.
Pray for our family back home and the emotions that they will be feeling as well as the emotions that we are and will be feeling.
Pray that God puts loving Romanian people into our lives who take us in and love on us.
Pray that our ministry is successful and that the Gospel thrives in a works-based society.
"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5: 14-15
