I was called to be a missionary when I was sixteen years old. I was attending an evening missionary talk at West Chehalem Friends Church in Newberg, Oregon. As the missionaries shared their slides and stories about Rwanda, Africa, the Lord showed me that this is the work he has created me for—that he is calling me to be a missionary and a teacher.

After high school, I applied to George Fox College for a degree in teaching with a minor in intercultural studies. During my sophomore year I was able to study in Kenya at Daystar University for six months and I was also able spend two weeks in Rwanda. The Lord confirmed my call to missions during that time in Africa.

I met David at George Fox, and he, too, was called to be a missionary. We were married a week after I graduated and then we started the process of deciding where we would go as missionaries. It took God about a year to convince us that we were to go to Rwanda. In 1995 we headed to Belgium for French study; we had an eleven-month-old and were expecting our second child.

God has been faithful to lead us and teach us as we minister here in Rwanda. We have been involved in helping the church move away from a missionary-centered, U.S.-funding-centered church into a model that focuses more on using what Rwandans have in their hands to build and sustain the church.

In the last few years God has been taking me down a new path. He has been teaching me to show his love to the poor by assisting them in discovering ways to help themselves and their communities fight poverty. I am learning that God's message is a holistic one, offering both eternal life and a better life here and now.