How We Got Here
A Heart for the Nations
We have both been interested in missions for a long time. Although he has wanted to serve on a missions trip since high school, due to the demanding schedule associated with swimming, Trey was unable to go on such a trip until after he finished his final semester on the VT swim team. Maggie was privileged with opportunities to go serve in an orphanage in Kenya twice before college - once after her sophomore year of high school and once after graduating. Then after her sophomore year in college, the Lord opened doors for her to travel to India alone to serve for half of a summer, thus gaining a more realistic picture of what missions would be like. She felt both stretched and fulfilled during that experience. After graduating, God opened up the doors for us to go on a missions trip to Belize. together (The Lord even moved the date of the missions trip to accommodate Maggie's summer plans, which would have prevented her from going when the trip was originally planned!) God used this trip mightily in our personal lives and in our relationship together; we felt God show us so strongly during that time how He could use the two of us as a team to serve and reach people for His kingdom. (We got engaged 2-3 months later.)
Post College Life in Northern Virginia
When we got married, we planned to work in Northern Virginia at least until we had paid off student loans. We believed that once we paid off our loans, we would be free to do whatever God asked us to do - whether it be staying in Virginia and working there, going to graduate school, or pursuing ministry of some sort. We felt strongly convicted about the necessity of paying off loans as quickly as possible, because the debt we had made us slaves to our lenders (Proverbs 22:7; see also Romans 13:8). Prior to getting married, the Lord blessed Maggie with dear family friends to stay with (rent-free) for the first several months of working so she could save up money for a car and other expenses. Thanks to the gracious provision of the Lord (James 1:17), as well as the generosity of so many loved ones whose wedding gifts enabled us to set up our first home with a very low initial investment, we were able to pay student loans off within the first few months of getting married. Although we were free from debt, we felt that God had us right where He wanted us, so we stayed put and continued working at our jobs. We found a church (Cornerstone Chapel) a couple months after getting married, and joined a small group with several other young couples. In January 2013, we started helping out with the high school youth group at church too. We've continued to enjoy the community God has provided at Cornerstone since that time.
Job Transitions and looking ahead
Shortly after we got married, the small biotechnology company Trey worked for was bought out by a big pharmaceutical company. There was a great deal of uncertainty in our situation, as organizational changes were imminent, but nobody really knew what would happen. The situation continued with a high degree of uncertainty for quite some time; numerous people were laid off, but Trey's group stayed. After a while, we learned that at the end of 2014, Trey's group was going to be relocated to the Philadelphia area, where the pharmaceutical company was already well-established. When we learned this, we began thinking and praying a great deal about what we should do when the relocation should occur.
In the early months of 2014, the timeline started shifting. Instead of looking at an end-of-the-year transition, we thought the group might be relocated in the summer; shortly thereafter, the timeline became March/April/May. (He ended up finishing the first week of June.) There were opportunities for Trey to stay in Rockville in a different group or transition to Philadelphia. After much prayer and thought, he decided that he would really like to pursue graduate school as a full time student (probably working part time on the side); this would enable him to finish school more quickly than if he worked full time and took classes on the side. By the time he made this decision, most deadlines for Fall 2014 entry were closed, so he began preparations to take the GRE and started researching schools and programs for entry in Fall 2015.
Since his job ended in early June, we were left with a bit over a year between his employment and graduate school. We knew that Trey could take one of the job offers in Rockville or Philadelphia for a year, or we could consider something a bit more "out of the box." Over the past several years, we've often talked about "what if" we were missionaries and "what if" we spent an extended period of time overseas serving in ministry. As we continued to think and pray about it, we decided that if ever, this is the time to do something together like a year in overseas missions. Without children, student loans, or a house and the accompanying mortgage payments, we have very few obligations tying us down. God has placed in both of us the desire to serve in missions, and He has given us a year in which we could serve - so why not just go for it? We continued to pray for God to lead and guide us and to point us in the right direction as we sought His will for the next year.
Through conversations with the missions pastor at Cornerstone Chapel, the missions pastor at Fellowship Bible Church (the church Maggie grew up in), and several missionaries with whom we have connections, several opportunities around the world were presented to us. We prayed about working in several countries: Belize, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, Ukraine, and Zambia. In early June, we thought we would be spending the next year in rural Nepal, but just before we began a more intent pursuit of that possibility, God very clearly led us to the opportunity to serve in Lviv, Ukraine. We were grateful to finally know where we would spend the next year, and we are looking forward to seeing all God does during our time there.
In the early months of 2014, the timeline started shifting. Instead of looking at an end-of-the-year transition, we thought the group might be relocated in the summer; shortly thereafter, the timeline became March/April/May. (He ended up finishing the first week of June.) There were opportunities for Trey to stay in Rockville in a different group or transition to Philadelphia. After much prayer and thought, he decided that he would really like to pursue graduate school as a full time student (probably working part time on the side); this would enable him to finish school more quickly than if he worked full time and took classes on the side. By the time he made this decision, most deadlines for Fall 2014 entry were closed, so he began preparations to take the GRE and started researching schools and programs for entry in Fall 2015.
Since his job ended in early June, we were left with a bit over a year between his employment and graduate school. We knew that Trey could take one of the job offers in Rockville or Philadelphia for a year, or we could consider something a bit more "out of the box." Over the past several years, we've often talked about "what if" we were missionaries and "what if" we spent an extended period of time overseas serving in ministry. As we continued to think and pray about it, we decided that if ever, this is the time to do something together like a year in overseas missions. Without children, student loans, or a house and the accompanying mortgage payments, we have very few obligations tying us down. God has placed in both of us the desire to serve in missions, and He has given us a year in which we could serve - so why not just go for it? We continued to pray for God to lead and guide us and to point us in the right direction as we sought His will for the next year.
Through conversations with the missions pastor at Cornerstone Chapel, the missions pastor at Fellowship Bible Church (the church Maggie grew up in), and several missionaries with whom we have connections, several opportunities around the world were presented to us. We prayed about working in several countries: Belize, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, Ukraine, and Zambia. In early June, we thought we would be spending the next year in rural Nepal, but just before we began a more intent pursuit of that possibility, God very clearly led us to the opportunity to serve in Lviv, Ukraine. We were grateful to finally know where we would spend the next year, and we are looking forward to seeing all God does during our time there.
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- Learn About Us -
- Read About How We Got Here -
- Learn More About the Trip -
- Follow our Blog -
- Contact Us -
- Sign Our Guest Book -
- Subscribe to blog entries, prayer requests, and/or monthly updates -
- Support Us -
- See our Prayer Requests -
- Learn About Why We Are Going -