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Over six years ago, when we began on this amazing road of service by helping to build God's kingdom through wood, nails and relationships, we had no idea what God had in mind for us. Ken and I just knew we wanted to follow his path for our life.
So, in the Beginning...no, no,...not THAT beginning...
Our beginning
About fifteen years ago we lost my oldest brother at a young age of 63. It helped to stir us to action. We had never been active in ministry together and both Ken and I knew God had given us both talents, gifts to be used for the building up of others. We were getting older and hadn't done enough with those talents.
We offered our lives to God and waited.
It was only a few years later that we both knew God was calling us into construction missionary work. But what in the world it would look like was anyone's guess at that point.
We began the research into what exactly being a missionary that did construction actually looked like because neither Ken nor myself looked anything like what we thought a missionary must look like. (Can you hear the old tongue twister...If a missionary looked like a missionary should, what would a missionary look like?) After all, we had faults, many, many faults. We couldn't quote scripture, we didn't attend every church service offered, and yes, we may have let a cuss word drop now or then.
Missionaries, us? Never! But the desire and the yearning never went away and only grew stronger with time.
Finally, seven years ago, God set the plan in motion.
And the Pastor said, "Pray..."
It was the one and only time Ken and I have heard the same message at the same time. The Pastor said to the entire congregation, not just us, he said to Pray and ask God how we could be involved in the new building project they would be starting that summer. We were over 1400 miles away from home with no ties in this small town in Texas when God told both of us to go home and start packing our things, we were going to move into a trailer and hit the road to build a church.
We spent the next few months letting the family know what we would be doing. We started the arduous task of ridding ourselves of 40+ years of stuff.
And we made a few promises to each other:
We would refuse to live in the 'what if's' of life.
We would have no Plan B.
We could ask God where, when, how, and who, but never ask Him why?
We were in it for life.
We would rely on God and God alone to direct our path.
Six years Later
God has blessed us with contentment, peace and knowledge that we are doing His work. We look forward to the next six or sixty years, whatever He will give us to do.
Our next mission trip is in four weeks. This one will take us back to West Virginia. Ken will install kitchen cupboards and I will teach a strawberry jam making session, all while renewing sweet friendships over the years. Yet this trip will look a little different than the past. We are being joined by another couple who has asked to come alongside Priscilla and Aquila Ministries and learn the way we serve.
We truly are looking forward to serving alongside Duane and Diana from Wisconsin. Our friendship has grown over the past year. They found us on social media and we've been able to meet in person once.
Could we be of encouragement to you?
One thing that is always on our hearts, both Ken and myself, is the desire to encourage others to use their gifts and talents to serve God's kingdom. How about you? Have you used your gifts? How? Is God calling you to something more in your life?
We welcome any communication with us. Let us know if you'd like to hear more of our story of how we came to be construction missionaries.
If your church or ministry needs help with building or women's ministry, talk to us. We never ask for more than a place to hook up our trailer with electricity and water. We want to serve God's kingdom by serving His faithful servants. #constructionmissionaries