“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Serving Jesus as missionaries with Adventist Frontier Missions had been a dream of ours since 2006. We are grateful that God provided us with the opportunity over the past eight years to partner with AFM in reaching the unreached, first through the Palawano Project in the Philippines and, more recently, on the Malinke Project in Mali. We are thankful for each of you who has partnered with us to make disciples or who read our articles in the magazine and remembered us in prayer. Your dedication enabled us to share the incredible love of Jesus with many.
After much prayer, we have decided it is time for our family to permanently return to the United States. Years ago, we promised to walk closely with our children through their school years. With Luke entering tenth grade and Lily starting eighth grade, we feel that God is now calling us to honor that commitment. While this decision marks the close of our time as career missionaries, we continue to pursue ministry. Sonya has been accepted into a competitive sonography program, and we are preparing to launch HopeScent, a nonprofit soap ministry designed to support medical missions, provide humanitarian aid, and spread the gospel message worldwide.
Answered Prayers and Changed Lives
Recently, I was reading Solomon’s dedication prayer for the temple in 2 Chronicles 6. In his prayer, Solomon specifically asked God to hear the prayers of foreigners—those who did not belong to Israel—so that all people would come to know how great and wonderful the Lord is. For me, that perfectly describes our time on the Palawano Project.
We were deeply blessed to be part of medical missionary work in the context of church planting among the indigenous people on the island of Palawan. We witnessed many miracles—patients recovering from severe illness or traumatic injury when it looked like all odds were against them. The joy on their faces as they returned to health is something we will never forget.
One of the greatest highlights of our journey was the medical missionary and evangelistic campaign we held this past February in Mali. We provided morning health outreach in five villages, including blood pressure and diabetes screenings, health counseling, malaria testing, deworming treatments for children, and more. In the evenings, we shared a health lecture followed by a message about Jesus. Praise the Lord, the program was very well received, and many seeds for the gospel were planted.
So many in this country would be blessed by ongoing medical missionary services, and we long for the Lord to open the way for this work to continue in our absence. Perhaps He will provide another medical missionary. Please pray with us for this work to expand. We invite you to continue partnering with AFM to support outreach at the Malinke Project.
Thank you for your love, prayers and continued support as we enter this new season of serving God.
