About me and my decision to participate in a mission trip

I am a husband and a father of 3. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering but I work as a structural designer in the aircraft industry. For a couple of years after I met my wife, I took a sabbatical away from engineering to teach high school mathematics. She had a well established career in Tennessee and I had always wanted to work with children. I always felt that my background in engineering lent itself well to teach math. I enjoyed my time in education, but my wife’s job situation grew unsteady, so I returned to engineering to better support my family.

In my free time, I am generally taking my children to one of their many activities. Gymnastics, swim, dance and soccer keep us fairly busy. My main hobby lately is Karate. I just earned my brown belt in American Kenpo. I also enjoy water sports, particularly canoeing. As my children get older, I hope that is something we can enjoy together.

My family and I are very active in our church. My wife sings in the choir and my two oldest children are in the children’s choir. I am a member of the lay leadership committee and my wife and I co-chair the Witness and Hospitality committee at our church. I would like to serve in a more tangible way through missions.

I have never had the pleasure of serving in missions. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church. I was active in youth choir and other youth activities, but I never really had the opportunity to participate in a mission trip. Our small church really did not stress mission activities. I regret that it was not a part of my early Christian experience.

Throughout college and my early adult life, I found myself straying from being active in a church. The freedom of being out on my own was the beginning of it, but I then I unexpectedly lost my mother to meningitis my last year of college. I did not handle her death well. Instead of relying on God to comfort me during that hard time, I blamed Him for her sudden death and let that distance me from Him.

As I aged and matured, I came to realize that blaming God for tragedies such as that was misguided. I longed to renew and strengthen my relationship with God. My wife grew up in the Presbyterian Church and we decided to look at some of the different denominations in the area. We lived in Knoxville, TN at the time and after some looking around, decided that the Methodist Church had a doctrine and environment that appealed to us.

When my family and I moved to Texas, we were blessed to find First United Methodist Church, Colleyville. It is there that we learned about the Child Rescue Center. I was particularly touched how the children in Sierra Leone were able to maintain their faith in the face of all the tragedies they had dealt with. I have always admired the work that is done at the CRC.

When I learned of the upcoming mission trip and that someone with an education background in math might be useful, I really felt moved to respond to the call. I have prayed about it and discussed it with my wife and I feel that it is a situation where I can use the education and the talents that God has given me to help the children in Sierra Leone. I have no doubt that they can teach me about faith and dealing with adversity.