Our Story (How,Why, & Where)
Most of our adult lives we’ve both been working towards being in ministry. During 2019, Carrleigh was home with our two kids and Daniel was working as a teacher. We felt the Lord shifting our hearts to full-time ministry so we began asking him what that would look like. In late September, we were weighing the options of saving to buy a house or to rent somewhere close to the church knowing we wanted to be near our church community.
One morning Daniel felt like God put it on his heart that there was a third option, to live as missionaries. Knowing that it was a life-changing decision Daniel didn’t think much of it. That night we watched a documentary about the revival in Iran which stirred our hearts. Daniel mentioned what God had said to him that morning and Carrleigh was almost immediately on board. She had peace and felt it aligned with our callings and giftings. From that night we began praying that if this was God he would make it clear. That Sunday it was missions’ weekend at church. This could have just been a coincidence, but we believe God is too big for coincidences like this. While in worship, Daniel agreed to live as a missionary.
During the next week, We began sifting our hearts and praying into where God was sending us. Carrleigh asked God that, if possible, it wouldn’t be somewhere hot and began feeling something in her heart for the "post-christian" culture of Europe. She began looking at statistics across Europe, searching for a need for the gospel. Due to religious beliefs, immigration policies, and liberal leanings she began to see Amsterdam as a dark place in need of God's light. Daniel didn't quite agree at the time because of it's lack of outright persecution. From our understanding, the people there care about God and religion about as much as your coffee order; they don't, and on top of that it's considered taboo to ask. That following Sunday at church, we met and shared with our pastor that we felt God was calling us to be missionaries. While talking with him we had a friend, who used to be a missionary in Belgium, join the conversation. We had not seen him in a few months and we asked him if he’d be willing to meet so we could pick his brain about all things missions. He asked where and we said maybe Europe. He told us that he knew a pastor in Amsterdam if we wanted a connection. Now, Out of the 44 countries in Europe and all the cities in each country, for him to mention Amsterdam of all places without us telling anyone about it could seem coincidental, but we believe God too big for that.
Over the next month, we kept leaning into God, because we believed that he was sending us, but needed a bit more confirmation on the where. During this time, we decided to buy flights and visit The Netherlands in March, in hopes that we would feel His leading peace. At the beginning of November, Daniel began a fast, and the first day he remembered a dream that his sister had in 2018 about Carrleigh joining the military and moving to Europe. When he got to talk to her later that day, she mentioned that she remembered, in the dream, Carrleigh was speaking Dutch and in The Hauge (the government capitol of The Netherlands). So, after a conversation with Daniel’s dad, we reached out to the pastor in Amsterdam that our friend had mentioned. His response was nothing short of extraordinary. He said that he too was fasting and praying for missionaries to come from America. We found out that the heart and vision that his church carries, matched our very own. We knew after all of this, that it was what God was asking us to do and where He wanted us to go and when we visited in March it was absolutely undeniable in our hearts.
So we are selling most of our stuff and packing our bags. We had planning on leaving in 2020 but due to Covid-19 we are hoping to be wheels up by June of 2021. We feel the Lord's hand on it and hope you will partner with us to share Jesus with the people in Amsterdam.