Jim and Heather 101: How we got here

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of our very first blog post.  One year and over 5,500 hits later,  it's probably past time to recount our mission and vision... the very reason we began this blog.  Our story begins in earnest in November, 2008 when we asked a few close friends to be praying for us as we visited Africa Inland Mission's U.S. headquarters for a time of interviews and seeking God's will about serving the church overseas.  Really, the story begins much before that with my desire to support missions and Heather's heart for Africa.  Before we got married in July, 2004 we planned to be in Woodland Park only a short time while Heather finished her degree at Colorado College and earned a teaching certificate.  After that, we hoped to travel, use our skills to support missions, and return right about now to start a family.  Heather did complete her degree, but for the rest, God had a different plan.  Two kids, and 4 years later, we re-opened that dream and began looking at international schools.  Most were on the 'tamer' side than our original plan.  We looked all over the world: the South Pacific, South America... but eventually began looking at Africa again.

It was on one of these exploratory sessions that Heather and I looked at Haven of Peace Christian Academy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and noticed that they needed a biology teacher.  The school was staffed through Africa Inland Mission, and after some thought, we began the application process.  While applying, we kept finding information about another school (Rift Valley Academy) which really seemed to us to be a better fit and tugged at our hearts.  We really felt, however that God was leading us to go through with the application process.  At the conclusion of the candidate week at U.S. headquarters in New York, we were told that they felt God was calling us to serve with Africa Inland Mission...  At Rift Valley Academy!  I can't really describe the peace that hearing those words brought to our hearts.

More details have followed by fits and spurts, but at this point, we'll be arriving at U.S. headquarters in New York on July 20, 2010 for a short debreifing after which we'll fly to Kenya.  I'll be teaching high school biology and secondary science at Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya to the children of missionaries from around the continent of Africa.  Faith will be enrolled in kindergarten there, and Heather will be taking care of Joel and helping out around the school.  It has been encouraging and humbling to watch God's hand over the last year of preparation. We're really excited to be a part of what RVA is doing to support God's work in Africa and to be His hands and feet by partnering in the ministry of Rift Valley Academy.