Mike's Story  
 

I was born in Belem, Brazil, on the mouth of the Amazon river.  All my life, my parents have been Wycliffe missionaries and my life has been anything but normal.  We moved to Cuiaba, a city in Western Brazil and I lived there until I was nine years old.  The missionary base that we grew up on was a wonderful place for a young boy to grow up.  There lots of trees to climb, fruit to eat, forts to make, and places to explore.  The only rule that my mom had to make was, "You are not allowed to cut down the tree that your brother is in."  I don't remember why she had to make that rule.  I made friends with two other guys my age and we did everything together - we were best friends.  But then, we had to move.

            When I found out that we were going to go back to the U.S., I said something that broke my mom's heart.  I told her that I would never be happy again.  After she asked me why, I told her, "I don't remember what America is like.  When we go there, I will miss Brazil, but when we come back to Brazil, I will miss the U.S.  I will never be happy again."

            On returning to the U.S. I experienced culture shock, and I missed my friends.  My parents were then permanently stationed at the JAARS center in Waxhaw, where I spent the rest of my childhood.  I attended the youth group at the JAARS center, learning about God and making friends with other people that understood my background.  It was on a mission trip to Panama when I was 16 that I felt God wanted me to go into full-time Christian service, and later I became interested in youth ministry.  I went to Columbia International University and majored in Youth Ministry.  While in college I met Beth, and we grew in love.  A year after graduating, we got married and I worked for four years as a youth pastor for a couple churches.  God led us away from that and showed us that he has uniquely prepared us to work with missionary kids.  We get to work in, and expand, the youth ministry that I  benefited from as a teenager and  I am thankful that God has given us the chance to give back!