I'm baaaaack!

I'm excited to share with you that I recently accepted a Solemn Appointment from the LCMS Board for International Mission to serve as a Career Missionary! My role will be Volunteer Coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean, so, Lord-willing, I'll be relocating to the Dominican Republic later this year.  

It's been 6+ years since I left the mission field. In the interim, it was my privilege to serve on the Marketing & Ecommerce team at Concordia Publishing House. I'm so, so grateful for my time spent there and all of the ways I grew professionally, personally, and spiritually. However, I feel as though every experience up to this point, including those years, has been the Lord's hand leading and grooming me to serve Him in this new vocation. Basically, it's my dream job. 

Here's a basic sketch of the timeline for my foreseeable future:

• My last day at CPH was Friday. My coworkers made it clear that I will be missed, and surprised me with the most thoughtful sendoff imaginable. All of the foodstuffs started with the letters in DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (yes, those are Scrabble tiles), and they even made sure to put my cat, Freddy, in the plane with me on the sign in the center. Also, the reminder on the parking lot gate that I've driven out of every weekday since January 2012 struck me anew as I headed out for the last time.  

• Today began week 1 of  New Missionary Orientation, which is held at the LCMS International Center in Kirkwood. There are 12 of us in my "class"; I'm the only one bound for Latin America. We'll reconvene in 6 weeks for week 2. 
• Between now and when I deploy, my full-time job is raising up a sustainable network of prayer and financial supporters by creating mailing lists, writing letters, sending emails, making phone calls, giving presentations, etc.. I need 75% of my (TBD) target before I'll get "green lighted." 
• Deploy in September-ISH? Support-raising is estimated at 6-9 mos. for Career Missionaries; I'm hoping to be on the short end of that or possibly faster since I've already been around the block once. 

I'll share more of the nitty gritty soon. For now, welcome to my forum for sharing stories, pictures, thoughts, feelings, frustrations, joys, prayer requests, and more! Please, please share a link with anyone else who may be interested in joining me on this journey and learning what God is doing in and through me. You can "follow" this site by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button immediately beneath the header. I'm a self-proclaimed terrible Millennial, but I'm pretty sure that means you'll get an email every time I post something. Please also comment! I'd love to know you've been here, engage with you, and answer any questions you might have about the foreign missionary service life. 

Until next time, blessings!