“God grew my heart to see communities grow and follow the Lord…”

Our Stories

Myriah: An avid reader as a child, I was enthralled with the stories of missionaries, past and present, following where the Lord was leading! Somewhere between the lines of those pages in middle school, I experienced Jesus’ invitation to pursue Him as both a missionary and a nurse with this same faithful obedience. Through missions conferences, short term teams to Ecuador, a summer missions “internship” to Nigeria, and more books… God continued to grow these seeds of invitation and interest and grow my heart for His people of every tongue and tribe and nation! It was also that summer in Nigeria where I first experienced the devastating loss of life and limbs from conditions preventable by increased health education and healthcare access. I was convinced more than ever to live and pray: God’s “kingdom come, [His] will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” and my interest in global work continued to be confirmed. It became a much more winding journey that I originally imagined, but as I returned to Ecuador in 2018 and 2019, I experienced a deep contentedness and a stirring restlessness to be a part of living God’s Kingdom with and to the people of Ecuador through One Collective and El Refugio!

Ethan:  Growing up, I have always had a fascination for far off places and adventure! Swiss Family Robinson and many missionaries like Brother Andrew were enjoyed for their side of adventure and testimony of how God was working, even in places I had never been. When I graduated high school, I started working for a summer camp and later led the youth program at my church. In these experiences, I began to feel the call that maybe God was leading me to learn more about His Word and how to lead in ministry, maybe even as a vocation. I started taking classes online from a Bible college and went to a 9-month discipleship program to investigate more. As I came to the end of another summer at camp, I realized I was not sure what God’s direction was for me. But I knew I needed money to support myself and that gaining more skills would only help. So, I began to seek better employment as I waited for clear confirmation of next steps. God grew my heart to see communities grow and follow the Lord, to show how to carry out the role of a Christian in a sin filled world, and what that can look like in the workplace. After 3.5 years of waiting and growing, I went to Ecuador and felt the final piece of the puzzle of how my desire to minister to others could work. At first, I thought my platform was my hindrance, but then I began to see that God has equipped me with the skills He allowed me to learn through camp ministry, but also the heart to see it is worth doing, and a desire to do it.