Brian
I’m 28 and live on the island of Kauai, HI. I grew up in the subururbs of Milwaukee, WI with my parents, brother and sister. I’m the youngest of the family. I went to Catholic school all the way through high school. To be honest, in that time I rebelled against God. Mostly what I remember were the rules. My experience was of a religion not a relationship.
I went to the University of Wisconsin-Stout for college. I loved the freedom, but with the freedom came lots of bad choices. I learned a lot about myself in college. With my time there I fell in love with the outdoors, education and my wife. So, after college I worked in outdoor education for a few years in the Midwest. After graduating and with Beth guiding me, I accepted and allowed God back in my life. I feel lucky to have come to God so broken and desperate. Since moving to Hawaii, I have learned a lot about living a life with God. I continue to grow in Him each day and am stoked to live for God as a missionary for a year.
When we moved to Kauai, the doors opened up to work in special education. I found a passion to work with kids. I went back to school for courses in behavior analysis and look forward to finding how God wants to use me to serve others in this field.
Other facts about Brian…
- I love camping, hiking, rock climbing (I miss this one, no can climb lava rock), surfing, kayaking, growing my own food, sand volleyball, tennis, chillin’ at the beach and traveling.
- I have been a vegetarian for about 7 years. I’ve grown to love local kine fish.
- I come from a circus family- I inherited the juggling talents from my grandma. Her family owned a circus, she walked the tight rope and the giant ball.
- Someday I hope to learn how to spear fish and have a dirt bike or motorcycle.
- I ran in the Honolulu Marathon with my wife, and most likely will never run one again. I think it was a one time wonder.
Beth
I’m 28, living on Kauai. I grew up on a much colder and smaller island in Pine Island, MN with my parents and brother who’s five years older. I was raised in the United Methodist Church that I attended through Confirmation. After that I went through the ‘black sheep’ years of teenage rebellion until my last couple years of high school when I started attending an Assemblies of God church with my best friend. My junior year, I came to the Lord while on a youth ministry trip to Pensacola, FL. I went off to college at the University of Wisconsin-Stout where I met my husband playing co-ed volleyball. I graduated in 2004 with a BFA major Graphic Design and minor in Photography. After 5 1/2 years of college (several of them back-slidden) I was ready to get away to a slower paced life and thaw out. Since living on Kauai I’ve been able to ride my bicycle to work year round! I’ve been doing freelance graphic design and photography as well as working at a screenprinting shop. I feel truly blessed by an awesome island/church ohana (family) in a tropical paradise! .
Other Facts about Beth:
- Love swimming, surfing, kayaking, hiking, backpacking, camping, reading, photographing, knitting, bicycling, scootering, traveling and new adventures!
- Ran in the Honolulu Marathon-where I learned I can do more than sprint. I hope to do my first triathlon in November…excited to train for swim.bike.run vs. run.run.run. Hopefully I can convince Brian to join me.
- Getting enough freckles now to actually ‘appear’ tan!
- Vegetarian for 7ish years and now enjoying the addition of fresh fish! How can you not on an island?!
B & B
January 27th, 2005 we dedicated our lives to each other and God through baptism and our marriage on Kauai! After our bilzzard reception in MN we moved back to Kauai STAT with just our packs on our backs! The Lord has brought us closer together everyday here. Our church Ohana has helped us grow in the Lord and feel at home. We’ve been able to serve together through various opportunities on the island: working with preschoolers at church, feeding the homeless and helping our friends build their home through Habitat for Humanity.
After praying for missions opportunities for years we found The World Race and immediately felt the Lord was telling us to get ready to GO! So we applied and got accepted! Now we’re letting the reality sink in of the amazing adventure that will soon begin. We can’t wait to see how the Lord will use us in 2010, and where he’ll lead us after…
