We thought we would give you some background to this journey that God has given us.

I (Jessica) studied French in high school and had an amazing opportunity to go to France with my class my Senior year (2005). I thought that would be the end of it as Northwestern College didn’t offer French classes. Well, to my surprise (but not God’s) I had the opportunity to return to France my freshman year in college on a missions trip. I feel in love with the French people on that trip. We were able to build/paint a church along with meeting some Christians in France. What passion they had! It was amazing to see what Christianity looks like in a post-Christian country. As soon as I came back from France, I decided to go to France as a missionary. I had learned about a ministry opportunity (the OIKOS house) while I was over in France. I started applying for the ministry the summer of 2006 and was admitted to leave in 2008, when I graduated…however, God had different (and better) plans for me.

My (Steve's) journey to France started when I got to Northwestern College. Growing up in a ministry based family, I knew that I wanted to do some sort of missions/ministry, but didn’t know exactly what shape that was going to take. My sophomore year at Northwestern, I met Jessica, a women who was passionate about ministry, and knew that I wanted to do ministry with her. We started dating, got engaged and were married in May 2008. As we applied for this ministry, we know that we needed to make this OUR passion and were able to see that God put us together for a purpose!


After we were married, we reapplied to go as a couple. From the time we started the process until we were admitted was about 6 months. We’re planning on going to France in Fall 2010 (Lord willing) and will be working there for two years. The OIKOS house is a ministry of WorldVenture (www.worldventure.com) aimed at providing a mid-term opportunity for young people to find out what overseas missions is all about. We will be doing everything from leading short term missions trips and language training, to getting involved with an existing ministry. We’re hoping that by participating in this “internship” we will be able to see if God has long-term missions (whether in France or somewhere else) in our future, or if He will keep us in the states serving in whatever ministry He provides.

As we go along this journey, our goal is for you to share in everything from joys to frustrations, encouragement to discouragement. We will be sharing our heart with you and hoping that God will use this blog to bless you. Feel free to contact us and leave comments whenever you would like.