In case you don’t know us or are wondering how we were called to serve as missionaries, it started when a man named Rhodes Hester tapped Kelly on the shoulder at Woodburn Baptist Church in 2005 and asked him if he would help with a cook-out at a children’s home in Honduras. Kelly said yes. Each summer after that, Kelly volunteered and performed maintenance work at the home. In 2007, Trisha went and fell in love with the children. It was during this trip that we both felt called to surrender our lives to serve the children of Honduras.

Our journey into missionary service began when we answered God’s call to serve as missionaries in 2007. We were approved as missionary candidates in 2008, began language school in 2009 in Costa Rica, and began full-time service in Honduras at a children’s home in 2010.

We never dreamed we would one day be bilingual, living in Central America, and encountering so many needs. Kelly shared with church congregations how he was called to be a “maintenance man” at a children’s home in Honduras. Kelly said, “If God called me to be a director of a children’s home in a foreign country, I might not have gotten off of the pew. God knew I would say yes to being a maintenance man and that’s how He got me here.”

We are so humbled that God called us to live, work, and help care for His children at a 60-acre farm with 100 children ranging in age from newborn to 18 years. It was the perfect training ground for us to learn how to work with at-risk children. We have learned how to counsel them, provide nutritious meals, safety, care, and shelter, and help them grow with God to overcome the barriers life has put in front of them.

God has been preparing and shaping us for our entire lives to serve and care for others. We are now serving as independent missionaries working in unity with alliances, organizations, and individuals to improve the quality of lives of children all over Honduras.

We give God the glory and honor in all that we do.