Renee

I had the blessing of growing up in a Christian home and choosing to follow Jesus from a young age. Growing up, interacting with people from other countries and learning new languages was something I enjoyed, and missions seemed like a natural outworking of that. But my path to missions was a little tangled. My senior year in college I was applying to teach English overseas, but a serious car accident closed that door. I stayed in VA and taught English to Mexican and Russian children in the school system there, and thought that must be the mission field the Lord had for me. But after two years, someone from Wycliffe contacted me and after prayerfully considering I quit my teaching job and joined Wycliffe to work in literacy.I initially was involved in a two year literacy intern program to "test the waters". This was in the English-speaking part of Cameroon from 1997-1999. During that time I saw that God could use me in this ministry and that I could live in Africa, but as I returned to the US I felt more "obligated" than truly joyful about the prospect. During the next year, God changed my attitude and I began to be excited about this ministry. I got additional training in Dallas in 2000, where my path crossed Kendall's. Our relationship started slowly, but we saw God drawing our lives together, and we were engaged in June 2001. After getting married on December 29, 2001 we spent some time in the US, serving in various capacities, before going to French study in 2002. Our son Ben was born in France in 2003, and shortly after we went to Cameroon together.