My blog title is “My Big Adventure”, which is a continuation on our wedding website “Let the Adventure Begin”. Yet like anything, there is also background to the story of Marriage and Nicaragua.
As a teenager, God opened my heart to the possibility of serving Him in a different country. This resulted in short-term trips to Mexico, Greece, Russia, Bible school in Sweden, and eventually teaching in Germany for five years. With my travels though, Central America was not on my radar.
As a college student, God opened up my heart to teaching. Although I did not want to teach, teach in a Christian school or teach any grade over 3rd, God changed my thinking in all areas. I really enjoyed teaching jr. high at West Hills Christian School for five years, which led into teaching at Black Forest Academy jr. high and taking on administration. After returning from Black Forest, I was not sure that I really wanted the work of an administrator. I took at job at Home Depot for a year so I could adjust being back in the United States without the pressure of being a teacher or administrator.
As a teacher, God called me back to West Hills Christian; this time as a 5th grade teacher. It was not long before I started my Masters in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction. In the midst of the program, West Hills asked if I would fill a new position- Dean of Faculty. This tied together my teaching, what I was learning in my masters programs, and my experience at Black Forest.
As Dean of Faculty, God introduced me to Stephen Goff when I invited him to come to my graduation party. Over two years, frequent coffee dates became Fred Meyer and coffee dates with long conversations. I admired his love for God and ability to communicate. Things got more complicated and more interesting when he spent a week on his first short-term mission trip in Nicaragua. He came back sure that this is where God would have him. I took that as the end to the relationship, but God had other plans. At a leadership conference I sat down next to a lady who “happened” to be the Nicaragua coordinator for Forward Edge. This resulted in my friend Sharon and I going on a one week trip to Managua, Nicaragua in the summer of 2012.
The long story short is that once we came to a place of agreement in the direction God was sending us, things moved fairly quickly. We were engaged on January 24, 2013 and then married on July 6, 2013. As we made plans for the wedding, we also made plans for moving to Nicaragua. Wedding gifts looked very different as well as our shopping in the days leading up to our departure. On August 29, 2013, we left Oregon and moved to Granada Nicaragua. This is where the adventure continued….