Our Story So Far

In pursuit of exotic adventures, we quit our jobs and joined Peace Corps.

Privileged? Yes.

Naïve? Maybe.

Impulsive? Anything but.

 

Emilie and I have been drawn to international development work for many years. Individually, we envisioned living and serving in communities overseas, working alongside our neighbors, wherever that may be, to provide support and resources. We both have a passion for people, hospitality and service.  Together, we have planned and taken intentional steps toward these goals. After many years of preparation (mentally, physically, financially and spiritually) we are anxious to finally embark on our journey.

Home is Where the H.E.A.R.T. Is

We both grew up in Lake Wales, FL. Attending church and volunteering in the community at Stay-at-Home Work Camps and other programs with Lake Wales Care Center. After high school, we both sought higher education opportunities. I attended Clemson University in South Carolina and Emilie went to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.

After the earthquake there in 2010, I had the opportunity to visit some close friends in Haiti and help their neighbors rebuild homes. I lived there for several months, hosting work teams, leading crews, learning the language and acting as liaison between Americans and Haitians in remote villages. I quickly learned that, although the homes we were building were very important to the community, the relationships we were building were of even greater value. This experience also opened my eyes to the need for training in order to effectively find solutions to some of the challenges faced in communities overseas.

For Emilie, it was in 2011 that the idea of volunteering overseas entered the picture. Her time at Southeastern University was coming to a close and after several years of focus on herself and her education, a desire grew to invest in something bigger. She felt led to pursue a journey that would test her abilities and push the boundaries of her comfort zone.

Knowing that we wanted to explore the possibility of volunteerism abroad, we pursued training. At H.E.A.R.T. (Hunger, Education and Resources Training), we took courses in cross-cultural awareness, agriculture, animal husbandry, nutrition, health, community development and appropriate technology. We spent 15 weeks living intentionally in a community of students and staff in a simulated developing world village. Through hands on experiences, classroom work, and field experience we worked together to overcome the physical, mental, and emotional challenges we might face.

It’s Hard Work, but it’s Honest Work, Y’all

Even with training, we knew that we were far from being ready to head out to the developing world and make an impact. For starters, we were saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of school debt. So, we got jobs.

Inspired by our passions for people and service, I began teaching elementary school and Emilie, after a Care Corps internship, started her career in social work at Lake Wales Care Center. It should be noted that around this time (and still to this day) we were madly in love and decided to get hitched.

One year later we packed up our stuff, left home and moved to St. Augustine. This move gave us a new space to grow as a couple, and we both enjoyed the experience of finding our way together. Keeping our goal of living and working overseas in mind, we also knew that this move would force us to learn and grow away from our families and the support system in our hometown.

In St. Augustine, I continued to teach and Emilie worked for Meals on Wheels at the Council on Aging. We started to see the debt amount slowly decrease, and began making plans to move forward with our goals.

So, Now What?

After much prayer and careful consideration, we decided to apply for volunteer positions with Peace Corps (for more on that process check out our post To Peace or Not to Peace). Now, almost a year later, we are excited to be preparing for our upcoming trip to Senegal, a country on the west coast of Africa. We are planning to leave in September, and we will be serving as agriculture volunteers for 27 months.

Despite all of our intentionality, training and work in preparation, we will still face circumstances that stress our minds and bodies. There will undoubtedly be challenges that we did not consider or prepare for, and there will be obstacles that we did prepare for that affect us in unexpected ways. During these trials we will lean heavily on what we know, rely on our good moral character to guide us, and when appropriate, seek the advice of those we trust. In the end, challenges are great opportunities for growth and learning, and we are looking forward to the adventure that awaits.

Check back here for more pictures and stories from our time in Senegal.

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