How was Project Two born?

At the start of 2010 we felt ourselves at one of the inevitable lows of missionary life. We were unsure, unsettled and feeling the losses that previously had been cushioned by the many joys of our ministry here. We spent some months just putting those feelings on a shelf, looking to the Lord for direction, and trying to be more objective about our next steps in ministry. It was working and we had a fantastic season of ministry, culminating in the completion of Project One.

Then suddenly we encountered a series of personal losses. John’s grandmother died. We suffered a miscarriage. Heather’s aunt died. John’s uncle died. And we realized with surprise that there was no emotional reserve to cover it all. We had been depleted like a quietly leaking tank and were left tired, empty, without vision and without the energy to pursue one. While we didn’t regret anything about our three years in Peru, we weren’t seeing or feeling any renewed calling to continue here. It seemed that our time in Peru might be coming to an end.

Then, in the same quiet and gradual way, we found ourselves healing and rejuvenating. During our visit in California, there were ministry conversations that affected our hearts like the prickling heat after your leg falls asleep. There were quiet moments before the Lord that felt like a heating pad on sore muscles. And little by little and with much surprise, we found ourselves dreaming again about South America.

EGM confirmed those dreams and dreamt with us of what we could do with another three years in Peru – the intimacy we could bring to our ministry partnerships, the careful guidance and training we could offer to the national teams, the new teams that could be formed with our coordination – so that more and more children could live a new life with Jesus. The Jesus who was, at that moment, healing, filling and inspiring us, giving us hope and joy in Him.

So Project Two was born.