Growing up, I grew to deeply love two things: God, and books. Ask my parents, friends, or teachers, and they would have told you that I was a bookworm through and through: from Anne of Green Gables, to Island of the Blue Dolphins, to White Fang, to the Lord of the Rings, I was happy to read my way through life. At the same time, I was growing more serious in my faith and felt called to missions (due in no small part to missionary biographies and my growing love for Bible study), though I wasn’t sure what that would look like.
I never realized that God could fit my love of stories in with my faith and calling until I heard about the work of Bible translation through a visiting missionary. The Bible is the book that never leaves me wanting, never runs out of things to say, and tells the greatest story ever told… and I was filled with the desire to bring that into the heart language of those who didn’t have it. I knew then that this is what God wanted me to do with the skills and passions He’d given me, and watching Him open the doors to do so is incredible!
I currently study Applied Linguistics at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, am engaged to the love of my life and computer linguist, Jaidynn, and am seeking to do full-time Bible translation. It will continue to be a long journey, but I believe that God creates the best stories—so who better to tell mine?