January 6: News

Hello Everyone,

I know that this will come as a surprise to some of you, but below we have copied a letter that we recently sent out to our supporters via e-mail.



Friends and Family,

We have mixed feelings about the following information. As you know, we have been working in Nyagatare, Rwanda since August. We committed to a year of service to the Anglican Diocese here, specifically working with the Seeds of Hope Conference Center and the Morning Star Primary School. Our time here as been challenging and stretching for both Julianna and I in more ways than we can ever express.

The initial purpose of our coming here was to fulfill an internship requirement for my Intercultural Studies degree. The second purpose was to help the Rwandan Anglican Church with some of its ministries. The time frame for the internship only required 6-8 weeks for completion, but we decided to stay a year in order to gain longer-term experience and make our work here as optimum as possible.  My internship was an involved process with both work before and during our time here.  My last requirement for the internship was a mandatory debrief session with my advisers from Columbia International University in order to process everything that has gone on during the internship; internal struggles, external struggles, successes, failures, progress made, and areas that need improvement. After the debrief, my requirements would be fulfilled, and then we would continue on as planned for the remainder of the year.

During this debrief session Julianna and I talked with three of the most respected missionaries that I know.  After speaking with them, we were surprised when they called us back. They were concerned enough about our experiences here that we should end our time and come home.  We asked further questions and discussed it more with them, and basically, they were telling us that because of various circumstantial factors, it would be unwise to stay for the entire year. Even more, they strongly suggested that we come home as soon as possible. Please note, that our lives are not in danger, nor are we in harms way physically, but they primarily suggested to come home in order to preserve our emotional, mental, and spiritual health in the long run.

Julianna and I listened to what they had to say and agreed to talk, fast, and pray about this decision. After much consideration we decided to submit to the wisdom of our advisers seeing that they are wise, experienced, and seasoned missionaries who are more familiar with the effects of cross-cultural ministry than we are.  We also agreed in our hearts, and what they said resonated very strongly with what we had been feeling for the duration of our time here.  We have discussed this with our families and they agree as well that it would be a mistake to ignore the advise of such wise counsel. So, in short, Julianna and I are coming home.

At the onset of this letter I said that we have mixed feelings about this decision; this is so true. Honestly, it is one of the hardest decisions we have had to make as a couple. There are so many reasons why we would want to stay. We had it programmed in us to be here for a year, and now we are having to pull the e-brake on our plans.  We are so happy to come home to see our friends and families, but also our hearts are sad that we will leave the friends we have here. We have been planning to come here since 2010 and have worked diligently for five months trying to minister, help, improve, grow, disciple, etc., but now we are leaving before we intended.

Proverbs 16 has been an encouragement to me remembering that "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  We have planned to serve the Lord, and that we have done, but it looks much different than we had thought, and we are learning to be OK with that. Also Julianna and I agree with the wisdom a Rwandese friend gave me on this subject. He reminded me about 1 Corinthians 3. Paul says to the Corinthians,

              " I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor, For we are God's fellow workers; and you [the church] are God's field, God's building." 

Julianna and I, though it is difficult, cannot be discouraged because of unfinished work, for it is all the work of God. We have done our best, and God knows that, but ultimately he is the foreman, he is the head farmer, he is the ultimate friend, lover, sustainer, helper, brother, father, mother, creator, etc. Our work pales in comparison to His, which is encouraging to us. My humanity, my finiteness is not a thing to pitied or to apologize for, because my imperfection and finiteness is what separates me from God.  Instead of seeing ourselves as weaker, we must see God as Greater. We pray that God will give us the grace to do so.

We want to also assure our friends and supporters that our time here has been far from useless.  Even though we accomplished vastly less than we intended to in details and specifics here in Rwanda, we are not leaving empty-handed.  We accomplished my internship, which allowed me to officially graduate, we learned a host of information on language, culture, and people in general.  Not only that, but we have gained a completely new perspective about the mission field and what it is like to live on it.  It has given us a new filter to use when planning for the future; in fact, our perspectives of the future have narrowed significantly, which is a very good thing when you are young and it seems like there are a world of endless possibilities.  We know ourselves, our giftings, our passions, and our abilities much more keenly than we did before (we know what we are not meant for as well).  We have been able to participate in and learn how to live in a Christian community that is very much unlike ours. 

We want to thank all of you for all of the sacrifices that many of you have made to allow us to come here.  Even though it has been a very difficult time, as a whole this experience has been a deep and meaningful one; we have learned so much.  We are praying that you all would be able to extend us grace in this time for our weaknesses.  Please continue to pray for us, not only until we come home, but also after, as we will be trying to get on our feet again and re-evaluate for the future. As far as our financial supporters are concerned, we will not be asking for support after this month. Thank you for your generosity, it has not been unfruitful.

If you have more specific questions, we would love to answer them and share more details of our time here that we have withheld.  Please either call or e-mail us when we get back, or just talk to us when we can see you in person.



We love you all, and are continually grateful for you,

Drew and Julianna



I know that many of you have enjoyed and been encouraged by our blog posts about our time here. We are sorry that we will not be able to continue that, but we trust that God will still be able to use us back in the States.


This is not the end of our blog either. I am sure that for some time to come, we will be posting memories, stories, or thoughts about our time here, as well as general life back in the states. We hope that it will be continually beneficial to our greater community even though our time here has ended.


Thank you all for your encouraging e-mails, phone calls, and comments.  Your encouragement means more to us than you can know. 


I'm sure we will post again sometime after our return, and until then, any questions that you have that you think would be appropriate to the public we would be more than happy to answer.


Grace and Peace to all!