Global Education Ministries was started by my husband, Casey, and I, in August of 2011, after we felt a strong calling from the Lord to be involved in educational ministry. There's a whole lot of experiences, situations, and life events that lead us to where we are now, so let's start at the beginning...
Casey and I met while teaching overseas in Brazil at Brasilia International School
(BIS). We left behind
family, friends, and all that was familiar for the unknown to serve as
missionary teachers at BIS. We used our role as teachers (Casey (high school history) and me (2nd grade) to
build relationships with students and share the gospel of Jesus Christ while
teaching in our classrooms. BIS
provided us, as well as all the other missionary teachers, the
platform and the opportunity to bring the mission field right into the
classroom.
After moving to Brazil, it was clear that it was God’s
calling that drew us overseas, and over time it became clear that it was our shared love for the Lord, passion for serving, and teaching that drew us together as a couple. After a few months of seriously dating, we knew the Lord desired for us to be united in marriage, and we were engaged shortly after that. We got married in Wilmington, NC in July of 2009, and 2 days after our honeymoon, moved to Lima, Peru to teach at another international Christian school there.
After serving in Peru at the International Christian School of Lima for 2 years, we began to sense the calling on our lives to use the gifts God has equipped us with to help those who are most disadvantaged and who haven’t heard the gospel.
Over time God’s calling became clearer, and our passions to
use educational ministry to help the poor became stronger.
On a very
special Saturday morning in October 2010, while Casey was praying, God spoke
clearly that He desired us to move to Mexico, open a school for Mexican
children, and share the gospel with them and their families. On that day, while Casey was on his
knees praying, the idea of Global Education Ministries (GEM) was born. At that
time, we had never visited Mexico together, didn’t know a single
person living or serving in Mexico, and didn’t have the resources or the
connections to open a school. God
made it clear from the very beginning that everything accomplished by GEM was
going to be done only by His power and only for His glory.
After a year of prayer, hard work, and seeking God’s
direction in picking a spot to open a school, the door opened for us to travel to Puerto Escondido, Mexico in July 2012. Puerto Escondido, located in the state of Oaxaca, is beautiful, with a beach that is world renowned amongst surfers. It is also a very poor city, located
within one of the poorest states in Mexico. The great physical needs were clear and plainly obvious to us as we spent a week in Puerto Escondido speaking with families and other
missionaries that served there.
After returning home and gathering more research, the reality of this poverty stricken city in Mexico became clearer.
