A big move!

Once again, it has been too long since our last update. Sorry!

We have news! Adriana and I have decided that in June, after this academic year ends, we will be moving back to Grand Rapids, MI. This decision was not easy. We spent several months wrestling with this decision, praying, and seeking counsel. Ultimately, we decided that it is the right thing to do for a few reasons.

First, since July 2023, my entire family lives in the Grand Rapids area. This will be the first time that everyone lives in the same city since 2004, when I was 16 years old. We would like to spend time with family before we move back to Peru (see our timeline below).

Second, we lived for eight years in Grand Rapids before moving to Illinois in 2021. We have an amazing network of friends as well as a great church family there. As we prepare to serve as missionaries, we feel that spending our last year and a half in the U.S. in that context will be good for our family and will be ideal for launching into our ministry in Peru. So, we are excited to be heading back to MI!

At the same time, moving is never easy. We will be leaving a lot of dear friend in Illinois. We have been blessed with a church community that has loved and cared for us. The academic community at Wheaton has been a major blessing for me in my studies… I’ve grown so much! So, this decision and the upcoming move are bittersweet. We are trusting that, even though it is difficult, it will be for the best in the long run.

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Please Pray!

Our decision to move back to Grand Rapids does not mean that we have figured out (any of) the details. Please pray with us for the following things:

• Provision of a place to live, school for the kids, part-time work.
• That our kids would adjust well. They are excited, but also sad to leave life in IL.
• We recently began the process of raising financial support for our mission work in Peru. We are slowly making progress, but we have a long way to go.

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Mission Timeline

Our goal since 2013, when we moved to the U.S. from Lima, Peru has been to return to Peru as missionaries to provide theological education. Our decade-long sojourn in the U.S. is nearing its end. We are planning on the following timeline:

• June 2024 – Move from Carol Stream, IL to Grand Rapids, MI

• May 2025* – Complete and defend dissertation

• January 2026 – Move to Lima, Peru

*May 2025 is a bit of an ambitious goal. However, that is what I am aiming for. If I’m not able to reach that goal, then I would likely defend in the Fall of 2025.

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Ph.D. Progress Tracker