Here is the story of how we came to join the LDI program at Hope Community Church. A lot of what happened stems from what God has been doing in our lives, so we’re starting the story far enough back to give the proper backdrop.

It begins with our honeymoon. We went to Puerto Rico, which was a huge blessing! Because of the points Paul had acquired through traveling for work, we flew there and stayed for 8 nights for free. Although we had only 8 nights free, Paul felt led to schedule the flights to be 15 days apart and did not plan the latter half of the time. When Paul tried to plan that time, he just felt the overwhelming feeling: “Do not worry; I’ll take care of it”. Although it was difficult to not plan this important time, we decided to trust that feeling, not knowing what it would mean. We prayed that God would use that time for whatever he had planned.

Union Church in San Juan

On our first Sunday in Puerto Rico we went to a church called the Union Church of San Juan. We joined members of the church in serving food to the homeless the following day. Ross, the coordinator of the event, asked us where we were staying. We told him we were at the Hotel Caribe until Thursday. He asked where after that. We replied that we weren’t sure yet but that we might possibly go to the south part of Puerto Rico (which was kind of a back-up plan). He then offered to have us stay at his house.

Now just look at this situation: He is offering a room to a couple that 1) is not asking for a place to stay, 2) he doesn’t know, 3) is on their honeymoon and probably wants privacy, 4) is already staying in one of the nicer hotels in San Juan, and 5) is from California and for all he knows could easily afford a hotel. And yet, had we not been given this offer, we may have flown home early due to lack of funds!
We followed up with Ross a day later, which was two days before our hotel stay was to end. He told us he was going to the Dominican Republic and that he wouldn’t be able to house us, but that he’ll let us know if he finds another place. We were a little dejected at this point, wondering where we would go. We prayed about it and again we were told “Do not worry; I’ll take care of it”. We waited another day and then prayed about it again, boldly asking God for a clear answer on where we should go. Immediately, the phone rang mid-prayer and Ross told us he had a place for us. He gave us the number of Chuck, another member of the church. We called Chuck; he asked if when we needed a place, we said tomorrow, he said he’ll pick us up.

Chuck and Kaelin

Turns out, Chuck is one of the church elders. He let us stay in a room in his 10th floor condominium with a breathtaking view of the water and the coastline that was far superior to the view from our hotel. We told us stories of his amazing life, fed us on a number of occasions, and even lend us his car to drive around the island. He was more gracious and generous than we thought possible (Thank you Chuck!). And we were well provided for physically (Thank you God!). This also put us right near the church Pastor, Charlie, and his wife, Darlene. We shared a number of meals with them and talked extensively about their experiences in ministry around the world. It was educating and very encouraging (Thank you Charlie and Darlene!). We were well provided for spiritually (Thank you God!).

Out to dinner with Charlie and Darlene

This taught us both to listen to God’s voice in our lives and to trust in his providence. This lesson prepared us for the steps we were to take later.

After the honeymoon we went back to Long Beach (Thank you Eric for the place to stay for a month!) and moved to Denver (Thank you Marc for opening up your house!). We lived in Denver for a month, working during the days and wrestling with what we were supposed to be doing at night. We were both unhappy because we did not have a clear path ahead of us. We prayed to God to take a hold of our lives, to use us to bring Him glory, and to have His will be done in our lives. And of course, God is faithful.

One Sunday we were listening to a sermon on “Why Church?” at a church near Denver. Good question. The pastor said we are to be the hands and feet of Christ so that we can spread and proclaim His salvation. And yet, it was not apparently clear he knew what that meant. We were not really sure either. During this sermon, Paul had a revelation (for himself at least) of how we as Christians are really meant to imitate Christ’s example and go out to serve and impact our communities. In our experience, this did not actually seem to be the purpose of most churches, including the one he was currently sitting in. Paul felt strongly compelled to do this, although he did not really know how or what to do. He prayed to God for guidance; the answer came back: “What do you follow?” Paul realized that he spent most of his time following his own desires and ideas. Something needed to change in order to really follow God. We talked about it a lot for a few days. Paul did not sleep much all week. Finally, on Friday morning, Paul got up and asked God if he should quit his job to devote himself to this pursuit. The answer was “yes”. Despite not knowing what to do, it was yes. So after much wrestling, he put in his notice. He was surprised at how supportive his coworkers and especially his boss Melisa were, which was encouraging.
At the same time, Kaelin was in the process of interviewing for a design job at a church, which is something she’s wanted to do for a long time. She had two interviews already and was asked to turn in some designs by Saturday to give them examples of the type of stuff she could make for them. Instead of turning that in, she sent an e-mail saying that we had decided to devote our lives to ministry instead.
We both had made the decisions to give up our own pursuits to follow God. Honestly, looking back on it… we’re not really sure how we did it.
On Sunday, we went to a charismatic church called “Word of Life”. We were feeling very overwhelmed by what was happening and were earnestly desiring guidance. Despite our skepticism of this church from our first visit (due to the way they solicited for money), we felt called to go back. Before the sermon, Pastor Tim called up everyone who felt God was calling them. We went up to the front. The pastor prayed over everyone who came up and proceeded to speak individually to a few select people who had come up. He came up to us and said (paraphrased) “God has put a great work in front of you and I think you know what it is. Do not let anything sway you from that path. The devil will try to lead you astray and make you doubt but remain firm in what God has called you to.” To Kaelin he said that “you have been trying to follow God for a long time. This time you will do it and not turn back. Don’t look back at your past… look to the east, to the dawning of a new day.” (Note: we did end up moving east!) We got much encouragement from this, and for the next week and a half we prayed for guidance and waiting for a direction to become clear.
Finally, we felt called to go out to Minneapolis to help with some family issues. We made a 13 hour drive there from Denver. In our yearning to help but our lack of knowledge of how to help, we ended up doing more harm than good. Dejected, we set on out drive back to Denver. On the way out with our car packed, we met up with Pastor Cor, the pastor from Hope Community Church who married us.
We wanted to talk to Cor to get his thoughts on doing ministry full time. He said we really needed to build a strong foundation so that whatever God decided to do with us in the future, we would be well-equipped to succeed. He said we needed real-life ministry experience, mentors and guidance to develop Christ-like character, and sound Biblical study. We liked what he had to say. He said that this was the vision for the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) at Hope Community Church, which was a 10 month unpaid internship program. And he said we had good timing, because the classes for LDI happened to start that night. We both felt strongly that God was leading us to this, so instead of driving back to Denver we stayed in Minneapolis. We stayed at Kaelin’s godparent’s house (Thanks Forrest and Liz!) for the week while we went to class. At the end of the week we prayed and asked if this was what we should do and if we should move; the answer was a strong “Yes”. At this point we had no idea where we were going to live in Minneapolis, so it was quite difficult to follow that guidance.
On Friday, we used an unused flight portion left over from the wedding to fly back to Denver (so it was a free flight). On that weekend we packed up our stuff, dropped off our other car at the house of a guy who said he would sell it for us (another miracle, thanks again Marc!), and drove a Penske moving van out to Minneapolis.
We arrived in Minneapolis on Monday after an uneventful drive across the country. On Tuesday, Cor let us know he found two places where we could live, both with members of the Church leadership team. We really wanted to have a situation where we had more of our own space; despite our own desires, we felt called to one of the two options, which was in the house of the Careys, one of the couples who helped found the church. On Wednesday night we visited the house and met the family: Bart (an elder at the church), his wife Lorelei, and their sons Carsten (9) and Kyle (6). They showed us the extra room where we would be staying. After a great initial meeting, we made arrangements to move in. We were relieved to have a plan, because after Thursday our rental truck would start costing $100 a day to keep our stuff in it. We put a lot of our stuff into a storage unit and moved into the Carey’s. So again, we were provided for just in the nick of time (Thank you God!).
And now we are here. We have already dived in head first! We started a college aged group that will meet on Sunday nights. We are picking most of them up on campus with the Hope Van!! We will be mentoring some of these students on a regular one on one basis as well. Paul has begun to regenerate the service ministry where he will organize and promote service opportunities within the community, and Kaelin has already written half of the Small Group Leadership Training curriculum for the church and helped lead the training last Saturday.

We are SO excited for all the wonderful experiences to be had in service of others this year! We also feel privileged to have such supportive family and friends to share this with. We hope you are greatly encouraged by the faithfulness and providence God has displayed in our lives!