Adrian and Keristan have experienced several dramatic shifts in their lives together as they followed the Lord’s leading on their lives but none were as exciting as their current adventure. Adrian did not grow up in a Christian home but he began attending church regularly with a Christian family that involved them in their lives. During a prayer retreat weekend, Adrian encountered the Lord powerfully during a quiet time of prayer. With that encounter, his journey following the Lord had truly begun.

By contrast, Keristan grew up in a Christian home and has followed the Lord increasingly faithfully since she was young. She grew up attending summer camps, singing in church, and volunteering her summers as a Christian camp counsellor. We met as young adults at a church and dated and eventually married. After a few years in their original careers, both began sensing a call to ministry which led Adrian to attend Bible College and after graduating to begin working as a pastor. During this time Keristan continued in her career as a dental assistant as well as welcoming their first child to their family.

Adrian’s time as a pastor at two different churches was varied and he was blessed to serve in a variety of capacities and to grow greatly in obedience and character as he served the congregations he was a part of leading. During their time serving these two churches Keristan and Adrian were blessed to welcome their second daughter and their first son to their family.

Adrian and Keristan were first introduced to Hands at Work in 2015 at a sharing event of a visit to the Congo that Keristan was invited to. She came home with several pictures and stories of what God had done and was continuing to do in Africa through the faithfulness of those serving Hands at Work. They began to support Hands both financially and through prayer.

During the COVID pandemic, Keristan became interested in serving in a greater capacity with Hands and became an advocate at their home church, where Adrian had been working on staff. We both learned much more about the why, the what, and the how of Hands at Work and began to become more and more excited about the amazing work God was doing in Africa.

Doing missions was never something which we had previously considered. We had falsely believed the best support was to just send money and to pray from a distance. However, when Keristan was invited to be part of a team to go to Zambia in the Fall of 2021, we both felt it was the Lord’s guidance. Unsurprising to Adrian, Keristan was strongly impacted by her time in Africa and we both agreed to discern whether God was leading us to volunteer on the ground in Africa. In order to further seek the Lord’s guidance we joined a team from Ontario, Canada in June of 2022, this time as a whole family. During this time in Zambia, we felt convinced of the Lord’s leading to seek to volunteer with Hands at Work.

Since returning from our short visit we have been working diligently to prepare our hearts, prepare our children, and to work through all of the paperwork that this process entails. While the journey so far has taken longer than originally anticipated, and while there have been a few bumps along the road, we are still excited to be on the ground in Africa making new friends and reconnecting with old ones (hopefully soon)!

A verse that has impacted us greatly in the most recent season has been Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” (NIV). Never before have we applied this verse so literally as we have sold almost everything we own in preparation to move and serve with our very selves. This has not been a burden but a blessing. We have been learning both obedience and humility during this time of waiting and a line from Jill Briscoe has been on our minds and hearts frequently as well: “Want to be big, learn to be small. Lover of Jesus, servant of all.”

Both Marc and Michelle grew up going to church surrounded by loving family members and, though they lived in different countries, the early part of their stories follow a similar pattern. Marc was drawn to God from an early age but actively pushed it to the background, assuming that it was something he could come back to later in life. Michelle felt distant from God with little understanding of the gospel or God’s grace; she felt like she couldn’t be good enough for God’s love. Both sought success in education and work. Marc shares, “My most active concern was to become a success: getting a good education to get a good job in order to attain the trappings of success.”

Before coming to serve with Hands at Work, Michelle was working in human resources at a small tech company in San Francisco while Marc was studying economics and political science at the University of Calgary, with the hope of one day working with a development agency. Neither of them had Africa on their radar, let alone any overseas missions work. Yet something was stirring in Michelle’s heart. Michelle became very interested in Hands at Work and when her home church, Christ Church in San Francisco, announced their first ever team trip to Africa, she signed up. In 2013 the team left for Malawi for a week-long trip. The trip was short, but, as Michelle puts it, she returned with a clear knowledge that she wanted to get more involved. On the last Holy Home Visit that she went on, she visited a grandmother and her three grandchildren. They were living in a small home that didn’t belong to them. The house had no door or secure windows, leaving the family extremely vulnerable. This vulnerability was increased at the time due to the grandmother suffering from malaria. During the visit, Michelle remembers feeling quite hopeless, “I felt the weight of their situation and it followed me all the way back to San Francisco.” However, she also felt hope, hope in seeing the faithfulness and dedication of the Care Workers in visiting the family. Michelle shares, “They knew the children by name. I was so thankful for the way that God was caring for this family through these Care Workers.” When she arrived home to San Francisco, Michelle started serving with the Hands at Work International Office in the US.

Marc remembers attending church one August evening in 2004 when Jim Cantelon spoke about what was happening in Africa with the AIDS epidemic. The church at the time was working through a minor prophets’ series, and Jim reflected on a passage in the book of Amos. He revealed the deepening crisis in Africa and weaved that together with God’s calling on the church to take up the cause of the most vulnerable. He challenged the church to live righteously and extend justice to those in need. Marc was blown away by the challenge and felt both uneasy and thrilled because, as he puts it, “Jim’s sharing rang of truth and it was refreshing, but I was uneasy because if this was true, my life needed to change.” At one point in the evening, Jim spoke about how there were people there that evening who would be actively involved moving forward. Marc sat there, his stomach sinking, thinking, ‘Oh no…’. He felt God stirring his heart. Marc signed up on a team trip to South Africa in May of 2005. After the team left, he decided to stay for an additional month. Marc shares that he went to Africa thinking he was going to be a part of solving the problems there. But when he encountered reality on the ground, he was shaken by it. Marc realised how small he was and how much this world, including himself, was broken.

Back in America, after going to an event for Hands at Work advocates in Wisconsin later in 2013, Michelle felt an even stronger desire to go back to Africa. The opportunity came the following year when Michelle visited South Africa for three months and spent some time in Zambia and Malawi. Throughout this time, Michelle began to feel God calling her to live in Africa long term. She moved to Africa in 2015 and was based in Zambia for the first four years and then in South Africa. Michelle started out as a project accountant and then took on some project support duties. Michelle shares how she has learned so much about her own brokenness and the world around her through this time. “Something I’ve learned, being exposed to suffering, is my tendency to want to be pragmatic and fix things. It’s easier because I can check them off the list. It’s much more challenging and uncomfortable to be on a Holy Home Visit when I don’t have the words to say or the power to fix the situation of someone who is suffering. I’ve learned that it’s not about “fixing things” but it’s about relationships. God calls us to suffer with, to listen to, and to share in the pain of others, and we can do that through forming and deepening relationships with one another.”

In Africa, God was continuing His work in Marc’s heart. “God was taking me deeper into the brokenness of His world, but also His love and care for this world. By spending time with people in the community of Masoyi, learning their stories, working alongside them, experiencing a sliver of life together, I was taken deeper into the beauty and brokenness of the lives of our brothers and sisters,” Marc shares of his journey. He returned home with a similar desire in his heart as his future wife, to commit his life to this restorative work God was doing. In 2007, he volunteered as a long-term volunteer. Marc started by supporting the work in South Africa, particularly supporting the growth in the Bushbuckridge area. Currently, he serves on the executive team and supports the finance team.

Although their journeys to Africa underwent a different timeline, their spiritual journeys were and still are very similar. They both thought of God as a distant figure, someone not to be approached, someone whose love had to be earned. They came to Africa with thoughts of “fixing problems,” especially practical problems. However, through their first couple of trips, they began to see their own brokenness and the brokenness of the world around them, and, more importantly, they began to see God’s desire to bring healing and restoration. Serving long term, Michelle has begun to see God as a close Father who suffers with her and knows her pain. She understands that He desires a relationship with her and wants to bring healing and restoration to her life. Marc has been transformed to see God not as a distant Creator, but as actively present in the world. God is the centre of the story and we are invited into what God is doing now.

Marc and Michelle’s highlights have been meeting one another and forming their family. They have been privileged to witness God’s faithfulness throughout their time and to see God at work among the people in Hands at Work. They are grateful to be a part of God calling, transforming, and maturing his servants from around the world, and particularly those leaders across Africa.

Although they both still recognise self-centred and inward-looking natures, they have experienced God’s mercy and love in the midst of this, bringing transformation and renewal. They look forward to what He will do for them, their family, and Hands at Work in the months and years to come.

Currently, Marc and Michelle are living in South Africa with their baby boy.

If they were asked in the summer of 2015 whether they would ever consider living overseas, Jeff and Lyndsey would not have even known how to respond. Yet, as is often the case, God had a curveball up his sleeve; the kind of curveball that looks just like a fastball until, as you prepare to launch that ball into the sky, it breaks away and you are left feeling foolish that you ever thought you could predict it. Before Jeff’s initial trip to the Congo, he and Lyndsey were living the dream life. They had been married for 16 years, had five wonderful children, lived on a great property, and had a healthy church life. Jeff and Lyndsey were entrepreneurs around this time, doing landscape design and furniture moving. Jeff carried the bulk of the workload while Lyndsey was based at home with the kids. But, as has been the case with so many of the long-term volunteers of Hands at Work, one little trip changed everything.

Jeff and Lyndsey were both blessed to have been raised by a mom and dad who stayed in the picture and made the Christian faith a priority. Jeff grew up with three younger sisters, a dad who worked hard to put food on the table, and a mom who faithfully raised the kids. Jeff looks back upon his childhood with fond memories in large part because, as Jeff says, his parents “made faith a priority…they tried to model Jesus to us kids.” Lyndsey grew up very similarly to Jeff and, from an early age, attended an evangelical church that was originally started on her paternal grandparents’ land. She was blessed to have been raised amidst a strong network of godly people and mentors. And it was not just her immediate family that followed the Lord but her extended family as well. Lyndsey recalls that “the prayers from both sides of my family have really helped to shape where I am and where Jeff and I are today.” She remembers that her paternal grandparents gave very generously to mission work and, even when her grandfather passed away, her grandmother continued to pray faithfully for missionaries. Her maternal grandparents were no less supportive of missions as a perfectly acceptable alternative to the 9-5 work grind. Although they lived only a half hour apart, it took Jeff 22 years to meet his future wife and 20 years for Lyndsey to find him. They got married a year later and had their first child a year after that.

At Christmas time in 2015, Jeff and Lyndsey were hit with the first of God’s three curveballs that were surprises before the start of 2019. Jeff received news that his sisters were planning a trip to the Congo with a team from church in April of 2016. He was asked if he was interested in joining the team. Jeff remembers discussing it with Lyndsey that night, “we agreed that if someone paid for me to go, then I would go. But we wouldn't be able to come up with the funds.” The next day, Jeff’s dad called and informed him that he and Jeff’s mom would like to pay for Jeff to go on the team if he wanted. Jeff describes this moment as his first calling to Africa, he would have subsequent calls in later years. Although his sister, Katie Wells, had advocated for Hands at Work for a couple years at that point, Jeff and Lyndsey were not involved with her advocacy team and were not supporting a child. The trip to the Congo that April was Jeff’s very first taste of Hands at Work and his very first taste of Africa. Jeff had never traveled outside of the continent and did not have a passport when he committed to going. But before Jeff even knew what was happening, he was in the DRC and was encountering poverty and vulnerability that he had never seen before. Alongside this discovery, Jeff encountered God and saw Him moving in a way that was completely new to him. As Jeff recalls, “I fell in love with Africa in the Congo.”

Jeff came back from this trip feeling a strong call to eventually go back. The following year, God threw the next curveball. As Jeff was just unable to shake off what he had seen and experienced, he and Lyndsey went on a three-week trip to South Africa. They had an incredible experience serving the vulnerable and engaging with the incredible leaders at the Hub. They came back and, again, Jeff had the feeling that this was not the end of their missionary journey. Back home, they decided to become advocates and made plans to change parts of their lives in order to invest in events on the weekends and take a team every two years to Africa. Finally, in November of 2018, God threw his last curveball. After having served faithfully on the advocacy team in Canada for a little over a year, Lyndsey approached Jeff and said that she felt it was time for them to commit to this long term. Shortly thereafter, they approached Hands and asked if they could become long-term volunteers in Africa.

Jeff, Lyndsey, and their gang of kids, now numbering six, made the move to South Africa and began volunteering for Hands at Work in January of 2020. They had just a short amount of time to get settled before the COVID lockdown occurred, and Africa began to change dramatically. Looking back on this time, however, Jeff reflects that the pandemic honestly didn’t have much of an impact on them. They were already moving to a new location and dramatically changing their roles and lifestyles, so the new COVID restrictions that others had to adapt to were just the norm for their family. And, as Hands at Work was considered an essential service, the work of the organization never changed, just the methods and techniques.

Jeff started serving on the maintenance team right away, which included the opportunity to go into the community at least once a week, sometimes twice. After about a year and a half, Jeff had the opportunity to take on more of a leadership role on the maintenance team. He later joined the projects team for South Africa and Eswatini in order to lighten the load of the Regional Support Team for those countries. Lyndsey joined the finance team, helping in the office. Due to their arrival in the midst of COVID, Jeff and Lyndsey were fortunate to continue school with the kids via WhatsApp with the South African teachers, using the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. Lyndsey describes that “moving to Africa changed the script for our family because suddenly the kids were seeing more of Jeff and a little bit less of me.” It was, and still is, a challenge for both Jeff and Lyndsey to invest enough time in the kids because of how busy the missions work keeps them, but they are finding ways to make it work.

They recently moved as a family to Zambia and are now living on the property of Kachele. Jeff serves in the same role that he had in South Africa, except now works on projects mostly for communities in Zambia, and Lyndsey has joined the hospitality team. They have both been incredibly blessed by the move thus far, due to the rural environment of the property and the amazing leaders that they get to serve alongside. Jeff has been absolutely thrilled and blessed to serve alongside men like Michael and Pastor Boyd. Jeff and Lyndsey both expressed that they feel God using them in unique ways in Zambia. They have the incredible opportunity to be scaffolding and layers of support for others. Kachele is interesting as there are so many teams, camps, and revivals happening throughout the year, which makes things really busy for Lyndsey but rewarding. When these camps happen, Jeff has the incredible opportunity to slow down a little bit and join in to love the children who have come from our communities by playing with them and hanging out with them. Jeff recalls at a recent youth camp being able to read storybooks to young boys as a part of the Hands at Work program and says that, “getting to be a very small piece to the puzzle in caring for young people is awesome.” Jeff and Lyndsey also just recently hosted a team and got to see Africa erupt into people’s lives as they met God in new ways.

With the incredible new opportunities presented to Jeff and Lyndsey in Zambia come numerous challenges. They and their kids have found it difficult to be away from their family in Canada and their home church. In particular, seeing holidays come and go without the usual family festivities has been difficult. Jeff and Lyndsey can also find it hard to prioritize family time, living in the kind of environment they do, there really is not an “end” to the work, and due to the fact that Jeff and Lyndsey are people who want to be useful and help out whenever they can, they have found it difficult to know when to say no or leave things for the next day. They want to serve God with all of their hearts while also being faithful to their family life. A few of their kids have also found the transition to Zambia from South Africa difficult and they feel some loneliness so prioritizing the kids in this time is very important to them. Jeff and Lyndsey want to help the kids make friends but due to the more rural nature of the Hub in Zambia versus South Africa, this has been a challenge. Thankfully there are six of them and many friendly people at Kachele, and they are never truly alone!

Both Jeff and Lyndsey have felt so blessed to be able to see their kids grow up in Africa. Having the opportunity to see their kids play with the vulnerable children in the community and form relationships with them has been meaningful. And, although it was a difficult time, both Jeff and Lyndsey were struck by the impact that South Africa had had on their kids by the time they had to leave. Two of their children found it incredibly difficult to say goodbye to so many friends. Their oldest two kids have also taken a significant step in their Christian walk by being in Africa. Jeff was able to baptize the two of them in South Africa and recalls that that was just the most incredible experience. Another highlight for Jeff has been seeing numerous people begin to take their walk with Jesus more seriously. He recounts the story of Papa Eddie, an older man out in the bush of DRC that, though he cannot read or write, is so in tune with what God has for him. Whenever Papa Eddie is given food for the evening, he always declares “I thank God for providing for me.” Jeff and Lyndsey look forward to seeing how God will help them in their challenges and use them for His glory in Zambia in the coming years.

Tommy:

"I was born three months premature which, at times my life was touch and go as to whether or not I would survive. Ever since, I knew God had a purpose for my life and I have striven to follow that. I have always had a desire to go to Africa and serve the most vulnerable. Throughout university, I chose courses surrounding development in Africa. I believe God was getting me ready to serve in Africa.

As I finished my degree, I began searching for my next step and met with my youth worker at church. I told him about this desire God placed in my heart to serve in Africa. He recommended me to connect with Dan Waspe, a long-term volunteer from The Forge Church near my home, and we chatted about what it meant to serve at Hands. I knew this was the right step for me, so I signed up to come in September 2010. I did not apply soon enough and had to wait an extra six months. God gave me that time to raise support for myself and prepare me to come in February 2011. I met with Dan and his wife Jen again in January, and after talking through living and serving at Hands, God again confirmed I was taking the right step. A month later, I landed in Johannesburg, South Africa. Being the first time living away from home, I knew I was taking a big step of faith.

The first few weeks, I was thrown on a rollercoaster of emotions – missing home, broken by what I was seeing, and enjoying another part of the world and meeting new people. During a community stay, I met Silo, and built a deep relationship with him. I spent more time with him in the following months, and still today he is a part of our family. Throughout my first year, I spent much of my time learning Hands on a deeper level and working closely with the finance team. I first served alongside Toyin (bookkeeper in Nigeria) and since then have been privileged to support many more bookkeepers. I also spent a significant amount of time scanning receipts but I believe in that faithfulness of the small things, God has now shown me the bigger picture and I have the joy of being able to support people across Hands in finances."

Morgan:

"My family has been involved in Hands since 2006, through Westside Kings Church in Canada. My parents and sister had both come out on teams before I set foot in Africa. As George came to speak at churches, he would often stay in our home. For many years, the Hands Canada local office was run out of our house. I did not imagine myself in Africa long term then. I remember talking about orphans in Africa with a friend, and in high school was torn apart by the horrific things I learned about the slave trade. Maybe all of that was God preparing me for what was to come.

I stepped foot in South Africa in June 2008 with a team from my church. The trip was meant to be two weeks, and I daily wrestled with the things I was seeing as we walked in communities. I knew about these things, I had heard the stories many times, but experiencing them was completely different. I was given an opportunity to stay for two months, helping with some filming. During those two months, my heart broke for the children and grandmothers I met in South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique. But I was also filled with a sense of hope. I could see Care Workers making a difference, I could see men and women sacrificially laying down their lives to love and serve their neighbor. The day I left South Africa, I remember saying, “I know I will be back. I don’t know when, but I will be.” I went back to Canada and continued my studies, and Africa became the focus of many of my projects and stories.

I was set on returning to Africa as soon as I finished school. In August 2009, however, I ran into health complications. I could not understand why God was putting these obstacles in my way when He had placed this deep desire on my heart. My health kept me away from Africa for another year. Despite all the tears, frustration, discomfort, loneliness, and uncertainty, I look back and know God did something deep in my life. He had to take everything away from me and teach me to trust His plans, His timing, and to be attentive and obedient to this call. My faith grew – I do not think I would give that up for anything. He was preparing me for Africa – for a life of service, of dying to oneself and being obedient to the call placed on my life despite challenges. He gave me a deep sense of peace and security. I wanted to do things in my own time, my own way, but He had grace for me in that, and I have learnt over the years to trust in God’s perfect timing – even when it is hard!"

Tommy + Morgan

We fell in love soon after we met and were married in May 2013 in South Africa. It was a beautiful day, and we felt so lucky to be able to celebrate with our family and friends. It was better than we could have ever dreamed! We have a marriage built on faith, service, and obedience to God’s leading in our life.

Our community of international and local African leaders is a constant source of inspiration and growth. We are continually transformed by the men and women we stand next to and serve alongside every day. Seemingly we should not fit together – but somehow we do, and it is a privilege to call them family! We never want to take for granted the blessing this life is to us.

We both spend the majority of our time in the office, Tommy in Finance and Morgan in Communication. We know for this work to be impactful, it takes many people behind the scenes to ensure our local offices, Care Workers, and children, and we are happy to play our part in that. Together we have traveled to many of the African countries, witnessing the brokenness, but also the hope, in many of our children and Care Workers. The more of Africa we see, the more we are sure of this life that we have been called to.

Our ministry in Southern Africa began in 2009 when we volunteered for three months with Hands at Work. After our first season, we knew God was calling us to return to Africa for another year. After that year, we again spent time searching God’s heart only to discover that we needed to make the move to South Africa more permanent. In the fall of 2011 we left our jobs as a teacher and radiographer, sold most of our belongings and moved. Our roots have grown deep here in South Africa and we had an addition to our family when our son, Hayden, was born in October 2013.

Our roles involve us working behind the scenes with the Project Support Team helping local Hands at Work staff to plan, write proposals, monitor projects and report on these activities running in many of the communities Hands at Work partners with. We have been continually blessed by the generosity, love, care and dedication of our local volunteer Care Workers and leaders. Most of these men and women have what looks like, very little, but are giving everything: their time, money, hearts and belongings to take care of the children in their communities who are even more vulnerable than themselves. I first started working with one of our leaders, Audrey, in January 2012, and although things were not always easy, we pushed through because we were committed to serving each other. I learned so much from Audrey over 2 years and it was incredible to see her grow as a leader as well as spiritually and emotionally as a mother, friend and sister. She now leads a strong team which serves all of our South African and Swaziland communities and does so with humility, passion and strength.

We have also grown very close to a young lady form the community of Masoyi who we met back in 2009 when she was only 17. 6 years later, she is as much a daughter to us as Hayden is our son. We love her and try to sow into her life and love her the way she deserves to be loved.

Over the past five years, we have become deeply connected to the values of Hands at Work. It didn’t take long to discover that being a part of the Hands family meant we were valued for who we were much more than what we could do. We discovered that although living in community gives us much joy, it is not without challenges. Living in community, you can’t ignore problems that come up with someone you work with because that person is usually also your friend and your neighbour. And you certainly can’t hide your issues. All the things Tyler and I had previously kept hidden eventually came to the surface because we were surrounded by people who deeply cared for us. All our wounds, brokenness and bad habits were exposed.

We were confronted with personal brokenness from our pasts, and challenges in our marriage. We couldn’t hide any longer, and how thankful we are for that! People from the Hands community shared with us their own personal battles. It was painful, and change didn’t happen overnight, but as people invested in us and spoke truth into our lives, we slowly learned what it meant to face our demons. When we became open, we were truly able to receive the grace and love our Father had for us and then extend that same love and grace to each other. This community of believers taught us to be vulnerable, and as a result we continue to grow and find healing. Because of this community, we can raise our son in a home, that while not perfect, is a home where healing and forgiveness lives. Because of this community, we can now be a part of others’ stories of brokenness and transformation.

Dawson:

From a very young age, I had always hoped to one day travel to Africa. Other than to say this desire was divinely inspired, I can’t remember having any solid reasons for this.

Despite being raised by a Christian mother who made every effort to train me in the way I was to go, I drifted from the faith in my teen years. After many years and MANY mistakes, I felt as though I was stuck in a deep dark pit with no way out. It was only then that I recalled all my mom had sought to teach me growing up, and so in December 2014, I cried out to God in a final act of desperation, and in an incredible act of mercy, He responded.

Though I was baptised in March of the following year, that day in December was the day God filled me with his Holy Spirit. This changed everything! After God had redeemed my life from the pit I was in, I attended church the following Sunday and never missed a service; I longed for Sunday to come so that I could worship the Lord and fellowship with his children. I remember feeling so in awe of God’s grace in my life and I quickly came to love Jesus so deeply that I wanted nothing other than to simply live for Him.

In the spring of 2015, my mom came back from her church (we were attending different churches at the time), and shared with me that a team of people were being prepared to visit Zimbabwe with Hands at Work that October; I jumped at the opportunity! God deeply challenged me during this visit, so much so that I came back saying, “I never want to go back to Africa!”, but at the same time, He opened my eyes to many things. What stood out to me most was the simple and genuine worship and faith of people in absolutely unimaginable circumstances and that Hands at Work was focused on finding the most difficult communities and caring for the most vulnerable within those communities. It was as though I could hear Jesus saying to me, “Dawson, I lived and served and ministered in communities such as these. I want you to come and share the hope and the truth I have given to you.”

So, in February 2017, I travelled to South Africa with the expectation of serving with Hands at Work for one year… nearly five years later, I am still here. God truly has captured my heart, and the more that He breaks my heart for what breaks His, the greater my desire becomes to go further and deeper into caring for the most vulnerable and sharing with them the hope found in Jesus Christ.

Celine:

My journey to Africa started when my family and I came to South Africa on a team for the first time in 2012. Throughout that visit, my heart was broken by the stories that I heard and the poverty and vulnerability that I saw. On our last day, I remember being asked if I had thought about coming to volunteer with Hands at Work for a year. With confidence, I answered, “No, that’s not part of my plan.” Little did I know how my life was going to unfold and the irony that my confident statement would later hold. Six months later, I was back serving with Hands at Work in Zambia on a two-week trip from my school. Coming away from that trip, I knew that I wanted to volunteer with Hands at Work for a year – Africa had captured my heart.

After graduating from high school, I attended university for a year and then joined the 2014 Volunteer Intake with Hands at Work in September, which was an amazing and life-changing experience. The following August, I returned to Canada to continue with university. However, as the year progressed, I grew more and more uncomfortable and discontent with what I was doing and knew that school wasn’t the path that God was calling to me to. As God spoke and stirred those feelings in my heart, I began to see the path that He was calling me to walk – a path of obedience that meant serving in Africa. And so, in January 2017, I moved to South Africa to serve with Hands at Work as a long-term volunteer.

This journey hasn’t been easy but God never promised that it would be. He doesn’t say ‘if’ there are challenges, but rather ‘when’. As believers, we can be confident in the fact that we will experience challenges. There will be trials that come from choosing to follow Jesus but the hope is that He promises that we will never be alone. God has taught me what it means to speak for truth, knowing that His truth is the only thing that can set us free from the brokenness that we carry. It is this truth and the promise of the hope that we have in God that I feel challenged to bring to the most vulnerable communities. The longer that I serve with Hands at Work and the more time that I spend in the communities, sitting in the dust playing with the most vulnerable children and hearing their stories of desperation, brokenness and at the same time hope and restoration, the more assured I am of the calling that God has placed on my life.

Dawson and Celine:

We met when Dawson arrived in South Africa for the 2017 Volunteer Intake. Over time, we slowly developed a friendship, even though Dawson was based in Zambia, and I (Celine) was based in South Africa. We only saw one another a couple of times a year. Despite the distance, we started dating in 2019, and after doing this over the long distance for ten months, I moved to Zambia in October 2019. In June 2020, we were married in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded by our Hands at Work family in Zambia and our Canadian family from afar. It was a beautiful day of celebration and joy!

For both of us, it was a non-negotiable to marry someone who not only understood this vocation but was also deeply committed to serving God in this capacity. We love living in a community of people from all different cultures and backgrounds who are committed to bringing the hope of Christ to the most vulnerable. It is a privilege to do life as a family, through the highs and the lows.

Currently, I serve on the communications team, helping to bridge the gap between what’s happening in Africa, and the International Church, who are partnering with Hands at Work to care for the most vulnerable. Dawson is a part of the Regional Support Team, supporting the local Hands at Work teams as they build capacity and resiliency in the communities that they are serving in. Though our responsibilities on a daily basis are different, our calling remains the same and it is a joy to serve as a couple.

Serving as a couple is a journey, but a journey that we are very much enjoying! It is definitely full of lessons: learning what it means to serve one another in a godly way, learning how to submit to one another as the Bible teaches, learning what it looks like to serve hand-in-hand while spurring one another on the list is extensive, but it is a beautiful thing to be in a relationship that mirrors Christ’s relationship to the Church.

Currently, Celine serves on the Communications Team while Dawson serves on the Regional Support Team. They are based in Zambia.

The desire for Kristi to come and serve in Africa started long before Kristi and her husband Daytona actually came in 2012. In 2004, Kristi was teaching grade one at Abbotsford Christian School. As she was preparing to teach a unit on “Africa”, she felt really challenged by what she was learning. She had this sense that she wanted to come – not just to visit – but to come and live and be immersed in the culture. Kristi shares, “I wanted to have my worldview rocked and turned upside down. I wanted to have my eyes opened to see God’s world in a new and different way than how I was currently living.” When Kristi initially shared this desire to live in Africa, Daytona’s reply was, “send me a postcard”. Kristi decided not to push, knowing that she needed to be patient and allow God to work in Daytona’s life and in his own time. Over the course of the next seven years, Kristi gently reminded Daytona every year that she still had the desire to go to Africa and that that desire was growing.

In 2010, while working at a different school, Kristi helped coordinate service-learning trips to Guatemala with the Grade 11 students. During that time, Daytona had the opportunity to go on one of these trips as videographer, and in that same year, to travel to Jordan and Israel with their church. Having experienced more of the world and different cultures for the first time, Daytona returned with the willingness to go to Africa, but with the disclaimer that it would be for one year only. Full of excitement, Kristi began the search for a Christian organisation where they could volunteer. The couple went to a Missions Conference in Vancouver, Canada and strategically searched the hundreds of booths for any organisation that mentioned anything about Africa. Kristi shares, “Near the end of the day, we were feeling discouraged, but as we prepared to leave I noticed a few booths that were off to the side. There was a small chance that something down this hall would be the right organisation for us to partner with. Finding a booth named, Hands at Work in Africa, and hearing the vision, I had this overwhelming sense that this was it! I felt the Holy Spirit stirring in me and started to tear up.”

Over the course of the next year, the couple met with several people from Hands at Work and the more people they met, the more they fell in love with the vision and had peace that this was the right organisation for them. Kristi and Daytona arrived in South Africa in September 2012. About half-way through their first year, Daytona shared with Kristi that he had a feeling that their time in Africa wasn’t finished yet. Not long after that, they committed to coming back for two more years.

At the time that Kristi and Daytona were discussing the possibility of coming back long term, they were still paying the mortgage on the house that they were trying to sell in Canada. They were feeling quite financially strained and it was at that point that they started questioning if it was right for them to be in Africa because of this. Kristi shares, “Often people have the misconception that if we are called to something, that everything will work out smoothly. Our house and financial situations were not going smoothly. God doesn’t say that things are going to be easy, nor does He call us to an easy life. There are going to be sacrifices that need to be made and challenges that we have to face.” During that time, Kristi and Daytona saw the Hands at Work community truly come together for them – supporting and encouraging them. After 22 months of being on the market, their house finally sold! The decision to stay longer wasn’t based on whether the house sold or not. Kristi and Daytona felt like they had to come to the decision of being honest with themselves about what God was calling them to and not just basing it on their life circumstances at the time – which was difficult to do.

Little did Kristi and Daytona know that God was calling them to more. Fast forward to 2017 – an unexpected tragedy hit the family they had met and stayed with for four days when they first arrived in 2012. As they walked away from the mother’s funeral, leaving the kids alone in their home, both Daytona and Kristi individually heard God clearly question them, “What is your role in this? What are you going to do?”. Kristi’s immediate reaction was – “It’s not my problem – someone in the community can help”. Throughout the next days, weeks, months, they continued to ponder and wrestle with God’s question. They were challenged to make it personal, to run towards the problem rather than away, and to allow God to shape their hearts. Daytona and Kristi visited the kids regularly and had them stay with them every school holiday. They fell deeply in love with the kids and desired to have them live with them permanently, but came up against complications. But, God is a God of the impossible and He made a way possible! Their children have been living with them fulltime since November 2019 and now Kristi and Daytona are legally foster parents! They are a family and are committed to these children for a lifetime. Never would Daytona and Kristi have imagined the journey God would bring them on. He has not only transformed them, but their family. Daytona and Kristi came to Hands on their 15th Anniversary and never intended to have children, but God had other plans that have blessed them incredibly! They are so thankful that they are a part of God’s larger family and that He has good, good plans that are beyond what one can imagine! God makes the impossible, possible!

Currently, Kristi serves with the Finance Team while Daytona serves on the Communications Team. Kristi and Daytona live at the Hands at Work Village in South Africa with their children, Thobile, Mpendulo and Khaya, and their cat, Moses.