We both grew up serving with our churches with the Appalachia Service Project, which is a home repair ministry for low-income families living in central Appalachia. We both went to Miami University to become teachers, but didn’t meet until working on staff of the Appalachia Service Project during our summers in Virginia. We graduated from Miami, got married, and began our teaching careers. Kara taught third grade in Dayton Public and Chad taught high school English in Lewisburg. We both enjoyed the interaction with the students and the opportunity to be a positive influence in their lives.
Then five years ago the Lord laid it on our hearts to move overseas. We initially talked about moving overseas to work as teachers. That was our profession and comfort zone. At that time, we became very involved in our church and bible study. One of the verses we struggled with was Mathew 28:18-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything I have commanded you.” We struggled with the question, “How can I help fulfill His Great Commission?” It is a question we all must answer.
We were blessed to be able to serve on two short-term mission trips. We worked at an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico and helped a dedicated pastor in the Dominican Republic start to fulfill his vision for a school on batey #3. After pouring concrete all day, Pastor Premenuse would stand in the back of his tattered pick-up and profess the Good News to a crowd that rarely heard any. On both trips we witnessed the transforming power of the gospel message.
We also looked into our spiritual gifts and prayed consistently to God for discernment and direction. Through all these ways we realized our call to serve as cross-cultural missionaries. We knew we would only move overseas to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We looked into many ministry opportunities and continually prayed. Finally in 2005, we traveled to the Turkana region of Kenya and felt that perfect, at peace feeling, knowing we were in the will of God.
Chad and Kara Harris
