Our Story

     I know the move seems random to many of you, but it really was pretty calculated.  Well...as calculated as the Sullivan family gets anyway.   The idea of a long term family mission trip sprouted many years ago, but as we all know these sort of things take much time and planning.  Over the past 17 years, Pat has poured his heart and soul into his company creating the means to make this all happen. The kids and I have been diligent at home to ensure that they were a year ahead academically so that we could take a year off and simply serve the Lord. I cannot tell you what an honor it is that God has made this possible for us.
      I love to look back and see his hand guiding us every step of the way. I regret that I can also look back and see us pushing him away and taking matters into our own hands. The most exciting part of this experience is that we realize we are now at a point where God is the only one who can be in control. The 5 of us are so far out of our comfort zone that we can only rely on him now.  It didn't start that way. I wanted to control where we would live (at the beach near people who speak English), how long we would be gone (3 months), and who would be over us (some experienced Godly family who has done the same thing we are doing and has kids the same ages as ours).   I had my list of ministries we could work with and their contact information. We spoke with friends who have a condo in Costa Rica along with ready made connections. Pat and I booked a flight to Costa Rica to check things out and make sure we (I) approved of them. By the time we boarded the plane, God had narrowed our list down to one place, Turrialba, Costa Rica with International Impact Ministries.
     Taking a step this big requires us to live out our faith. Being we are going on a mission trip, I figured we should just follow his calling and go where he leads us.  We read a great book a few years ago called, The Cause Within You by Matthew Barnett. The focus of the book is to find what God is doing and join him. We have friends that have been to Turrialba and loved it. I  was a bit giddy at the thought of going someplace others loved and created a picture in my head of what the town would look like and how comfortable I would be there. Why do we do that to ourselves?  Our driver was 2 hours late picking us up from the airport, the showers in the house didn't work, there was a group of about 20 musicians staying at the compound, no one spoke English. But... God is still faithful!  The first night Pat and I arrived we went for a walk to see the town. We found a neat little park with a creek. We headed over to a rock to sit and pray and this is what we saw.

     Yes, God's promise. Just for me. At that moment I gave up control of where I would be or what I would be doing. That was 7 months ago. We are now heading down to a rural inland town with no beach or English speaking people around for 12 months and God is over us. Our house rented for what we were asking before we put it on the market and the renters agreed to host our dog and fish while we are gone. God has gone down our "hanging over our head" list and wiped it clean.  While my "Missy is in control" list was very specific of our ministry works, God has just called us to love our neighbor. (Imagine that!). At first I felt inadequate when people would ask what we would be doing, but now I say with confidence that we are going to love our neighbor.