Jeff was born in Montana to Christian parents and spent most of his formative years in an agricultural community along the Columbia River in southeast Washington. At the age of eight he was challenged with his need for forgiveness of sins and accepted Christ as his Savior.
After high school he attended Montana Wilderness School of the Bible and spent seven years doing construction work in Billings. His love of adventure and everything outdoors led him to be involved in local outreach ministries involving baseball and snowboarding and to search out opportunities to travel.
God used time spent in South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia to expose him to the immense need for the gospel around the world and specifically tribal church planting and missionary aviation.
Anna’s exposure to missions began at the age of two when God directed her parents out of youth ministry in Indiana to help with church planting and theological training in Papua New Guinea. She also came to an understanding of salvation through faith in Christ at the age of eight and began to follow Him.
After serving alongside her parents for nine years in PNG and two in Sydney, Australia, Anna returned to the U.S. to attend Bible college in Pennsylvania. She began pursuing a degree in Education with a desire to teach missionary kids and be involved in overseas ministry.
We met in 2008, during a nine month study abroad program in Israel. Drawn together by our mutual call to be a part of foreign missions, we committed to serving the Lord together and were married in 2009.
From 2010-2017 we lived in Spokane, WA where Jeff enrolled in Moody Bible Institute’s Missionary Aviation program. During that time he completed a year and a half of Bible training, earned his Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic licenses, Commercial Pilot license with an Instrument Rating and became a Certified Flight Instructor. God provided work for Anna as a preschool teacher and office manager, giving her many opportunities to develop new skills and be a witness among her coworkers.
While in Spokane, we joined New Hope Bible Church and enjoyed serving alongside them in children’s ministries and on the missions committee and deacon board. In 2017, Jeff passed a technical evaluation for Ethnos360 Aviation and our church family sent us off to the Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center in Missouri.
We completed the training in June 2018 and were assigned to the aviation department’s home office in Arizona. While there, Jeff completed advanced flight training on short and sloped dirt airstrips and sharpened his maintenance skills in the hangar.
In August 2019 — nine years to the day after Jeff began his aviation training— we were invited to serve as part of the Papua New Guinea field team! Jeff will be meeting a critical need for more pilot/mechanics and Anna hopes to help at the school for missionary kids she attended as a child.
God has guided, provided and sustained us through every step of this journey! He has blessed us with two precious daughters and many ministry partners along the way. We hope He will enable us to serve the people of Papua New Guinea for many years to come!