I gave my life to Christ at 6 years old, and at age 7 my family began a 12 year journey in full time traveling evangelistic ministry around the United States. In the years on the road I was able to grow in the Lord and in different areas of ministry that I see being used now in my work in Brazil. After my first two days of serving with A.M.O on a short term mission trip, I was convinced that the Lord was calling me here to reach kids in the slums of São Paulo. It took 3 years for me to complete the transition to becoming a permanent missionary in Brazil and since 2013, I have been here investing much of my time walking alongside young men and boys from the favelas who have a desire to rise up into God-honoring manhood and break the generational cycle of abuse and addictions. God gave me a special calling to 4 young boys who have gone through many trials, including the loss of their parents, to invest in their spiritual and mental development. During school vacation and holidays, they often come out to our Main Campus and I am able to teach them about their heavenly Father who loves them. I also lead in the AMO agriculture projects and am developing a culinary outreach program and I lead the worship teams and teach kids and teen Bible classes in two of our churches. I also assist with the construction projects, maintenance of our main campus, and fill in for our Pastor on occasion. I have seen God do so many amazing things in the past 4 years and count it the greatest joy to see Him work through my life to show hope in His love to the lost and broken hearted with the comfort found in Christ.

I grew up as a missionary kid in Brazil, and after working and living stateside for a few years after college, I returned to Brazil and have been living here as a full-time missionary since 2014. God is so great and uses the skills and passions He's given me in a bunch of different ways. I direct A.M.O.'s Embrace-a-Child sponsorship program, coordinate mission trips, prepare the curriculum for the kids classes, am "the paperwork lady" and care for children who come to our Main Campus during their school breaks and vacation times. Since 2015 I've been blessed to have a beautiful (now) 6-year-old under my care every Wednesday-Sunday from one of the locations we minister in, and her younger sister often comes with her. I communicate with their teachers in the public "school" (daycare) in order to supplement their educational needs while they're here and come up with creative strategies for teaching them, providing the one-on-one attention that they lack in their preparation for elementary school. It's exciting to see God working through A.M.O. ministries to touch the lives of those He loves so much and it's such a blessing to have my life be used to further the work He's doing!

We met in 2013 in the USA, just before I (Jessica) moved back to Brazil. Nate had been living in Brazil as much as he could on his tourist visa until the following year when he was allowed to stay full-time. We were good friends and coworkers and got to see the great and the not-so-great sides of each other day in and day out year after year. In 2016, God started speaking to each of us about one another, we talked and prayed and received counsel for months as God confirmed that which was on our hearts. On February 10, 2017, Nate proposed, I said yes (through tears of joy and amidst a puddle of coffee - gotta ask for the proposal story when you see us!) and we're pursuing our callings in life together through marriage. We couldn't be happier and would love for you to uplift us in prayer as we navigate the newness of doing life together, continue to go deeper into our ministries, one day have a family and explore the breadth of all the riches God has in store for us!