Our Brief Story...

In early October of 2012, our family moved from Seattle, WA to Nashville, TN as the start of a new chapter in our lives. I (Joseph) was returning to full-time schoolwork in a doctoral program in Leadership at Lancaster Bible College. No longer would I have been able to work as an engineer, attend school, continue our work in Honduras, and be a halfway decent dad and husband. Thus, we decided to pack up our belongings and move to Tennessee, where I would have easier (and cheaper) access to Pennsylvania and Honduras, and Hailey could pick up some photography work to help support the family. Little did we know that about six months later we would be packing up once again, but this time to move back to Honduras.

On Super Bowl Sunday, we began our day like any other day. We woke up, drank coffee and ate breakfast with our children (the kids didn’t do the coffee part), put Abbey down for her morning nap, and then left for church. After church, I had a meeting to attend (at the church), so Hailey returned home to put the children down for a nap. Because we only have one car, I had to wait after the meeting was over for Hailey to return to get me with the kids. Then, it was off to Hailey’s brother’s house for a Super Bowl party.

Rewind just a couple hours to my meeting…it was a meeting for people interested in getting involved in missions at Brentwood Baptist (The church we have been attending since our move). At the end of the meeting, I had a couple hours to wait, and I spent it reading and praying. It was during this time that I felt God impressing upon my heart that He desired a change in our lives. Both Hailey and I felt like we were spinning our wheels here in Nashville, and weren’t serving in ways that God has gifted us. To make a long story short, I decided to write Hailey an email explaining everything that I was feeling and thinking.

At that same time (I didn’t know this until about 9 PM that night), Hailey was having a conversation with her younger sister about our lives here in Nashville. While it has been a joy to be around Hailey’s side of the family, Hailey explained to her sister that our family was not serving in ways that we would like to serve. Furthermore, Hailey felt that God would be opening up doors for her to move away from photography and back into service. She told her sister, “I just don’t want to be the one to push this, so I am praying that God speaks to Joseph.”

Reminder: The abovementioned paragraph occurred as I was sending the email.

So, Hailey now comes to pick me up at church and head to the Super Bowl party. We have a great time with family, but neither one of us mention what we had been feeling that afternoon. We left the party early (that’s what happens when you have two young kids) and went home. After getting the kids in bed, Hailey sits down to read her email. To her surprise (looking back, it wasn’t much of a surprise…that’s how God works), she had an email from me explaining why I think God is calling us back into ministry/service.

Over the next several days, Hailey and I spent a lot of time in thought and prayer (mostly individually). We both felt like God was opening up the doors for us to return to Honduras as a family. While there were several practical reasons to stay in Nashville through the summer, at least, we wanted to respond to God’s call as soon as possible. Thus, with weddings on the books in June and July, and a trip to the Northwest scheduled in July, we decided to pack up and leave at the end of April. We recognized that logistically this would present some challenges, but were reminded of the many great men/women in the Bible who did things for God that seemed crazy by worldly standards.

Since we made the decision to move to Honduras a few months ago, we have gotten a wide variety of responses. However, we have never lost confidence in God’s call, and not once have we doubted whether we should move forward with our move. We have had greater peace, and even though circumstances here haven’t changed, our outlook has. Both Hailey and I can truly say that we are excited and grateful to be responding to God’s call in our lives. While Honduras will certainly present many challenges, there is great opportunity as well.

Please feel free to share our story with others. We hope that it will inspire others to listen to God’s call. Also, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers – they are much needed and greatly appreciated! And if you ever find yourself in Central America, please contact us. We’d love to put you up for a few nights and allow you to experience our ministry.

Many Blessings,

The Rahm Family (Joseph, Hailey, Micah, & Abigail)