Our Journey To City Awakening
The last couple of years have brought a lot of change for a lot of people.
Our story all started about 5,000 miles away on the beautiful island of O’ahu. We had been living there going on 7 years, saving up as much as possible, and we were finally considering buying our first home.
In March of 2021, Adria’s dad had emergency surgery on his heart. Adria took the first flight to Orlando to see him and to help care for him, only to return two weeks later with a look in her eyes that said it was time to go and be helpful.
The shutdown in Hawai’i also brought change in the way we decided to educate our kids. Before leaving the island, Adria spoke with a Home School Support Representative for the faith-based learning curriculum called Classical Conversations. We felt like it would be a good fit for our family when we moved, but we were unsure where we would be living in relation to the Representative’s territory.
We took our savings for the house we were going to buy, paid for our entire move, and by the middle of June, we were driving across the country from Southern California to Orlando. The drive was a blessing because it gave us time to visit friends and family, to pray, to reflect, to dream, and even to relax.
By God’s grace, a home in the same neighborhood as Mom and Dad was available July 1. I think we overnighted money orders to the management company from New Mexico just to make sure we didn’t lose the place! God also eventually made a way for provision in work, income, insurance to meet our needs when we were almost down to zero.
The home we got just so happened to be in the same district as the CC Rep, whose name is Brittany. When Adria and I met her face to face, Brittany mentioned her husband Zack was one of the pastors of a church nearby. We are so grateful God led us from that first phone call in Hawai,i all the way to not only joining the homeschool co-op, but also City Awakening Church!
Adria and I actively sought out membership to the church. We felt it was a place where we could grow in our own faith, and help others to do the same. We both serve in Guest Services, Adria serves in Kid’s Ministry, and on Monday nights we meet with our Missional Community Group (MCG) for fellowship, but also for growth and a deeper dive into God’s Word.
I’ve been to a Men’s Meat Extravaganza, Adria has enjoyed Women’s events, we both attended the “Marriage of Your Dreams” experience, and we sang in the Easter Choir! Our kids love it here, and we are all excited to be part of a growing ministry in Orlando and beyond.
John 3:17 – “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”