WHO WE ARE

Elliot’s Testimony

I grew up in a Christian home where church and faith were central to my family's life. I knew how to act like a Christian — to say the right things, do the right things, and make my parents proud. At a young age, when my sisters encouraged me to pray and ask Jesus into my heart, I did — not because I truly understood salvation, but because I knew it would please my parents.

But life made that kind of performance unsustainable. When my parents went through a divorce, I realized I could not fix everything, please everyone, or keep the peace by being "good enough." I came face to face with my own lostness. At the age of 13, I no longer wanted to live with a false testimony. I wanted to genuinely know and follow King Jesus — not for my parents, not for the approval of others, but because I recognized I was a sinner in need of a Savior.

From that point on, God continued to work in my heart and grow in me a love for the nations. The church families He placed in my life reinforced that love — churches that cared deeply about missionary work and seeing people come to know Jesus around the world. God made it clear that He was calling me to be sent. In college, He showed me that an engineering degree was not a detour from ministry — it was a tool He had prepared for His purposes. Until the door opened to serve overseas, I committed to serving Him faithfully right where I was, every day.

Bethany’s Testimony

I grew up as a missionary kid, watching my parents — Jon and Pam Konnerup — sacrifice daily to take the gospel to people who had never heard it. That upbringing gave me an early and unusual window into what it costs to go, and what it means when someone finally hears the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time.

I gave my life to Jesus at the age of six. One night I went to my mom and told her I wanted to ask Jesus to forgive my sins — because I knew I was a sinner. My parents walked me through the gospel, and I prayed and asked Jesus to become my Savior. Something in me changed. I no longer felt like obedience was something I had to perform; I wanted to obey God and my parents because of what He had done for me.

Growing up around missionaries and international ministry, I always assumed I would end up on the mission field someday. But as a child, I romanticized it — I saw the adventure, the travel, and the interesting food, but I did not truly understand the weight of it. That changed as a teenager, when God opened my eyes to the spiritual reality of how many places in the world had never heard the gospel. That is when I fully surrendered to His will — willing to go wherever He led, or stay wherever He needed me.

I chose nursing school in college knowing that medical skills could be a powerful doorway into international ministry. When I met Elliot, we discovered we were both pursuing the same heart that the Lord has of reaching the nations. Even now, knowing what missionary life truly costs — the sacrifice, the long obedience, the denial of comfort — I hold on to the words of Jesus: deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Me. That is not a burden. That is a calling I am grateful to carry.