We met while Ryan was on an internship in Napa, CA the fall of 2006. We then started dating that December, and the rest is history! Elyse later moved out to Lincoln, Illinois to finish her Bachelors degree at Lincoln Christian University, while Ryan worked on his Masters degree from the seminary at the same university. We then got married in the summer of 2008! Elyse later finished her degree from LCU with a BA in Intercultural Studies with a focus in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) in 2011, and Ryan completed his Masters of Divinity degree with a focus in philosophy from the LCU seminary in 2012. Ryan had previously graduated with his BA in Worship Ministry with a focus in percussion from LCU in 2007. God has taken us on a crazy path toward ministry in Germany, which started for both of us long before we even met! God has blessed us both with hearts geared toward reaching the German people for Jesus, and we are so excited that we get to be on this journey together. Together, we have completed a 6 month long internship in Jena, Germany in 2010 and have also led a short term trip to Germany, Austria and Belgium in the spring of 2011. Since the year before we got married, we have been traveling to and from Germany at least once a year for church trips, conferences, internships and so on. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to already get so many chances to learn about Germany's culture and people. We have also already had a lot of great language learning, but still have a ways to go!
We are both very different people who are skilled in very different things, but we think that makes us a great team. We know God is wanting to use our little family for His Kingdom! We are learning everyday more and more what it means to trust in God and His plan, while we respond to this calling He has put on our lives to minister in Germany.
And... on December 13, 2012 we welcomed the third member of our family into the world: Oliver Ryan!!
