I was saved at a small church in Baltimore, Maryland. My parents had only recently
come to know the Lord and serve Him. During a VBS one summer, I saw my own need for Christ and accepted Him as
Savior. My mother claims that even before that I was interested in missions and talked about going to foreign countries
for God. I can not remember exactly when I first felt a specific call to be a missionary. It seems that it was
something I always knew God would have of me and through the years the desire increased and grew into a true call.
I considered many types of missionary service and many sites. While studying at Piedmont Baptist College, I became
interested in an M.K. from Brazil. He invited me to go with him to meet his parents during summer break after we
had been dating for over a year. I knew many missionaries personally who worked in Brazil and made plans to visit
some of them during this trip. After returning to the States, I felt I finally knew where God would have me go
and I was also pretty sure that I would not go alone, but with that M.K. named Byron Atha.
I taught for several years at a Christian school in Winston-Salem after graduating from Piedmont. Upon arrival
in Brazil I taught at Fortaleza Academy, a school run by Baptist Mid-Missions for missionary children. Currently
I am mother to three little boys. They keep me pretty busy,
but I am also involved with children's and women's ministries at our church.
