Miriam had already been accepted to Toronto Film School in Canada when God gave her a clear calling to serve in the Himalayas . . . all because of a short-term mission trip she took a month before classes began.
Raised in a Christian home and saved at a young age, her parents provided a strong foundation of faith. Before school film school began her parents encouraged her to go on a short term mission trip while she was still able to. A family in her church was serving in the Himalayas, so she visited the country, and it changed the course of her life.
She says, “We went into the villages sharing the gospel with those who had never heard it before and praying and encouraging the believers that had.” Miriam had just come out of a small, dark room where several local villagers and foreigners were praying together, each in their own language. When her eyes adjusted to the light outside the dark clay hut, she looked out into the mountains and asked herself a question that had popped into her mind: “Miriam, will you come back? Her immediate thought was, “Yes!” Although she had been accepted to film school, she canceled the plans she had desperately wanted to do and followed God to serve him overseas.
She always had a heart for the marginalized, but it was a love for the lost and a burden to share the gospel that called her back to the country long term. And at the same time, Jacob, a seminary student from Texas, had decided to answer the call to missions that he had felt since a short-term mission trip at the age of fourteen.
Jacob’s first mission trip had confirmed the same calling: Being part of missions was God’s desire as well as his own. Now in his mid-twenties and unsure what God was shaping him for, he says, “During that first trip to the Himalayas and seeing the needs and opportunities, I knew it was what God wanted of me. So I moved home immediately, got rid of all my stuff, and prepared for a long term stay.”
Their separate journeys had brought them together in the Himalayan mountains.
After meeting and serving together, they began a two-year friendship, realizing that they had the same beliefs and ministry vision. Their friendship continued and grew even more as they grieved together following the tragic loss of two close friends. She began to realize they had different perspectives on their friendship, and three months after their returns to Canada and the U.S, Miriam told Jacob her feelings had changed: She was interested in more than just friendship.
Her admission was followed by a flurry of activity that included prayer, plane tickets, and meeting parents. In January of 2020, they were engaged, then wedding plans were complicated by visa issues, cancellations, and a failed border crossing due to Covid restrictions. Finally, in May of 2020 they were married.
Their purpose – serving the lost – had not changed, but one thing would be different. They had shared the gospel for two years and loved it but realized the sharing and seeing new conversions is not where the work should end. New believers needed discipleship to help grow and mature into faithful followers of Christ that would produce healthy fruit. Some appeared to be “converts” but never truly followed Christ or found a church. Demon possessed leaders were working in God’s name and training pastors and leaders to do the same. They wanted to go back, this time as a couple, to help with the problem.
In July of 2022 their son was born while they were still in the country. They are currently back in the States speaking at churches and raising support.
In a way that only God could have orchestrated, their burden for the people in this creative access country unites them, making their love story all the more beautiful.
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