Let me give you a brief history of events that
has lead to these life-changing moments in my life. When I was a junior in high
school, the infamous question was, “What are you going to go to college for?” I
really didn’t know and often replied, “Maybe Accounting?” I realized I didn’t
have a clue and asked God to help me figure it out since he created me and knew
me best.
Joni’s story captivated me and I
could not put the book down. She wrote about her diving accident and her newly
found life with quadriplegia. She wrote about her long road in rehab and the
many challenges she faced. She wrote about her therapists that helped her
regain function and retrained her how to do daily, as well as recreational,
activities again. One of those
recreational activities included drawing and painting. Joni learned to draw
with her mouth since she could no longer use her hands like she did before. At
that point in the book, I said to myself, “Now that would be a cool job!”
From that moment, I pursued a
degree in Occupational Therapy. I went to college for 6 years to obtain my
Master’s at Concordia University Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee. In 2001, I
found out that Joni was going to speak at a conference in Wheaton IL. I had to
go!
That conference changed my life.
There were hundreds of people there with and without disabilities. I never have
been in a place with so many people with disabilities before. It was powerful,
especially as we sang. I saw people singing with all their hearts, uninhibited,
and genuinely real. No fakeness, no facades.
I saw people full of joy and happiness even though their lives were full
of struggles. I felt a joy and a love
fill the room that I never felt before. Joni spoke and also sang beautifully. I
was able to meet Joni after the conference. I had her sign my book and told her
that her story inspired me to pursue a career in Occupational Therapy. She was excited for me and praised the
therapists that helped in rehab.
Also at the conference, there was a
recruiter (Jon Ebersole) at a booth recruiting people for their Family Retreats
and Wheels for The World programs. I was very interested and took the
information. However, being in college and working, I was unable to get to a
retreat until after I graduated.
In college however, pursued working
in the disability community as a secretary of the Milwaukee chapter of the
National Spinal Cord Injury Association. There I made several friends with
disabilities and began learning what life was like for people with
disabilities. I also had my student
fieldwork experience in a hospital with a spinal cord injury rehab unit.
In 2004, I finally made it to my
first Family Retreat at The Oakwood Inn in Syracuse, IN. It was one of the most life-changing weeks of
my life. I was matched with a girl close to my age with Cerebral Palsy named
Lauren. We hit it off well from the start. I learned she was a lot like me,
with similar interests and struggles in life. She ended up teaching me more
than I think I taught her. For the first time, I experienced first hand that
people with disabilities had a lot to offer and value overlooked by most. From
that moment, I would forever seek to surround myself with people with
disabilities. Lauren and I grew our friendship over the years to come and we
are still friends today. JAF became a
family to me right away and continued to grow stronger every year.
I would drive 8 hours from Green
Bay, WI to JAF Retreats the every summer, being the highlight of my year. I searched for opportunities in my hometown
and home church to connect with people with disabilities. At the time, I
struggled finding them. Eventually, my brother gave me a brochure for a camp
for people with disabilities asking, “Have you ever heard of Camp Daniel?” I
said, “No,” taking the brochure and seeing the address was in Athelstane, WI.
Just an hour north of where I was living! This was in my own backyard! It was
in during the winter months, so it was a long ways off until their summer
camps. However, I looked on their website and saw that they met in Green Bay
once a month for a church service called The Able Fellowship. It was a church
service for and run by people with disabilities. That concept never crossed my
mind before and it intrigued me. I
anxiously awaited their next meeting January of 2007.
My first time at The Able
Fellowship was amazing. Two people with disabilities happily greeted me at the
door. Others with disabilities helped
lead the prayer and singing. It was truly nothing like I’ve experienced before.
It was most real and genuine church service I’ve ever been to.
I continued to attend The Able
Fellowship each month until finally the summer camp season began. That June, I
served two weeks with Joni & Friends Retreat once again. It was amazing as
always and so good to see my JAF family. When I returned, I couldn’t wait to
serve at and see Camp Daniel’s summer camp.
That year, Camp Daniel’s camp theme
was “Family”. It was a very fitting theme as it was during that summer that God
led me to join the Camp Daniel family. I
joined their missionary staff, where I have been serving as a fulltime
missionary within the disability community ever since.
Camp Daniel
was named after a boy named Daniel who had a form of muscular dystrophy and was
called in to ministry at a young age. Daniel was friends with Joni and impacted
the disability community in many ways, just like her.
After Daniel passed away in his
young 20s, Camp Daniel was developed in 1996 with summer camps and Christian
family group homes. The Able Fellowship
transpired after several years of having campers come to camp, beginning a
relationship with God, and have no spiritual connection or church family to
connect with when returning home. Summer camp ended up being most of the
camper’s only church connection all year long. The Able Fellowship eventually
evolved into a weekly church service called, The Able Church, in which I played
a vital role in its formation. Its leadership of its members with disabilities
continues to grow. It even has a pastor with an intellectual disability,
naturally teaching the Bible simplistically so its members can understand.
Today, my husband and two-year-old
son join me as fulltime missionaries in disability ministry. We run a group
home and help run the summer camps with Camp Daniel. We are currently in the
process of starting The Able Church in another community near by. We speak at
churches, colleges, schools, and Bible studies about the value of people with
disabilities and their importance within the church. Special Olympics have also
been a huge part of our lives. We continue to serve with Joni & Friends
retreats as leaders for the young adult group. Joni & Friends retreats have
been a dear family for us with the relationships we’ve made with other
volunteers and attending families. We
hope to someday serve on a Wheels for the World trip and also at a Warrior
Getaway (my husband served in the Marines).
Joni & Friends has guided my
life in so many ways. It has guided my jobs, my mission, my thoughts and most
importantly, my relationships. Without
JAF, I would not have realized the value of people with disabilities, much less
sought them out as friends. I would not have sought disability ministry as a full-time, life-long commitment. It would not be my mission to see churches filled
with people with disabilities. JAF has played a huge role in who and where I
am today, and I will be forever grateful! www.joniandfriends.org
