Brittany and Dustin

I wanted to share with all of you some exciting news about my good friends Brittany and Dustin Patrick.




First, I want to share a little bit about Brittany and how she has impacted my life. Joe and I met Brittany in 1999, she was in eighth grade and we were starting our ministry at Glendale Christian Church. She was the most devoted student that I had ever encountered. She was consistently at every youth function, whether it would be our usual youth group meeting, to Bible studies, service projects, volunteering for children's events, everything. We could always count on Brit. Over the time spent at Glendale, the bond that Brittany and I shared grew. We were at summer camp after her freshman year. I was her leader and we were talking at session about different relationships we needed in our life. One was a "Paul," someone to mentor us, another was a "Timothy," someone to mentor and the third was a "Barnabas," someone to hold us accountable. I will never forget the exact moment at camp in our cabin, Brittany was in the bunk above mine and she pops her head down and asks, "Will you be my Paul?" She made me so happy and the rest is history. We spent SO much time together from that point on. She even spent most of her Friday nights with Joe and I. Her family has become our family and ours hers. I love her more than I can say. She is kind, caring, compassionate, hard-working, thoughtful, a servant and she has dedicated her life to helping others and following God's plan for her. After high school, she decided to go to ASU West to become a teacher (like me), but after a year felt God calling her to ministry. She wasn't sure what or where that meant she should go. It was the end of summer before her sophomore year, she came over to our apartment to ask Joe and my advice and by the end of the conversation, she decided she was going to Manhattan Christian College, which by the way started in 2 weeks. She made it there and loved it. The next year, she met Dustin, who Joe suggested he look Brittany up when he got to school. They have been together pretty much ever since. Well, she graduated in May of 2007 and got married on August 3, 2007 (I got to be one of her bridesmaids). Dustin and Brittany moved back to Manhattan for one more year so he could finish up and graduate.

That leads me to now. Yesterday we said good-bye to them. They have decided to start an adventure and move permanently down to Rocky Point, Mexico. They are partnering with One Mission, an organization that desires to help the community of Rocky Point by building houses for needy families and eventually unite the community as a whole. One Mission purchased an RV park that will host groups from different churches, including CCV, who are coming down to build houses. Brittany and Dustin's main job will be to living at the RV park and hosting those groups. They will also be working with the local churches to find families in need of a house, as well as building relationships with locals and getting them plugged into the churches. I know there is much more that they will be doing down there. I ask that if you are reading this that you keep them in your prayers. They are still learning Spanish, as well as what is expected of them. They both have an amazing servant's heart and truly feeling that this is where God is leading them. I couldn't be more proud of the decision that they have made and the people that they have become. If you are interested in knowing more about One Mission or if you would be willing to help Brittany and Dustin raise the financial support they need, check out the website. http://www.1mission.org/index.php

Thanks for reading.