I was raised in a Christian household with homeschooling parents. Being tought the Bible every morning before schoolwork began was impactful on my decision to accept Christ into my life just after turing 7 years old. As a child, I had various struggles that tested my trust in God each day. At a young age, I was diagnosed with Speech and Language Delay. I had a late start with language believe it or not. At the age of 8, I was treated for Lyme Disease. The illness brought out a neurological syndrome which manifested as "tics" and uncontrolable body movements. I was diagnosed with Tourette's the following year. In middle school, my parents noticed that I was having trouble interacting socially and communicatively. I was brought to several practitioners who collectively gave me my fourth diagnosis: Asperger's Syndrome.

As a young man, I was tempted to let these diagnoses define me. I felt awefully alone. But my mother would read scripture to me, citing verses such as Jeremiah 29:11, saying "For I know the plans I have for you—this is the Lord’s declaration—plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." The message that helped me through these hard times the most was that God had a special plan for my life. When I was 13 years old, I was introduced to a Wycliffe Bible Translator who came to present at one of our homeschool events. At the time, I was studying Biblical Hebrew with a friend in our group. After hearing this, the translator approached me and gave me a slip of paper with the International Phonetic Alphabet written upon it. She told me that if I learn the IPA, I could learn any language on Earth. After that day, I was inspired to start studying languages as a way to find purpose in my life. Despite my difficult past, the Lord helped me to pursue a new passion.

By the age of 15, I went on my first missions trip with my church to Upstate New York. We joined the World Changers convention for training. There I was impacted by the main message of the event "UNLESS we go, THEY won't know." This phrase is based off of Romans 10:14-15: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" The idea of Spreading the Gospel spoke to me in a greater way than ever before. One evening, during a private study, I recommited my faith in Jesus. It was that day that I finally understood what it meant to be a Christian. However, it wasn't until seven years later that I made a connection between my love for languages and my calling to go.

During my final semester in college, I spent seven months living in the Holy Land to study linguistics. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do: Go into language preservation as a linguist or anthropologist, perhaps even with Jewish languages. But God had bigger plans for me. One day in February 2020, I was visting Jerusalem to see the Garden Tomb of Jesus Christ. I was walking alone through the garden, and saw the location of Galgatha, but when I came across the tomb, I felt truly convicted and overwhelmed. I know that Christ is risen from the grave, but seeing the place where the miracle took place was quite amazing. At that moment, I knelt and prayed, asking the Lord to fill me with His spirit and take control of my destiny. I consider that day to be when I felt the Great Commission in my life. I feel bad that it took having to be in the holiest city on Earth before I dedicated my future to the missions, but I have to realize that God calls everyone to Himself from all kinds of places. After returning home to the US, I sent in my application to Wycliffe Bible Translators to fulfill God's calling on my life that had began 10 years prior. Despite the struggles that I still face with my childhood diagnoses, the Lord has used every moment of my life to prepare me for His purpose.