September, 2003

On August 19 Susan and Alan Killingsworth were standing in the middle of a room of open boxes and suitcases making important decisions. The trappings of twenty-eight years of married life had to be whittled down to two suitcases each. They were leaving the next day on their journey to be full-time missionaries in Latin American.

As far back as 1978 they began the missionary trek. At that time Alan quit his job and he and Susan trained with Operation Mobilization in Belgium and England. They spent 2 months doing door-to-door evangelism in Ireland. Then with their infant son Bryan, and one additional passenger from their training team, they drove (yes, drove!) through 6 countries to their final destination – Amman Jordan. Here they spent six months with an Arab Christian, leading Bible studies and working with him in his bookstore. It was at this time that Alan felt the Lord redirecting him. “I knew I wanted to be a fulltime missionary, but in my heart I knew that God was telling me this wasn’t my time. I needed to wait for His timing.”

Meanwhile they found satisfaction in their subsequent careers, Alan in surveying and Susan in teaching. Their family expanded from one son to two. They had active roles in their church in Virginia Beach where Alan served on the Elder Board, and together he and Susan taught adult and youth Bible studies, and served many years as altar ministers. But it is when they talk about their numerous summer teen mission trips that their faces really light up.

While helping to lead her first youth mission trip to Mexico in 1993, Susan first met Earl Kellum, a missionary who had worked in Latin America for over 50 years and planted over 300 churches. It would be two more years before Alan was able to join Susan on one of these trips and meet Earl. Alan and Susan both say their relationship with Earl was a divine connection. From the first meeting Alan felt a spiritual affinity with him. “His apostolic call was obvious and I knew I would be returning to work with him.”

Because Earl is now 77 years old he is not able to travel as much as he did in his earlier years. For this reason he has looked for others to carry the torch of evangelism and church planting. After working with Earl on youth mission trips for eight summers, it became apparent to the Killingsworths that they were to be one of the couples that Earl had been praying would continue his work.

Starting in 2001 Alan and Susan began preparing to make Latin America their home. They read many books. They attended conferences they thought would be helpful. Susan told of going to a Marriage Encounter weekend. “Even though we had been married nearly 30 years, it was so beneficial. We needed to learn everything we could about being on the mission field, but we also needed to make sure we were doing things that would strengthen us as a couple.”

Planning their departure for summer 2003 meant that both their sons would be settled, finished with college, employed, and building lives of their own. Some of their priorities during the two year prep period were: paying off all their debts, getting their home ready to sell, and also recruiting and training a couple to replace them as leaders for their church’s teen mission trips to Mexico.

Presently Alan and Susan are taking advice they found in a book given to them by Alan’s Vanguard coach. It suggested living with a family native to the country when attending language school. Saying this would help, not only with learning the language, but also with identifying with local culture and, maybe most importantly, avoiding the inclination to associate solely with those from your own country. So as of August 20, 2003 they have traded their 2000+ square foot home in Virginia Beach for a 10’ x 20’ room in the home of a Costa Rican family. This will be home for them during the next year while they attend language school in San Jose. They are unencumbered by the bulk of their previous possessions and Susan reports that the view from their bedroom is one of “the river that runs outside our window and a tree that’s home to wild, lime green, parakeets with bright red chests.”

As they look forward to working in Latin American, Alan says he’ll remember advice received from Earl Kellum. “The first priority for being a successful missionary, besides answering God’s call on your life, is to give your heart to the people God calls you to serve.” The other is, “Do the maximum for God every day with excellence.”