by Emily Smith

One early morning late last May, groggy-eyed and slightly confused as to exactly what day of the week it was, I strolled through the sun-beamed halls of the Greater Columbus Convention Center on my way to an already-bustling hotel café, looking for a couple whom I had yet to meet. After a quick glance around the dining room, I was soon greeted with two hugs and the smiling faces of Julian* and Sophia*—two international workers with The Alliance who were, along with myself and thousands of others, attending the Alliance General Council that week. Espressos in hand, we chose a table, and I soon realized that no matter how demanding, energetic, and whirlwind-like I thought my week at Council was, the two of them had me beat by a long shot. 

Julian and Sophia had spent the year prior to Council packing up their lives in Central Asia, where they had spent the past nine years as international workers, and had since been traveling and speaking all across the United States on home assignment. Within the 72 hours following us sitting down to coffee at Council, they would be landing in Costa Rica to begin language study for a new chapter as international workers in Paraguay— where they would be moving a mere eight weeks later. 

Though their paths to The Alliance and becoming international workers looked different—Sophia through God’s nudge to further her education before going overseas and Julian through a connection with an Alliance church elder who mentored him—they both ended up at Alliance Theological Seminary (ATS), where they met and together began pursuing their dreams to serve the Kingdom beyond the United States. 

Meeting Felt Needs

For the nine years following ATS, Julian and Sophia would call Central Asia home. There, they would go on to learn the local language, have conversations with many people inside the majority religion, and establish a gospel presence in a second city there through a non-governmental organization. As they grew roots in this Central Asian country, the primary question driving their ministry was: What needs exist here? A focus on a meaningful, impactful presence in their community led them and their team to develop an educational sign language program for hearing parents of Deaf children, as well as a CPR and water safety project after finding out that drowning was the lead cause of child deaths in their area. 

Sophia also found a unique niche by which to enter into daily evangelism: “One of the things that was really powerful [was that] in 2021, I got an exercise teaching certification, and out of that I was able to teach classes at a local counseling center run by believers. And while they are believers, they couldn’t always share really openly, but they invited me in and said, ‘Well, because you’re a foreigner, we can give you free reign to kind of do whatever you want.’ And so, through my classes, I always had a theme Psalm for the day; and as we were moving, I would invite people to pray and release things to Jesus, just allowing people to experience the presence of the Lord. Because in their mindset, God is really far off and really disconnected.” 

As Julian and Sophia continued seeking out the deepest needs of the community they were in, they also began working with a local church to create a safe space for people in ministry—particularly pastors and church leadership—because of how few believers surrounded them. “We really believe that the local church is such an important part of the story that God is writing in Central Asia, and we want her to be healthy and strong,” Sophia tells me. Through hospitality, they were able to provide rest and care for these people immersed in church ministry. 

A Time For Something New

Julian and Sophia continued to grow valuable roots in their Central Asian community and, in 2019, went on home assignment to the United States to visit family and speak at various churches. As 2020 hit and travel shut down, their plans were changed, and the unexpected extra time stateside was spent living on a farm in Indiana, allowing them to lean into silence and solitude. This resulted in Julian taking many prayer walks. “I just really had a sense that the Lord was saying, I’m preparing you for something new,” he shared. “And at that time, I had no idea what that meant. And we were getting ready to go back to Central Asia, so I said, Well, Lord, we just don’t know what that means, but we’re going to be faithful and we’re going to go back to what we think You’re calling us to this season. So that meant going back to Central Asia.” 

Once much of the chaos of 2020 had blown over, Julian and Sophia returned to their country and eventually, in 2022, their team welcomed two women sent to Central Asia from the Chilean Alliance. Although they were already a multigenerational and multi-focused team, they lacked a deeper multicultural makeup that these women helped to provide. Through their presence, they were able to establish a broader Spanish-speaking community there—the significant existence of which they had all been unaware. These Spanish conversations and spaces enabled them to bring gospel presence where Americans had significant barriers. And through this accessibility, they caught a vision for how God might move in Central Asia through non-American workers. 

Around the same time, God was also working in Sophia’s heart, speaking to her through a prayer meeting while she wrestled with the little spiritual fruit seen among the local people. “Just this gentle whisper came: It’s going to take them seeing My people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. And I began to think through how the spiritual climate in the country had changed as not only us, but other teams, had begun to welcome people from Latin America and Africa and other parts in Asia, because [the local people] could no longer say, ‘Oh, well your God is just the God of America.’ They were literally being faced with the truth and reality that our God is the God of all people.” 

By January 2023, the couple together felt that God was releasing them to begin exploring something different— so they decided to begin looking at new opportunities with The Alliance.

Confirmation of a Calling

“So, we became aware of this unique opportunity in Paraguay to train, equip, and mobilize Latin Americans wanting to go to the ends of the earth,” Julian shares. “And so, as we read the description of what they’re hoping to do and the whole idea of raising up more workers, we felt really excited. We began to pray. At that moment, it was just us; nobody else knew. At one point, we were sitting with our Chilean teammates, and all of a sudden one of them says, ‘Hey, do you guys know about the work that’s happening in Paraguay?’ When she was done explaining everything, she kind of looks at me and goes, ‘I think you guys should go there. I think you guys will be a good fit.’” 

So, after eight weeks of language study in Costa Rica, Julian and Sophia went to Paraguay. 

With a realtor, they embarked on a journey of house-hunting—which at first only left them with options that were either much too small or still under construction. After a long day of searching, their realtor texted: “I know you really want a house . . . but there’s this apartment that I can’t get off my mind. Would you be willing just to look at it?” They agreed to see it the next day. 

“So, we elevator up, up, up, and they open the door. And one of the first things that you see is this stairwell upstairs . . . and on the railing of our stairwell is carved wood. It’s a very similar feel to being in Central Asia. And we just kept going through the house—the light fixtures that they chose, the colors that they have on the wall; there were all these little things that were like, Oh, this feels like home. This feels like a place that we’ve been before, even though we’ve never been here. And that was a really sweet gift.” 

Julian continues on, “The other thing about that story was that I was talking with the manager of this apartment. And as we’re talking, he asked us about our work. So, we were open . . . and then the guy says, ‘Oh, the last people who were renting this apartment, they were missionaries, and they were from Canada.’ So, then we found out they were missionaries from The Alliance in Canada and just hear this—they were doing the ministry of Samuel House that we’re doing now.” 

Casa de Samuel

Samuel House—known as Casa de Samuel—is a collaboration between the Canadian Alliance, the U.S. Alliance, the Chilean Alliance, and the Paraguayan Alliance. A beautiful blend of culture and partnership, the team trains and equips international workers to be sent from Latin America to the ends of the earth. Casa de Samuel is the organization behind why Julian and Sophia now reside in Paraguay—through Samuel House, the couple gets to focus on developing and preparing international workers to go where Americans can’t evangelize as effectively. 

Back when first making their decision of whether to remain in Central Asia or go again, moving to Paraguay to equip effective disciples, one question lingered in their minds: Where would they make the most Kingdom impact? 

“[We asked ourselves], ‘Is there a space for us to be a part of more people from more places going into more places?’ Really that idea of All of Jesus for All the World, and gospel access for and from all people,” Sophia shares. “And that hit us so hard because it was so clear. We can stay in Central Asia, and we can continue to do our ministry, but we’re only two people and our circle can only be so big. But if we can go to Paraguay and be part of sending wave after wave of workers, that just gets so much bigger. That Kingdom impact possibility is so much larger. So it just became really clear that the Kingdom mattered.” 

“At the end of the day, it’s not about us,” Julian tells me. 

Sophia continues, “Some of those 3.4 billion [unreached] people are in places where our American passports can’t reach. But those people still matter to God.” 

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