Jacky is from the UK and Mike from Sydney. They met in the UK when Mike was seconded to work there for a few years. They have been married for 10 years and have 2 boys Joshua and Christopher. Jacky has worked in underwater sonar and satellite engineering, both in technical research and general management. Mike is a chemical engineer and has worked for a large multinational chemical company in operations, projects and technical management.

We’ve always been passionate about outreach and mission and been involved in local mission through things like Alpha, beach mission, youth work, short term mission to Albania, and supporting a number of friends on the mission field. Deep down we always desired to go overseas ourselves but perhaps were held back by not having a specific call to a definite country or ministry and a niggling doubt about how a chemical and electronic engineer could be useful in overseas mission.

About 2 years ago we felt we needed to ‘push a few doors’ rather than wait for a thunderbolt and found God showing that He could use us with the skills that we had and as we stepped forward in faith we found Him guiding us at times quite specifically – one example was the strong sense that it was no accident that during their home assignment some SIM missionaries (the Groves), who live the other side of Lake Malawi from where we will be, rented the house next to the church we attend in North Rocks with their daughter starting in the same kindergarten year as our youngest son, Chris.

Our decision to go with SIM was largely because we believe strongly in their holistic approach to mission combining outreach, social action, discipling and working as partners with the national church (also we had got to know Jenny Fallon in our home group during her last home assignment and have been impressed by SIM as an organisation.)

In Malawi we are working as the overall program co-ordinators for SIM’s Hope for AIDS program there. AIDS continues to destroy millions of lives like an invisible constantly flowing tsunami!