I was born in South Africa to a culturally Afrikaans family and was raised bilingual in English and Afrikaans. Some of my fondest early memories was of attending our home church, Grace Toti, a church planted by American missionaries. I came to faith at age 9 and was baptized at age 10. My family moved to the United States when I was 12 years old. I was called into full-time ministry in high school and therefore pursued theological education in college. I was called to full-time missions during my studies for my bachelor’s degree. While in college, I started working in ministry at my local church in children’s ministry. I started in the classroom and eventually worked on staff full-time in the administration of children’s and women’s ministry. In working with families, I realized the need for counseling ministry and pursued higher education in both early childhood development and counseling culminating in an Early Childhood Development Specialization and Master’s Degree in Counseling.