Meet Amber and Austin Reed

Birthdays:

Amber: July 16

Austin: September 6

Anniversary: August 19, 2016

 

Amber has had a heart to love and serve young children from an early age. Following this passion, she chose to study as a Director of Christian Education at Concordia University Texas. During her education, she had the opportunity to travel to Haiti, Botswana, and Cambodia to serve impoverished children. There the Lord opened her heart to international ministry and sharing the love of Jesus with children in all nations.

Austin has had a heart for missions since grade school and pursued many national mission trips. Shortly after graduating, he took his first trip to Haiti and made the choice to move there full time. As God presented new opportunities, Austin returned to the States to get married and pursue international ministry together with Amber.

In the process of searching for an internship site for Amber, we learned of the persecution of people with albinism in Tanzania. You see, if you are born with albinism then you start life with a price tag on your head; as many will abuse the superstitions surrounding albinism by killing them for good luck and selling their body parts to witch doctors for lucky/magical potions. These superstitions surrounding albinism run very deep in Tanzanian society. So much so that many women who give birth to a child with albinism are told to kill or abandon the baby at birth. (Click here to view a short video that further explains the superstitions and persecution.) When we heard of these circumstances, our hearts broke for these people and children. So when the opportunity came up for us to work with them, we took it in an instant while trusting God to figure out the rest of the way.

All this has led us to accept God’s call for us to serve in Tanzania partnering with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania and serving at Buhangija Centre, a government safe house for children with albinism and other special needs, as well as other programs that work with young adults with albinism. There we will care for their daily needs, organize lessons and activities, and most importantly show and share with them the deep love of Jesus Christ. We are very excited for all that God has in store for us in Tanzania!

Follow all of our adventures on our Facebook page “Adventures with the Reeds” and subscribe to our YouTube channel here.