My wife and I were living in Italy, but felt we were ready for a change. We have both worked in some form of youth development/education for most of our lives and started searching for new opportunities from Jamaica, to Hong Kong and everywhere in between.

We felt a certain tug on our hearts for the UK and narrowed down our search, looking into options in Wales, Scotland, and what eventually ended up as, Rural Oxfordshire, England. It was complete fluke (or pre-planned) that Jon and Tessa were on a ski camp in Italy at the moment we first got in contact with them about potentially joining the team. We felt it a worthwhile trip to drive the 600km north to meet up with them (while they were in our ‘neck-of-the-woods) and this became our very first adventure for Adventure Plus.

We had no idea where they were staying and contact had been very limited. All we knew was that they were ‘based’ in a certain village in Switzerland and we felt that was enough to point us in the right direction (always being keen on a road trip), so we booked a chalet in a nearby town and set off to track down this friendly couple. We arrived in the morning and the first person we met (a Swiss parking attendant) told us it was forbidden for us to be there (interesting?…). Needless to say we have a certain African stubbornness and we were on a mission, so we bid the gentleman farewell and set off on foot to sweep through the village with the hope of finding who would ‘soon’ turn out to be my employer(s) and close friends. There was absolutely no way of knowing where they were (phoning them several times proved fruitless) and out of nowhere we spotted a van with a UK number plate and a sign on the side saying: Life to the Max Jhn 10:10. They were all out on the ski slopes at the time and so we took the time to enjoy this beautiful Alpine landscape. We returned that evening (while the team was having there end-of-day recap), knocked on the door completely out of the blue, and were welcomed in to join their evening festivities (nobody had ever met us before).

The next morning we had a really special moment with Jon and Tessa and felt our hearts knitted with theirs (as friends). Jon encouraged us to read his book “Life to the Max” for us to gain a better understanding of their walk, and Adventure Plus and it is was on a train trip a short while later (another adventure) down to hike along the Italian coast that my wife and I read the book together. We both knew that this story of Adventure Plus, was bigger than just two people wanting to help ‘our’ youth. It was a story that God had initiated, that He was writing, that He was providing for and that He was partaking in. We saw His faithfulness, His nearness, His grace on every page, and knowing full well what challenges would arise from the reality of (Christian) faith-based youth ministry in the UK, we wanted to be a part of this story.

It is the (back)story of Adventure Plus (the joys and heartaches) that compelled us to relocate our entire lives and come join this story. The story God is writing.