Mike and Alexandra Trosto in action at Diospi Suyana
Calm, composed and sympathetic. The two 26-year-olds have a history with Diospi Suyana that goes back 8 years. From 2015 – 2016, the two volunteered at Diospi Suyana after graduating from high school. A year and a half later, it clicked at a meeting. Infatuation turned into love. In 2020, the two married in Germany.
For their wedding, mission doctors sent John a video offering the young couple a ten-year contract with Diospi Suyana. At that time there was a loud laughter in the wedding party. Now 2023 Mike has a permanent job in Basel as a pediatric nurse. Alexandra is a licensed physician and will soon begin her further medical training.
“So what are you doing here with us right now?” – “We were going to help out at the hospital for two months,” Mike answers, and Alexandra adds, “But on the very first night, Tina (director) told us not to get caught by Diospi Suyana School or we’d be recruited right away!” And so it happened. A few hours later, the couple was hired by the school administration to teach English. What sets them apart is that they were immediately ready to fill an acute void at the school.
“Do you actually come from pious homes?”
My two counterparts nod. “My father is half Jordanian, but his parents were atheists,” Alexandra begins, “During college, a conversation with a fellow student convinced him of the rightness of faith in Jesus Christ. On a trip abroad, he met my mother in Philadelphia. She was also a committed Christian. Because of her, I have a US passport.
“Yes, my parents also modeled faith for me,” Mike takes over the conversation thread. “On a class trip to Spain, I pondered my own life. One Sunday I was baptized, and a day later I attended a preparatory seminar for our volunteer year at Diospi Suyana!”
Mike and Alexandra follow up with an important observation. Actually, they speak almost in unison: “Only at Diospi Suyana did our faith become personal and concrete. It was also especially the missionaries’ life stories that fascinated us!”
If you do the math, they are 9 years and 10 months away from fulfilling their 10-year contract. No question, after Alexandra’s residency, they will have to return to Peru. At least that’s how I see it. “No matter where we end up later,” Mike says, “we want to put God’s will into practice in our lives!”
In the evening I remember a remarkable sentence from Alexandra: “My American grandfather has 26 grandchildren”, she had mentioned almost casually. “And every time he meets one of them, he asks the same question, ‘What is your relationship with God?’-that phrase has shaped my life!” /KDJ
What a good article! Loved reading it. Always a joy to see your pictures and hear what you are doing. God is certainly guiding and blessing you and you continue to love and bless others.