By Amanda Gades God is in the details of life. Dave and Angie

(Hoglund) Ziel were again reminded of that in recent months as they were in the midst of establishing financial support for a three-year mission trip to Costa Rica through Reach Global.

Having set out to meet with people about financially supporting them, they were at just 25 percent of the funding mark in March. The challenge was compounded by having three other families from their home church, Hia-watha in south Minneapolis, Minn., also seek-ing support for mission trips.

“Our church is just five years old and we had never had anyone else leave for missions,” explained Dave. “A couple of years ago, we knew we were going to go but we didn’t have a time line set. It wasn’t that stressful thinking about it at that time.”

As the pair asked people to consider con-tributing financially or prayerfully, the re-sponse was incredible. In November, they reached 95 percent funding and purchased their plane tickets for San Jose, Costa Rica. They leave Tuesday, Nov. 22.

“We wouldn’t be at 95 percent without God moving in people,” said Dave. “We’ve been consistently amazed with people giving gener-ously in ways that we don’t deserve.” Growing together; Called to be in mis-sion

Today, the couple is asking for prayer that their marriage will be strong and communi-cate the Gospel, but just a few years ago, they would have not imagined that God would have brought them together as husband and wife.

Angie grew up on a farm near Casselton and attended a Moravian church. She explained that her relationship with the Lord was based on trying to be enough “good” things so God would overlook all the other “bad” things she did during the week. After graduating from Central Cass High School, Angie moved to

Minneapolis to attend the University of Min-nesota’s Carlson School of Management. There, she was confronted with what she be-lieved and why. She realized that if she truly believed that Jesus died for her sins that she had to make some major changes in her life. Angie went on to study abroad twice in col-lege and develop a love for the Latin American culture. After college, God led her to complete a one-year internship at Hope Community Church in Minneapolis.

Dave grew up hundreds of miles away in northwest Illinois. He loved serving the church where his family attended and some began to believe this joy was a sign that God was lead-ing him into a career in ministry. Dave was soon challenged to spend a summer serving a church in Lima, Peru. Through those experi-ences, he felt a desire to work in cross cultural ministry.

In 2004, their two worlds collided when they met at a training for Reach Global, a mis-sion organization through the Evangelical Free Church of America. Each were there pre-paring for a mission trip to Peru, Angie for one year and Dave for three years. “He had a very different background than me,” explained An-gie, a Casselton native. “Dave grew up having a relationship with the Lord his whole life and while Angie attended church, she really didn’t understand what it meant to live out her faith until college.”

After the training, they went their separate ways. Angie had reached enough funding to go to Lima, Peru to serve on a church-planting (establishing a new church) team. She left in 2005.

Meanwhile, Dave was still preparing and raising funds, he worked as a youth director at his church in Rock Island, Ill.

But their paths would soon cross again. In January 2007, Angie’s host family from Peru, who Dave also knew because of a previ-ous mission trip in Peru, was in Chicago at a

missions conference. “We decided to go to the conference together and she picked me up on the way,” said Dave.

The relationship blossomed when they were at the conference. “We spent a few days together and ended up saying, I kind of like him/her. We got married seven months later,” said Dave.

The relationship moved very quickly. They dated for two months, then they got engaged and Dave moved from Rock Island, Ill. to Min-neapolis where Angie was living.

While Dave was set to go on a three-year mission trip, they had decided as a couple that either Dave would stay and we would date or he would leave and we wouldn’t date. Angie explained that the fact that he was supposed to move to another country definitely influ-enced how short our dating period was.

They were married on Sept. 8, 2007. In Oc-tober 2010, they were accepted into the Reach Global program and stated that they were willing to go to any Latin American country. Reach Global picked Costa Rica as a good fit for their passions and gifts.

In addition to building support, the couple has been active at their home church, which has prepared them for the mission work to aide with a church plant in Costa Rica. Reach Global has also prepared them with extensive training. Doing God’s work where it’s needed the most

Why Latin America missions? Because there is a deep need in that sector of the world for the people to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

“A large majority of the population hasn’t experienced a personal relationship with Je-sus as we have,” said Dave. “It’s more a cul-tural identity than a personal identity.”

While Latin Americans associate them-selves with Catholicism, it’s a much different version of it. The general belief is that when

people die they don’t necessarily go to Heaven and have eternal salvation. “There’s many dif-ferent options and people on Earth still need to be praying for you and donating on your behalf [in order for you to get to Heaven],” ex-plained Angie. Being disciples for the Lord

While they are in Costa Rica, the couple will be supporting the creation of a new church in a more impoverished, less safe neighborhood. “We’ll do outreach and have small group time,” said Angie. “We’re also hoping to have outdoor concerts as Dave is a talented musi-cian.”

They’re looking forward to reaching out to people, building relationships and inviting people into their home. “Just seeing someone respond to the Gospel will be incredible,” said Angie.

To help build relationships, Dave will be taking Spanish for the first year.

They are also hoping to assist with holistic ministries such as a micro finance program through Reach Global to help people get out of poverty. “You can’t walk into a bank and get a loan if you are unemployed, but if you could get a micro finance loan for $100 and take a class on how to make purses and get the fabric and materials – suddenly you are able to pro-vide food for your family.” The loans are paid back within five years and the funds go back in the account to help others in need of a loan.

While they are in Costa Rica, the Ziels will be house sitting for the first month and then pursue their own apartment.

For the couple, Costa Rica may be just the beginning of life long missions in Latin Amer-ica. “We see Costa Rica as a great place to start and to learn,” said Angie. “We’d be willing to go into less safe countries and we would be willing to go to somewhere after a disaster and stay there for a few years.”

For now, though, they are simply excited to dive in and see how God will work through

them in their new mission role in Costa Rica. Follow their journey in Costa Rica

The Ziels will continue their blog while they are in Costa Rica and you can follow their journey at ZielsInLA.wordpress.com.

If you would like to be prayer or financial supporters, information on each of these is available at their site.

Missionary couple with local ties bringing the gospel to Latin America Printed in the Cass County Reporter 11-16-2011

Dave and Angie (Hoglund) Ziel are leav-ing for a three-year mission trip in Costa Rica on Nov. 22.