Allie Simone (Gardner) Friesen is from Napa, California. She has 3 sisters and her parents, Pam and Jay Gardner, are dedicated sailors. She grew up on the Napa River and will always love living near water. As a family, they went to First Presbyterian Church of Napa and developed many life-long friendships there. Youth pastors and pastors helped her grow in her faith and learn how to serve as a disciple of Christ.
In 2005, Allie went on an adventure: this warm-weather-and-water-loving girl went to college in the prairies of Manitoba, Canada, where snow covers the ground for many months of the year. After surviving her first Canadian winter, Allie went on a month-long mission trip to Russia and found a new passion and path for her life: overseas missions. In 2006, she met Evan on the prairies and they discovered God calling them to take the ultimate adventure together!
Evan Kole Friesen is a Canadian boy from Rosenort, Manitoba. His family moved to Storm Lake, Iowa when he was still young but he has never lost his Canadian perspective. He has three brothers and his parents, Garry and Marj Friesen, are excellent models of how to serve in the Church. They go to Bethel Baptist Church in Newell, Iowa. Evan's faith was deepened by AWANA and youth group. His grandparents inspired him with their many years of missionary service. After high school and a bit of college, Evan took a spiritual journey to a Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Denver, Colorado. With a host of new friends, he went to Guatemala for his first taste of cross-cultural ministry. After he got back, he headed to Nashville, Tennessee for further studies with YWAM in Ministry Development, and landed in Tamil Nadu, India for his second cross-cultural experience. In the mountain city of Ootacamundalum (Ooty), God spoke to Evan about how He could use him to help the poor and lost of the world. But first Evan had to follow God's mysterious ways to his mother-land on the Canadian prairies. In 2006, God led him to the woman who would become part of his tag-team for saving the world: Allie Simone Gardner.
Allie and Evan were married in summer 2008 on a windy beach in Northern California. They finished their degrees in 2009 (Evan's in Education/TESOL and Allie's in Missions/TESOL) and embarked on an overseas journey to complete internships. For their internships, they were called back to India to teach English to children in slums. The plight of the children broke their hearts and heightened their commitment to reach the poor and lost with the gospel of HOPE and SALVATION.
(N.B. Allie and Evan's blog titled Night Like the Noonday is the record of our journey in India).
On July 7, 2010, Alcyone Simone Friesen came into the world and caught her inexperienced parents off guard. She quickly taught them the meaning of unconditional love and patience. She is a joyful and wonderful daughter who has an infectious personality.
Not long after, Alexei Sebastian Friesen was born on October 28, 2011. This handsome little man loves to interact and shows every sign of being friendly and adorable. He looks forward to being able to catch up physically to his big sister!
In summer 2011, Allie and Evan (hereafter known as Team Friesen) joined Avant Ministries as missionaries to go to Europe to plant a church with a team of passionate, creative individuals. To read more about their calling into missions, visit the page titled "Our Vision."
