Garan was saved through the bus ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California at the age of six. Growing up in a broken home, he was a very shy and insecure child and teenager. After high school, he went off to college at the University of California, Berkeley. During the summer break after his first year there, the Lord began to deal with his heart about going into the ministry. He attended West Coast Baptist College, where he met his sunshine, Anneliese. Anneliese was saved at the age of six at Calvary Baptist Church in Temecula, California. She comes from a broken home as well, and grew up in and out of church. God really started working in her heart when she was a teenager while she was going through some deep trials in her life. She surrendered to the mission field when she was seventeen.

Before they even started dating, they discovered that they were both independently thinking about the same country. Garan was making plans to take a trip to Nigeria with a veteran missionary while Anneliese was writing her Master’s thesis on starting a children’s home in Nigeria, a country she fought with the Lord about writing on. In 2019, as a newly married couple, they had the privilege of taking a survey trip to Nigeria together, during which God confirmed to them that Nigeria is where He wants them to spend the rest of their lives.

Their prayer is that God would give them 40 years of service in Nigeria, and that there will be 100 churches one day that will be able to trace their history back to the original church they start. Would you join them in praying for these goals, as well as for safety, souls, and stability?