My Story

Hola, a todos! My name is Brooke Davis. I am a young gal in my early twenties who loves the color yellow, enjoys reading immensely, and is enthralled with all things Laura Ingalls Wilder and Jane Austen. Often when I share about our ministry in Bolivia, I don’t get the chance to share the full story of how God called me to the foreign mission field. In the next few moments, I will be sharing my journey in the hopes that it might inspire you to ask yourself what your role might be in the Great Commission.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” How often have you heard this question asked?  The very first time I recall being asked this question was in Kindergarten Sunday school. My teacher asked each kid in the class to answer.
      “I want to be a firefighter!” one classmate responded.
      Another said, “I want to be a teacher!”
      My teacher eventually turned to me. “Brooke, what do you want to be when you grow up?” she asked.
      “I want to be an ice cream truck driver!” I declared.
      “An ice-cream truck driver?” My friend was perplexed. “Why would you want to be that?”
      My excitement spilled over as I explained. “Because I really like ice cream, and if I was an ice cream truck driver, I could eat ice cream anytime I wanted to!”
      My friend frowned and shook his head. “You still have to pay for the ice cream in your truck. It’s not free, you know.”
      That day, 5-year-old Brooke’s heart and childhood dreams of being an ice-cream truck driver were crushed.

      Over the years, my answer to the question would change – from veterinarian to horse trainer to book author – but nothing truly stuck with me…until one day during my 7th grade year.
      My grandpa worked at the local paper mill, and occasionally he would bring my family a big ole roll of paper. At the time, I loved to draw and I often used paper from these rolls as my drawing pad. One summer day, I took a significantly large piece to my bedroom and laid it on the floor next to my collection of colored pencils. I don’t remember deciding what I’d draw at any given point. I only remember pencil meeting paper. Mountains appeared. A large three-story home surfaced on the right, while more mountains rose to the left. Two children soon turned into twenty-plus, all running or playing across the hill where the three-story home stood. Lastly, in the midst of all these children, the figure of a young woman took shape. She held a baby on her hip while holding the hand of another young child. I stood, took a step back, and observed my artwork.

       That’s what I want to do, I thought to myself.

       Little did I know that is exactly what the Lord would lead me to.

        Initially, I didn’t know where I was called. I had a growing curiosity and heart for the Quechuan people, and I felt that the Lord was leading me to minister to them – but the Quechua were so spread out (across the Andean region, mostly). Thirteen-year-old Brooke prayed daily, “Jesus, I know who, but I need to know where.” During that time, I was just starting high school and I had just received my new curriculum (I was a homeschooled gal). I was thrilled to be studying world geography that year because of my love for the nations, and even more thrilled that the Bible curriculum (Rooted & Grounded) would have a weekly focus on a different unreached people group. I decided to take a look through it. I opened the textbook to a random page and the very first page I happened to flip open to read, “The Quechua of Bolivia.” I thought, Wait a minute, are you trying to say something, Lord? I took note of that moment and carried on looking through my curriculum for the year.
      That same year, I finished the Elsie Dinsmore book series from A Life of Faith, and my parents gifted me the next character in the series, Millie Keith, for Christmas. In the last two books of the series, Millie Keith (now Landreth) becomes a missionary to the Quechuan people of Bolivia. Another, Okay, Jesus, I’m taking notes, moment.
     Over the years I was blessed to travel out of the country on multiple mission trips (Mendoza, Argentina in 2015; Cuenca, Ecuador in 2016 & 2017; St. Maarten & Saba in 2018; Thailand in 2019), but I was never given the opportunity to go to Bolivia. I waited patiently for the Lord to open that door in His timing, but with each mission trip I gleaned from my mentors and the missionaries I served alongside – Everett & Marcy Conaway, Gary & Dena Pate, Dale & Patti Coad, and my former kids’ pastors.
      I researched and found the AG missionaries that served in Bolivia and began to pray for them when I was fifteen, but they all lived quite a distance from my district. I figured I wouldn’t get the chance to meet them until I was on the field myself.
       In August of 2017, National Fine Arts and General Council were held in Anaheim, CA, and I was blessed to travel to the west coast with my mom. My favorite part of GC every year is the AG missions’ walkthrough experience (although I’m always a little partial to the LAC area, hehe). That year was no different. I immediately beelined for the LAC area and started talking with some LAC missionary representatives. I first met Margot Woodworth and we discussed where I felt the Lord leading me. When I told her I felt led to go to Bolivia, she exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, there is somebody here you absolutely have to meet! But I don’t know what their schedule is, so I don’t know when they’ll be here.” As she said this, a family walked in that I recognized. Margot exclaimed, “Wait, they’re here! Jeremiah! Marj! Get over here! I have a young lady that needs to speak with you!”
      Somewhat in shock, I asked, “Jeremiah & Marjorie Campbell?!”
     “Yes! Do you know them?” Margot replied.
      “I’ve prayed for them for years! I know them, but they don’t know me.”

      Without explaining anything, Margot introduced me to the Campbells and I instantly made a connection with their family. We simply started talking about missions and eventually, Jeremiah asked where I felt called. When I responded, “Bolivia,” Jeremiah looked at me wide-eyed. He turned to Marj and told me to repeat what I had just said. I did, and Marj immediately teared up. “We’ve been praying for years that God would call more young people to Bolivia. This is an answer to prayer!” We chatted for a long while, exchanged contact information, and ever since they have been such an encouragement as I pursue God and the calling that He has placed on my life.

      In the summer of 2021, God opened the door for me to make my first trip to Bolivia. I served under Justin & Janet Henry for 3 months and it felt as though I was living in a dream. I was living out years and years of prayer serving at “The Bolivian Hope Center,” a three-story structure nestled in the Andean Mountains that 40+ Bolivian children call home. It reflects the dream God placed on my heart as a young girl so beautifully and I knew, “Brooke, this is it. This is what you were created to do.”
    I don’t know all of the details of what God might have me do in the next few years of my life and I don’t know how long I’ll serve in Bolivia (I pray it is a lifetime), but I continue to seek the Lord and walk in obedience to Him. I know for certain that loving on the children of Bolivia and raising them up to serve and know Jesus is definitely a huge part of what He is leading me to do. As the words of Psalm 78 state, “We will not hide these truths from our children, but we will tell them of the glorious deeds of the Lord.” My love for Jesus and my love for these Bolivian children motivate me to pursue this dream – to build a brighter future where they will know that, “Though my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will take me in.” (Psalm 27:10)