Faith Shingledecker
Faith was born in Burundi, Africa, and lived there with her parents, Harold and Hettie Shingledecker, until she went to Houghton Academy in New York for high school. From there she attended Asbury University and then participated in a program to become certified as a medical technologist. It was during the first couple of years after completing this program, when Faith was working as a medical technologist in Lexington, Kentucky, that her heart was truly changed as she realized how unending God’s love for her truly is. Shortly after this she began to open up to the idea of working as a missionary, something she had spent her entire life avoiding, as she always felt inadequate and unequipped.
Though she continued to be convinced that she would not be sent abroad, the Lord answered Faith’s prayer for clarity and sent her on a year-long term serving at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya in 1976. Two years after her return to the US, Faith was called back to serve at Tenwek and stayed on, filling many roles in the laboratory and technician school until her retirement in December of 2019.
Faith loved seeing the ways God worked in the hearts of those she lived, worked, and worshiped among in Kenya. She also enjoyed seeing the glory of God in the unique landscape of Africa, and the gentle weather, specifically at Tenwek. She compared their typical weather to what would feel like late spring or early autumn in the Midwest.
In retirement, Faith has moved to Wilmore, Kentucky, and says, “[I am] open to whatever God wants me to do in these retirement years.”