It was the summer of 2019, and Shane and Kami were engaged to be married. Shane’s finances were bogged down with fines from a previous brush with the law and Kami’s save! save! save! nature made her nervous to combine her finances with Shane’s. In order to tackle their financial differences head-on, about 9 months before they said “I do”, they signed up for Faith and Finances class and began the year-long budget mentor program. Their mentors were a married couple who were financially knowledgeable and had a deep faith and trust in God. Most weeks, Kami met with the wife and Shane met with the husband. But there were also meetings with the four of them together as their wedding day got closer and they looked to combine their finances. It took severe discipline, hard conversations, honest humility, sacrifice (sometimes painful), and seeking God for His wisdom, but in one year, Shane and Kami paid off over $13,000 worth of debt and began their marriage united in purpose and hopeful about their lives together. They continue to take classes through the Life Together program in order to stay in step with God’s plan for their future. They attribute their growth to God’s Church coming alongside of them, encouraging them, challenging them, and holding them accountable to honoring God in their marriage and life

In her time with Love INC, Dana has taken roughly 30 sessions of class, repeating some classes as many as 8 times (Bible Study). The Life Together program has been on her Thursday night schedule for most weeks in the past 10 years. As a single mom, Dana came to Love INC to get guidance on her finances. She dove right into the budget mentoring program and found a budget that worked for her. But as time went on and Dana took a break from the program and there was no longer the weekly accountability, she began to back-slide. She knew returning to Life Together would provide the support and accountability she needed to get her life back on track. Upon returning, Dana opted to take a class that was out of the norm for her—Bible Study. She had the belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead for her, but little more than that made sense. Attending a Sunday morning church service is a struggle: Dana works long hours—every day except for Sundays, so she is always exhausted. And the messages just don’t make sense to her. Bible Study class through Life Together was a safe place for Dana to begin reading scripture and ask questions that perplexed her. In 2021, Dana was selected to test-pilot the new life coaching ministry offered. In her year with her life coach, Dana navigated topics such as friendships, processing the grief of losing her sister to cancer, thinking through creative ways to strengthen her faith, and building up her self-esteem. The Dana you’d meet today is not the Dana we met 10 years ago. Dana and her life are being shaped by the Church and the out-pouring of love, care, and support she is receiving in the Life Together setting and other Love INC ministries.

In late 2019, Brenda, her husband Peyton, and their two children had the opportunity to immigrate from Uganda to the United States. The flight to the states was long—26 hours. Flying for that long, they all arrived with sore muscles and achy joints. Several days later, their 12-year-old daughter, Marcella, could not shake a pain in her knee. They took her to the clinic, where she had x-rays and other testing. From there, they were referred to Sioux Falls and from there, the Mayo clinic in Rochester. In March 2020, they received the news that no parents want to hear. Their daughter had bone cancer. The timing of her diagnosis was both a blessing and a nightmare. They were getting settled in the United States and there was treatment available, but the fear of Covid was at an all-time high. They were new to the county and did not have a lot of resources. With most of Marcella’s care being in Sioux Falls and Rochester, not having transportation—neither a car or a driver’s license—provided a significant challenge for them to get to her appointments. They were connected with Love INC’s transportation ministry and began receiving the rides needed for Marcella’s treatment. With the help of several church volunteers, Marcella underwent a leg amputation, 6 months of chemotherapy, countless lab draws, hospital admissions, and physical therapy. The volunteers giving them rides, sometimes on very short notice, were crucial in Marcella’s treatment and recovery. Brenda shares that they have met so many awesome people who have become like family to them.