Andrew and Susanna Schaad along with their sons Owen, left, and Calvin.

“Therefore, go.”

In the Bible, Matthew 28:16-20 depicts some of the last words Jesus Christ said to his disciples. In what Christians call “The Great Commission,” he reminds them that he’ll always be with them and encourages them to spread his gospel to every corner of the globe.

Andrew and Susana Schaad, along with their boys Calvin and Owen, are taking that call to Spain.

“We’re hoping we can have our whole careers there and then retire there and still continue to serve,” Andrew said.

Before the couple met, both had a desire to be missionaries overseas. Andrew said he caught the desire in college. Susana, on the other hand, had parents who were full-time missionaries in Ecuador and wanted to follow in their footsteps.

The couple plans to leave their Plymouth home with their two sons Sunday. They’re moving to Ensanche de Vallecas, a neighborhood in Madrid. According to Andrew, the neighborhood of about 50,000 people doesn’t have a Christian church.

“It’s a country that has very little evangelical, gospel witness,” Mike Moses, the couple’s pastor, said. “That was Andrew’s desire to go to a place where there wasn’t already many evangelical witnesses.”

The couple are missionaries with SEND International, a Christian organization that helps fund people like the Schaads. In Spain, the couple will serve at a church in Madrid with a goal of planting more churches in the future.

Though they’ll no longer call Michigan their home, the Schaad’s church family at Harvest Bible Church in Westland are supporting them with money and prayers as they start a new life.

“Both of them in the past eight years have served very faithfully in different areas of our church,” Moses said. “So, they’re going to be missionaries and with our appreciation for them and who they are, it was pretty much a no-brainer to support them and send them as missionaries from our church.”

The couple had originally planned to leave the U.S. in April 2020, but the pandemic made that impossible. Having already quit their jobs and raised the necessary funds to move, they’ve spent most of the last year waiting.

“We had gathered together all of our paperwork and received our visas to go to Spain,” Andrew said. “The biggest difference was that we no longer had a timeline and were just kind of waiting indefinitely.”

But it’s all in God’s timing. Plus, Andrew said it was nice for him and Susana to spend more time stateside with their boys.

The couple doesn’t think they’re anything special, but trust that their time in Spain will be for the good of others.

“For Christians, I think their story is a great reminder that any person can be used by the Lord, no matter what your gifts are,” Moses said.

Those interested in donating to the Schaads can do so at  send.org/give/missionaries/schaad. The couple will also post updates on their Facebook page, SEND the Schaads to Spain.

Contact reporter Shelby Tankersley at stankersle@hometownlife.com or 248-305-0448. Follow her on Twitter @shelby_tankk.