Joined GMSA: 1988
Country: Chile
Retired: Alto Hospicio Church Plant

Sharon joined ABWE and arrived in Chile to become the Santiago Christian Academy’s second grade teacher in August of 1985. Her one year of teaching turned into nine. In 1988 she joined the Gospel Mission of South America. She attended the church led by GMSA missionary, Fred Vallette, where she met her lifelong friend, Cristina, who was instrumental in teaching Sharon Spanish, and with whom she shared an apartment until Cristina’s wedding in 1989.

In 1995 Sharon was approached by Luis Benítez, pastor of the Micalvi church, about helping in a church plant in the Santiago neighborhood of La Granja. She faithfully ministered there for the next 15 years, working in children’s and women’s ministries. During her last eight years in Santiago, she was also involved in a weekly prison ministry to Chilean carabineros (police officers and their families).

In 2013 Sharon moved to the northern city of Alto Hospicio (Iquique) to help in a new church planting endeavor. She was royally welcomed five days after her arrival with a major earthquake during a church meeting. This dramatic beginning led to ten more years of ministry to women and children, teaching some of the children’s mothers to read, and most recently assisting in a crisis pregnancy center.

After 37 years of faithfully laboring for the Lord in Chile, Sharon retired in March of 2024. She currently resides in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, but her heart remains with the Chilean people she loves so deeply. It is hard to miss the joy and excitement with which she speaks of the lives that she has seen transformed in the last four decades. As a mission, we say thank you to Sharon for her dedicated ministry. May God's richest blessing continue upon her.