So what makes a young couple with a five-month-old leave everything familiar behind to work in a country half way round the world?
Both aged 37, Stephen and Eileen attended the same Monkstown schools and the same church and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Their dislike was so intense they decided to speak to their rectors. They were told to pray about it, everything changed, and in 1994 they married.
"We both felt we wanted to use our marriage for ministry of some kind," said Stephen.
Eileen was teaching in east Belfast while Stephen worked at Queen's University. For three years they looked into the options for Christian work, before the doors of SAMS, the South American Mission Society, opened for them.
SAMS first had an opening in Chile, but that fell through and Paraguay came up. A school in the capital Asuncion was looking for an infant teacher and an IT teacher.
Two weeks before they were due to go for interviews, Eileen found she was pregnant. "The plan had been to do the mission thing for two years and come back and start a family. When we found we were pregnant, Stephen said that's it, we'll just do the family thing.
"But I had wanted children for a while and was praying and praying, and God told me he was going to bless me doubly - he would let me do the desires of my heart and have my children as well," said Eileen.
The couple were accepted, and five months after Elijah was born in April 1999, the family left for Paraguay, complete with four suitcases, cot, pram and car seat. "We totally went in faith," added Stephen.
Asuncion is a city of 1.5m in a country with a population of 5m, and is one of the poorest in South America.
Three weeks after Eileen and Stephen arrived, the rector of St Andrew's left, and teams working there took turns to run the services. After three years the couple led the teams, and for four years ran the church. Their daughter Hannah was born in 2001.
"Outside of the city few children go to school beyond the age of nine. There are periods of drought where people are in dreadful straits in the interior and poverty has a massive impact, particularly in rural areas," said Stephen.
"In the city children try to make money selling sweets, and many will call at doors begging for food or even just water."
The couple taught in St Andrew's College, a private fee paying Christian school. Pupils were encouraged to help their fellow countrymen, and Stephen went on trips into the interior to dig wells, paint murals, and bring food and water. The students were also involved in community projects in the city.
In state schools in Paraguay, all children have to provide their own materials - a tall order for families who cannot even afford shoes. St Andrew's supported a sister school, the Annex, to ensure these materials were provided so more children could stay in education.
Sadly in Paraguay infant mortality rates are very high. All healthcare is private and is very limited in rural areas. People have to beg for money to buy medicine. Without treatment, a child with something as simple as diarrhoea may die.
Both Elijah and Hannah attended St Andrew's. Although they visited Northern Ireland every two years, Eileen says they considered Paraguay as their home. The family returned to Northern Ireland for good in July because Eileen's mother is unwell.
"None of us have found it easy. The children understood we were coming home because Nanny was ill, but we all left a life. I don't think we have ever done anything harder. When you are living in a different country your relationships and social network need to go a lot deeper because it hasn't got the background of years behind it," Eileen said.
Stephen and Eileen will work for SAMS until the end of this year. Having sold their house a number of years ago, they have returned here to a housing market Stephen describes a 'unbelievable,' but at present are living in a house loaned to them for a year by St Jude's, Belfast, a SAMS link church
"There is a desperate need for people who will step out in faith and do what God wants in building the Kingdom of God no matter what it takes. They may have to give up aspirations and a career for a time, but if it is building up the Kingdom of God that's what needs doing," said Stephen.
(This article first appeared in Connor Connections, the magazine for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Connor)