A Year of Service: Meet Leah and Jager Huyser

Many Hands for Abaco is thrilled to introduce Leah and Jager Huyser, a newly married couple embarking on a year-long mission commitment in Abaco starting in January 2026. This dynamic duo is ready to bring their faith and complementary skills to the ongoing work of rebuilding, restoring, and renewing families in the Bahamas.

A Divine Calling: From Iowa to Abaco

For Leah and Jager, missions were not a recent casual consideration, but a path divinely laid out. For Leah, the desire to be an overseas missionary has been strong since the third grade, missions have “always been on my heart.” While mission work was not initially on Jager’s radar, his passion was sparked after meeting Leah and joining her on a mission trip. They’ve been running with that passion ever since.

Before answering this specific call to Abaco, both Leah and Jager were rooted in their local community: they served in the youth group at First Reformed Church in Sully, IA, and Leah was a year into her youth director position. Jager had also successfully started his own powder coating company. This meant saying “yes” to Abaco was a tough decision requiring a leap of faith. In fact, when first presented with the opportunity, Leah and Jager initially said “no”. However, God quickly revealed “other plans,” guiding them through prayer and petition to make the decision to step away from their comfortable lives and say yes. 

Fun Fact: Leah and Jager knew the decision was right when God answered their specific prayer for three signs within 48 hours.

Building Hope with Complementary Skills

Leah and Jager are prepared to serve the community using their unique, God-given skills. Jager brings valuable construction skills to the mission field, having developed his expertise through working on small engines with his grandpa starting in middle school, and by collecting information through different manufacturing and maintenance jobs over the years. These technical abilities align perfectly with Many Hands’ core focus on providing needed resources and project implementation to rebuild homes and ensure safe housing in Abaco following Hurricane Dorian.

Leah, meanwhile, is more socially oriented. Both she and Jager possess a shared gift for being “people persons”—they are very social and comfortable talking with others, even when they’ve just met. They are excited to use this gift of outreach to build relationships within the community.

It is “amazing to see” how their skills—Jager being construction-oriented and Leah being social-oriented—can combine together to accomplish a great deal.

Bringing Good Back to Abaco

The couple is motivated by the distinct needs of the people in Abaco. They understand that, unlike in other mission settings they’ve experienced (such as Haiti, where they previously served), the people in Abaco had established homes, plumbing, and running water, but these sound structures were taken from them by Hurricane Dorian.

Jager and Leah are excited to contribute to the efforts to continue bringing that “good back” to the community. Their mission goes beyond building; they are there to plant seeds, give hope, and remind people that despite the “horrible experience” they went through, “God was in all of it, and he still has a plan.” Their ultimate hope is that this experience will shape their faith, allowing them to grow closer to God and continue to “bear more fruit as Christians.”

Exciting Vision: The couple hopes their work will result in “seeds being planted” and seeing the growth that only God can bring in the lives of the Abaco community.

Join Us on Mission

Leah and Jager see their service as a blessing—an opportunity for God to use them as part of His greater plan. They are confident that this year, spent “in the thick of the mission field together,” will strengthen their faith and partnership.

A year is a significant commitment, and they know they “cannot make this huge leap of faith without the support from other people.” While they are not requesting financial support, they deeply value partnership.

We invite you to partner with Leah and Jager! Please join them on this mission by holding them up in prayer and following their journey as they serve the people of Abaco.