Name: Bruno Miguel Franco Couto
Nicknames: Bru, BruBru, Dada
Born:
July, 23rd 1985 Birth Place:
Johannesburg, South Africa Citizenship:
Portugal & South Africa & US Languagues:
English & Portuguese (Working on Spanish) Favorite Ice Cream:
Eddy's Rocky Road
My parents fled to South Africa from two Portuguese colonies during
the revolutions. There they met and married and had me and my sister.
Due to the increased threats and government instability in South
Africa, we moved to Portugal when I was six. With Portuguese as our
first language and relatives in the country, we transitioned well. I
moved with my father to the United States because he wanted to provide
his children with the opportunity to graduate in the "prestigious"
American school system.
During my first few months in the States a friend invited me to
a youth group at Ringwood Baptist Church. A few months later, the
church sponsored me to go to the winter retreat, at Word of Life.
During the retreat, I understood that I had nothing to do with my
salvation, but rather had to depend on what Christ did for me. After
that, I encouraged my family to go to church at Ringwood Baptist.
A new friend from church invited me to work as a counselor at
Solid Rock Day Camp. Durring my second year there I started courting
Audrey Callahan. While we were dating, I worked as a graphic artist at
Rao's Specialty Foods in NYC. Each summer I would quit my job to work
at the camp. Because of my passion for camp, I soon realized that I
was not called to the secular work force, but rather into full time
ministry.
I married Audrey on May 28th, 2005 on the beach in Ocean City,
NJ. That summer, as we worked at Solid Rock Day Camp, we felt God's
leading to work in a children's camping ministry. I continued my
education with some biblical classes at Philadelphia Biblical
University and am now taking classes online at Liberty University.
In December of 2009 we joined GMSA and were commissioned to direct their camp in Uruguay.
