Sam and Amanda Fabiano, along with their young daughter Bella, faithfully serve in Angola. Their story is a powerful testimony of God’s guidance and the way He works through SIM USA to advance His global mission.
Born in Angola and trained as a surgeon, Sam now cares for the people of his homeland with his wife, Amanda. Their lives reflect a deep and authentic passion for missions. Yet, the path that brought them here was not straightforward.
When the Fabianos first went overseas, they served faithfully but alone. Without a team around them or a designated sending church, they carried the weight and responsibility of ministry largely on their own.
Sam and Amanda began looking for a mission organization that could provide the structure and support they felt was missing from their ministry. Their search led them to SIM USA.
After attending SIM USA’s Connect event, Sam and Amanda sensed this was the right organization to walk alongside them. What they didn’t expect was how God would use SIM USA to reshape their understanding of being “sent.”
Through conversations with SIM USA staff, the Fabianos began to see the unique and complementary roles of the church and the mission agency. The Church is God’s chosen community for sending and spiritually supporting His people. The mission agency provides specialized training and expertise for cross-cultural life and global ministry, from language learning to navigating visas.
As a cross-cultural couple who had lived in several different countries, Sam and Amanda had relationships with multiple churches. Who would they consider their sending church? Although they appreciated the role of the church in missions, they previously thought they only needed the support of a mission agency.
As they considered all the churches they had been a part of through the years, one church came to mind as the common thread running through all those years. Perhaps this could be their sending church.
But there was one obstacle: this church had never sent a missionary before. Was it even possible?
When the couple shared their desire to be sent with their church, the congregation was thrilled and eager to support them. Since they had never sent a missionary before, they were happy to learn more about this role. The congregation joyfully embraced their new role as the Fabianos’ sending church.
Today, the Fabianos work as missionaries in Angola—sent by their church and supported by SIM USA. What’s more, the ripple effects are unmistakable. The same congregation that once had no experience in missions is now learning about global mission as a whole and walking alongside the Fabianos. The church’s eyes have been opened to the larger vision of what missions can be. By supporting the Fabianos, global missions have become much more personal for them.
What began as one missionary couple’s search for a sending agency became the first steps toward an entire church seeing missions with new eyes. Sam and Amanda’s story shows what is possible when missionaries and churches walk hand-in-hand, discovering the joy of global missions together.
Maggie Watts
Content Creator
I am a Content Creator with SIM USA. It is a joy to use writing and multimedia to glorify God and tell stories about how He is working around the world.