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Nick Beazley telephoned his parents at their Roanoke County home in December 2004 to tell them that he had been called.

He was going to accept a position as senior field director of Rivers of the World, a not-for-profit Christian ministry that serves needy people along the world's most remote rivers.

"Just the words, 'I've been called to do this' and that was all he had to say," said his mother, Margaret Beazley, who works at the Conflict Resolution Center in Roanoke.

Started in 1996, ROW responds to people's physical and spiritual needs along rivers in 10 countries including Brazil, Congo and Vietnam. The organization mostly works with education, church, health and construction projects. Nick Beazley said that ROW goes where some other, larger organizations do not.

"Relationships are the most important part of ROW," Beazley points out.

ROW's mission is simple.

"You look at a map, you say, where's a river. Let's go up it," explained Beazley. "The further up the river you are, the more need there is."

Growing up, Beazley never imagined he would work as a missionary abroad.

Beazley attended St. John's Episcopal Church in Roanoke as a child and adolescent. As a student at Cave Spring High School, from which he graduated in 1999, he participated in various U.S.-based mission trips.

At that age, though, he could not envision himself becoming a missionary. In eighth grade, he decided not to become confirmed. Rather, he waited until 11th grade. According to his mother, Beazley wanted to be secure in his motives for confirmation.

Beazley's desire to become a missionary began with his love affair with Belize, a Central American country bordered by the Caribbean's cerulean waters.

"Belize stole my heart," he said.

It was 2002. Beazley was a junior at Hampden-Sydney College, "the best college on earth."

He listened to a "simple invitation" by a Presbyterian minister named Ben Mathews who talked to the college's Society of 1791 Leadership Program. Mathews founded ROW, a nondenominational ministry, while working along the Congo River.

Beazley was so struck by Mathews' stories that he signed up to do an alternative spring break with ROW in Belize. It was the college's first such trip.

For eight days, Beazley worked alongside 10 other students and David Klein, the dean of Hampden-Sydney who also is originally from Roanoke.

An avid nature enthusiast, Beazley loves hard physical labor. In Belize, he spent his days sweating and constructing buildings. The mountains of southern Belize reminded him of the Blue Ridge. He said he fell in love with the laid-back people and the joyful children.

His faith grew as he realized that being Christian "can be about helping people." He added, "We're not into bumping people with a Bible. We're here because it is in our hearts."

After graduating in 2003, Beazley worked as the assistant dean of admissions for his alma mater for two years.

On Sept. 21, 2004, Beazley was listening to another speech by Mathews like the one he listened to when he was a college junior.

It was a moment of clarity.

"I knew I wanted to continue doing things like I did on the first trip for the rest of my life."

These days, Beazley lives with his wife, Liz, who is completing a doctorate in mathematics in Chicago. They married July 16, 2005. They celebrated their first anniversary in Fortaleza, Brazil, where Beazley was exploring new places for ROW to work.

Beazley spends his days speaking to churches and schools to seek out donations and encouraging people to become ROW volunteers. He also organizes trips to Belize.

On Nov. 5, Beazley was in Belize for the dedication of a church that ROW had constructed in Crique Sarco, a jungle village of approximately 250 people. It was the largest project he has been part of.

The sky blue church is a testament not only of what ROW has helped physically construct, but also the relationships it has helped form.

He was struck by all the faces at the Sunday morning church service. "It's going to be there for generations to come," he remembers musing as he touched the church's concrete walls. "It really was an amazing feeling."