Robert & Tami Erisman

Robert and Tami met during their year serving with NET Ministries (2002-’03). They both spent time living in households with St. Paul’s Outreach in St. Paul, MN and received formation through the Community of Christ the Redeemer, both as singles and as a married couple.

In 2018, Robert, Tami, and their seven children left their home in Minnesota to join Family Missions Company as full-time foreign missionaries.  They were sent to the Amazon region of Peru (Picota, San Martin) where they have been serving ever since.  They have added two more children to their family since they left: one born in heaven, and one born in Peru.  

Their current ministries include assisting with basic human needs such as food and medicine, providing job opportunities through various work projects, starting small businesses for single mothers and some families, and discipling their group of domestic Francis Institute missionaries.

Before going into missions, the Erismans desired to use their formation and experience to help form community at their mission post. They recognized the immense value of living in community with other individuals and families who are aiming to live as disciples of Jesus.  They also desired to have a mission retreat center where the local people could come together regularly for formation, prayer, fellowship, and service. The retreat center would also double as a place for people to stay during short and mid-term mission trips, allowing them to easily enter into the heart of ministry. 

The Francis Institute was thus formed after seven years of forethought, discernment, groundwork, and planning.  It realizes the vision of connecting the universal Church: the more fortunate with the poor and outcast, in a mutually beneficial relationship. It is their prayer that this work will further the Kingdom of God by reigniting fervor and zeal in the Faithful and rebuilding His Church in the hearts of all believers.