Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania into a Christian family, Sandy trusted Christ and was fascinated by missions from her earliest years. Larry trusted in Christ during high school in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sandy studied education and counseling at Samford University, while Larry majored in math and economics at Duke University.
After teaching English at Christ’s College in Taipei, Taiwan, Sandy enrolled in Westminster Seminary where Larry was preparing for the gospel ministry. After graduation from Westminster in 1986, the newly married couple served in the PCA church in Glen Burnie, Maryland. From 1990 to 1994, the Trotters worked with the MTW church-planting team in Mexico City, where they left a new church under Mexican leadership. In 1995, the Trotters moved to Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, to establish new churches there in cooperation with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico.