I have realized in my blogging that there were experiences in our lives that I missed, and several gaps between posts. I have also skipped the details of our agency switch, which is necessary to understand, albeit somewhat confusing. For my own conscience, I feel it necessary to go into these details, and I hope it will not be too boring for you. The size this post is getting is intimidating even to me, and I will not blame anybody for skipping this one.
For those who only want to know about our agency switch, I will simply say that we had been missionaries in the Free Methodist denomination, but due to a change of leadership from Western missionaries to Malawians, we are now sent by TMS and ACCI cooperatively, our mission being to teach Malawians means of bettering themselves through agricultural practices, while at the same time ministering to them about Jesus and the Bible.
My Dad was a pastor in Deep River, Ontario for many years. He was the pastor of a small church in a small denomination, called the Free Methodists. My parents started feeling that their work there was over, just as the church started to feel that it was too small to keep running. So, in the summer of 2009, we left the Deep River parsonage and moved to an empty, unused parsonage in Charlemont, where a lot of my Dad's relatives live. We stayed there (rent free) for nearly a year to fund-raise, and then left for Malawi as Free Methodist missionaries. My Dad was assigned to the Southern Region of Malawi (yup, the whole thing, and that contains over a hundred churches.) We lived in a house in Zomba, with a very large yard (over two acres). We spent those two years (2010-12) visiting our churches over the weekends. Most of these exist in rural villages, and our travelling exposed us to the great poverty most Malawians face. Generally we would show up in the afternoon and set up the generator (no electricity in the village) and projector. Then, when it got dark enough, we would show the Jesus film on a sheet stretched between two trees, which served as our projector screen. We would then eat supper (a stiff corn porridge with cooked pumpkin leaves and maybe, since we were guests, meat) and lay down in a hut to sleep on our mats. Next morning, Dad would preach at the church, and we would drive home as soon as we could get away after lunch. We always tried to get back to our home before dark, as the Malawian roads get dangerous at night, but it often did not work. I am happy that we got to share the Jesus Film with so many people, but it basically meant that we got no weekend, and made few friends. Towards the end of our first two years in Malawi, we received the news that we would probably have to stay in Canada for a year in order to fund-raise and take additional courses. At the time it seemed like forever, and we did not want to leave. However, back in Canada, we soon forgot this, and settled in. I might add that we had a two week stopover (as usual) in the Netherlands to visit my grandparents. It was late August when we got back to Canada. The culture shock was pretty powerful, more so than when we went to Malawi. This is a poor example but it will give you an idea of what it was like for us. I have never to this day seen cream cheese in a Malawian store, however, when you visit a Canadian grocery store, you have to make a decision between forty different types of cream cheese. Garlic cream cheese, lactose free cream cheese, cream cheese with apple pieces in it, with bacon bits, Halal cream cheese, cream cheese that doesn't come from cows, cream cheese for kids with strange allergies and diseases, cream cheese for Martians with only one finger on each hand who melt when they come in contact with aluminium foil, you name it, they got it.
We stayed in a cabin in Maple Grove from August to October of 2012, as we decided what to do about housing. The water pipes running to the cabin were not heated or insulated, so it was necessary that we move out before the ground froze. Maple Grove is one of my favorite places to be in Canada. It is a small cabin and trailer camp, which hosts retreats, primarily a big family camp in the summer. It has lots of woods (largely maples), and is surrounded by farmland. Most of our family in Canada goes there for family camp, and we have for as long as I can remember. Sadly, we missed family camp that year, and Maple Grove was mostly empty. Still, it is a great place any time of year, with woods to explore, creeks to catch crawdads (crayfish) in, fields to play sports, a basketball court, and a pool. The cabin we stayed in was small, but homey, and fitted our needs. Me and my siblings slept up in the loft, our parents in a room beneath it. As it got colder, we heated the cabin with a wood stove. Me and Johnny took it upon ourselves to keep it supplied and running, a task we never tired of. After we finished our homeschooling for the day, we would go outside and roller blade, play basketball, or swim. Me and Johnny also rediscovered libraries, an unimaginable luxury after two years of searching for good books to read in resource starved Africa. However, as the weather grew colder, it was time to move out of Maple Grove. Renting a three bedroom house wasn't really on our missionary budget, but we knew God would provide. We heard news of a church near Kingston Ontario, from our friend Glen Snider. He was the new pastor for the Pine Grove Community Church, but already had his own house, and did not need the parsonage. So, in October, we moved into the parsonage. The people there are very nice, and we were grateful because they let us live in the parsonage rent free. I have already dedicated a post to this part of our lives. Here it is:Our Life In Canada (summer 2012- summer 2014) It was during January of 2013 (during a trip to Florida) that our lives once again took a turn in a different direction. My parents received word from our great friends and colleagues in Malawi, the Willson`s, that the management of the Free Methodist Church in Malawi was being handed over to local leadership. The Willsons were leaving, handing the Bible School (in the central capital of Lilongwe) over to the Malawians. This was greatly sad for us kids, as the Willson kids had been very good friends. It was also very hard to imagine missionary work outside the Free Methodist circle, and without the Willsons to work with. It was also during this time that my parents met Darrel Whiteman, a key leader of TMS- The Mission Society. He recommended his organization to my parents after hearing our story of being left without a sending organization. In the spring, my parents began to take his offer very seriously, and applied to be TMS missionaries. They had to pass some sort of test about their Christian beliefs and ideals, and a background check to ascertain whether or not they were criminals (they weren't). After that, we as a family had to take a trip down to Atlanta, Georgia so that we could get to know the TMS team, and they could get to know us. Turns out, they are wonderful people, who understood our goals and our reasons for them.
Although we been a sort of circuit missionary during our first trip, we increasingly saw a need for better agricultural practices among the Malawians. For a Malawian farmer in the village, if he does not grow enough crops to feed himself and his family, they starve. It is as simple as that. And most farmers have only a small plot, no more three or four tools (machetes and hoes, not tractors), and grow only one crop - maize. This means that if their maize crop fails, they don't eat. How can one teach a person about God and help him work on his Christian growth when he is starving? It is next to impossible. Towards the end of our first two years in Malawi, we heard about Foundations for Farming. Foundations for Farming teaches simple and effective methods of better agriculture, such as ground-cover, crop rotation, natural methods of fertilization, and farming without wastage, all of which, combined, greatly increase the productivity of the local farm.
In October, we took a 5 week trip to Malawi. One of the reasons for this was that we had stored our furniture and other belongings at the FM Bible School, and wanted it to be out of there before it was handed over to local leadership, simply to avoid any misunderstandings with the Malawians over us removing "their property" from the premises. These possessions had been bought by us with our own money, but, as conflict might have arisen over such an issue, we decided it would be best to store it somewhere else. Our new Foundations for Farming colleagues in Zomba, the Bos family, said that they could store it on their property, and we gratefully accepted the offer. Part of our time was spent on the Lilongwe Bible School Campus enjoying being with our friends the Willsons for the last time that we could foresee. It was very sad saying goodbye to Curtis and Kara Willson, to whom we had become very close, but such is the life of a MK (missionary kid): friends come and go. The rest of our time was spent in Southern Zomba and Blantyre, strengthening previous ties with our new colleagues there. We left feeling sad to say goodbye to the Willsons, but excited about our new field of ministry, and all the things our friends were doing in Malawi.
As missionaries with TMS, we were required to take several courses designed to help "new" missionaries deal with the life that accompanies our ministry. My parents took several that us kids did not participate in, but one was held in India, and was for the whole family. To our great disappointment, it was during both of our favourite family camps, at Maple Grove, and Wesley Acres. This was initially very sad for us, as we have good friends and memories at both camps, however I think our trip to India was worth it. The training took place in Bangaluru (Bangalore), and we made great friends there. Afterwards, we went touring Northern India, figuring that we might never get a chance to be in India again. I have dedicated several posts towards India, so I won't dwell more on that topic. (Find a post on India, and then click on the label: "Our trip to India" to read more about our adventures there.)
It was in India that my parents got yet another huge surprise. They found out that my Mom was pregnant with Elianna. Us children were not informed until we had a stop-over in the Netherlands, on our way back to Canada. Mom and Dad had not wanted to disappoint us if the baby died, so we were kept in the dark until the second trimester. Elianna completely changed our schedule. We had been planning on returning to Malawi in a few months, but our parents had been overwhelmed by the things that needed to be done before then. There are few good hospitals in Malawi, and we felt it was safer to have the delivery in Canada, so, in a big way, Elianna changed our time deadline for the better. She was born in March of 2014, and we all immediately liked her. She has so far been a very international kid, as she visited four continents before she was born (Netherlands in Europe, Canada in North America, India in Asia, and Malawi)!
The next few spring months were a flurry of visiting churches, taking courses, taking care of getting new passports, packing and storing our possessions, and sorting out all kinds of other things on my parents part. During this time we also joined ACCI (Adventive Cross-Cultural Initiatives), our sending organization in Canada. For legal reasons, TMS could not manage our Canadian funds, since TMS is based in the U.S. For this reason, ACCI manages our Canadian funds.
Me and Johnny built an awesome tree-fort with our friend Jeremy, and it seemed that just as we were starting make some good friends in Seeleys Bay, we had to leave! such is the life of an MK.
We were saddened to leave Seeley's Bay, but anticipated our next adventure with an attitude that comes only from experiencing many. We stored our belongings in the basement of the Charlemont church, an area near London, Ontario where many of our relatives live. After this, we went to the family camps at Wesley Acres, and Maple Grove. Both were a blast, and (as usual) I hold many good memories from those weeks. At Maple Grove, Elianna was dedicated. The youth program here was awesome, and all of us had a great time. My best memories there are the Airsoft fight I had with some other teens, and the extreme games and sports the youth leaders created for us.
Somehow I had been able to follow FIFA during this time, and watched the final game in the office basement of Maple Grove, as my parents packed our bags. It was the only place where an Internet connection could be received. After about an hour of biting my fingernails, Germany scored! I was ecstatic. My Mom is German, my uncle is a missionary in Argentina (and my aunt is a citizen), my other uncle was a missionary in Brazil, and I have cousins in Holland, so WE WON FIFA!!! (For those who did not follow FIFA 2014, Germany won, followed by Argentina in 2nd place, the Netherlands in 3rd, and Brazil in 4th.) This is one of my last memories of Maple Grove; funny the small things that come to mind. The next day, my dad's cousin drove us to the airport in her school bus. There was no other vehicle on the camp that could have carried us and all of our fifteen bags. Later in the day, we got in the plane for our next adventure.
The rest, is history.
For those who only want to know about our agency switch, I will simply say that we had been missionaries in the Free Methodist denomination, but due to a change of leadership from Western missionaries to Malawians, we are now sent by TMS and ACCI cooperatively, our mission being to teach Malawians means of bettering themselves through agricultural practices, while at the same time ministering to them about Jesus and the Bible.
My Dad was a pastor in Deep River, Ontario for many years. He was the pastor of a small church in a small denomination, called the Free Methodists. My parents started feeling that their work there was over, just as the church started to feel that it was too small to keep running. So, in the summer of 2009, we left the Deep River parsonage and moved to an empty, unused parsonage in Charlemont, where a lot of my Dad's relatives live. We stayed there (rent free) for nearly a year to fund-raise, and then left for Malawi as Free Methodist missionaries. My Dad was assigned to the Southern Region of Malawi (yup, the whole thing, and that contains over a hundred churches.) We lived in a house in Zomba, with a very large yard (over two acres). We spent those two years (2010-12) visiting our churches over the weekends. Most of these exist in rural villages, and our travelling exposed us to the great poverty most Malawians face. Generally we would show up in the afternoon and set up the generator (no electricity in the village) and projector. Then, when it got dark enough, we would show the Jesus film on a sheet stretched between two trees, which served as our projector screen. We would then eat supper (a stiff corn porridge with cooked pumpkin leaves and maybe, since we were guests, meat) and lay down in a hut to sleep on our mats. Next morning, Dad would preach at the church, and we would drive home as soon as we could get away after lunch. We always tried to get back to our home before dark, as the Malawian roads get dangerous at night, but it often did not work. I am happy that we got to share the Jesus Film with so many people, but it basically meant that we got no weekend, and made few friends. Towards the end of our first two years in Malawi, we received the news that we would probably have to stay in Canada for a year in order to fund-raise and take additional courses. At the time it seemed like forever, and we did not want to leave. However, back in Canada, we soon forgot this, and settled in. I might add that we had a two week stopover (as usual) in the Netherlands to visit my grandparents. It was late August when we got back to Canada. The culture shock was pretty powerful, more so than when we went to Malawi. This is a poor example but it will give you an idea of what it was like for us. I have never to this day seen cream cheese in a Malawian store, however, when you visit a Canadian grocery store, you have to make a decision between forty different types of cream cheese. Garlic cream cheese, lactose free cream cheese, cream cheese with apple pieces in it, with bacon bits, Halal cream cheese, cream cheese that doesn't come from cows, cream cheese for kids with strange allergies and diseases, cream cheese for Martians with only one finger on each hand who melt when they come in contact with aluminium foil, you name it, they got it.
We stayed in a cabin in Maple Grove from August to October of 2012, as we decided what to do about housing. The water pipes running to the cabin were not heated or insulated, so it was necessary that we move out before the ground froze. Maple Grove is one of my favorite places to be in Canada. It is a small cabin and trailer camp, which hosts retreats, primarily a big family camp in the summer. It has lots of woods (largely maples), and is surrounded by farmland. Most of our family in Canada goes there for family camp, and we have for as long as I can remember. Sadly, we missed family camp that year, and Maple Grove was mostly empty. Still, it is a great place any time of year, with woods to explore, creeks to catch crawdads (crayfish) in, fields to play sports, a basketball court, and a pool. The cabin we stayed in was small, but homey, and fitted our needs. Me and my siblings slept up in the loft, our parents in a room beneath it. As it got colder, we heated the cabin with a wood stove. Me and Johnny took it upon ourselves to keep it supplied and running, a task we never tired of. After we finished our homeschooling for the day, we would go outside and roller blade, play basketball, or swim. Me and Johnny also rediscovered libraries, an unimaginable luxury after two years of searching for good books to read in resource starved Africa. However, as the weather grew colder, it was time to move out of Maple Grove. Renting a three bedroom house wasn't really on our missionary budget, but we knew God would provide. We heard news of a church near Kingston Ontario, from our friend Glen Snider. He was the new pastor for the Pine Grove Community Church, but already had his own house, and did not need the parsonage. So, in October, we moved into the parsonage. The people there are very nice, and we were grateful because they let us live in the parsonage rent free. I have already dedicated a post to this part of our lives. Here it is:Our Life In Canada (summer 2012- summer 2014) It was during January of 2013 (during a trip to Florida) that our lives once again took a turn in a different direction. My parents received word from our great friends and colleagues in Malawi, the Willson`s, that the management of the Free Methodist Church in Malawi was being handed over to local leadership. The Willsons were leaving, handing the Bible School (in the central capital of Lilongwe) over to the Malawians. This was greatly sad for us kids, as the Willson kids had been very good friends. It was also very hard to imagine missionary work outside the Free Methodist circle, and without the Willsons to work with. It was also during this time that my parents met Darrel Whiteman, a key leader of TMS- The Mission Society. He recommended his organization to my parents after hearing our story of being left without a sending organization. In the spring, my parents began to take his offer very seriously, and applied to be TMS missionaries. They had to pass some sort of test about their Christian beliefs and ideals, and a background check to ascertain whether or not they were criminals (they weren't). After that, we as a family had to take a trip down to Atlanta, Georgia so that we could get to know the TMS team, and they could get to know us. Turns out, they are wonderful people, who understood our goals and our reasons for them.
Although we been a sort of circuit missionary during our first trip, we increasingly saw a need for better agricultural practices among the Malawians. For a Malawian farmer in the village, if he does not grow enough crops to feed himself and his family, they starve. It is as simple as that. And most farmers have only a small plot, no more three or four tools (machetes and hoes, not tractors), and grow only one crop - maize. This means that if their maize crop fails, they don't eat. How can one teach a person about God and help him work on his Christian growth when he is starving? It is next to impossible. Towards the end of our first two years in Malawi, we heard about Foundations for Farming. Foundations for Farming teaches simple and effective methods of better agriculture, such as ground-cover, crop rotation, natural methods of fertilization, and farming without wastage, all of which, combined, greatly increase the productivity of the local farm.
In October, we took a 5 week trip to Malawi. One of the reasons for this was that we had stored our furniture and other belongings at the FM Bible School, and wanted it to be out of there before it was handed over to local leadership, simply to avoid any misunderstandings with the Malawians over us removing "their property" from the premises. These possessions had been bought by us with our own money, but, as conflict might have arisen over such an issue, we decided it would be best to store it somewhere else. Our new Foundations for Farming colleagues in Zomba, the Bos family, said that they could store it on their property, and we gratefully accepted the offer. Part of our time was spent on the Lilongwe Bible School Campus enjoying being with our friends the Willsons for the last time that we could foresee. It was very sad saying goodbye to Curtis and Kara Willson, to whom we had become very close, but such is the life of a MK (missionary kid): friends come and go. The rest of our time was spent in Southern Zomba and Blantyre, strengthening previous ties with our new colleagues there. We left feeling sad to say goodbye to the Willsons, but excited about our new field of ministry, and all the things our friends were doing in Malawi.
As missionaries with TMS, we were required to take several courses designed to help "new" missionaries deal with the life that accompanies our ministry. My parents took several that us kids did not participate in, but one was held in India, and was for the whole family. To our great disappointment, it was during both of our favourite family camps, at Maple Grove, and Wesley Acres. This was initially very sad for us, as we have good friends and memories at both camps, however I think our trip to India was worth it. The training took place in Bangaluru (Bangalore), and we made great friends there. Afterwards, we went touring Northern India, figuring that we might never get a chance to be in India again. I have dedicated several posts towards India, so I won't dwell more on that topic. (Find a post on India, and then click on the label: "Our trip to India" to read more about our adventures there.)
It was in India that my parents got yet another huge surprise. They found out that my Mom was pregnant with Elianna. Us children were not informed until we had a stop-over in the Netherlands, on our way back to Canada. Mom and Dad had not wanted to disappoint us if the baby died, so we were kept in the dark until the second trimester. Elianna completely changed our schedule. We had been planning on returning to Malawi in a few months, but our parents had been overwhelmed by the things that needed to be done before then. There are few good hospitals in Malawi, and we felt it was safer to have the delivery in Canada, so, in a big way, Elianna changed our time deadline for the better. She was born in March of 2014, and we all immediately liked her. She has so far been a very international kid, as she visited four continents before she was born (Netherlands in Europe, Canada in North America, India in Asia, and Malawi)!
The next few spring months were a flurry of visiting churches, taking courses, taking care of getting new passports, packing and storing our possessions, and sorting out all kinds of other things on my parents part. During this time we also joined ACCI (Adventive Cross-Cultural Initiatives), our sending organization in Canada. For legal reasons, TMS could not manage our Canadian funds, since TMS is based in the U.S. For this reason, ACCI manages our Canadian funds.
Me and Johnny built an awesome tree-fort with our friend Jeremy, and it seemed that just as we were starting make some good friends in Seeleys Bay, we had to leave! such is the life of an MK.
We were saddened to leave Seeley's Bay, but anticipated our next adventure with an attitude that comes only from experiencing many. We stored our belongings in the basement of the Charlemont church, an area near London, Ontario where many of our relatives live. After this, we went to the family camps at Wesley Acres, and Maple Grove. Both were a blast, and (as usual) I hold many good memories from those weeks. At Maple Grove, Elianna was dedicated. The youth program here was awesome, and all of us had a great time. My best memories there are the Airsoft fight I had with some other teens, and the extreme games and sports the youth leaders created for us.
Somehow I had been able to follow FIFA during this time, and watched the final game in the office basement of Maple Grove, as my parents packed our bags. It was the only place where an Internet connection could be received. After about an hour of biting my fingernails, Germany scored! I was ecstatic. My Mom is German, my uncle is a missionary in Argentina (and my aunt is a citizen), my other uncle was a missionary in Brazil, and I have cousins in Holland, so WE WON FIFA!!! (For those who did not follow FIFA 2014, Germany won, followed by Argentina in 2nd place, the Netherlands in 3rd, and Brazil in 4th.) This is one of my last memories of Maple Grove; funny the small things that come to mind. The next day, my dad's cousin drove us to the airport in her school bus. There was no other vehicle on the camp that could have carried us and all of our fifteen bags. Later in the day, we got in the plane for our next adventure.
The rest, is history.
 |
| We now once again live in Zomba, Malawi, which is near the bottom of the map. |
No comments:
Post a Comment