You Did What??!!! You did what? We rented out our house, sold our van and traveled around the world for a year. Volunteering with CRWRC was an important part of how we shared our travel adventure with others. It wasn’t a vacation, it wasn’t even a trip. It was a journey! We are the DeWilde Family – John, Pam, Simon and Danielle. One of the main goals of our travels was to introduce our children (aged 9 and 11) to different cultures and conditions. Through the assistance of ServiceLink staff we were able to volunteer with CRWRC in 4 of the countries we visited – Nicaragua, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Niger. We chose to stay in these countries for 2 months in order to slow down the pace of our traveling, soak up the culture, take time for language learning, and find a way to contribute something of ourselves to our hosts. In Nicaragua we spent the first 4 weeks learning Spanish. We didn’t know any Spanish when we stepped off the plane in Managua. With a little bit of confidence and new conversation skills, we spent 4 weeks working with Michelle Adams, an Associate of Christian Reformed World Missions, and her staff at Tesoros de Dios (Treasures of God) in Managua. We played games with the children, did some painting, taught English, and helped with school activities. Our next opportunity to serve came while we were living in Los Baños, Philippines. A few mornings we helped the Level 1 teacher at Grace Community Christian School. Pam took a one-year leave of absence from her work with Diaconal Ministries Canada, and was able to use some of her experience with several diaconates in the Southern Luzon area. John took time out from his job as an environmental engineer, and had an opportunity to share from his experience while visiting the southern Philippines where CRWRC is involved in a housing project.  In Bangladesh, Pam was involved in facilitating focus groups with two of CRWRC’s partner organizations. After visiting several rural villages, John wrote stories of changed lives which these same partner organizations will use when preparing their annual reports. There were significant language and cultural barriers for all of us, but Simon and Danielle were able to use the universal skills of play to interact with children at a L’Arche day program, and a school run by Taize Brothers. Connecting with CRWRC’s partner in Niger, West Africa, was a rich blessing. John and Pam had worked with ACEN in the mid 1990’s as Service and Training Volunteers. It felt great to be facilitating workshops in the shade of a tree again. Sometimes these service opportunities were worked out months in advance, other times they evolved as we made ourselves available on the field. In every case, we celebrated how God revealed opportunities for us to serve, always at the right time. He truly went before us. And together with those we were serving with and alongside, we could testify to God’s faithfulness. He hemmed us in before and behind (Psalm 139:5). As you set off on whatever journey lies ahead of you, take a willing heart, lots of patience and a good dose of flexibility. God is waiting to place you in the right place at the right time! Back to 'De Wilde Journey' |
