How did we end up in missions?

When Charles and Petra got married in 1984, we both had a heart for missions, volunteering at the Billy Graham Crusade in Vancouver in 1984.

We also looked into missions early on in our marriage. At one point we considered working at an orphanage in Pakistan, but then the kids started to come along and the possibility to go into missions full time was no longer practical then.

The fact that we did not enter the mission field full time back then doesn’t mean that we were not involved in missions. Later on in the 1980’s we were involved with MacGregor Ministries, a mission that educated the church about reaching out to those trapped in the cults, specifically the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We traveled to various churches helping with seminars and teaching programs.

In late 1988 we moved to Victoria on Vancouver Island and were involved in a new church plant that had just started. In early 1990 we once again returned to the Vancouver area and became involved in Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship.

Our involvement with IVCF began when the IVCF staff person at Simon Fraser University, Diane Wobma, a member of our home church, asked us to help at the annual IVCF New Years camp for international students. These are students who do not have family in Canada and who find themselves on a deserted campus whenever there is a longer holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. We found that these students from overseas often did not have any knowledge at all of Christ or the Christian faith.

Our involvement with IVCF continued into the late 1990’s and both James and Jonathan grew up with international students around. This helped to accustom them to international foods and cultural events. Unfortunately the involvement in IVCF ended with the sale of the local IVCF camp and the departure of Diane Wobma from the staff of IVCF at Simon Fraser University.

We tried without success to find other local avenues where we could be used. We continually broadened our search for opportunities and eventually we also considered overseas opportunities. We were privileged to have the opportunity to help at a missions conference for missionaries of our denomination in Mexico. This opened up the possibility of travel and experience of the Latin American culture on an intimate, albeit short, time. During and after the conference we had opportunities to speak with missionaries on an informal basis and even traveled through southern Mexico with one family for several days.

After the conference several opportunities opened up for us but, as we went through the various processes and with prayer, in the end only Guatemala remained open.

In 2002 we began our seemingly insurmountable task of raising the necessary support to allow us to serve at Christian Academy of Guatemala. Finally, a year and a half after beginning our deputation we were cleared to leave for Guatemala and our work there.