De Jong, 75 and a retired dairy farmer, is a practical man. He knows he is not a preacher or theologian, but he can work with dairy cows, keeping them healthy and helping to improve their yield of milk. And that is exactly what CRWM was looking for: a dairy manager to help get a new education and economic mission’s venture up and running at a seminary in Mbale, Uganda.
“If this didn’t involve cows, it would be the end of the story,” said De Jong, who wasn’t planning to spend part of his retirement as a missionary. Now that he is part of the project, though, he is excited and has lots of ideas on how to help build the program at the seminary and possibly help to bolster the dairy industry in Uganda.
Eleven of the new missionaries who attended the orientation will be serving with CRWM partner schools in Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Nigeria.
Four of the new missionaries, including the De Jongs, are volunteers and will be serving in Uganda with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, working at the Pentecostal Bible school in capacities ranging from teaching courses to managing the dairy farm.
De Jong and his wife, Anne, live in Marysville, Wash. They will leave for Uganda in October, about the time the first cows arrive on the farm near the theological college.
Anne De Jong says she will likely start a Coffee Break Ministry Bible study with wives of the men studying to be pastors at the school, which is about 120 miles northeast of Kampala, the country’s capital.
She said she had hoped that CRWM would accept them for this task, since she has a desire to teach women about the Bible. She especially wanted to do it in Mbale, where the couple have friends and have visited. But she had been skeptical that it would really happen until “the Lord provided ways around all of the roadblocks,” she says.
For instance, she says, they were approached by a family that was interested in renting their farmhouse for the next year. In addition, all of their six children encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunity. Also, they learned that the medical services they might need are available in the area to which they are traveling.
“Being our age, we thought we didn’t stand a chance of being sent to Uganda,” says Anne, who is 70. “But here we are at orientation. This week has been so valuable. It has offered us such great support and useful information. Without a solid support organization like CRWM, something like this couldn’t happen.”
During orientation, the agency covered topics like CRWM's mission, vision, and values; stages of cross-cultural transition; regional orientation; communicating with individuals and churches in the CRCNA; personal security; conflict management; Reformed theology; and more.
As for the cows, the De Jongs will serve as part of a training program for pastors who need to make a living while serving at churches and worship centers in Uganda, which is a new mission field for CRWM.
"It will be a co-course at the seminary. We want to teach these pastors farming techniques," says Rev. Mwaya Wa Kitavi, CRWM regional leader for East and Southern Africa.
So far, several CRC congregations have donated funds to purchase cows in Uganda. The hope is to have a herd of about 20 cows.
“The big thing will be to get this program off the ground and to train a team of local people who can carry on the program when we leave,” says Sam De Jong.
-Chris Meehan, CRC Communications
Article taken from the Christian Reformed Church of North America, http://www.crcna.org/news.cfm?newsid=1442
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