The Wilson Family

SERVING IN CAMBODIA

We are the Wilson Family, Debra, Zach, and Mark. Our family’s relationship to the work in Cambodia stretches back to 1994 when Debra first traveled there from her base in Chiang Mai on a survey trip for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). At that time, Debra worked for Reformed Church in America (RCA) but seconded to CRWRC. Deb returned to Cambodia in 1995 with Mark (her new husband). Deb pioneered the work of CRWRC in Cambodia while Mark took up a position with Food for the Hungry (FH). During her time in Asia, Deb’s roles included serving as the Mainline Southeast Asia Program Developer and Cambodia Country Director (for CRWRC), and Program Director (with FH) for the coalition of local and international churches and Christian organizations, We Love Thailand, in response to the Asian tsunami. Currently, Debra serves as the Housing Director for Good Samaritan Ministries.
During his time with Food for the Hungry in Cambodia, Mark served as Programmes Manager, Country Director, and S/SE Asia Regional Director. During Mark’s tenure as Country Director, FH Cambodia, together with its partners, brought physical and spiritual healing to poor Cambodian communities through programs such as Agriculture, Child Development, Water and Sanitation, and Church Leadership Development. Mark has just completed four years of study at Western Theological Seminary with the Reformed Church in America and was ordained in June 2010 at the same time that our family was commissioned for our return to Cambodia.

Why Cambodia?
Nearly 20 years of continual war and violence, including the holocaust of the Pol Pot regime which resulted in the death of an estimated 2 million people, has reduced Cambodia to one of the poorest nations in the world. The majority of Cambodia’s rural population continues to suffer from most of the inter-related problems associated with poverty.
After much thought and prayer, our family believes that God is still calling us to use the gifts, abilities and experiences that He has given us to respond to the needs in Cambodia. For Debra, this will mean working on language and helping our family get settled during the first year. After that, she is open to whatever needs she can respond to. For Mark, he will be using his gifts, abilities and experiences to walk together with the Cambodian Church. More specifically, Food for the Hungry has agreed to partner with the Reformed Church in America (RCA), the Phnom Penh Bible School (PPBS) and the Theological Education by Extension Association Cambodia (TEEAC) by assigning Mark to assist PPBS and TEEAC in designing and implementing curriculum that assists pastors, lay leaders and students to understand and carry out holistic forms of ministry in their local communities and the wider Cambodian society. In other words, Mark will contribute to the equipping and empowering of the Cambodian Church to become, as our home church in Holland puts it “care for the hurting, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, build homes for the homeless, wipe away the tears of the grieving, and lift the burdens of the broken, walk with the wounded, visit the imprisoned, go to the outcasts, find the forgotten, stand against injustice, carry the weak, run to the lonely, share the gospel with the lost, counsel the confused, speak up for the voiceless, encourage the depressed, comfort the sick, and pray with the grieving.” Mark will also be tasked with assisting both organizations to identify and raise up capable Cambodian women and men to serve in these roles in the future.
On the personal side, we enjoy spending time with our son Zachary. Deb also likes to garden, Mark likes photography and computers, and Zach loves to read, play board games and train in Taekwondo.