September 2010
Planting Malawi
EMMANUEL
INTERNATIONAL CANADA
PRAYER & PRAISE:
 We praise God for a successful
ministry in Malawi; for the stories
that we were privileged to be
part of
 We praise God for bringing our
family safely back home, and the
opportunity to visit family and
friends in Holland and northern
BC on our way home
 We praise God for providing us
a beautiful home through gener-
ous friends
 We pray that we will adjust to
the culture and life in Canada
 We pray God will bless our
home assignment and provide
supplementary employment
 We pray God will guide us as
we pursue returning to Africa in
the future
 We pray God will continue to
bless our friends in Malawi
Holland
Isaiah 61.3
an update from the VanWoerdens [home from Malawi]
Home from Malawi [reflecting back]
So we‟re back in Canada – no longer
in Malawi. Something about that still
doesn‟t seem real. I was in denial
about leaving Malawi right up to the
last week when it was time for so
many goodbyes. Then we took five
weeks to get home and it felt like a
vacation, like we would be returning
to Malawi any day. Now we‟re set-
tling in to life here in Canada but
we‟re still feeling sort of lost.
People ask us: “How was your time in
Journey Back [where in the world are the VanWoerdens?]
We left Malawi July 17 but didn‟t
get „home‟ until August 23. We sort of
took a roundabout route back home.
In some ways it was a journey back to
our “home village” before returning
to the place we‟ve come to call home
in Chilliwack, BC. In Malawi, a per-
son‟s home village
or family roots is of
ultimate importance
because it means
relationships and
community. If you
would ask my Mala-
wian friend,
Charles, where he is
from, he would
name the village of
his family‟s origins,
2010 even though he has-
Malawi?” “Was it worth it?” “Are you
going back?”
We have to admit, we really did
have a good experience in Malawi.
There were definitely hard times; it
wasn‟t always fun and exciting. But
we took a leap of faith when we de-
cided to go to Malawi and God af-
firmed our passions. Malawi was the
right place for us. We got to be part
of a lot of transformation stories,
helping people [continued on p. 2]
n‟t lived there a day in his life; he
was born and raised in Zomba town
where he lives and works to this day.
Anyway, we journeyed back to our
respective home villages to visit fam-
ily and friends before heading home.
Van Woerden home: Holland: We
spent two weeks in Holland, visiting
Andre‟s family and doing some sight-
seeing. We went back to the Glas-
bergenlaan where Andre lived as a
kid and our girls got to play in the
playground at the end of the street.
They also enjoyed a day at Europe‟s
largest playground, a day at Oma‟s
house and a visit to the petting zoo, a
tour of an old castle, and several
days relaxing on the beach. Although
we were some combination of both
returnee and tourist speaking only a
[continued on p. 3]
 P L A N T I N G M AL AWI | S E PT EM B E R 2 0 1 0

Looking back [continued from front]

who are stuck in a poverty trap to help themselves and to
receive a glimpse of hope through development interven-
tions that changed their village in the name of Jesus. We
learned a lot about poverty and about development aid.
And we met people who were desperately poor and we
got to be a small part of helping them. We didn‟t solve
the problem of poverty in Malawi, but we made a differ-
ence in the lives of some.

As we experienced these stories of poverty and hardship

and transformation, they changed us. During our two
years in Malawi, we‟ve been able to share some of those
stories with our friends back home and hopefully some of
them have also been impacted by these stories. We‟re
home: 604.823.6403 /
back in Canada now, closer to many of our friends but
also with better access to internet and telephone, so if  mobile: 604.701.8262 /
skype: alexandre.vw /
you‟re interested in hearing more about our experience
email: alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com
in Malawi, please don‟t hesitate to contact us. 

Home Assignment with Emmanuel International [reassigned]

We were really hoping to leave Ma-
lawi with some idea with what was next
for our family. Actually, in many ways,
we wished we didn‟t have to leave Ma-
lawi at all. But we did leave Malawi
and without any idea what would be
next, except that we were returning to
Canada. But for how long? To do what?
Coming back to Canada was a journey
into the unknown.
So we‟re home and we‟re trying to fig-
ure out the way forward while we‟re
adjusting to life back here. Although we
have no definite plans, our desire
would be to return to Africa, probably
in about a year or so. In the meantime,
Emmanuel International has asked us
to continue to serve with them on a
home assignment while we‟re in Can-
ada.
We have agreed to serve in a part-
time capacity as representatives of
Emmanuel International Canada in
western Canada to build the mission‟s
support network for its ministry of
transforming lives around the world.
We will be visiting donors and
churches and representing Emmanuel
International at Missions Fest and
other conferences to develop the mis-
sion‟s support network in western Can-
ada. We hope we will be able to
help build up Emmanuel Interna-
tional‟s work here in Canada and we
hope this home assignment will serve
as a good bridge to whatever mission
lies ahead for us.
We do need to have the continued
support of our support team to carry
out this home assignment. We would
like to take this opportunity to thank
all our supporters, whether by prayer
or finances, for backing our ministry in
Malawi. Please consider continuing
your support for our ministry during
this transition period. And please
pray that God will guide us toward
our future mission assignment. 

Journey Back [continued from front]
“klein beetje” Dutch, we really enjoyed
blending in the populace and not
standing out for a change.
Emmanuel International home: Stouf-
fville, ON: After lugging our ten boxes
and bags back to the airport and
checking them in again at Schiphol in
Amsterdam, we spent a couple days in
Toronto. We had landed on Canadian
soil. But we were not to get the kind of
welcome you‟d expect after being
gone for two years. Although the Cana-
dians were by far the most helpful at
any airport we had traveled through,
our family spent the entire first day
back in Canada at the doctor‟s office,
getting poked full of holes, making our
girls scream, and asked hundreds of
medical and psychological questions.
Doing a full returning missionary health
examination is definitely not the best
way to say “Welcome back to Can-
ada” or “Happy Birthday” (it was
probably not Andre‟s best birthday
at the park with Oma in Holland
Andre & Alexandra VanWoerden [Lara, Talia, Ezera]
home: 604.823.6403 / mobile: 604.701.8262
skype: alexandre.vw / e: alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com
vw-mw.blogspot.com
P L A N T I N G M AL AWI | S E PT EM B E R 2 0 1 0
ever). Anyway, we survived, and af-
ter debriefing at the Emmanuel Inter-
national head office and a staff BBQ,
we checked in all our suitcases once
again.
Van der Merwe home: Flatrock, BC:
I think it was during our brief visit in
Toronto that we saw one of our
friends‟ facebook status, “Where in
the world are the VanWoerdens?”
We travelled up to northern British
Columbia to spend two weeks with
Alex‟s family. Grandpa and
Grandma got to see their three
granddaughters again after two
years and spoiled them from the day
we arrived to the day we left. Our
girls loved the farm and the horses
and the quad. After a week of camp-
ing, it was time to check in our bags
one last time for a final flight to Van-
couver on August 23.
cooking: the morning of our departure from Malawi
Home: Chilliwack, BC: We spent our
first week back in Chilliwack with An-
dre‟s parents and shared our Malawi
story with our church family at Sardis
Fellowship on Sunday. After six weeks
of travelling since we left our home in
Malawi, it was really nice to move
into “our own place.” Friends of ours
have gone travelling around the
States with their family and offered
us their home for the next five months,
which has been a huge blessing for us.
It gives us a place to call home while
we figure out our bearings, to see
what God has in store for us next. 
We‟d love to hear from you. Please do
visit us, or give us a call or an email.
Andre and Alexandra VanWoerden
42013 Sinclair Road
Chilliwack BC V2R 4N8
home: 604.823.6403 /
mobile: 604.701.8262 /
skype: alexandre.vw /email:
alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com
Emmanuel International Canada
PO Box 4050 Stouffville ON L4A 8B6
905.640.2111 info@eicanada.org
www.eicanada.org