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Title:
Liaison
Contact Info:
Office: +44 - 1473 - 311622
marietta.woods@emiuk.org
Joined EMI:
We took part in a project trip to Bethany Village on the Shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda in 2007. We then attended the eMI conference in Jackson Hole in July 2007, followed by interviews at the eMI Headquarters in Colorado Springs. We were invited to join the staffing October 2007 with the purpose of setting up an eMI office in the UK.
Family:
Mike and I were married in 1977. We have 2 children; Nadine (Landscape Architect), married to Dan (Landscape architect) and Lore (Mental Health Nurse), getting married to Jon (Garden Designer) in October 2008. We also have several unofficially adopted Ugandan children;( Lela, studying Health Care and Social Studies in Colchester), Adrian (studying aircraft engineering and missionary aviation at Moody Institute of Aviation in Spokane/ Washington State) and Kenneth (doing A levels), Denis and Phionah (doing O levels) and Stella (in S1), all in secondary boarding school in Uganda.
I am Dutch and except for one brother in Cape Town, all my brothers and sister still live in the Netherlands.
Educational background:
I studied French at the Sorbonne and Spanish at the University of Utrecht with one term at the University of Salamanca. I then studied at London Bible College for 3 years. I later completed a 3 year part-time Diploma Course in Psychodynamic Counselling.
Jobs:
I have worked as a translator translating Christian books. I also worked as a simultaneous interpreter at conferences. I taught Dutch in evening classes and French and German in private classes. I taught French in secondary school in Tanzania. I was a missionary for 9 years. I worked as a counsellor for Ipswich Concern for several years and was a staff member and one of the leaders with Open Door (a Christian drop in centre for the homeless, attached to our church) for 15 years.
Ministry experience:
- Four years with Operation Mobilisation, of which 2 years in Belgium, 1 year on the Logos and 1 year in India
- I've participated in missions in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and many others whilst serving on the Logos.
- Two years in Iraq accompanying Mike in a secular job but being part of a team who kept St George's (Baghdad) church going in the absence of a vicar. Also being involved in evangelistic outreach in he camps of Indian workers
- Two and a half years with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Tanzania
- Two years in Uganda, also with MAF, where I became very involved in parenting and supporting orphans, something we continued to do even after we returned to the UK
- Fifteen years of working with the homeless at the drop in centre connected to our church
- Generally having an open home, including providing a welcome for many foreign students
- EMI since October 2007
Countries visited:
I've been to 42 countries and lived in 9 different countries (the Netherlands, England, France, Belgium, India, Tanzania, Uganda, Iraq and Spain).
Testimony:
I was brought up in a non-Christian family even though I was sent to Sunday school and confirmation classes (Dutch Reformed). Somehow it was more of an academic exercise to me. Whilst I was in Paris, I attended a club led by students from Lamorlaye Bible College, It was through their witness that I became a Christian. Unfortunately, I left Paris virtually the next day, without any follow up or even names and addresses of other Christians. When I went to university, I didn't meet any committed Christians for 2 years and the church I attended was very liberal. It wasn't until my third year that I met a very small group of Christian students called Ichthus. It was they who taught me how to study the Bible and how to pray and witness. I spent 2 weeks at l'Abri in Switserland. It was there that I really committed my life to Christ.
Texts to live by:
Isaiah 61:1-3
(1)The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, (2) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, (3)and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty in stead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour.
Isaiah 58:6-12
(6)"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (7)Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (8)Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. (9) Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here I am. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, (10) and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like noonday. (11) The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame, You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (12)Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of broken walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
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