A missionary on a mission returns to Iowa married

OSKALOOSA Tue, May 13 2008

— Rodney De Ronde, of Oskaloosa, at the age of 22, left Iowa in the summer of 1990 to be a missionary to Hungary. While he was there he met a woman named Kitty from Den Helder, Netherlands, and fell in love. Today, they both live in Oskaloosa after spending almost 12 years overseas extolling God’s virtues.
Now 40 years old, Kitty De Ronde last week explained how she and her future husband first met.
“We met in Hungary. We were both single missionaries,” Kitty said. “But I was coming from the Netherlands and he was coming from the States.”
Kitty said when they first met, Rodney was the interim leader of the team. While they were aware of each other, they put off dating the first year because of Operation Mobilization policy.
“We didn’t date the first year. Because the organization has a policy not to date the first year,” she said. “So there wouldn’t be any distractions.”
Rodney, now 40, said the organization wanted its members to get used to team life, the culture of the country and the ministry first before becoming romantically involved.
Kitty said after the first year they started dating. A year later, they were engaged and in 1996 they were married in the Netherlands.
For Rodney, the years 1990 to 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995 and from 2000 to 2007 were spent in Hungary with Operation Mobilization.
“The whole purpose of why we were there was to help mobilize the Hungarian church for missions and outreach,” Rodney said. “And so we would build relationships and develop relationships with churches. And try to be a resource to them in starting new churches or seeing their church equipped and ready to reach out, to do evangelism ministry.”
Four of those years were spent helping churches in the eastern part of Hungary. Then Rodney and Kitty moved near Budapest, the capital of Hungary, where he took a leadership role in the organization.
“He became the director of Operation Mobilization in Hungary,” Kitty said. “Rodney did that for three-and-one-half years. And then we gave the work over to a Hungarian.”
During part of the eight years, Rodney said he and Kitty were basically alone. But OM teams are international and consist of people from many different cultures and backgrounds.
“And on our team at that time, there were Hungarians, Brazilians, Brits, South Africans and Dutch,” Rodney said. “It was very, very international. And we were all from different churches and denominations.”
Rodney said the international flavor of the team brought a powerful message to the ministry.
“It made it pretty powerful,” Rodney said. “When a group of people who come from different churches and different countries together serve God.”
Kitty said Rodney’s team was involved in many different kinds of ministry — from a literacy outreach with a mobile book trailer to games to outreach to local churches. Other outreach included teaching English, handing out Christian literature, sports camps, church programs.
“So a church or a pastor could invite a team and they would come for a week or two weeks and they would do a lot of community work and of course also share about Jesus,” Kitty said. “It was both reaching out to the community and sharing our faith.”
Rodney said the main goal was to help assist local churches fulfill their calling. He cited street evangelism, where they would do street theater.
“My first two years it was a lot of going on the streets of the capital of Budapest and preaching on the streets and doing dramas and singing, all as part of a team,” Rodney said. “Any way to creatively build relationships and get to know people and be a bridge to the church to share the gospel.”
Together with a local Baptist church, they were able to set up a community center, Kitty said. And there was the work with the gypsies. Like when they built a house for a handicapped gypsy man.
“We built a house for a gypsy man. He had no legs so he couldn’t work,” she said. “And they were very, very poor and they had this little house that was falling apart.”
The De Ronde’s will be married 12 years this April. They have two sons, Mark, who is 7, and Patrick, who is 4.
In November 2007, Rodney was named the associate pastor at Fellowship Bible Church. Kitty is involved with church activities, like bible study and the choir.
Kitty said they have no intentions of going overseas for another ministry.
“Our ministry is here in town now,” she said. “We are very committed to our church.”
Rodney said they are very content to be back in Oskaloosa after living life like nomads for so many years.
“That’s why were excited to be able to settle in Oskaloosa,” Rodney said. “Because we have moved a lot.”
Herald City Editor Michael Schaffer can be reached by email at mschaffer@oskyherld.com

Photos

The Oskaloosa Herald