Mark's background!
I was born in India, where my parents were missionaries
for some thirty years. There I attended boarding
school from first grade through twelfth grade, at
Woodstock School, at a beautiful mountain hill
station in Mussoorie in the foothills of the
Himalayan Mountains.
I then attended college, one year at Bethel College,
Mishawaka, Indiana and then three years at LeTourneau
University, where I received a B.S. in electrical
technology. Upon graduating I signed up for service
with the Mennonite Central Committee and went to work
in Bangladesh right after the liberation war with
Pakistan. There I was involved with helping the people
learn how to grow new types of vegetables and crops
during the winter season, to supplement their diet of
rice. Since growing up in West Bengal introduced me to
the Bengali language I enjoyed using my Bangla again.
During my term there Sheikh Mujibur Rahman awarded the
Mennonite Central Committee a gold medal for our work
in agriculture.
When thinking of travel plans back to the States in the
summer of 1975, I thought it would be fun to travel
overland instead of the normal plane trip which is over
in a matter of a day or so. This began a trip of a
lifetime by motor bike with my older brother, Dan, and
another fellow MCCer, Al Geiser, which took us through
India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran,
Turkey and Greece. The plan was to go to Europe,
but from Greece we realized that the weather would
be getting quite cold to the north, so why not go
south instead? Turning south took us on a Russian
liner to Egypt where we found our way to the tip of
Africa, going through Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania,
Zambia, Botswana,
Rhodesia, and South Africa.
From Cape Town we took a ship to New York and then
drove to our home town of Goshen, Indiana.
The bike odometers showed that we
had traveled the distance of going around the world
once in our ten months of travel. What a rich
experience of meeting many new friends and seeing some
very interesting places!
Once in the States it was time to decide what should be
my next step in life. Since growing up in India I
experienced first hand the work of my parents who were
working to tell people how the emptiness in their lives
could be filled. I wanted to do the same thing, but
realized how few people could hear if I followed their
footsteps. Radio might be the answer. Dan and I had
heard of Trans World Radio
while traveling in India. Why not visit their
headquarters? Sure enough TWR's preliminary forms were
filled out and the process of raising support
was started.
In the meantime, a year and a half of Bible School
seemed the thing to do to get ready. In the last
semester there I met a lovely young lady and it wasn't
long until wedding bells were ringing.
Debbie came from the largest state in the Union --
Alaska, where her father taught school in Palmer and
they lived in the beautiful Matanuska Valley.
After our marriage Debbie introduced me to the Alaska
Highway, over which we had to pass to meet her friends
and family. It wasn't long until we were headed for
our first assignment with TWR on the island of Guam
where we lived for 12 years as a part of a team
broadcasting mainly to China, and other surrounding
countries. Both of our children,
Rhonda and
Peter
were born on that tropical island.
We were then asked to transfer to Sri Lanka, where TWR
works under the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
broadcasting to South Asia. I serve as the Director of
Operations of TWR Sri Lanka presently. Come visit us
on our Sri Lanka picture page. Sri Lanka is a beautiful tropical island
with many places of interest and things to see.
|Our Newsletter
|Peter's Place
|Sri Lanka Pictures|
|Rhonda's Page
|