My Story

I am Leanna Veldhuizen.  I grew up in a family of 5 children near Norwich, ON.  When I graduated from high school in 2012, little did I know that my life was going to take turns I never expected. 

Through the providence of God, I was able to travel with a church workgroup to Bolivia (a small country in South America where our church has a mission).  This reawakened a childhood dream of working in an orphanage. 

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Originally, I thought to do this only for a half year before continuing on with college and finding work here in Canada.  Instead, God had another plan for me.  Those 6 months spent in Africa in 2017 forever changed my life.  I now viewed everything through different lenses.  I would hold the children in my heart.  In addition, the culture fascinated and frustrated me at the same time. 

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I visited again in 2018 and 2019, each time for 2 months.  When I left 2019, I left differently than before.  I didn’t know if I would come back in 2020. Even stronger, was the burden I had for their spiritual welfare.  We can give them everything they need for daily life – and that is important – but there is a greater need.   

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With this in mind, together with the providence of the Lord and a lot of prayer, I am now looking forward to going to Malawi at some point!