Rijke (ライカ/rai-ka) Rombeek
OMF International
Rijke Rombeek was born into a Christian family, but walked away from the faith at a young age. It was in her teenage years, through the prayer of 2 Christian friends, that she came back to God. Within a few years she felt the call of God to full time ministry, but recoiled from the thought of becoming the pastor of a church.
Eventually she enrolled in university initially taking a BA in World Religions and followed by an Mdiv. It was during this time that idea of missions settled securely into her heart. Although, to deal with student loans, she moved to South Korea and taught English. 2 things became clear very quickly. The first, was that right from her arrival in the airport, she felt that she had come home for the first time in her life and that home had to do with a place, even though it wasn’t specifically the airport. That feeling remained with her her entire time in Korea and even on returning to Canada, any views of of cityscapes or rural scenes that are typical of that area instantly brought on a feelings of homesickness. The second thing she quickly learned is that she did not enjoy teaching English.
On her return to Canada she continued to pay off her student loans working with the homeless in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. Until the time when she felt she could make the step into missions. Her experience in Korea helped to bring her back to Asian interests and connected her with OMF who sent her to Japan in 2009.
After 2 years in language study she moved to Tokyo where she started working with the Sidewalk Chapel (a church for the homeless in one of Tokyo largest parks) and with the local food
bank. She also assisted with a non-christian Japanese black Gospel choir.
In 2013 she came back to Canada on Home Assignment and health issues have delayed her return. She is temporarily working on home side mobilization while health issues are resolved with
the hope of continuing the work in Tokyo.