Glenn and Ronda Olson have always been drawn to the idea of promoting and expressing peace. But unlike most Peace Corps participants, the Sammamish couple waited many years to fill their volunteering void.

“The seeds were planted when I was in high school,” Ronda said. “One of the seminars offered during career day was on the Peace Corps. What always stayed with me was that there is a great big world out there and I just may be able to do something.”

Glenn, 64, and Ronda, 63, aren’t new to volunteering. Glenn built the Little League baseball field that sits between Margaret Mead Elementary School and East Sammamish Park, and Ronda has worked with local PTAs, the Boys and Girls Club and co-founded the Plateau Youth Action Committee in 1992.

However, the Peace Corps is their first time contributing overseas. And it only took 40-something years to make it a reality.

“Totally over simplifying, the process went something like this: dating in college, wedding bells, diapers, coaching Little League games, college tuition, and eventually an empty nest,” Glenn said. “Ronda and I rekindled our thoughts about Peace Corps. We started reading and talking about it for about five years and then I decided it was time for a change, and Ronda agreed.”

Ronda said she wasn’t set on leaving home. However, what she did know is that she didn’t want to be away from Glenn for two and a half years and she wasn’t getting any younger.

“I felt if I didn’t apply, then I probably would never do so,” she said. “So I followed recommendations, took classes in Spanish through Bellevue College, and tutored a wonderful young woman from Columbia in English.”

Then, in June 2012, Glenn and Ronda left for the adventure of a lifetime.

They are currently serving in Cimislia, Moldova, and are in the 23rd month of their 27-month service agreement.

Glenn is in the Small Entrepreneur Development department, so his primary responsibility is consulting the Strategic Planning Department and their various projects. He also translates for the communications department, works on a recycling and solid waste information grant campaign, helps with a construction grant project for schools, and works to educate and promote health issues within the area through a NGO called ‘Youth for Youth’.

Ronda is helping to develop a sustainable health education program. She mentors Moldovan teachers and administrators so they can increase their knowledge of age-appropriate formal and informal health education activities and then integrate that knowledge into the classroom, empowering students to make healthy decisions. Ronda also does some English tutoring.

“Serving has given me the opportunity to slow down, live a simpler lifestyle, and make do,” Ronda said. “It’s given me the opportunity to look at the world through a different set of eyes and be more appreciative of what we have in the U.S., as well as think about what I will do differently when we return.”

For Glenn, the greatest benefit to serving is the complete integration into the communities where they work.

“We get to share our work and life experiences to help others…this is the ultimate culture exchange,” he said.

But the experience would be completely different without Ronda, he said.

“Serving with my wife has been a totally awesome experience. Every day we are able to share the roller coaster ride of Peace Corps experiences, so our frustrations are articulated and our successes are celebrated.”

Glenn and Ronda will have been married for 40 years come August, and Glenn said that their Peace Corps service has inspired their growth both as individuals and as a couple. During Peace Corps training, the couple was separated due to specific programming, so they were an hour and a half away from each other and only got to see each other for a total of three nights during a 10-week period.

“We knew this would be the situation before we arrived and Ronda predicted it would be like dating again,” Glenn said. “She was spot on. Our ‘dating’ turned into a new love story – with each other, and the Peace Corps.”

Ronda said the experience is much easier with Glenn by her side.

“I get to share this experience with my husband and best friend,” she said. “And for the rest of our lives, it is another story and another experience that binds us.”

And while the couple loves what they’re doing in Moldova, they are eager and excited to be home in a couple of months, reuniting with family and friends and enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Ronda said that have two grandsons that have been born while they’ve been away.

“It will take time to adjust,” she said. “The normal and familiar may not seem so much so. In time it will become more so, I’m certain. I’m also certain that this experience will never be far from my thoughts. I’ll have two countries I can call home.”