Ripples of Hope in the Netherlands
This morning, we bring you love and greetings from our brothers and sisters in the Netherlands! The community is made up of a few families and several single people who don’t all live in one location, but gather to worship together regularly.
This year Brother Daniel and Sister Erin and their family spent several months encouraging the fledgling group and reaching out to many others who are seeking more from God. We then held a conference near Leiden, Netherlands in March.
The way this group has come together is remarkable. Dylan and his wife Marieke, now part of our community in South Africa, are originally from the Netherlands. A few years ago, when they felt God leading them to move to South Africa, that move entailed them leaving Dylan’s parents, Maarten and Lobat, far behind in the Netherlands. Initially the move was hard for all of them, and Dylan’s parents hoped that Dylan and Marieke would find what they prayed would be a sort of “extended family” with uncles & aunts, nieces & nephews.
One day Dylan and Marieke chanced upon the Heritage Bakery in Wilderness (you may remember the bakery from an email we sent a couple of weeks ago). When they met that group in South Africa, even being over 8,000 miles from their family, they described an experience of “coming home.” And they realized this was the extended family Dylan’s parents had prayed they’d find.
Back in the Netherlands, Maarten and Lobat were thrilled that God had led their son and his family to this community, but they never dreamed of what the relationship would mean for them.
As a young teen, Lobat was removed from a broken family and placed in an institution. She had plummeted to a place of despair when she had a supernatural encounter with God.
When she met Maarten, she told him she was afraid to raise children, but God spoke to the couple that He would start a new generation with them. They married and had two children. Lobat’s niece, Carmen, didn’t have a stable home, so Maarten and Lobat raised her as their own daughter. This was the first of 16 needy foster children they would open their home to over the last 28 years.
Maarten and Lobat visited Dylan and the community in South Africa a couple of times and found themselves falling in love with this “extended family”.
In 2023, they made a trip to the community in Texas and were baptized. After going home they made many changes in their lives and home.
As God transformed them, someone was watching. Their niece Carmen, now grown and married, began to ask questions. At the conference earlier this year, God spoke to Carmen and her husband Julien and began a transformation in their lives, too. A few months ago, they asked Brother Daniel to perform a ceremony to re-consecrate their marriage. As you can see in the picture below, they are a sweet couple indeed!
Maarten and Lobat continue to take in neglected, abused foster children. They are up-front with the authorities about their religious beliefs and that they want the children to grow up as Christians. This couple has been so successful that the government gives them freedom without much interference. They have created a home with a peaceful, happy, close-knit atmosphere where these hurting children can heal and come to know God.
Now, they are getting ready for another big change. They’re moving from the urban west side of the Netherlands to the rural northeastern part, from a residential area to a farm where the children can play and work outdoors. Julien and Carmen are moving with them so they can continue to help care for the children.
God’s love reached Dylan and Marieke in South Africa, then they reached to Dylan’s parents; from there Maarten and Lobat reached out to Julien and Carmen. Now Julien and Carmen are helping Maarten and Lobat to bring the love of God to many needy children in Holland. Who can say how far the ripples of love and hope will spread from here?
Please pray for the new, fledgling group in the Netherlands that God will strengthen and unify them as they seek His direction. Please pray that He will use them to bring the message of hope and light to everyone their lives touch.
