“Do you still trust Him?” That’s how the elderly lady is greeting me when she meets me here on the main street in Kaitaia in the north of New Zealand. She asks me if  I still trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 22:4,5 David says, “In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.”

I can also say with David that I trusted and obeyed the Lord – more than fiftythree years ago  – and that I am not disappointed.

The Lord led me to a Bible school in Germany to get Bible training. That included some time in London and reaching children with the gospel, mainly in the north of Germany. There is not much spiritual life in the northern part of Germany.

WEC International is a Missionary Society. The headquarters of WEC International in Germany is near Frankfurt/Main and after staying there for some time, I was accepted to go as a missionary to Thailand. I worked in Thailand for thirteen years, married in Thailand and our two children were also born in Thailand. In Thailand we worked in two provinces namely TAK and KAMPHENGPHAT.

In 1980 we did some more training at the BCNZ (Bible College of New Zealand) in Auckland.

After that we started our Maori work at the end of 1980 (United Maori Mission – UMM) in Kaitaia, were we stayed for a short time. During the second part of 1981 we moved to Kaikohe were we continued to work as missionaries (UMM) until I retired at the end of 2004.

At the beginning of 2005 we moved to the beautiful place called KAITAIA where we are NOW!

Are you familiar with the chorus of the hymn “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way?” This is the chorus:

“TRUST AND OBEY, FOR THERE’S NO OTHER WAY TO BE HAPPY IN JESUS BUT TO TRUST AND OBEY.”