Tag: church
-
Cornelis de Jong
Read More: Cornelis de Jong1928 – 2025 Preface by Henry de Jong Cornelis de Jong was a quiet, unassuming man, not easily drawn into arguments, but always ready with a story or two from his life experiences. Like my own father, my father-in-law had a checkered career that made him more worldly wise than most and cultivated his observant…
-
Stutenstreek -1876
Read More: Stutenstreek -1876After Albert left the army (1876), he bought a piece of land of 2000 square yards (.4 acres) in what would later be called “The Stutenstreek”. He paid 460 guilders (125 dollars) for the land and a small house was built on it for 200 guilders (80 dollars). Albert and Tietje made a good start…
-
Stuits in Woldendorp
Read More: Stuits in WoldendorpThese next three pages are taken from the descriptions written by Henk Bousema in the Stuit Book, relying on the help of his uncle Berend Beekhuis for research and information. Woldendorp lies in the province of Groningen, in an area that is called Oldambt. The distance to the nearest town Winschoten is a four hour…
-
Religion and Faith
Read More: Religion and FaithOne can talk about religion in generalities and about churches being staunchly Reformed and very orthodox, but what was my personal experience as a child? I can’t remember that my mother often told Bible stories, but she must have done so. At table Dad read from Anne De Vries’ Bible Story Book and when I…
-
The Raid
Read More: The RaidIn 1944, when I was twelve years old something happened in that church which would not be forgotten for many years to come. The German occupation was forever on the look-out for young men who were supposed to be working in Germany but had gone underground. But during periods of a more relaxed attitude of…
-
Church
Read More: ChurchMy parents went to churches where sermons lasted 1½ hours, but when I grew up they had been shortened to appr. 45 minutes. Sometimes men would suddenly stand up in the middle of a sermon. They began to feel sleepy, and this was the way to stay awake. Other men would enter the church with…
-
Organ Playing
Read More: Organ PlayingI have no recollection that I played much with my siblings, Kees, Truus and Sense. I imagine they had their own friends as I had mine. Of course, they were 5 and 4 years older. All of us had organ lessons, but I was the only one who took lessons for over one year. My…
-
Incidents
Read More: IncidentsMy nickname was ‘Jeude’ (Jew). My brother Kees was called by that name because he had black hair, and when he finished elementary school, that nickname was loaded on me. One Saturday morning I was walking downtown, close to our church. Onno Bolhuis passed by on his bike and waved at me. “Ah, die Jeude!”…
-
The War Years
Read More: The War YearsChildren usually are not interested in world politics. When I was 8 years old I didn’t know Hitler was planning to conquer all of Europe. Of course, I had seen pictures of this beastly man, but only thought he was funny with his mustache and straight hair. On May 5, early in the morning our…
-
Kindergarten
Read More: KindergartenBut to kindergarten I went. In wintertime much too heavily dressed. I walked all by myself about 1 1/2 km. on a, for that time, quite heavily travelled road along the canal. I was to walk on the less busy road on the other side of the canal, but since I had to walk all…