Introduction A lot of beautiful material found its way back to sailors from many countries, including (travel) bags, woollen hats, clothes and shoes. A lot of personal conversations took place and also pastoral care was provided and we prayed with seafarers, which is always highly appreciated. In the photo we see Gert and Ursula Huisman. Gert has been making many beautiful things for 30 years like wooden crosses and bottle ships especially for sailors and he is supported in this by his wife Ursula.
The works of art with eternal value, are a real surprise to sailors! For a presentation of our missionary work we 'd be happy to come to you.
IJmuiden region - It was difficult for them to finally say goodbye to us It was a special evening. At 7:00 PM I spoke to TATA's shipping coordinator by telephone in IJmuiden. It turned out that a bulk carrier would be docked out at the end of the coming night to leave. In order to visit this ship, some haste was required. It was at 7:30 PM and our car loaded and ready. At 8:30 PM we stood in front of the TATA gate. The officials in the entrance had just been relieved, so I was able to tell three new people what Anneke and I had come for. Well, that was the first opportunity to share our testimony! When we arrived at the quay, the intended ship turned out to have a Filipino crew. The Captain had already gone to bed, because of the early hour of departure. I spoke to the helmsman on the deck office. The 1st Officer turned out to be extremely stressed, as a result of an accident on board, it being under his responsibility. In reading Philippians 4:6 and 7 for him it offered him peace for his soul. Visibly relieved, he later pressed the Sailor Bible to his chest and said: “This is my Bible, thank you, thank you!” I was also able to do more in the mess room, for instance putting down Sailor Bibles. Five men walked with me to Anneke at the car and she surprised them with boxes of clothes, shoes and packages, as well as some trinkets for their wives or mothers on the other side of the world. We prayed with them in a circle, there on the quay. All very respectful. I always pray with my hands opened upwards. I saw afterwards that the men also stood with open hands. It touched me! It was difficult for them to say goodbye to us after this unexpected, sudden interruption of their lonely sea wanderer existence. Please continue to pray for us, especially for Anneke's health.
Kind regards and God bless, Jan and Anneke Best.
Amsterdam - "I'm very happy with that, it helps me a lot!" As always, there are fantastic contacts with sailors from different countries on board. Much valuable spiritual food could be given and we prayed with the sailors which everyone appreciated. While I was talking with the captain and some crew members, suddenly someone shouted: "The gangway to come on board has already been removed, we are ready to leave.” “Well, what now?” joked the captain to me. “You have to come with us, so now sail along with us to Bilbao”. Then however a crane operator was quickly called in who offered to help me with a sort of cage and lifted me high into the air off the ship and safely put me down on the quay! And so I happily got off board in time. Who can describe my surprise when I once entered a canteen on board a ship and a bottle ship of Gert was glued down on the counter. Beautiful! A young Dutch inspector was very interested and thanked me very much for the “Sailor Bible” and “keychain Bible”. I am very happy with this, it helps me a lot!" he kept saying. I spent a short time aboard a French Navy Ship. (we are after all soldiers in the army of the Lord). The Watchman turns out to be a Christian himself and enjoyed receiving the “Sailor Bible” among other things! He kept saying thank you for my visit. Also onboard a large River Cruise Ship I left behind beautiful spiritual food! Clothing, woollen hats and also travel bags were given to sailors, which are sometimes specially asked for. Yvonne also makes special soft toys for the men's (grand)children: she calls them “my little sailors”. We are grateful to God for His guidance!
Thank you very much for your faithful prayers and other expressions of sympathy! Theo en Yvonne van Zuilekom.
Serving at Sea - praise God for a long-awaited new supply of Bibles It's been a while since I wrote a report and a lot has changed. At the end of February, Christine and I gave each other the YES word in our church in Mombasa! From that time I presently live there and we thank God daily that He has brought us together, helping us through the almost impossible formalities and made it successful. It had all started at Logos Hope, from where we went together to the ships and roamed Nassau and the surrounding area. It is the first year and we are not going to fully dive into missionary work straight away. Study periods abroad will also keep us busy apart from the work area for me. Last month was an exception being in Mombasa and I had lots of things to explore. I wished to be with the local sailor mission and went along to visit ships, but was hindered setbacks, with among other things the access passes to ships that stood in the way.
This and other misfortunes did me think of the Apostles, who were also prevented on several occasions by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-7), or by Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18). That's how I came to visit other places, such as a church with which the book ship had often worked together. I also had good conversations with the missionaries in the port, both coast and inland. At a distance, I remain involved in the ship to ship group on the book ships and with ship visitors in Ghana . Praise God for a long-awaited new supply of Bibles there! That touches me: As much literature as we have available to us in the West, so difficult it is to obtain in Africa. In fact it is there, however, but the lines and financing are missing. That's one of the areas where I want to commit myself to in the long term. Even at this moment, may I present this burden to you to specifically pray for Het Havenlicht Portmission regarding "literature for Ghana and Kenya". Pray also for sailors in the ports there. Please note the workers in these countries: Joe Odoom and Peter Mensah (Ghana) and Moses Muli (Kenya), who bring it to the target groups. They also handle the purchasing and the logistics. As a final note, I hope to be sailing myself soon when this newsletter comes out, that is if all goes well. Michiel Kramers.
Rotterdam - I showed them how to read the Sailor Bible in their own language During the visit I made to the ships, we were privileged to bring Bibles and Christian books to mainly Filipino crews. Some Ukrainians also received Bibles. The ship's Greek captain was Christian Orthodox and came to us and kindly, showed his crucifix around his neck and was quite touched when he received a gift in the way of a bottle ship created by Gert Huisman. There upon he told us to take our time because we were welcome and he asked if we wanted anything to drink. I had the opportunity to meet some young crewmembers, Filipinos, and showed them how to use the Sailor Bible in order to read it in their own language When I then left they read the Gospel of John 14:6, stating that they must enter the kingdom of God and that we must have Christ as our Savior and Lord, for as it says in the Gospel: He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. When visiting another ship, most of the crew were also Filipinos; one of them was on board on his last day and offered us a meal. We accepted, and when we met the others we chatted a little with each of them, hearing about their lives and telling about our own lives and my experience working once on a cruise ship and then I read the passage from Romans 10:9-10 that shows us how it should be. It's important to confess Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and also to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, as this is a great step towards salvation. We sang the song READ YOUR BIBLE PRAY EVERY DAY and they listened attentively. Of course we have left several Bibles, including those in Tagalog (Filipino language and we were very happy that we were so welcome and had the good reception from the cook and other crew including the Officers. Fábio Jefferson.
Delfzijl and Eemshaven - warm welcome and warm encounter Once I visited a ship in the Eemshaven with nine crew members. The captain, mate and another crew are Christians. There is a kind of blackboard in the canteen on which they write down Bible texts. It was a warm welcome and it was good meeting them. To a large extent it is sowing in the Eemshaven. I have had many good contacts on board the various ships and have a chance to distribute the hats and literature. The bottle ship and also the text on the front on it, was much admired. I regularly have excellent personal experiences in having conversations. Sailors are always happy with the spiritually upbuilding books and Bibles and also with the knitted hats.
Praise the Lord for new contacts that have been made again and again. Harm van Zwol.
Rotterdam - There is a hunger for the Word of God Peter wanted a Bible so he could read it for himself. He is from the Philippines. There is a hunger for the Word of God. On another ship we ended up talking about the history of Jonah and we also came to the story of the ship on which Paul, while he was on his way to Rome meeting up with a violent storm. Then the crew landed safely ashore on an island , followed by the miracles that happened then. Would you like to pray for Arnold? He is in need of encouragement. When we see the faith of a sailor, we can only say "Praise the Lord". On a second visit to sailors on another ship, there was an encouraging encounter with several Filipino crew members. Please pray for Indian sailors. We regularly speak to the crew members who work in the kitchen, namely the cook and the cook's buddy. We also think of those we already have known for some time, and whom we can meet, more or less, regularly. Thank you for your prayers, also for us. Wout de Vries.
IJmuiden, Scheveningen, Amsterdam - Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me! The Tulip action at Easter was again a great success, and has been off to a good start to become a tradition for the 5th year in a row. Together we distributed 3,000 tulips in the port. The flowers were welcomed with open arms on all ships. This was also a big and great opportunity to talk about the real meaning of Good Friday and Easter and the Hope that is within us. Together with my son I visited a freighter in Beverwijk in May. A ship crewed with Seafarers from Poland, Ukraine, Philippines and also The Netherlands.
It is always good to have a chat and listen to the stories, to see that these men are so human like us. The Polish captain was happy with a bottle ship. But the most beautiful was the name of this ship, the MV Grace. This was a great opportunity to talk about 'amazing grace'. And several sailors wanted to have a Bible in their own language. I haven't been able to go to the ports much lately, a shame actually. But when I was at Schiphol just waiting for the train, out of nowhere a large group of sailors appeared. They had just arrived by plane and were on their onward journey to Eemshaven in Groningen. It was very nice to meet some of these men and to speak with them. And I also just had an English Sailor Bible in my bag, which I gave to a Filipino. “This is certainly no coincidence,” he added. This was real special and also humorous. I didn't manage to get to the ports, but then the sailors just came to me!
Kind regards, Marien Gijsbertsen.
Rotterdam - Bible study for two Even before Joshua marches to Jericho, he meets the "prince over the army of the LORD" and worships him (Joshua 5:13-15). Because only God is worthy of worship, Joshua has encountered Yahweh himself.. This important moment for the conquest of Canaan was no longer distant on my radar and I was elated by this awesome situation. It also showed me how again It is important to read the entire Bible over and over without skipping anything. I met Robert again on a ship of shipping company Samskip. Many years ago this was before Christmas. We had deep conversations at the gangway. Now again I met him. In the meantime Robert followed an Emmaus course as a study. During this visit we decided to read John's Gospel together. Such an opportunity is really rare here in Rotterdam and I look forward to spend time with him. Our new trainee, Nico, was allowed to participate for the first time. They discussed firstly the main topic (John 20:31) and then looked at the opening verses. Meanwhile I went into town with the captain so he could buy bicycles for his crew. I had the chance to talk to him a little about believing. A week later I had another opportunity. We had a deep conversation about the first 14 verses. Robert has long felt that the deeper he delves into the Bible, the more sinful he feels. “That's just your illusion of being a 'good person' removed, God is working hard in you", I said. He knows a decision is coming. Please pray for him! Nico, our first trainee for this year, has already left. Everything went better than expected. The four weeks have flown by. Nico had adapted well to the team and has been a great help. Thanks to our chairman Ernst, we were even able to take the first boat trip of the season to gain experience. This also gave us a good insight into what newcomers must be feeling when they go shipvisiting and come on board for the first time. The second of 3 trainees, Jasper, will arrive on June 24. René Reifel.
For privacy reasons, the real names of the sailors are not mentioned. The photos in this newsletter have been posted with permission. Our thanks go to: Bible Factory, WIN-NL Seafarers' Ministry, Dutch Seafarers Centrale, Seamen's Centre Amsterdam, Gospel Recordings Netherlands, Evangelization of Foreign Languages Service, The Bible Association, Pocket Bible Association, Christian Aid Ministries, Operation Mobilization, Our Daily Bread Ministries and others not mentioned by name, who all contribute in their own specific way to doing the job well.
We would like to ask you again to continue to pray for the health of the people of Het Havenlicht and their families, but especially for: Jan Peter Kapteijn, Inez de Baat, Hanny de Vries, Anneke Best to be able to continue to go and persevere in the special work that God has given us to do.
Please also pray for opened doors and opened hearts! We believe in a God of miracles! Thank you very much for all your faithful, valuable prayers and other expressions of wonderful compassion!
This is how the Lord works through you so that sailors can hear and accept His Word! We are very grateful to the Lord God for the many opportunities to be a blessing to sailors, among others!
