In late 2023, Rev Arie van der Zwan and Br Harry Lukens paid a working visit to Southeast Asia. The missionary counsellor also went on the first bit, but he had to return after a few days due to family circumstances.
Rev Van der Zwan tells something about a few encounters that touched him.
'In a short time, we spoke to an awful lot of people who in one way or another have a place and task in God's Kingdom. The diversity of their work was striking: we spoke to OMF directors, various missionaries, whether or not sent out by the CGK, MDWs, linguists who research and teach the 'theory' of Bible translation from Payap University in Chiang Mai. We also visited (prospective) church members in Udon Thani with Ab Mol. These people are very shabbily housed, but the Word opened there and we witnessed the daily work that a missionary like Ab engages in.
One of the thoughts I took away from all these meetings was this: you know that you yourself are just a small cog in a Kingdom that reveals itself worldwide and in which God wants to use all kinds of people in all kinds of countries. The awareness of how small your own contribution actually is and how diverse the work is in which God wants to deploy so many people with so many gifts in all kinds of countries, has only grown in recent weeks. 'How great art Thou!'
We spoke to a Pakistani refugee family during the trip through one of our mission workers. Father, mother (in her forties) with four growing children. Fled from Pakistan for the wife's family, who went from being Muslim to being a Christian and then no longer sure of her life. They have basically been trapped (hiding) in a flat for several years. They receive the necessary help and guidance from our missionary there.
Despite all kinds of precautions, the father of the family was met outside the flat a few years ago by several Pakistani men sent by his in-laws to carry out honour killings. He was so battered by them that he narrowly survived. As a result of multiple bone fractures and a severed neck, he is now incapacitated for life and in great pain on a daily basis.
Despite all this, we encountered a family that, although damaged, was meanwhile allowed to confess faith in Christ with conviction.
We asked their 12-year-old son what he wanted to be later. His answer was: 'Preacher, then later I can go to Pakistan to tell my mother's family of Jesus so that they will love Him too...'
