A firm commitment (Home Assignment 2023 Iowa)

Last week we were in the Pearl of the Mississippi or the Watermelon Capital of the world - Muscatine, Iowa. Mark Twain, who lived here for a time, also claimed that it had the best sunsets he had ever seen anywhere. We are here because there is a loving church here that joins with us in the work in the Netherlands. 

As a matter of fact, this congregation has been connected to mission in the Netherlands for about 50 years. While we are here we stay with Pam and Rudy Schellekens. When Pam was at York College, she went to the Netherlands for two years with the Master’s Apprentice Program (MAP). It was then that she met Rudy Schellekens, a young Dutch man in the church in The Hague. 

When Pam returned to the US to finish her schooling at Harding University, Rudy followed to take part in a preacher training course at Harding. They married and began working for the church in The Netherlands where we met them years later. Shirley and I first went to the Netherlands on a campaign in 1981. Rudy and Pam lived in Rotterdam and were just starting a work in that area with other missionaries. 

When Scott was in Haarlem for two years (with MAP), he worked under Jim Krumrei, but was often with Rudy learning printing at the building in The Hague. Shirley worked with Rudy in the summer of 1983 before her time at HUF (Harding University in Florence), Italy. It was in December the following year that Shirley and Scott wed and started making plans to return to missions. They moved to Belgium in 1991 and in 1997 the Muscatine church, where Rudy and Pam were now members, began supporting us in this work. 

During our short stay here we have been blessed to worship with the family here, including several Liberian brothers and sisters. It seems that back in the 19th century, Muscatine was also home to a certain mr. Clark who as a black man was the US ambassador to Liberia. There is a flourishing Liberian population in the city now and also in the church here. 

We taught class on Sunday morning and evening and shared dessert on Monday evening. Members here can identify with much of what we experience in our work. The south of the Netherlands is looked down on by the northerners, as the Midwest is considered “flyover country”. But there is also a link with agriculture and new tech companies, as in our area in Belgium and the Netherlands. We even talked about cement and 3-D printed homes. 

We are very thankful for the relationships that we have with the members here, who also support Sue Foster in Ghent (Sue grew up here and her parents are members here). We know we are talking to people who know what is going on in the church in Belgium and the Netherlands. And we even get to speak some Dutch regularly - at least with Pam and Rudy Schellekens or their boys. 

As we drove over from Omaha, we were able to crash a graduation party for Pam and Rudy’s grandkids and also see their children. Scott worked in the Netherlands when these boys were just little guys. So in Iowa we feel like we get a mix of family and church family. 

Midway through the week we moved on to Indiana where we finally get to see Stephan and Natalie. For Sean and Jill we will need to wait a bit longer. But before moving on, I was also able to throw some discs a few mornings in Muscatine. You can find our pictures of our time in Iowa here.