Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

Welcome back friends to our conversation! Today, my oldest daughter and I, will be talking about choosing to have a big family, and what our goals were in those days. I loved being a mom, and over the years, I have had the blessing of enjoying all my son in laws, and watching my grandchildren grow up. I hope you enjoy listening to our personal, mother - daughter talk!

PS: I will also upload this video on Youtube! Please "like" and "share" !

Welcome friends, to Part Two, of our conversation!

Today we are talking about making big decisions, and a few big turning points in my life. We discuss the importance of our purpose, and foundation in life, and how that can help us persevere through various circumstances. Maybe there are some things you can relate to. If you have any questions to our discussion, feel free to write me on Spotify, or Instagram messages.

On Instagram you find me under: vandoorenkristine

Take care and bye for now!

Welcome friends to my video podcast! Today I am talking with a good friend who also lives in Germany. Since we are both Americans, we have lots of things in common. She tells how we first met at one of our family gatherings a few years ago. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Bye for now!

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Thomas had told my parents that we had a beautiful backyard. Since learning gardening at Living Waters, he had more appreciation for someone else’s hard work out there. The people who had originally owned the farmhouse had carefully arranged the tulips in a circle around the apple, pear and cherry trees. We had made it through the cold winter, but now with the spring season upon us, we had a refreshed outlook on life. 

We were gradually getting used to the radical changes, of learning the language, and the German customs. We had become friends and co-workers within our communal house, and the biggest blessing, was becoming parents of our second daughter. We wanted to share our joy, with both of our parents, who had been waiting for the news.

Thomas’ mother, had saved the baby announcement card that Thomas wrote saying; “Liebe Mutti und lieber Papa, mit viel Freude schreibe ich, euch. Hier sind ein paar Bilder von euren Enkelchen. Esther kann schon fast, ganz deutlich sehen, und sie lacht auch, schon ein kleines bischen.  Naomi lernt jetzt auch Deutsch. Gott sei Dank, dass ich jetzt, etwas Zeit habe (mein gebrochener Zeh). Uns, geht es allen, ausgezeichnet. Wir grüßen euch alle, ganz herzlich. Gottes Segen! Thomas und Kristine, Naomi und Esther.“

The card is so cute because of his typical, detailed cartoon drawing, that he often added to his letters. He depicted us out in the garden, with a tree, some sheep, butterflies and a singing bird. We are all smiling, his arm around me holding the baby, and he’s holding Naomi’s hand. The unusual detail is, that he drew a large cast on his foot.

The story to that was, he had broken his toe playing soccer with the guys. We all thought it was funny, when he came back from the doctor’s office that day, with a complete foot cast. It didn’t last very long though, he cut it off a couple of days later! He couldn’t be bothered with it!

In learning to rejoice and be content in all things, it helps to remember God’s goodness in our lives. In this episode, I come to the birth of our second child being born in Germany. Despite the trials, that had tried to damper our joyful expectations, we knew that God had a good plan in store for us.

Just two years before that, we were in a completely different place, in every way. Our location, our marriage, and our spiritualstate. We had been dancing through life, to the sound of Thomas’ flute, when suddenly everything changed. We found what we had been looking for, and this led us to the Living Waters Ranch. Our life there, as born again Christians, was so much more, than what we thought we were looking for.

This time, I am telling our story about moving to Germany, and I come to the month of April 1975. I had to listen back, to Episode 18, to remember what happened, when our first child was born. I had forgotten how dramatic that day was, with Thomas almost drowning in the Pacific, and then delivering his first baby.

In Episode 17, I read from Psalm 18, which described Thomas’ experience. God pulled him out of the deep waters. A few minutes after that, he had been ashamed to tell the nearby campers, that Jesus saved him. Now two years later, we had moved across the world, for exactly that purpose. He was no longer ashamed to tell people, that Jesus is the Savior.

Living in Germany was like a new start, and Thomas had to get used to speaking German again. He didn’t realize how different it would be, after living in California, for three years. He particularly loved, reading his German Bible, and found the words rich and powerful. He hoped that he could convey the truths, that he had learned in English, in his mother tongue.

After we had been in Nienburg a few months, my dad askedin a letter, “How’s life in Germany?” Here on a tape, Thomas talks about our developments, while Naomi played happily, with her dolly and dishes in the background.

Fortunately, we always had some good news, that went beyond the personal struggles in the farmhouse. The men’s experiences gave more insight into what their goals were.

They were getting down to business, setting up a workshop, for making leather wares. They had cleaned out the piles of old things

Here in a newsletter for the folks back in Eureka, Peter and Gregor gave their report. They took off hitchhiking for a few days to Rome,

Here’s what Gregor wrote;

“Everything is well with us. We did go though some difficult periods, in terms of our physical situation, and spiritually it was

The hardest thing to do, when you are in a country where you can’t speak the language, is to preach the gospel. But even so, we have

And we’ve all been entering into that at the markets, as best we can. It is a very informal kind of situation, and the openings to

We are just beginning, to get some impressions, of the

When Thomas took our American friends to get their tourist visa renewed; the first question was, why do you want to stay in the

Most of the employees at those offices, would have been a members of one of Germanys state churches, either Lutheran or Catholic. Their response was, “Germany doesn’t need missionaries”. Deutschland braucht keine Missionarien!

We send missionaries to Africa, India and South America, and we don’t need Americans here.” Part of the goal of our ministry, that was developing out of the Jesus People movement, was to be self- supporting. Therefore, it was also possible for the Americans to honestly reply, they would be starting a business, and it would be beneficial for the German economy.

Compared to the life of a missionary, that went to a third world country, our job was going to be different. Thomas and I, had read

Gradually, we would learn, that our warfare, would be of a spiritual nature. The subject of a “missionary calling”, was something that our parents also didn’t really understand. Maybe it would have been easier for them, if our starting point, was going to a Bible Seminary for training.

I want to begin with Thomas’ words to my parents on the tape. He went to great depths to explain to them why we came, and why we were willing to make sacrifices. Both of our parents, would have preferred, that Thomas get a normal job, and that we would live in a normal house.

This reminds me of the first conversation Thomas and I, had after we gave our lives to Jesus. It was early in the morning, foggy and

This time, we were far away from California! I was pregnant again, and we were living in a cold brick farmhouse in Nienburg. Maybe

In our early years together, we were going with the flow, of the hippie movement. Thomas would play his flute, on the top of a

We read all of the popular books about spiritualty, including the Aquarian Gospel, which portrayed Jesus as a teacher, and a good man. It sounded good, but these false ideas, led us further and further away from the Truth. Instead of becoming humble, we discovered that we were separated from God, because of our pride. When we turned to the Jesus of the Bible, he transformed our minds, and gave us His purpose for life.

If you have been listening from the beginning of the podcast, you might remember the story, about when we got rid of those books, by burning them at Living Waters. From that time on, we only read the Bible. But when Thomas and I, were getting ready to leave for Germany, as missionaries, we decided to check out the Christian bookstore in Hayward. We had heard of biographies about Christians, who had chosen to take the gospel to other countries, knowing well that sacrifices would be required of them.

Thomas bought a book called ”The Shadow of the Almighty.” It is the inspiring story of Jim Elliot, who went with his family to

When Thomas and I, left the train station in Berlin, I had flashbacks, of all the times I had been there to get the bus home after work. On the street directly below the train platform, was a grocery store, where I did our shopping. I had so many memories there, of being on my own, and feeling lost in the store. Obviously, they didn’t have any American products, like I was used to. At least, I felt confident, in how to say “hello”, Guten Tag, oderGuten Abend, to the cashier.

The most difficult, and scary part, was trying to ask a question. I didn’t want to sound rude, by using the wrong words. Basically, there are two different ways, of formulating a sentence depending on, if you are using the formal pronoun for “you” being “Sie”, or the informal pronoun “Du”. I think I never really got it right, but the lady working there, was nice enough to help me anyway. Then the next problem would be, getting on the bus with my heavy plastic grocery bags, and looking for a seat. I was always nervous, if I would need to say, excuse me, or sorry. The German word was like a tongue twister for me, Entschuldigung bitte!

But now things would be different, Thomas and I, were traveling together on our way home to Nienburg. This was a new experience for Thomas, leaving his parent's place,, and starting a new life with his own family. First we prayed together, that God would protect us, as we drove through East Germany. It was a bit nerve wracking, especially when the guards stopped the train and came on board. But I knew, that I would have to get used to it, if we wanted to visit his family.

When I reflect on those early days, I realize that we had definitely, entered into a new era by moving to Germany. We had grown up some, we were a little more mature, and believed that it was God’s plan for us. For me, it was going to be a mixture, of drawing on the little bit of language and culture that I knew. At the same time, it was new for both of us, to live in a town like Nienburg, in West Germany. The traditions and culture, were different, than the life Thomas knew growing up in the big city of Berlin.  

Little Naomi, was the first one to wake up, in our new room. She was all smiles, when she realized, she was sleeping in mommy and daddy’s bed. And I was thankful, that I, had a good nights sleep on a bed, in a house, rather than on a boat. The German feather quilts, Fedderdecken”, had kept us really warm in the night, but climbing out of bed we felt the chill of our room. The house had been sitting empty for a long time, which explained, why it was so cold. There were no heaters, and also no animals in the stalls, to warm up the place. I decided to wear my “long johns” under my corduroy skirt and a couple of sweaters.

Thomas took Naomi over to the window, reminding me of the day we moved into Living Waters. He pointed towards the forest and said “Look Nomi, there are the trees! In German we say “Wald.” So right there began our language lessons! Our communication from that day on, was a blend of English and German. This was our first time sharing a meal, and realizing, we were now living together. Unfortunately, Peter had not been informed about the details of the housing situation. I think Jim’s attitude was; “It will work out somehow, the Lord will make a way.”