Archives for December 19, 2022

We had a blessed Lord’s Day in Alberta yesterday. In the morning, Mary and I attended Shiloh Free Reformed Church in Picture Butte, Alberta, where our newly ordained son-in-law, Isaac Epp, gave his first full sermon as the pastor of this church (photo 1). He preached well to the 200+ attendees from Genesis 3:15 on its threefold promise of a war, a seed, and a victory. After the church service was over, several dozen children from the congregation (photo 2) sang songs and recited Scripture related to the birth of Immanuel. I snuck a quick picture of Isaac and Lydia, and their son Abraham, enjoying the singing of the children (photo 3).

We had a blessed time over a delicious soup/sandwich noon meal at the home of Henk and Sue Van Rhee and their daughter Allisa. Henk is the chairman of the consistory, where our son-in-law is now the pastor. Isaac’s parents and one of his brothers and his family joined us.

At 4:30 p.m., I preached for about 400 people at Trinity United Reformed Church in Lethbridge, Alberta for our good friend, Rev. John VanEyk, on Jacob’s contagious blessings through the advent of Messiah by means of his Peniel experience in Genesis 32. (We had also spent a delightful evening visiting with Pastor John and his wife Lucy earlier in the week.)

After church, we had a wonderful dinner and fellowship at our children’s home together with Isaac Epp’s parents, and one of his brothers and his family. Here we are in photo 4, with Lydia and Isaac and our grandson, and Eileen and Gerald Epp. Both sets of parents are very grateful for God’s mercies shown to us throughout this weekend and are humbled by Isaac’s ordination. Please pray that his ministry may be very fruitful and also pray for our daughter, Lydia, for a safe delivery of another baby in a few weeks, D.V.!

After a beautiful drive up to the Calgary, Alberta airport this morning (photo 5), we are now winging our way home to Grand Rapids, having completed our last preaching trip for the year. Thank God with us for bringing us safely through 25+ conferences this year (115 days gone from home), which entailed a few hundred sermons and lectures on the road in various countries and continents. We are now more than ready to spend some quiet holidays at home for a few weeks. Every blessing to you and your family in Immanuel and for 2023, D.V.

After the high point of the Friday evening ordination into the ministry and the inaugural sermon of our son-in-law, Isaac Epp, in Picture Butte, Alberta, we spent all day Saturday visiting. In the morning, we thoroughly enjoyed brunch at a local restaurant with Isaac’s parents and close to twenty of his relatives, most of whom made the trek of several hundred miles from British Columbia to Alberta for his ordination (photo 1), including five of his brothers (photo 2) (The Epps have 7 sons and 2 daughters.). In the afternoon, we had a special time of fellowship with Albert and Rita Boon in their beautiful new home together with many of their eleven children (and even more grandchildren!). We also spent time with our incredibly gracious hosts, Clarence and Johanna Arnoldussen (photo 3), who, thankfully, didn’t seem to tire of our five-day stay with them. And in the evening, I shared a PowerPoint about Puritan Reformed Seminary with about a dozen friends in the Arnoldussen home. We very much enjoyed the company of these dear people.

We also enjoyed meeting Isaac and our daughter Lydia in their beautiful new home. When we pulled up, Lydia was already poking her head out of the door in the bitterly cold Alberta weather (photo 4)!