EVERY SQUARE INCH—A MISSIONARY MEMOIR THE LIFE AND MISSION OF JAN & FRANCES BOER Volumes 1-5 by Jan H. Boer & Frances A. Boer-Prins -----------------VOLUME 1--------------- OUR EARLY STORY 1938-1966 2 SOME OTHER BOOKS WRITTEN, EDITED OR TRANSLATED BY DR. JAN H. BOER Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations (8 Volumes—2003-2009) Pentecostal Challenge (editor-1996) The Prophet Moses for Today (1995) Wholistic Health Care (1995) (Co-editor: Prof. Dr. Dennis Ityavyar) Vol. 1: Medical and Religious Dimensions Vol. 2: Social and Political Dimensions Caught in the Middle: Christians in Transnational Corporations (1992) The Church and the External Debt (edited—1992) Abraham Kuyper: You Can Do Greater Things than Christ (trans / ed.—1991, 1993) Science Without Faith Is Dead (1991, 1993) (Under same cover with above) Wholistic Health Care Of, For and By the People (1989) Christianity and Islam under Colonialism in Northern Nigeria (1988) Missions: Heralds of Capitalism or Christ? (1984) Missionary Messengers of Liberation in a Colonial Context (1979) For more details, see www. SocialTheology. com 3 Every Square Inch—A Missionary Memoir The Life and Mission of Jan and Frances Boer 1938-2014 Volumes 1-5 Copyright @ 2014, Jan & Frances Boer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the authors or their successor(s). FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT AUTHORS AT: E-mail: Boerjf @ hotmail.com Website: www. SocialTheology.com Tel. (604) 646-8016 or Archivist Calvin College www. calvin.edu ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Self-Published: Vancouver, BC, Canada 2014 4 “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” Quote from Kuyper's inaugural address at the dedication of the Free University, October 20, 1880. 5 6 DEDICATION We dedicate this Memoir To our Parents: Wiebe Boer and Ellie Boer-Veninga Tjalling Prins and Jantje Prins-Boersma For having brought us up in the Faith of Old For their sweat and tears to bring up our large families For their courage to move their large families to an unknown continent without having the requisite language, education, wanted skills or money at their advanced age To ourselves for having stood by each other, supported and inspired each other, and both lived and wrote this history together from beginning to end To Prof. Dr. H. Evan Runner For providing us with the perspectives underlying all of it: our lives, our ministry, our memoir To Dr. Eugene Rubingh Who had forgotten that he was the one who urged us to embark on this Mission that defines our lives To II Highland Christian Reformed Church, who took the risk of sending complete strangers and who faithfully supported us for 30 years. Thank you! To God, Who made it all possible by inspiring us To live this life and ministry And to write its story. To Him be all the praise and glory! 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS OF ENTIRE SERIES VOLUMES 1-5 VOLUME 1 Our Early Story Index of Photographs Preface and Introduction Part 1 In the Land of our Ancestors Chapters 1 - Boer Roots and Family 2 - Little Jan in Lutjegast (1938-1951) 3 - Prins Roots and Family 4 - Lietse Foekje's Hantumhuizen Years (1942-1948) Part 2 Immigrant Life 5 - The Wandering Prinses (1948-1950) 6 - The Settled Prinses (1950-1956) 7 - Fran at South Christian High (1956-1959) 8 - John's Pitt Meadows Year (1951-1952) 9 - John in the Alberni Valley (1952-1958) Part 3 Academic Life 10 - John at Calvin College (1958-1962) 11 - Fran at Calvin College (1959-1963) 12 - The Seminary Couple (1962-1965) 13 - Ministry, Ordination, Preparation (1965-1966) 8 VOLUME 2 Ministry inNigeria (1966-1996) Abbreviations Introduction Part 4 A Decade in the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN: 1966-1976) Parallel Chapters: Chapters 14 – In-Country Preparation (1966) -- 15 - CRCN I –- Ministry (1966-1968) 27 16 – CRCN II -- Furlough and Ministry (1968-1972) 28 17 – Amsterdam Study Interlude (1972-1974) 29 18 – CRCN III – Ministry (1974-1976) 30 Part 5 Jos Ministry (1977-1996) 19 – Jos I -- (1977-1979) 31 20 – Jos II -- (1979-1981) 32 21 - Jos III -- (June 1981 - Jan. 1984) 33 22 - Jos IV -- (Jan. 1984 - June 1987) 34 23 – Jos V -- (June 1987 - June 1989) 35 24 - Jos VI -- (June 198 9- Aug. 1991) 36 25 - Jos VII -- (Aug. 1981 – June 1994) 37 26 - Jos VIII -- (June 1994 – May 1996) 38 9 VOLUME 3 Nigeria Family and Social Life Abbreviations Translation of Foreign Terms Introduction Part 6 Family and Social Life in CRCN Years CHAPTERS: PARALLEL CHAPTERS 27 - CRCN I - Family and Social Life (1966-1968) 15 28 - CRCN II - Family and Social Life (1968-1972) 16 29 - Amsterdam Study Interlude (1972-1974) 17 30 - CRCN III - Family and Social Life (1974-1976) 18 Part 7 Family and Social Life in Jos 31 - Jos I - (1976-1979) 19 32 - Jos II - (1979-1981) 20 33 - Jos III - (June 1981 – January 1984) 21 34 - Jos IV - (January 1984 - June 1987) 22 35 - Jos V - (June 1987 – June 1989) 23 36 - Jos VI - (June 1989 – August 1991 24 37 - Jos VII - (August 1991 – June 1994) 25 38 - Jos VIII - (June 1994 - May 1996) 26 10 Volume 4 Our Post-Nigeria Life 1996-2014 Part 8 Introduction to Part 8 CHAPTERS: 39 – Grand Rapids Life (May 1996 – September 2001) 40 – Vancouver Life (October 2001—January 2014) VOLUME 5 Our Post-Nigeria Travels 1996-2014 41 -- Grand Rapids Era Travel Stories 42 -- Vancouver Era Travel Stories 11 12 Picture Index for Volume l Chapter Page Title 1 22 Opa Wiebe’s Birthplace 23 Jacobje Uringa-Boer 24 The Boer Family – 1922 25 Opa Wiebe, the Cloth Peddler 26 De Wieren 7 27 Lukas & Elsiena Veninga, Jannes & Bontje Veninga 29 Ellie Veninga & Wiebe Boer 2 58 Boer Family Immigration – 1951 59 Oom Berend, the Town Crier 3 62 Doeke & Foekje Prins, Reinder & Henderika Prins 63 The Prins Family – 1907 64 Hedzer & Janna Boersma, The Boersma Family – 1916 65 The Prins Family Hantumhuizen Farm 67 Tjalling & Jantje Prins 70 Douwina 78 The Prins Family – 1946 4 86 Prins Family Immigration – 1948 5 91 Comstock Park House - 1950 93 Prins Farm 48th Street 6 99 Michigan Prins Family – 1952 103 Franny, the Champion Hitter 107 Undocumented Prins Mercenaries 108 East Paris Christian 8th & 9th Graders 109 East Paris Christian Graduation – 1956 7 118 South Christian High Senior Class Trip 119 Fran, the High School Grad – 1959 8 121 Pitt Meadows House – 1951 124 1928 Ford Model A 9 155 The Lumber Jacks 156 Sir John Strutting on Hastings Street 157 Boer Brothers at Church Picnic – 1958 10 179 Prof Evan Runner 199 Seminary Graduates in Rowboat 11 210 John & Fran’s Wedding – 1962 211 Prins Family – 1962 12 216 Student Drawing of Teacher Fran 234 My Most Beautiful Famke 13 Preface and Introduction A poster in my office shows a cat looking in a mirror and seeing a lion. The caption underneath reads, “What matters most is how you see yourself.” It’s been on that wall for over a decade, for I love its sentiment—except for one thing. Yes, it matters how you see yourself, for it will largely influence your thoughts, actions and, really, your entire life; it’s very important. But the most important thing is how God sees you. So, I scratched out the word “most” on the poster, so that it now reads, “What matters is how you see yourself.” Yes, that matters very much. Fran and I, when we look in our mirror, we see missionaries. Hopefully, God sees us that way as well. We may be a lot of other things, but to us, viewing ourselves as missionaries is central to our lives and to the story about to unfold. It could be argued that we are among the people described by the Dutch writer Agnes Amelink, who wrote De Gereformeerden Overzee, a book about members of the Gereformeerde Kerken, the church in which both of us were born and baptized, who emigrated to North America. Amelink writes about who they were, what motivated them and how did they fare in the new world. What were their ideals? What was the result? Well, our parents and we, along with our siblings, were amongst them. In these memoirs, you will find all these questions answered in our lives. The beginning of our story, Part I, includes two short chapters about our ancestors down to our parents. If you are among our descendants, our “downline” as I like to refer to you, these two individual stories are your stories. That’s where you came from. Those people carried the genes that impact your life. Addressing our children and further descendants, Fran and I remember and know our parents well, the ones who brought our clans to North America, but our parents shared very little with us, a common situation in the culture of their generation. Neither we nor most of our siblings asked them many questions. After our parents passed away, the questions surfaced, but too late. All we could do was compare notes with each other. As to our grandparents, I remember three of them very well, but I do not remember that they ever chatted with us, read, laughed, walked, played or even prayed. Their generation just didn’t do such things, especially when their grandchildren were next to legion. The result is a vacuum in our lives. We offer you, our children, grandchildren and succeeding generations, this memoir to prevent a similar vacuum in your hearts and lives and thus enrich you.