JERRY VAN DER VEEN

I can see that the Lord 's hand was upon me from my earliest days in the Netherlands under the Nazi regime and in the following years in Canada. Life presented many crisis periods for me in my early teen years. As a young Dutchman, I had to deal with cultural factors and as a new immigrant to Canada, our family had to deal with major financial needs in the home . With 8 other siblings, it was necessary for me to join the working world very early on. At the age of fourteen, I worked the fields of Southern Ontario gathering fruit, milking and herding cattle and harvesting tobacco.

My parents were God fearing people who raised us on godly principles but the message of salvation was not taught in our home.

At the age of seventeen, I reached a critical period and despaired of life . I cried unto the God, I knew existed, but who I did not know. What followed was a series of phenomenal events that God pieced together to bring me to a saving knowledge of Himself. I at last heard the Gospel message at an evangelistic crusade lead by Quinton J. Everest. The Gospel was presented to me in a way that I could understand and I was redeemed, and delivered from my hopeless state .

Spiritually illiterate, I wanted to learn as much as I could and with what little schooling I had, I began to taking correspondence work in doctrine and read many books, including "Through Gates of Splendour . " It was this book and its sequels that influenced me to commit my life to ministry. These books also gave me a burden for missions in South America.

While walking on a sidewalk in Listowel, Ontario following my salvation experience, it came to me that the Lord Jesus Christ has given Himself to me and I can do nothing less than to give myself to Him.

I had already made my own life plans for farming, which would have included beef cattle and horses. But instead, I loaded all that pertained to horsemanship on the back of the farm wagon and took it to the back woods and had a bone fire releasing myself from all that encumbered my life. of possible service for our God. My dear father and mother were never told that part of my life.

In 1958, I started the long trail to Three Hills, Alberta to study at the Prairie Bible Institute. The crucified life was taught by some of the most respected men I had ever met, one of whom was L.E. Maxwell. After graduating, the Lord lead me to minister on Vancouver Island and in Alberta where I met my wife Rolla Taylor from New Brunswick, Canada.

ROLLA JEAN (TAYLOR)
VAN DER VEEN

Rolla was born in Silikers, New Brunswick. She comes from a Christian home and grew up in a church where the Gospel was preached.

She came to a saving knowledge of Christ during a time of revival in the area. God used a humble back-woods preacher to bring the revival message. God's Holy Spirit moved in the area and many were brought into the Kingdom of God. There were 80 baptized in the mighty Miramichi River on one Lord's Day and Rolla was one of them.

Rolla took some business training and then went on to study at the New Brunswick Bible Institute from 1957 to 1960 . She followed the Lord's leading and moved to northern Alberta where she ministered with the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission until our marriage in 1967.

OUR DAUGHTERS:
God blessed our union with three sweet daughters who are all walking with the Lord.

Nancy Muriel is our oldest daugther and she is living in Miramichi City with her husband Jonathan Campbell and their four children, our grandchildren; Murielle, Maibrie, Mallory and Maxwell. Nancy is a speech language pathologist.

Carolyn Marie is our middle daughter. She is a freelance writer and works as a communications officer in Fredericton.

Susan Edith is the youngest and she is a personal banker with CIBC in Fredericton. All of our girls serve the Lord in their respective churches.

We thank the Lord daily for our strong family bond that enables us to be there for one another as we go through the hurts and joys of life.

As a family we laboured together to start Bible camps, tape television and radio programs and have participated in several missions trips together.