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Passing of our dear friend and sister in Christ, Joan Elshout

From: Bart Elshout Date: Mon, May 6, 2013 at 4:00 PM Subject: Joan is home! To: Kinnelon HRC Congregtion Dear Family & Friends, Just a short note to let you know that @ 2:45 EDT the Lord has been pleased to take my dear Joan to Himself. More details will follow. We are mourning, but not as those who have no hope. These details remind us of the stark reality that our beloved Joan has departed from us—a fact that fills our hearts with sorrow. And yet we may and must say that by the grace of God she has departed to be with Christ, which is far better than anything she possessed and enjoyed during her short stay in this sin-stained world. For me to say anything less than that would be dishonoring to the God who dealt so remarkably with my dear Joan, especially during the final weeks, days, and hours of her life. It is my desire to honor the God who also confirmed for Joan that He is a God who, for Christ’s sake, will never forsake the work of His hands. When I reflect on how remarkably Joan’s journey ended yesterday, two things stand out for me: 1) the Lord confirmed the words whereby He so frequently strengthened the fragile faith of Joan, namely, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee” (Isa. 41:10); and 2) He confirmed the promise whereby He so greatly encouraged us that He would save her soul when death would draw nigh (in Dutch: Hij kan, en wil, en zal in nood, zelfs bij het nad’ren van de dood, volkomen uitkomst geven.) When I consider how often Joan’s soul was assaulted by the prince of darkness, especially during the dark hours of the night, how she is one of those persons of whom the apostle writes that “through fear of death [they] were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:15), and how fearful she was of deceiving herself, I am simply overwhelmed by how the Lord delivered her from all this during the final weeks of her life. Though there were moments of strife, it was with remarkable calmness that she was able to face the reality of her impending death—a calmness that amazed and humbled her. Especially during the past two weeks of her life, the prince of darkness was simply not permitted to touch her—not even during the final hours of her life. The God who promised her that He would be with her, kept His Word until Joan’s very last breath. This was also evident in that the final death struggle that she so feared never occurred. As you know, it had been her fervent prayer that the Lord would carry her gently across the Jordan of death, and the Lord answered that prayer. He confirmed for her that He truly hears the needy when they cry. Though Joan had been declining rapidly during the last week of her life, that decline was dramatic during the last hour of her life. For a brief moment she struggled with breathing, and then her breathing became stable but shallow. Gradually her breathing decreased until very quietly and peacefully she breathed her last breath. The Lord kept His Word! As He promised, He was with her, and He was with her until her very last breath, carrying His fearful Joan gently across the Jordan of death. And yet there was another way in which the Lord confirmed His own work and His promise that He would give her full deliverance when death would draw nigh. Shortly before this final stage, when her body and organs were breaking down rapidly, she moaned several times, “Lord, help me.” And then she suddenly lifted both of her arms heavenward—arms that had become so very weak—and she cried out, “Lord Jesus…..please come quickly!” Only my sister-in-law Beth and her friend of more than 40 years, Jackie Mol, were present, and both of them were deeply touched and impressed by what they witnessed. (I had briefly stepped out to get her final medications.) I was overjoyed when I heard this, for it confirmed for me that the Lord has set her free at last. Finally she could believe that this God was also her God, and she had the liberty to ask the Savior to take her to Himself. And so the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed for Joan the precious truth of the words of Luke 15:2, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” It was by means of these words that it pleased the Lord to open up the gospel for my dear wife, and these words continued to encourage her during the final days and hours of her life. To this precious Christ be therefore all the glory who confirmed also for Joan that “him [or her] that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37b), and that “a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench” (Mat. 12:20). May this account of God’s gracious dealings with my doubtful, fearful, and struggling Joan be to His glory and to the encouragement of all who cry out with the Psalmist, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation” (Psalm 35:3). For Christ’s sake, God will continue to answer that petition—as He did for my dear Joan! Soli Deo Gloria! With deep gratitude for all the love you have expressed to us, and on behalf of my children, Pastor B. Elshout

Springtime and Family 2013

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Memorable Moments 2013

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Our Family 2012

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End of the Year 2012...

We sent out Christmas wishes in the mail, by email or on facebook, with a guilty feeling for not enclosing a letter, but it just wasn’t easy for me to get started writing… and so I kept procrastinating. There were so many people I needed to write to, and slowly but surely I’ve been catching up. Some years I send a general letter and copy it to everyone, but this year that just didn’t seem right. Now I'll just post one on my blog... As you already know, this has been such an eventful year, with many sorrows as well as so many joys. Through it all, we may truly say that the Lord in His infinite Goodness has drawn us to Himself over and over again in sweet replenishing love and comforting peace. We’ve been blessed with good health and good prosperity in all things of a material nature. We were blessed with another precious granddaughter, (Jenita Grace, in March). None of our children or grandchildren have been stricken with illness or death and all have a sound mind and good health. We rejoiced with Andrew and Johanna as we saw them united in marriage. We were privileged to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary with all 5 of our children and their spouses. God has seen fit to take out of our family circle our dearly beloved father, who we still miss so much! The place that he had in our lives and hearts is a void that can never be filled, and yet we may rejoice also in this, that he has been relieved of all earthly care, and sorrow and pain have been forever removed for him. He may be restored in the fullness of joy that has been prepared for him by our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. We cannot wish him back, but only look forward to sharing in that heavenly joy someday… Our hearts were also broken over the parting of ways with our dear pastor and his dear, dear wife, Joan. More than an entire year has sped by since Joan was with us, and it still doesn’t feel real that she will not be coming back. We have been able to truly believe that it was God’s plan and that His way is perfect, yet we miss them so much. We reflect back many times over the years gone by, and often are reminded of things we learned from the many sermons or discussions that have been so blessed for us. We have enjoyed the diversity of preaching we hear every Sunday, and are expectantly praying that God will send the right man to be our pastor. Last Sunday morning Terry Klaver preached a very touching sermon on : ” And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15. John and Sarah are doing well, and their three children are also doing good in school. We don’t see them often enough... John is very busy in construction with several employees and plenty of jobs going on, and Sarah loves her part time job at Ritchie Bros. Auction. They are excited to start planning the building of a new home, on their own property, so they will be living in an RV setting for a time, perhaps much like Brian and Anne-Marie last summer. Brian and Anne-Marie are still loving their home and are doing well. We are so thankful that Anne-Marie is doing much better, though we don’t like how she still limps badly when she walks. We were there on Monday evening to celebrate Charity’s 4th birthday, and were so proud to see how well the older children help make the household run so well. They make it a habit to stop by for a visit every Saturday, which we always look forward to. Brian and Richard are still working in partnership, with a few helpers. Jocelyn and Jacco are doing well too, we were so happy to be able to visit them in July even though it was only for 48 hours. Now that seems like it’s been years ago… and this grandma feels like it’s time to make another visit. However I will have to be patient since it likely won’t happen again until perhaps May or June. It was wonderful to see how they "re-bonded" with their siblings during those few days together in Ontario, and to experience the church fellowship of our sister churches in the east. It is very encouraging for us, as they now appreciate much more why we did what we did when we asked HRC to come to Chilliwack. Andrew and Johanna are also doing well, keeping very busy with their work. They both have set out on independently working at their new businesses, Andrew with Manny Rumbos at iSign Medio Corp., and Johanna with a friend, Jessica with a home based business called J & J Style. They hope to come visit us for 12 days in January, the Lord willing, and I'm really looking forward to that! Steve and Mary are in Ontario right now, visiting with Steve's family and they also spent an afternoon with Andrew and Johanna. Steve has started his own construction company a few months ago, and is enjoying the challenges of being his own boss, so far. He works with our nephew, Jonathan Lagemaat. Mary enjoys her work at Volume Carpets. Chris’s youngest sister in Alberta had a healthy baby boy last week, this is his parents 70th grandchild, and the 10th child for David and Jenny. So many blessings… We were able to celebrate Dad and Mom’s birthdays with a family get together at Tim and Renee’s home. My relatives in Alberta are also doing well, I spoke with my sister Gerie yesterday, just before she had to go back to the hospital. She was allowed to be home from Friday afternoon until Boxing Day and it went very well. She will be allowed to do that again every weekend. They send 2 nurses twice a day from Lethbridge to her home in Fort Macleod, to help her get washed and dressed. She can now stand with a walker and walk a few steps (bed to toilet, toilet to living room…) but still needs one person to support her on both sides so she doesn’t lose her balance. She has made so much progress, it is amazing. She doesn’t half realize how far gone she has been, and we can only pray that she too will come to know the God Who has upheld her all this time, in a more personal way, for her eternal gain. As for Chris and myself, all I can say is that God has been so good! We have dealt with disappointments this year, and with sorrow, and with hardships that most don’t know about, but we know that God is faithful and He has given us the quiet confidence that He will never put us to shame if we put our hope in Him. We have just recently experienced something quite devastating with our newest layer flock, but again here also we see that things are turning around and we are seeing remarkable production in spite of the losses we had to bear. But in comparison to that, it is nothing when we think of the trauma that the Stam family went through in the past week, and we are so amazed at the progress that Jordan Stam is making, then we can only rejoice in God’s goodness. At the same time we also mourn for the loss in my sister Gonda's family, her sister in law was killed in a traumatic accident a few days ago. It has been a very quiet week for us, our children have all spent Christmas with their own family. Sarah was not well for several days so she hunkered down and rested while John entertained the children with a wonderful pastime: reconstructing his Lego train set that had been in storage containers for many years. We have not been going to the morning services for a few weeks now because of the amount of eggs that have to be collected, but we’ve been listening to the broadcasts on sermonaudio. We thank God for this wonderful gift of technology. We would like to wish all who may read this, a most wonderful and blessed Happy New Year!