M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Seeds of Faith Planted in the Netherlands: Conversion of Hennie Krohn
by Peggy Proctor

Sunday morning bright and early my husband and I pulled into the church parking lot. Beside us was a car with its hood up and four people cheerily eating crackling bowls of breakfast cereal. "What's wrong with the car," we inquired?

"Oh, we were on our way to Yellowstone last night and were almost there when ---that was it, the alternator went out and we got towed back to here to the Church and slept under those bushes over there. We have a part for the car on the way from Idaho Falls," he said.

"Would you like to come over to our place for lunch?" I asked. [Little did I suspect that they were using the power of prayer on us]

"Oh, that would be great! We have two teenage boys in the back seat here though, who eat a lot," he replied.

" We'll talk to you after church," I said.

After church, the oldest of the group was tightening nuts under the hood of the car. "Yep, the alternator came. My wife Tami's uncle brought it over. We'll be on our way in just a minute."

My husband rolled up his sleeves and started to help connect battery cables for a quick charge and I asked the two young men, "Where are you from?" "The Netherlands." came the reply [There was a give away accent]. They were very gregarious and affable young men. Christiaan Noot , the son of the stake president, had come to Utah to see his brother off on a mission and had quite by chance [or providence], run into his friend Hennie, who had come over from the Netherlands also, among other things, to visit the missionary who had taught him, Joseph Kamareth, and his wife Tami.--- " Would you mind telling me about your conversion?" I inquired.

It is marvelous to me how the Lord works and that these four had been brought together and met my husband and me, so that I could relate this story to all of you. At our home, while my daughter whipped up some food for them, Hennie unfolded this story of his conversion:

"My mother always told me that there was a God. It was mother who planted seeds of faith in my heart. There came a time, though, that I had really big problems. I was taking a lot of medications but wanted to stop them. I prayed hard and then one night a person appeared in my room; he laid his hands on my stomach. [I didn't know then that it was an angel who had appeared to me.] I was at the maximum dosage with these medications. One more pill would have killed me. After this personage had appeared to me, I decided that I could quit the medications and so I did. The angel came again and stood in my room, said nothing, but nodded his approval to my decision. That was all, and he never came again.

"A couple of months after this experience I went to work at a bible foundation. There were all varieties of bibles at the foundation. One day I picked one of them up and started to read. It was very interesting to me, and I went home and prayed about which church I should go to. A few months later the missionaries came to my door.

"The missionaries had been in a car accident a few days before a mission council meeting and they had to use public transportation. During the missionary meeting, the mission president told the Zone Leader that there was a purpose to the car accident [which incidentally, wasn't their fault] and that they had to meet someone. Two days later they had to wait for a bus for over 50 minutes so they decided to tract while they were waiting. They knocked on two doors. At the first door, there was no one home. The next door was mine. My mother was always home on that day of the week, but on this day she was gone and I was home alone. Mother would not have let the missionaries in, not trusting strangers who come to the door.

"That first visit was two hours long after which I made another appointment to see the missionaries. On the second visit mother was there and listened to the missionaries along with me. She was worried about the missionaries being from some strange sect. After the meeting she said that she had felt a good feeling and that this was probably not one of those sects.

"The missionaries continued to visit me for several weeks, but I had not been to church as yet. On committing to go to church I was warned by my mother to "watch out." She feared because there are those sects here that she thought would take me in and I wouldn't come back home. She was much relieved when I did return home from church. After a few more visits with the missionaries, I forgot a couple of my appointments and then I lost contact with them.

"Two months elapsed; transfers must have come bringing two new missionaries . Elder Joseph Kamerath and his new companion were reading the tracting books and decided to go visit some people in another city. The elders went to the car and had their prayer, and during the prayer, Elder Kamerath was directed by the whisperings of the Spirit: "Go see Hennie Krohn, " who of course, he had never met and knew nothing about. He brushed aside the prompting, but again the Spirit whispered, "Go visit Hennie Krohn," A second time he dismissed the prompting and was ready to set off for their planned destination when a third time the Spirit said, "GO VISIT HENNIE KROHN!

"The spirit came with such force that he couldn't deny it and immediately changed plans and direction. [When the missionaries met Hennie at the door, according to Elder Kamerath, he had three days growth on his face and no shirt on his back and no light in his eyes. Elder Kamerath wondered why they had been prompted to be there, but proceeded to give the discussions to him again. Hennie basically taught the missionaries the first few discussions he remembered them so well.]

"When they arrived at the fourth discussion they were on new ground. This is the discussion on the plan of salvation that introduces concepts that would require me to make the most changes in my life. It was the teaching of this lesson that gave me the direction to make the changes. As the changes came, the missionaries saw a change in my countenance that shown in my eyes. Even my mother noticed a change in my appearance. -- The fourth discussion actually took three appointments in order to answer all my questions. For some time now I had been attending church and had even borne my testimony. I made the decision to be baptized on the 23rd of March, then prayed about the date and the 28th of May came into my mind. This would be after Elder Kamerath had gone home, but by now I had a strong testimony of the power of prayer and listening to the spirit. I was baptized then on May 28th and confirmed a member of the church on June 4th of 2000.

"My Mother then got behind my being baptized because she saw the positive changes in my life. I never remember having a father and have no other family. Since my baptism I have moved into an apartment and live almost across the street from the stake president and his family and I'm always hanging out over there. I have loved going on splits with the missionaries and talking about the church with everyone!

"When I feel bad, I just bear my testimony and the feeling goes away. I bore my testimony of this to the youth in the branch, who never bore their testimonies. Since then, they have experimented with this and now bear their testimonies all the time.

"In June of this year I came to the United States and on my nineteenth birthday received my own endowments in the Salt Lake temple and did the work for a dozen or more of my ancestors whose names I had gathered back home. I wanted to do as much of this work as I possibly could while in the U. S. and went also to the temple in Bountiful to do work for two more of my ancestors.

"I am now preparing to serve a mission and planning to put in mission papers early July. Thoughts of serving a mission and bringing others the great gospel message and plan of salvation make me so happy. I feel that I need to go as soon as I possibly can!!"

Hennie Krohn will make a great missionary because he is so full of enthusiasm and light and ignited by the spirit. This mission in the Netherlands where Hennie is from has about two baptisms per companionship per year, but in 's-Hertogenbosch, Hennie's home, they are having, amazingly, on an average of one baptism a month. Even more amazing, they are especially having success bringing priesthood into the church. Much of this is attributed to the strong and faithful converts who are bold and fearless in their approaches to people. The young man who actually baptized Hennie, Marko, who also has a delightfully contagious personality and has been in the church just three years himself, doesn't let a person go by him. He was in his car at a stop light and waved to the person in the car next to him. The gentleman rolled down his window and Marko handed him a church pamphlet. The man showed up at church the following Sunday. The work is rolling forth.

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