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Some more about us
Why are we here in BrisbaneHow did Malcolm become a Christian
How did Elmari become a Christian
Why are we here in Brisbane
It's a good question! Well, in January 1999 Malcolm's job in Munich finished and after being away from home (Scotland) for five years, he was all set to go back. Even if he didn't have a job. He was just tired of settling in to new places and wanted to have family around him again. But he got a job interview with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company in Brisbane, AUSTRALIA and the next day was offered the job to do research for them. Despite wanting to go back to Scotland, Malcolm was convinced that this was where God wanted him to go, so he accepted the job. To make a long story short, after the interview, he went back to Munich, got engaged to Elmari and started his new job at the beginning of March. Elmari, who was working with Siemens in Munich at that time, worked for them until the end of April, after which she went home to South Africa. We got married in June and came to Brisbane in the middle of July to start our married life together. After three months at home Elmari found a job with Lucent Technologies, a telecommunications company.^ Top
How did Malcolm become a Christian
I have two lovely parents, who brought me up so well. Almost every day we would have a short Bible lesson together and pray. We attended Earlston Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) where Mum and Dad were both elders. Here we went to Sunday School and Bible Class. Often for holidays we went to Capernwray Hall in the English Lake District. This is a Bible School and during holidays they have "family weeks". As a child, church was boring and going to Capernwray was just wonderful. The children's meetings were great and I so much enjoyed the singing, games and Bible lessons.
From when I was sixteen my parents allowed us to make our own decision about going to church. I almost stopped going apart from Christmas and Easter or when Granny visited. It was a struggle! I somehow knew that the Christian way was the correct way, but I was so very weak. I was scared of what others would think if they saw me going to church or if they knew that I was interested in such things at all. Earlston is such a small village and being on the countryside there were not many Christians around. There seemed to be no one I could relate to.
I enjoyed playing rugby a lot and as well as playing for the school, I played for the local club in Melrose. Rugby was terrific, but the morals in the rugby world are particularly bad, which was something I did not enjoy. Even though I didn't enjoy alcohol, I went out drinking with the others, just to be one of the "boys". I do remember, however that I still sometimes read my Bible and prayed during this time.
The turning point came when I had a neck injury and had to stop playing rugby. After that I was not well for a few years. I think it was the summer after I finished my honours degree and before I started further studies that I worked at a grain drying plant. It was the most incredibly boring job with long hours (8am. - 8pm.) and a lot of time on my own, not having a lot to do. For some reason I started reading my Gideons New Testament. After starting uni again, I started going to church. Reading the Bible and listening to sermons were no longer boring, but I enjoyed being with God's people and worshipping Him. I could see God's hand in my life and was so grateful. I felt so sure and confident in God's Word and in His promises and did not care any more about what others would say about my faith in Jesus. It was during this time that I made a commitment to Jesus.
I don't know where it came from: this urge to know Jesus and with it the strength and the peace. I can only think of John 3:8: "The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone born of the Spirit." I am so grateful that even though I am a sinner, by the grace of the Lord He has chosen me as one of His children.
Since then I have enjoyed building a relationship with Jesus and try to live for Him each day, pressing on towards the goal. (Phil. 3:14 "I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.")
Habakkuk 3:17-19
"Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines,
Even though the olive crops fails and the farms produce no grain,
Even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty,
I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord is my Saviour.
The sovereign Lord gives me strength.
He makes me sure-footed as a deer and keeps me safe on the mountains."
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How did Elmari become a Christian
Romans 1:16"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
I was brought up in a Christian family with both my parents always going to church. Even my extended family were Christians and when we celebrated Christmas with my father's side of the family every second year, the twenty of us were normally the biggest family together at church for the Christmas service. I remember often hearing my parents reading the Bible and praying together before they went to sleep. I also remember when visiting our grandparents for school holidays seeing my Ouma Petra (Granny) kneeling at her bedside in the morning before starting the day's activities.
Sunday School was always something I took up seriously. I believed that God was real and that Jesus was real. Already then I believed that God chose me to be His child.
At the end of school I went to university. This was supposed to be a time where excellent opportunities arose for me to serve the Lord in the different Christian activities at Tukkies (Univ. of Pretoria). I had the opportunity to go on beach missions, do cycling tours for fundraising, concert tours, but instead I chose to spend my time doing the things I thought were important, with studies, my family and building a relationship. Slowly but surely my strong Christian principles became warped and I became a person who did not love God "with all my heart, soul and strength". An important relationship broke up and I was in thousands of pieces. I will always be thankful to the Lord for still loving me so much during that time and providing friends and family who supported me. During that time God once spoke to me through a dream and the verse from Romans 8:37 was given to me: "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us". I also woke up one morning with a very strong sense of the presence of the Lord and with the words of a song repeating over and over in my head: "In U hande gee ek my lewe oor, want Here, troue God, U't my vrygemaak", which means "I leave my life in Your hands, oh Lord, for You have set me free".
It was the end of my time at Tukkies and I had only one more holiday to serve the Lord as a student. I had lived in a flat with a girl friend and we had just started to learn to cook. Two really good Christian friends asked me to be the cook for fifteen people on an outreach camp among the Zulu people in a very rural part of the country. I agreed and was amazed at the gourmet meals I was able to prepare in those primitive circumstances. I just knew that God blessed me. After the outreach I went back home for the Christmas holidays before starting my first job. I was still a bit of a wreck and the only times that I was at peace was when I was reading the Bible. So I did a lot of Bible reading!
My fist job was with Siemens where I also did vacation work as a student. During the first year there I got the opportunity to go to Germany to work there for Siemens for three and a half months. I made a few good friends and could tell them about my faith in JESUS. Even though I was alone in a foreign country, not knowing many people, I always knew the Lord's presence and protection.
My faith was strengthened back in South Africa when Petra, my sister, and I did an overview course of the Bible for one year. It was wonderful, to read so much of God's Word and to have it explained and made practical to us by such strong and mature Christians!
People from Siemens in Germany kept in touch with me and at the end of 1997 they asked me to come to Germany again for 3 weeks. During my time there I was asked to come to work in Munich for a year. It was a good opportunity and I left home for Munich at the beginning of May 1998.
Like many other girls I have always wanted to get married. I don't remember exactly when I started to say this prayer, but my prayer for a husband was for three things:
- that he would love the Lord.
- that he would love me and care for me as he loves and cares for his own body (I got this idea from Ephesians 5:25-30).
- and that together we would serve the Lord better than if we stayed single.
Many things in my life seem like co-incidences or even like a fairy tale, but I know it is because God is in control and "is working everything for the good" for me. I can see that since I decided to give up my own plans, the Lord is renewing me day by day. From those thousands of pieces I am learning what it means to have the identity of a free person and to be right with God because of JESUS. I am found IN JESUS.
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Last updated: 29-May-01