PT1985.01. Dutch people don’t move.

Almost true. The saying is, they only move twice – to marry, and to die. So the vacancy rate is tiny.

We arrived in Limburg in early 1985, to begin a three year assignment. The weather was a terrible shock. It was the first year since 1963 that the famous “Elfstedentocht” could be run.1

Everyone in the NATO community warned us we could be stuck in a hotel, with our two young boys, until late spring. The family of the man I was to replace had lived in a hotel for 4 or 5 months before finding a place. Our first full day in Brunsum, my sponsor3 Al was driving us to the support base so we could get our local Driver’s Licenses and register at the housing office.

Stopped at a red light in the village of Treebeek, we were startled by a local man, bundled against the cold, knocking on my window. “Don’t open it!” hissed Al. Hey, I thought, this guy was driving the car behind us and left his door open to approach us – he’s not a squeegee man!

“Are you looking for a house to rent? I have a very nice house, just around the corner.”

Al was ready to hammer it to get away. “No, Al, what’s to lose?” We followed him about three blocks, to a traditional Dutch duplex, vintage 1903. Hupe was waiting at the door and introduced himself by saying he was a Christian,2 and had been praying for renters to come. “We’re Christians, too! And boy, have we been praying for a house to rent!”

I’d like to say we signed a lease on the doorstep, but alas, several days passed in a fruitless search for “something better” before we accepted the gracious gift from our loving Father.

We had sweet relationships with all of our neighbors. I could walk to work. Our duplex-mate Annie became a grandmother to our boys; we had a yard big enough for cub scout den meetings, an attic given over to legos during the long bad weather times. By US standards the house was tiny. But filled with good times and now, precious memories.

Praise you, Abba!

1. This is the world’s premier skating race, on the canals connecting eleven Frisian towns in the north of Holland. Since it’s first race in 1908, only 12 winters were cold enough for a safe race, before 1985

2. Like most European countries, the Netherlands is exceptionally secular. About 2% of Limburg claimed to be Protestant Christians. Hupe’s father-in-law was the Pastor of a tiny Evangelical church in Maastricht.

3. Sponsors are usually the outgoing soldier, who introduces his replacement to the new assignment.

12/24/2024