I, Hans,
emigrated from Germany in 1958, then attended high school and college in
Wisconsin. After serving with the infantry in the U.S. Army, I obtained an
M.A. from the University of Wisconsin where Gretchen and I met in 1970.
Gretchen grew up in Minnesota, graduated from Augustana
College in 1969, and pursued graduate studies in Salzburg, Austria, and Madison,
Wisconsin.
After marrying in 1971, we both taught school in Wisconsin.
As unbelievers, our marriage almost ended in divorce, but God drew us to Himself
and then healed our marriage.
Desiring to know God and His Word better, we moved to St.
Louis, where I attended Covenant Theological Seminary. After graduating with an
M. Div. in 1980, I was called to pastor at Bible Presbyterian Church in Walker,
Iowa, and both of us also served in the church and at Cono Christian School for
the next twenty years as teachers, youth leaders, and counselors.
The Lord blessed us with three children before moving to Cono.
While there, we also adopted three Ethiopian children who were older than our
own natural children.
In 1999 we visited our daughter Maria in Prague where she had
served for a year and a half with the MTW team as a teacher. While
visiting her here in Prague, the Lord gave us a real burden for the spiritual
needs of the people in the Czech Republic, 60% - 80% of whom claim to be
atheists or agnostics.
We joined the church-planting team in Prague in March 2003
and are serving in evangelism, teaching, discipling, and counseling. In
October 2004 we moved to Zlín to serve with the Andersons and the Zlín Reformed
Church.
Our primary work is teaching English at our ministry center
here in Zlín, at summer and winter camps and through different seminars. It is
our primary means of outreach as we seek to build close relationships with our
Czech friends. We also seek to counsel, encourage, and live transparently in
order to be channels of God’s grace, which is only possible, of course, in His
strength.
We have six children, all of whom are now grown. Being
separated from them and their families is the hardest part of being overseas,
but the Lord has provided grace upon grace for us and for them
In life’s joys and trials, the Lord’s faithfulness encourages
us, and His love compels us. What a joy and comfort it is to know that He goes
before us moment by moment and step by step to reveal to us the good works He
has prepared for us to do!
