Serving As Missionaries in the Dutch East Indies

Father van de Weg went to Bible training at St. Chrischona Bible School in South Germany. On the day of graduation, Mother van de Weg walked through the door. Annie’s father said that when she walked through the door, the Lord said to him, “There is your wife walking through the door.” They got married and went to Indonesia as missionaries, where they served for many years. Minnie shared how their father traveled through Java, Bali, and Sumatra.

Annie’s parents had their first child, Alie, during their furlough in Holland in 1930, and then they had Annie and her twin sister Minnie, in the Dutch East Indies in 1932.

However, in a dramatic turn of events, the van de Wegs’ lives would be changed forever.

World War II & the Concentration Camps

Hitler invaded Holland on May 10, 1940, and the Netherlands declared martial law on the Dutch East Indies. Two years later, the Japanese invaded Indonesia (previously known as the Dutch East Indies). Annie was 8 years old.

When the Japanese invaded Java, Mother van de Weg and the girls fled quickly to a mountain village. Minnie shares how the Japanese were flying in a V formation and bombs were falling all around them. Everything burned. They ended up fleeing back to Java. In the days that followed, Mother van de Weg suddenly had a heart attack and died.

The Japanese were waiting for them as they returned from their mother’s funeral, arresting Father van de Weg and sending him to a work camp. Minnie shares how the girls begged him, “Father, don’t go!” but of course he had to go.

The three girls (along with a young lady who was with them) also ended up being sent to a concentration camp for 1.5 years. It was a terrible time for all of them, but with God’s help, they survived.

Miraculously, their father also survived the work camps and came back after the war, just skin and bones. Minnie later learned that he only survived because they forced him to take some medicine.

“One for Alie, one for Minnie…,” they said. He swallowed it for his daughters.

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After their release, Annie prayed to the Lord that He would erase the horrible memories of the war, and she could honestly say God had really done that for her. She shared how it pained her to see how some of the other residents at Ebenezer still suffered from the traumatic memories of the war.

 

Recovering from the War

After they released Father van de Weg and the three girls in 1945, they all went back to Holland. Later, the girls joined Corrie ten Boom’s Bible studies for young women who had survived the war. Minnie shares that some of the greatest lessons they learned from Corrie were to be full of the Lord, or the love of the Lord. To keep calm, be patient, and be yourself. She shared how Corrie was “at home” with everyone. Whether they were old or young, hippies, intellectuals, or simple-minded, it didn’t matter because she radiated HIS love. This made Corrie a great blessing to many.

Serving the Lord

Corrie’s godly example clearly influenced both Annie and her sisters, and they accomplished many things for the kingdom of God. Minnie worked as a nurse/midwife in the UAE and helped to build the first clinic, where she served for over 45 years (and still lives there). Her sister Alie became a doctor in Holland. Annie studied to be a nurse and then a midwife in Holland, before feeling called by God to go serve in Israel.

Annie shared that after her training, she worked as a midwife at the midwifery training school in Amsterdam, where she soon became head of the labor ward.

“I loved my job,” explained Annie, “and I didn’t want to leave it. I really battled with the Lord when He called me to come to Israel in 1973. I joined Near East Ministries in 1975, and replaced another Dutch midwife who left the Poriya hospital in the north of Israel. I worked in Poriya as a midwife for 23 years, and also helped women who wanted to have home births.”