About The Willem
TESTIMONY
My name is Willem Westcott Jongejan. I’m a follower of Christ for all my days, and I came to this new life in a miraculous way. I grew up in Lake Stevens, Washington bouncing back and forth between atheism, agnosticism, and dabbling in various Eastern philosophies. I was the kid who mocked the Christians throughout high school. I was the kid who said the Pledge of Allegiance over the intercom in high school, but skipped over “under God” just to cause a ruckus.
I began seeking in earnest during my late teens after I heard the story of my brother’s death. My half-brother died when I was five. He was 21, engaged, and had stayed out too late, so he fell asleep at the wheel. He ended up crashing into a ditch not far from his house in Marysville, Washington, around 2am. He died that night after slipping into a coma and being rushed to the ER. Before he lost consciousness, however, he said his last words to the man whose yard he had crashed into: “Tell my wife and son I love them.” This sounds like a sappy line from a terrible Hugh Grant romantic comedy (is there any other type of Hugh Grant movie?), but it struck a chord with me. Neither my brother nor his fiancee knew she was pregnant. There was no earthly, natural way he could have known, because she didn’t even know until she heard that and was inspired to take a pregnancy test. Eight months later, she gave birth to his son. Upon hearing this story, I knew atheism was out the window. There was something beyond me.
After graduating from Lake Stevens High School in 2004, I attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. I spent my first year as a mostly normal student, with one glaring exception. My mom died. My mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in seventh grade and given six months to live. She lasted over six years, over five years of good, healthy, worthwhile life. She finally passed away on February 15th, 2005. I decided to go back to school, rather than leaving or taking any time off.
In my second year at CWU, I met my best friend Brian and I started dating a girl he introduced me to. They both encouraged me to attend a church plant from Stone Church in Yakima, where I started listening to the music from Hillsong: United and started reading C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. On October 23rd, 2005 I had a conversation I’ll never forget. I was up with the girlfriend (for the record, I do not condone missionary dating) until the middle of the night just talking in the lobby of her residence hall. She asked the question I’d been avoiding for years: “what exactly are you tired of?” When I told her that I was simply tired of balancing on a fence, tired of not choosing or committing to anything, I didn’t hear her anymore. I heard Him. He said the words I’d been waiting my entire life to hear: “Then come to me. Come down off the fence. Come to me. You know who I am and you know I have the peace you seek.” I fell out of my chair and wept, praying for the first time. The next morning, I called just about everyone I knew to tell them the news.
Over the next several months, a few changes occurred. The girl and I split up but remained friends, I changed the people I was spending my time with, I started reading my bible and praying, and I started hearing responses in my prayers. The one I remember most vividly happened shortly after coming back from the church’s Winter camp. I knew I had accomplished all I was supposed to do at CWU, so I was wondering what was next. I was in my room asking God where I was supposed to go; asking for direction. His response was simple: “Go home to your family.” I stood up, walked out of my room, and met Brian halfway to his room to tell him I was leaving school and moving back to be with my family. Before I could tell him, he told me the same thing.
I spent the next year and a half living in Seattle with my dad and my little sister, attending the City Church UW campus, but never connected. I didn’t serve, I didn’t sew any seed, I didn’t grow, and I didn’t learn. I spent an entire year and a half without growing in any way, aside from my midsection. I withdrew from my family almost entirely, entrenched in computer games (World of Warcraft was an addiction and it’s straight up from the devil) and other such time-wasting activities. I am happy to report that I’m now free of both, but that year and a half was not healthy in any way.
I remember during the Summer of 2007 falling to my knees in my garage (my room) and praying to God: asking where I went wrong. I hadn’t heard from Him in months and hadn’t read my bible or prayed in months either. I fell to the ground, crying out for Him, telling Him I wanted my freedom back, that I didn’t want to live like I was, but that I wanted what He had for me. I asked Him where I went wrong. His response was short, but undeniable: “Wrong home. Wrong family.” It took me several minutes to process what that meant, but as soon as I said Yakima and Stone Church, the clouds lifted, both figuratively and literally. I called Brian to tell him I was moving to Yakima, but he blurted his news first: he was going to move to Yakima and go to Stone Church and attend the internship there.
Since moving to Yakima, I have worked at Costco for almost two years, served in choir, children’s ministry, hospitality ministry, prayer teams, worship team, and as a small group leader for our youth ministry (Generation Church), and I recently completed my time in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico with the Engage program: a year of missions work while attending Southwestern Assemblies of God University. I grew in incredible ways and received a new call to long-term missions on my life. Now, I will be heading to SAGU in Waxahachie, Texas to finish my degree in Theological Studies with a minor in World Ministries. After that, I don’t know what the next few years will look like, but I plan to follow God’s lead, eventually getting back on the mission field long-term and launch my own Engage location.
DISCLAIMER
The purpose of this site is for me to say what I need to say, and to share it with anyone who wishes to read, watch, or listen. The opinions I express on here do not necessarily reflect official stances of any church, organization, or corporate entity I may be affiliated with. If you want to nitpick or throw a fit, do so with me (or just go yell at the wall, because I really don’t need to hear it either) rather than taking it up with any of them. With that said, enjoy the site. I’ve put a very small amount of work into it and I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out.
CONTACT ME
email: jongejanw@gmail.com
skype: the_willem
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