I was born in January 1947, in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was born again through receiving Jesus as my Savior in April 1973. I am the father of 9 children, plus 3 adopted children, and have 7 grandchildren.

Before TFI

The first two years of my life were spent in an orphanage. I became a street kid at 10, and at 13 I got kicked out of school and started working. I started smoking and drinking. At 15, my mother kicked me out of the house and I went sailing on cargo ships for two years. This was a blessing in disguise. I learned that authority counts and rules are to be obeyed. I received my diploma as a mechanic on 10,000 hp engines and went sailing as sole engineer on a coaster (small cargo vessel). There I saved enough money to pay for my high school and a university entrance exam, in a two-year accelerated course. I got married at 18. Then I studied to be an engineer in mechanical construction and rationalization and graduated in 1971. I started to work in the Aalborg Shipyard as responsible for the pipeline conception. (If you are interested, you can read my stories on: http://johstardust.blogspot.com/)

I became the Vice President of a 10,000-member student organisation, youth counsellor to the municipality, and a successful engineer (Aalborg is the third-largest city of Denmark).

In April 1973, a team from TFI Denmark came to my house, invited by my Danish wife. I had no intention to talk with them, having been a Marxist-Leninist and then a Maoist. However, after a discussion of six hours, at 2PM. I finally asked Jesus into my heart in an if-You-are-real prayer. The same morning, four hours later, I woke up and knew I was saved. Hours later, I left with the TFI team for Copenhagen to become a missionary.

Why I am a member of The Family International

After a month of memorizing the Scriptures, studying the basics of salvation, the Holy Spirit, prayer, hearing from Heaven and studying Bible prophecy, I became convinced that TFI had the best of all the isms. TFI had simple, easy-to-understand principles, uncomplicated methods to reach the peoples of the world, and very few doctrines that could hinder an open-minded, open-ended communication with anyone from all walks of life. But most of all, TFI members had the love of God in their hearts and a tangible proof of it in their actions, and they were willing to share it with me. I took it in with gladness and will give it out again with joy. Freely I have received, freely I will give! (Mat. 10:8).

How I live my faith

For me, living my faith is to live according to what God shows you to do. Our members here in Togo live cooperatively to make life cheaper and the burdens lighter. We pray daily to seek first the Kingdom of God, we tithe, we preach and teach God’s word through our mission, we give to the poor and needy through our NGO (non-governmental organization), and we sell devotional books and multimedia through our company.