His friends​—baker Marie Donk, grocer Alfred Buitenman, and shoemaker Julian Dikmoet—​were quickly fascinated by the simple explanations of Scriptural truths contained in the books. Before long, the four friends formed a Bible study group in the home of the baker, Marie Donk. There, they studied more publications by the author of the books, Charles T. Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Society, from the United States.

Marie Donk, an eloquent Jewish man, took the lead and urged his customers to join the study group. Customer response was slow until the baker used the slogan that old Nickerians remember till this day: “Nyan brede sondro frede!” (Eat bread without fear!) “That meant,” explains 83-year-old Lien Buitenman, Alfred Buitenman’s daughter, “that people were handed bread for free after the meetings.”

A Modest Brother Steps Forward

In the mid-1930’s, it became known that Marie Donk was leading a life contrary to Scriptural morals. Yet he kept conducting the meetings. Who would correct the situation?

Alfred Buitenman, small in stature and soft-spoken, had discreetly supported the congregation financially since his baptism in 1903. “But during one meeting,” recalls Lien, “I was startled to see my father step forward, raise his voice, and announce that from now on the meeting place would be in the living room of our house.” Fortunately, most of the brothers supported this move, but some remained with baker Donk, and that group gradually dissolved.

Brother Buitenman then made contact with the Society’s headquarters in New York, received literature, and, from 1936 on, faithfully shepherded the congregation entrusted to him.

[Picture on page 194]

Alfred Buitenman faithfully served Jehovah for more than 60 years