Who we are
Jaweh Ministries International is an organization that continues the works of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. Jaweh Ministries International is registered as a foundation at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, with registration number 18084212, and is based in The Netherlands (Europe). The name Jaweh is the Dutch name for Yahweh, which is one of the names of our God. The reason why we chose for His name is because we want it to be His ministry and because we choose to be totally depended on Him. More info about the mission that we have, can be found in our mission statement. The people behind this ministry are Robin Prijs and Esther Prijs - van Wijk (the name Prijs is the Dutch word for Price).
Robin Prijs was born in The Netherlands on April 22, 1979. He grew up on the countryside and went to Church every Sunday, with his parents. Later, at the age of 12, his parents (rightly) noticed manipulation and intimidation in their Church leadership and went to another, more traditional Church. Although Robin went to Church, he wasn’t a Christian at that time. In his time at school he always had a hard time and was bullied by his fellow students, until the age of 15. Until that age he never had any friends and was almost always alone. To fill up this loneliness, he started to flee in reading books. Since he was very interested in the supernatural, he also read a lot of occult books. Eventually it led to the point where he stopped going to Church and gave his life to satan in exchange for as much sex as he wanted and for the job he wanted. The enemy kept his end of the deal, but in the two years that followed Robin started to become very unhappy and depressed.
Two years after he gave his life to satan, in 1999, he came at the point where he wanted to commit suicide. Just before he wanted to do this, he went to a Christian chat room in order to shock some Christians with that news. What he expected was to be rejected and chased away by these people, but then something else happened. All the people in that chat room started to pray for him and he didn’t knew how to deal with that. Then there was a lady who asked him if she could pray for him over the phone. Not the Christians, but Robin was shocked and overwhelmed at that moment. Eventually he agreed and the lady called him and prayed for him. All the thoughts of suicide and depression where gone within seconds. A little while later he finally surrendered, rejected satan and gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. A few years later he was baptized in water and later also in the Holy Spirit.
After becoming a Christian, Robin went back to Church, where he met his sweetheart, Esther, with whom he married in 2004. But God also started to bless him with helping him to get his drivers license and the job he wanted, as an IT professional, and five years later, when he switched his career to be a IT recruiter.
When Robin just became a Christian, he started to become a bit confused. While he was reading his Bible, he read Mark 16, where Jesus told how you can recognize the believers (they will cast out demons, lay hands on the sick and they will heal etc.), things he didn’t saw happening in his Church. That’s when he told God that he wanted all of that or nothing, and nothing was not an option. From that moment God started to help him by pointing his attention to the books of Derek Prince and Benny Hinn. Through this books he started to learn about the ministry of deliverance, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, having a relationship with God etc. God also directed him to another Church, brought people on his way who taught him about God’s ways and later he also received education of the Holy Spirit Himself.
In 2008 Robin was standing in the office of his own company, while he prayed to God. He had everything he ever wanted and a salary that many would dream of. In that comfortable position, he told God that he would follow Him no matter what the cost. Apparently God was very interested in that statement, since he lost everything he had within just a few months, such as his company, his income, his car, most of his friends etc. Then God asked him: “Who do you trust now? Your money?”. Although this was a very painful process, he finally started to see that God didn’t had the first place in his life. The only thing he and his wife had left was their home. But then Robin told God that if He wanted to teach them something by loosing their house as well, that he gave God permission to do so. A while later they also lost their house and became homeless. Yet Robin learned a lot through this whole process and he finally started to understand that God was much more interested in his motivation and character then in his deeds and words. Now he honestly can say that Jesus Christ is the only number one in his life.
Esther Prijs - van Wijk was born in The Netherlands on May 27, 1981. Esther also grew up at the countryside and went to Church every Sunday, with her parents. Like Robin, she also had a very hard time in her youth and was also bullied at school for many years. Although she didn’t always understand why God wasn’t saving her from being bullied, she never gave up on Him and never rejected Him. In her early years, her family went to a very traditional Church, where they didn’t taught her how to have a personal relationship with God. Later they went to a less traditional Church, the same Church where she would eventually meet Robin. In the first years of their relationship, they went to the same Church together. But after a while Robin suddenly started to go to another (more charismatic) Church every other week. She really couldn’t understand this and even became angry about it. What she didn’t knew, was that is was God who told Robin to go to another Church. During this time, Robin prayed to God and asked Him to change the heart of Esther, so that they could go to that other Church together. After a while Esther’s heart was changed and she decided to go to that other Church, together with Robin. It was in that Church, that Esther started to learn what it meant to have a personal relationship with God, about the ministry of deliverance, about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and many other things.
In her teenage years, Esther studied to become a nurse in a retirement home. During that study she had several internships, in The Netherlands and in Sweden. Although she felt relieved when she graduated, she later found out that this work was physically to heavy for her. After she worked for seven years in a retirement home, she finally had to conclude that she physically couldn’t go on with that job. But all that was a part of Gods plan as well. This all happened in the time where Robin still had his own company, and where they could effort to loose the income of Esther. It was at that moment that God showed Esther that He wanted her to go back to school again. It took her a little while to overcome her doubt, but at last she decided to go back to school and choose for the study of social work. After almost two years of studying there, Robin lost his company and income. Still God carried her through it all and provided, so she could continue with her study. In May/June 2011 Esther graduated and received her bachelors degree in social work.
During all the trials and storms Esther and Robin went through, she always supported him as he supported her. Although Esther is not always visible present, she does a lot behind the scenes and always supports Robin where she can.
