Time flies when you’re having fun!

In April, we spent two weeks in the Netherlands for Marjolein’s father’s 90th birthday. It is very special to still have him with us and being able to celebrate this with the direct family.

Together with a Dutch missionary who has been working in India for years, Marco was invited to present an introduction on “Trends in Mission” for ‘MissieNederland’ – a network of Mission Agencies in the Netherlands.

A special detail was that Marjolein remembered this missionary’s name from her teenage years. In the car on our way to the meeting she asked him about it. He asked if Marjolein’s father had been imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp, for then he was thinking about that very same family. When Marjolein confirmed this, he shared some things from his childhood, which Marjolein shared with her father at his request. This way the circle became complete again. Very special to experience how an unexpected conversation turned out to bring things together from long ago!

From the Netherlands, Amsterdam is a great starting point for travel to Peru. KLM provides a 12-hour direct flight to Lima. From Paramaribo, this would require several layovers, making it more cumbersome and often more expensive. As we write this, we are spending 5 weeks in Peru, visiting several projects and locations.

Last week we had a team training for World Team’s workers among the 200,000 Chinese in Lima. This was a good, intensive week since we work with a multicultural group of colleagues. As we keep experiencing, communication then needs extra attention. Getting to know each other’s culture takes time. That is why we are happy to have some follow-up meetings in the coming weeks to further build relationships within the group and their vision for this work.

Last Sunday, the Chinese association in Lima already celebrated Mother’s Day. As the only non-Chinese, we were allowed to attend. Quite a spectacle with a lion dance and lots of gifts handed out via a tombola.

This week we visit Pucallpa, a city of some 350,000 people, on behalf of Foundations for Farming. We are conducting training at a rehabilitation center for former addicts. Some 100 boys/men and 20 girls/women are now in the program. The founder of this work has been homeless and addicted himself, but he was saved by God. Our hearts broke when we saw some boys and girls the age of our grandchildren! What a different world. Our hearts overflow with gratitude when we see the opportunities our (grand)children have. We enjoy the privilege of sharing God’s message of hope also very practically with this farming method in this facility.