I am also on the road again, with full luggage, but mostly with a full heart: glad that this is possible now. Tomorrow I am leaving for Scotland to start a few months of travel in Great Britain, to serve the church and to share about the ministry in Bolivia that we wouldn’t be able to do without you.Prayer for this time is much appreciated, living out of a suitcase for three months is not always easy.

 

There is much to share, at times I don’t know where to start to give you a taste of all that is happening. We’ve had a few really horrible weeks just now. First having to prepare possible legal steps before the conversations to ask the administrator to leave. We are grateful to the Lord that this went in a reasonably quiet way – the alternative having been to initiate administrative legal actions for which reason we had the backup of a specialist lawyer. Truly awful this situation but the work she was delivering was looking more and more like Swiss cheese but in administration things just have to be complete, without “holes”. At the moment two people are taking inventory again which is about time after 3 years of doing nothing in that area. You might think: why such a long drag, well, in Corona times we didn’t become aware that the gaps in the work were caused by her rather than the pandemic.

 

In the picture you see Gustavo whom I have known for 33 years: first because he came to Peniel for rehabilitation and later because he fellowshipped at our church. The Sunday before I travelled, he told me he had placed the large print Bible I’d given him in the care of one of the elders. Three days later he was walking in town and died because his hart just stopped. I am especially grateful for Mario from church who used to open the Scriptures with him regularly, and also that we have been able to support him in a measure these years.

 

The young people in Adulam and Talita Cumi are aware of eternity too. When there are problems in the house, like last week with Maria again, the rest of the group will turn to prayer: asking the Lord for His help. How beautiful is that! Also what one of the girls told the team: “I am going to give myself the best birthday present ever: I will ask Jesus to come into my heart.” You will understand the team member prayed with her there and then!

 

Last Friday I had a videocall with the boys in Adulam, they were celebrating mothers day and wanted include me too! Felina and I are in touch a few times a week to talk about things happening with the teams and the teenagers and children in our care. So far away but thankfully so close too.

 

Met de kinderen van Jesed, en de scholen waarmee we een werkverband hebben, is ter ere van de dag van het kind een expositie georganiseerd met tekeningen over de rechten van het kind met, zoals jullie kunnen zien, heel veel tekeningen. Er was o.a. belangstelling van de kinderbescherming en de politie.

 

Many days and hours have been put into finishing the English translation of the biography Peter de Bruijne wrote about my life and ministry. Yesterday I thought it was finished but now it appears that in the Amazon system a lot of things are not in the right place yet. I am really disappointed as I’d worked very hard trying to have it done by the end of May but I’m afraid I’ll need more patience and perseverance.