We still look back with great joy at the lovely celebrations for our 30-year anniversary. Felina and I have been working hard of late with the leaders responsible for the three houses to dot some i’s. Due to illness we had to replace the leader in Jesed, and we are actually glad we could do that. It was necessary to give more attention to some parts of the ministry. It is so easy to get into a rut where we see the individual as part of the group – may we always see each child and young person and give them the attention they need. 

 

The last few weeks we trudged through town quite a bit. Bureaucracy, that is something we are very proficient in, so simple things like paying some bills at the bank could mean standing in a queue for a few hours. A very nice reason to walk through the city was that we received a lovely financial boost from Hands & Feet, enabling us to do some much-needed replacing of materials like matrasses and kitchen things like plates. The roofs will get a revamp too, I will be glad to see a fresh coat of protective paint on them.

 

In the houses there are the usual comings and goings. Especially the teenagers that have more than only an alcohol or drug  problem prove to be quite a challenge. A boy with psychiatric problems was starting to improve, till the parents decided to buy his medication "on the street". Nice and cheap but useless. Now he is in a right state again. The sweet girl whose arm is in the picture, tried to deal with the pain in her soul through "cutting". That doesn’t help of course, we could point her to the Lord Jesus and the team is working very closely with her.

 

I am in the middle of the last preparations before travelling to the UK for the second half of furlough. Just before Christmas I’ll go to the Netherlands and will stay for the conference the Dutch mission organized in January – so this year I’ll be in Holland for the holidays! Below please find my temporary postal address as from December 20st till January the 22nd.

 

Bye for now, thank you very much for your support in prayer and through giving for the ministry, every month it is a miracle to see how the Lord supplies through His people!

 

With warm greetings, in Jesus, Fineke.

A safe place, that’s what each teenager and child who comes to us longs for. 

A place where they can be themselves and be listened to. A place also, where they can get out of their confusion and have the opportunity to get a fresh grip on their lives. Frequently this is made much more difficult because their parents don’t appreciate how important the part they should be playing is.