Bruce, our friend from Canada, came the end of July until mid August to continue with the preparations for the hydro electric power plant of Apetina. He needed some more measurements of the river bedding and the water speed. As an experienced farmer he is also interested in the planting methods of the Wayana.

We took soil samples at different gardens to test the PH grade of the soil. We also took a soil sample to Paramaribo to have several tests done by a lab of the university.

The third week of August a Wayana – and a Trio elder went along with Marco to Colombia for a conference of the Trans Amazon Network in Bogota. The past year the Network did a survey about all the ind*genous peoples in the country. They reached 90% of the different groups. The goal of the conference was to strategize the evangelization efforts to the unreached people groups with local churches and mission organizations. It is the vision of the Wayana and the Trio to accomplish a survey like that of all the ind*genous people groups in the Guyana’s in the coming years.

While Marco was in Bogota, Marjolein stayed with our daughter Elisabeth and her family. It was great to spend time with them, especially with our grandson Quinn. It was a special time of bonding.

August 27 our journey to Canada began. The first stop was a day long layover in Port of Spain, Trinidad. We seized the opportunity to meet several people we met last year during our regional World Team Conference in Trinidad. We were surprised to see quite a few people showing up for lunch and being interested in our team. Together we decided to meet again on our way home at the end of September when we will have a long layover again. We look forward to give them a first hand report by then.

We are writing this blog at Bruce’s, 500 km north of Edmonton. We already have our agenda filled with quite some appointments for the coming weeks. We’re looking forward to what God has in store for us!