Monday, January 20, the GumAir plane would arrive early. Marjolein wanted to clear up the last things in and around the house and Marco had to spray under the house to keep the termites out of the way. When Marjolein was organizing all the things in the house she suddenly heard Marco shouting from below: “Marjolein, come quickly, please come help me”. Marco had hurt his back when lifting the spray tank on his back. Then the entire schedule had to change. Marco had to be helped out of his working clothes while every movement hurt him. Marjolein thought by herself “How will I fix every ting in time to be ready when the plane arrives”. She realized right away “Let’s deal with things when they arrive, now I work first on the things that have to be done before that time”.

Marco gave instructions on how to use the sprayer while Marjolein, in Marco’s work clothes, was fiddling with the machine. You’re never too old to learn new things, but things never go as fast as when you have experience. Spraying really had to be done because in the previous days we had seen several traces of termites in the storeroom downstairs and in our spare bedroom downstairs. It was the first time in the last 8 years that Marjolein still had to store the wheelbarrow in the storeroom while Marco slowly climbed the steps of the plane and the pilot waited patiently for the last passenger to enter. That is another advantage of a small plane in a small village. In this way we notice how vulnerable we are, but also how God time and again provides in our needs.

Before we left for the city, we met with the team with whom we went to Canada last August. We made arrangements to visit all villages along the river in the coming months to report about our experiences during the 2019 trip. In the meantime, one couple already stated that they would like to come along to Canada on a following trip.

Wednesday, January 22, we celebrated Marjolein’s birthday. In the morning with a Dutch coffee and cake celebration in our apartment with a number of dear friends. In the evening with a dinner at a Chinese Restaurant with Elisabeth and family, with Jiska (who had arrived that afternoon in Suriname to visit for a week) and with old-time friends (who had just arrived from Denmark) and some Surinamese friends. We were so very blessed!

The last week of January we took part in the annual LEAD meetings of World Team Americas in Orlando, Florida. It was a pleasure to meet colleagues from all over the America’s and to be informed about their work.

We really wanted to visit friends from Suriname, who we met in the nineties, who live in Michigan now. So, after the LEAD meetings we flew over to Michigan. We enjoyed recalling our memories and to be able to share what God is doing in the jungle of Suriname.  We also enjoyed some snow and low temperatures.

In the coming week we will be visiting a WT candidate couple who are preparing to be part of our team in Manaus, Brazil. Other dear friends who we met several times in the nineties in Suriname, will also visit us in Florida and the last few days of our visit we will stay at Roy and Margaret Lytle’s, who taught us all the things we needed to know for our ministry among the Wayanas.

Next week Thursday, February 13, we hope to arrive in Paramaribo again to fly to Apetina after a few days of shopping and preparing in the city.