These words of the apostle Paul to the disciples in Corinth were a great comfort to us these past weeks to trust the Lord completely. He knows why we got ‘stuck’ in Paramaribo while our hearts were with the people in the interior. We trust that God is molding us through these circumstances even though it comes with emotional pain of being separated from the people God put in our hearts.

After two months in Paramaribo we really longed to visit the people in Apetina or Lawa. Due to Covid-19 restrictions we were not allowed to fly in. Now the numbers of Covid-19 infections are rising all over Suriname and also in the interior! We don’t envision in the near future to be able to visit the villages. After consulting our supervisors, we decided to try to change our tickets to an earlier flight to the Netherlands. This went very smoothly. Without any problem we were booked for a flight this Saturday, July 25.

We’ll start our stay with two weeks quarantine in the home of a family who are on holidays. Next to this our rental car will be ready by August 7, just at the end of our quarantine. God provides abundantly again!

We hope to fly back to Suriname at the end of November, but that’s still a long way off. We’ll see what the world looks like at that time. We are grateful for internet connection with the Wayana. This way we can stay connected. There’s no difference with us being in Paramaribo and staying at home or being in the Netherlands.

We have been busy these past months with several things. We still can do a lot through WhatsApp videocalls, ZOOM meetings, etc… Marco has been working on laminating some A Beka Bible Stories so they can be used in children’s work in the interior.

Marjolein has dedicated a portion of her time to translate 26 stories about children in the Bible. She is almost done. The rest will be finished in the two weeks of quarantine. Then we will have to wait for the next step in the translating process until we are able to be with the Wayana again. We need the local leaders to give the needed feedback and correction.

We tried to take care of ourselves by enjoying the beautiful nature of Suriname on different outings in some of the weekends.

We also enjoyed our time with our 4 years old grandson Quinn. We took care of him one day a week. It has been a great time of building relationship with him and the rest of the family.

The coming weeks and months we will see how Covid-19 will develop in the Netherlands. We hope to be able to visit several people. We will have more time to do so anyway. In the meantime, we will be able to assist our son and his family in decorating their new home.