After three months in the Netherlands, supporting the family of our oldest, Andre and his wife Wimke, taking care of our grandson Maurits, we thank God seeing how Maurits is coping with his medical treatment. He is a cheerful boy, which we see as God giving him the courage and the grace to deal with his illness on a day to day basis.
Filled with confidence we returned back to Suriname Monday April 6’ where we were welcomed by our daughter Elisabeth at the airport.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to do our shoppings for the coming months, picked up several big boxes with clothes sent over from the Netherlands for the people of Lawa and visited our dentist for a consult. Two busy days, after which we could pack 450 kilo of luggage to take along the following Thursday.
We flew to Lawa ASAP because Roy Lytle was already there, teaching in the church. The same afternoon we were In church while Roy presented his last lessons about church leadership. For us a good listening exercise in Wayana.
We now have 18 big boxes with clothes and toys packed in the house, waiting for sale-day. The people come asking when that will be. We plan 24th & 25th of April.
The Sunday school teachers told us that in the mean time they started children bible clubs in 5 other villages along the Lawa river. What a great news! This means that we have to train more workers to be able to work with the children. It also means that our set of laminated storytelling flashcards will be too little. We will need another set on the Lawa river.
The schools have a holiday from April 24’ untill May 10’ . We now plan to have a holiday bible week from April 27 until May 2, each morning. In the afternoon we will train new children workers. It is beautiful to see that the workers from Lawa will take part in this training. Great to see how they have grown so that now they are able to pass on what they know to the next group. Both of us will also participate in one part of the training. We’ll close the week with a morning of outdoor games.
The Baptist church at Lawa lacks official papers with the Surinamese government. We now are working on the church constitution and official application for members. Roy helped the elders last week with reading through all the documents and now we see they are ready for the next steps. We are grateful he is able to encourage the leaders. Sunday April 19 all families receive a copy of the document that has been taught on last week. We also have our first board. Marco will help them to register the Lawa church with the government in the city.
The children are happy that we returned. They now come and play every afternoon in our living room.
Marjolein and Marco