Dear friends & family,

Almost a year has passed since we returned from Sierra Leone. The past year has been interesting to say the least, but we are very grateful for God’s faithfulness and His work of restoration in our lives. Despite Covid-restrictions, we have been able to see our children and grandchildren several times, connected with our wider family and friends, and our church family. Eventually, Jon went back to work in the local Emergency Room, while Heleen continued to work on her doctorate in Global Child and Adolescent Mental Health and oversee the ministry of Nyandengoh! (www.nyandengoh.org) through online meetings.

And now it is time for a change again. When we got married in 2015, the wedding sermon was preached from the wedding at Cana, and the preacher's 3 points were the words spoken by people other than Jesus.  The first point was the word spoken by Mary to the servants in response to the lack of wine: "Do whatever He tells you." We continue to seek to live out this admonition, particularly as we remember one of our wedding vows: “Our love, by God's grace, will involve a commitment to serve wherever He leads.”

We had tickets to fly to Sierra Leone February 4, but canceled those due to complicated travel restrictions related to COVID.   A few days later, after Jon read that Peru was one of the hardest hit countries in the world with COVID, we decided to inquire about the possibility of helping with a mission hospital there.  We initially tried to volunteer for 1-2 months starting in April or May, but they asked us to come as soon as possible, for a period of 3 months. So to make a long story short, we are planning to go to Peru from March 1 (yes, tomorrow!) through the end of May, to the small town of Curahuasi, to serve with a very large Christian hospital (https://www.diospi-suyana.de/?lang=en). It is a modern hospital that ministers to the poor of Peru, particularly the Quechua Indians of that area, and the main work would be helping out with the extra work of the COVID epidemic.  It would be close to the area that Jon worked back in 2013 in the city of Cusco.  The hospital is supposed to have good internet, so Heleen will be able to continue with her study and supervision of the Nyandengoh! work. While we are gone, a young couple from church will be house-sitting for us...so that is an answer to prayer, for sure.  We are grateful for confirmations like this.

    We are looking forward to this new assignment.  The timing doesn’t seem perfect, but we have decided before to follow open doors, and the doors are open here. Jon will need to brush up on Spanish, which is not as easy when you haven't been speaking it for 9 years. And we have dearly loved being back in the States and closer to family in the past year. Even though we haven't seen nearly enough of each other, it felt a lot closer. We do still plan to go to Sierra Leone later in the year, hopefully in August.  It means that once again, we will miss the birth of a granddaughter, Kristin and Karlin's due in April.  But we trust we will be able to make up the difference when we see her in person in June, Lord willing. 

We will appreciate your prayers for our time in Peru. We hope to keep you updated through this blog, so if you have not subscribed yet for updates, this is a good time to do it!

Love to you all!

Jon and Heleen                            

(In Quechua, the name of the hospital means "God is our Hope")