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")

Home again, home again...

 Our cheeks started burning when we read the date of our last blog entry… And even more since we have not updated it since we returned home four months ago! Life happens, we guess, and we will not try to find a multitude of excuses for our long silence…. However, we did write a couple of newsletters in the past year and you can download those from the column beside this blog. Since our last letter was at Christmas, we will give you a few highlights from our last three months (January-March) in Mattru Jong.

Okay, we sneak in one December picture since we could not include it in our shorter Christmas letter. Here is Jon making rounds with his son Robert who came to visit early December. Robert just graduated from Physical Therapy school. We thoroughly enjoyed his short stay with us!

At the beginning of January, a beautiful office space became available for Nyandengoh! for a good rental price! The building is about a five minute walk from the hospital, which helps us to continue our collaboration with them for the medical care of the children.

Mid-January, doctor Richard Toupin and his wife Cathy (nurse) arrived. Richard, together with a Nigerian physician, has taken over Jon's duties for this year. Unfortunately, Covid has shortened the stay of Richard & Cathy and we don't know how long it will be until they can return to Sierra Leone.

As usual, the annual medical team from America came to visit at the end of January. In addition to doctors, nurses and an X-ray assistant, there were this time also physical therapists who have been able to help with Nyandengoh! That worked out very well, especially for the children recovering from orthopedic procedures.

Two teams of Engineers without Borders arrived around the same time as the medical team and each spent two weeks renovating an education room in the hospital and rebuilding a home for hospital workers who should be able to sleep close to work when they are on call.

The first weekend of February, a wish came true for us: we visited Sherbro Island, the large island that is part of Bonthe, the district where we have lived for the past three years. After a beautiful two-hour boat trip we arrived at this historic island where we admired historical buildings, enjoyed tasty fish and explored beautiful beaches. It was well worth it! We were also grateful to be offered a boat ride by World Vision on the way home so we did not have to board this overloaded ferry!

Also in February, Nyandengoh! welcomed two new colleagues. Abdulai is a nurse we met during his internship in the hospital. He loves children and enthusiastically ensures that our children receive good medical care. Every month he visits the villages by motorbike to deliver epilepsy medication to children who need it. Miatta is a young woman who has just finished high school and has an eight-month internship with us to see if she likes this job and is suitable for it. The children love her and enjoy her attention. Together with Esther and under the leadership of Sylvanus they continue to ministry of Nyandengoh! in our absence. 

Mid-February we made our last trip to Freetown. A church from America organized a missionary retreat there on the beach. It was a wonderfully relaxing time with old and new friends, and the spiritual input we received was as welcome as water on dry and thirsty ground.

On the last day of February, the hospital organized a farewell party for us, of course

filled with many speeches, delicious food, music, dancing and gifts.

With Hospital Administrator Abdul Karim Mustapha.

 The next day (Sunday), we said goodbye to Fleming church, where we had attended most frequently. The days after that were all about wrapping up, packing up and saying goodbyes. Although it has been three tough years, we are also happy with the many friendships we have made in Mattru. We told our friends that we definitely want to come back regularly in the coming years to help with Nyandengoh! and in the hospital. With the travel restrictions of Covid-19 we have had to adjust our plans and at this moment we are not sure yet when we will be able to return.

In the meantime we are counting our blessings as we visit with our children and grandchildren, enjoy our home and garden and – despite Covid regulations – enjoy a lot more freedom and entertainment than we have had for the last three years! Of course we long for things to return to normal but for now we are content to wait and seek to honor the God who does not make mistakes and uses every season in our lives for his glory.

Thank you for your interest in our blog – we are planning to continue using this medium to stay in touch with you all. If you have not subscribed yet, please do so today to not miss our entries. Also, you may want to check out our Nyandengoh! website on www.nyandengoh.org.

Blessings to you all!

We leave you with two pictures of our abundant garden and produce.

To America and Back

Four months since our last blog! A lot has happened since we last wrote an update. In May we left for our annual leave. We spent three weeks in the Netherlands, visiting with Heleen’s family. It was so good to see everyone again, especially Heleen’s parents, who had faced some health troubles over the past year. Because of the limited time we had in the Netherlands, we prioritized time with our parents, but we were also able to see most of Heleen’s family and some friends, including those who came to our “Meet & Greet” on the Saturday before we left. In between visits we enjoyed the beauty of Holland in spring, with mild weather and flowers everywhere. On two Sundays we shared about our work in Sierra Leone in churches in Ede and Utrecht. 

Enjoying a typical Dutch walk - one of Heleen's brothers lives close to the famous town of Kinderdijk where tourists come to see the many windmills.

In early June we traveled to the US. The first two weeks we were based in Atmore, and we enjoyed a very precious time with the children and grandchildren. Since our last leave, three of our children had moved to a new location and we were glad to see them all in their new homes during our leave. We also appreciated catching up with our Atmore friends and the church. After two weeks it was time to pack our bags again as we set out on a long tour, from South-Carolina to Virginia to Pennsylvania to Delaware! We were able to see Jon’s parents and many others of his family, some good friends, and we had a very valuable time at MCC’s Welcoming Place in Akron where we met with our leaders from EMM and UB Global.

With all the children and grandchildren!

With Jon's parents and Uncle Paul, who was a missionary doctor in Ethiopia for many years in Ethiopia and has been an inspiration to Jon from an early age. 

On July 2^nd we had a very smooth trip back to Sierra Leone and Mattru Jong. With our aim to leave in December we have now only about four more months left to serve at the hospital and “Nyandengoh!”

Some of you may wonder what “Nyandengoh!” means. Well, we are very happy to introduce you to a small, new initiative for the children with disabilities in Mattru Jong. As you know, Heleen has been working with these children for the past year or so. From one young boy with cerebral palsy the work grew to over 40 children with all kinds of disabilities: children with cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome, learning disabilities, children who are blind and/or deaf, etc. Children with disabilities are often feared and looked down upon in Sierra Leone. They are frequently seen as devils, and their parents, especially their mothers, are believed to have done something very bad that caused them to give birth to a disabled child. “Nyandengoh!” means “he/she/it is beautiful!” in Mende, the local language spoken here. To counteract the many negative words that are spoken out over children with disabilities and their families, we want to say to them: “You are beautiful, you are created in the image of God. He made you and He loves you, and so do we.” Heleen has been joined in this ministry by two local friends, who share the vision of “Nyandengoh!”: Sylvanus French and Esther Sopay. Sylvanus is a son of Pa French (see “Tribute to a Faithful Worker”, our blog in April). Heleen has worked with him for many years in Freetown and is glad to have him on her team again now that he has returned to his home town. Esther is the mother of a 17-year-old boy with multiple disabilities. We have written about her before in our newsletter. Every day, Sylvanus and Esther visit the children and their families with developmental/educational toys. They counsel the parents, and liaise with the schools that some of the children attend. It is a small beginning, but we are already seeing fruit on our labor, as communities are beginning to respond differently to the children with disabilities. We have some exciting plans for the coming year, and will keep you updated!

On Easter Monday in April we officially launched "Nyandengoh!"

Sylvanus and Esther standing by our "Wall of Fame"in the small office we rent at the hospital.

Jon’s work at the hospital continues with many challenges. He is the only expat worker there since our colleague Pam’s stay in Mattru came to a sudden end when she had to go home in May with some health challenges. Her term in Mattru expired while she was home and she will only return to pack up her things and hand over. We will miss her as we continue to serve without her… Some days we feel like giving up, but we pray that God will give us strength to be faithful to the end, to follow His example of sacrificial love, and to daily “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.”

Picture Blog

Today we want to share some random pictures that will give you a bit of an impression of what we have been up to the last few months!

In January, we had a visit from a medical team from the USA, which included two dentists with a dental assistant and an oral hygienist who worked long days to address the needs of the many patients who came to the hospital. Mattru had not seen a dentist for many years!

Patients waiting patiently in long lines to pay the small contribution required to see the dentist. 

Just after the team left we got the message that our ambulance driver had overturned the ambulance. The driver had only some minor injuries, but the ambulance is beyond repair, which has already created some challenging situations when we need to transfer patients...

Last year we decided to trade our 2004 Toyota 4Runner (which had major issues anytime we traveled, leaked like a sieve during rainy season and perpetually displayed over 10 warning lights) for a 2002 4Runner which has been nothing but a blessing. Due to the aforementioned accident it has already several times doubled as an ambulance!

In February we opened a small Birth Waiting House which was built with support from the Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone and furnished by the church of Dr. Dan & Elaine Metzger.

It was appropriately opened on a Friday morning, when expectant mothers come to the hospital for their check-ups.

Mothers from far-away villages who are at higher risk of a complicated delivery can spend the last few weeks before the birth of their baby in the Birth Waiting House. We are hoping that this will help decrease the still-high maternal mortality rate in the district. 

Guess what we are cooking here?! Ultrasound gel! We ran out of the usual stuff and were given a recipe using cassava starch and salt! Although a bit smelly, it works fine!

Also in February, we got a surprise visit of Ms. Audrey Fiederlein, a former missionary to Mattru! (the lady sitting on the blue couch to the left) We had a delightful time with her and the two friends she brought along.

And again, also in February, a team from Engineers without Borders built a toilet/shower facility for the Pediatrics Ward.

Well-built, with beautiful tiles - what a blessing for the patients and their parents!

In March,two of our long-time friends from Freetown, Sandra and Suzanne, came to visit! We had such a good time with them. Sandra & Suzanne are both working in the medical field and show a lot of understanding for our situation here.

Sandra & Suzanne brought along their friends Phil & Shantelle and we got introduced to the game Bonanza. We had a lot of fun with that! 

Somewhere in between activities, Heleen (together with our Matron Fatmata) made an attempt to teach our cleaners something about hospital hygiene. It brought back memories from many years ago, when Heleen used to clean the Pediatrics and Maternity wards of the local hospital over the summer break and on Saturday mornings. It remains to be seen how much the training will actually affect the cleanliness of the hospital...

In March a team of workers arrived to assist with the renovations of the Maternity ward. Here is Brad building trusses.

Nick with Tamba, our hospital maintenance man. 

The new roof was designed by Ray Proud, who came along to oversee the project. Sadly we don't have a picture of him!

Issues with the purchase of materials delayed the project and when the team left after two weeks Jon's job description was yet again expanded to include building supervision. Thankfully the Sierra Leonean contractor has been very pleasant to work with.

Today the roof was completed, which is a blessing because the rains came early this year. A LOT of work remains: building ceilings, replacing rotten, termite-infested boards, tiling, electrical wiring, painting, etc. etc. 

While the building project was going on, Heleen received another visit from the World Hope International Team that works with children with disabilities. Here our friend Anna evaluates a little boy with the help of Heleen's colleague Sylvanus.

Heleen's work with the children with disabilities is expanding and brings us much joy - just look at the faces of these children and the mother! We will soon tell you more about some exciting developments.

Heleen has handed over the Psychosocial Unit at the hospital to local staff. In March she trained three more nurses and Esther, who volunteers in her work with the children with disabilities. In the picture also John, a Community Health Officer who co-leads the Unit with Mary, a nurse.

We continue our walks in the evenings and are currently enjoying exploring some of the new rice fields.

A bit more adventurous path.

As the dry season comes to an end, we enjoy the flowers blooming in the hospital compound.

Flowers welcoming us at our front door.

Our backyard is slowly beginning to show some color again...

Like this beautiful red and yellow flower!

And then we were blessed by a few visits of our favorite bird here, the majestic Great Blue Turaco! 

Another view...

We have lately been enjoying watching "BBC Life" episodes, which - although thoroughly evolutionary in approach - deepen our faith and joy in our Creator. And sometimes we get some BBC-Life-like glimpses of nature, like on Sunday morning when these little creatures hatched just outside our window by the breakfast table! They seem to be in the mantis or walking stick family. 

And lastly, here we are with Adama, one of our nurses who got married last Saturday. 

We hope you have enjoyed this picture journey. Please continue to remember us in your prayers.