We bring you good news, especially about Katja's pregnancy and our finances. We ask your specific prayers for Jurgen's studies which he would like to finish before our departure to Madagascar.
Work and Study
To start with the latter: in March we wrote that Jurgen had found work. All is well at work. Jurgen works with colleagues from many different countries and cultural backgrounds, including African such as Somali and Ugandan. He has many interesting conversations, often about matters of faith and world-view. The work itself is physically heavy and very tiring. There are days when Jurgen literally lifts tonnes of vegetables.
Since Jurgen's work is physically demanding, he often comes home very tired. It is hard to find the time and energy to do his studies. He has 2 modules left: eschatology (on the second coming of Christ) and Hebrew. He wanted to finish in October, but we fear this will not be. Please pray over this situation.
Family News
Our family is doing fine. We have most of the preparations for the coming of the baby at the end of July. The children are most curious what it will be, a boy or a girl The girls hope for a girl and the boys hope for an addition to 'their team'. Three months ago we asked you to pray for Katja's pregnancy because the placenta was lying very low in the womb, possibly blocking the exit. At the 30 week ultrasound the gynaecologist told us a normal delivery was not to be expected since the exit was fully blocked by the placenta. We were therefore very surprised and delighted to hear at 32 weeks that the placenta was now lying 13 mm away from the exit, fine for a normal delivery! We are enormously relieved and thankful at this news.
Until the arrival of the baby Katja and the children are finishing the educational year. Apart from the normal subjects and assignments, Vanya is writing a short essay on Queen Wilhelmina who ruled Holland in the time of WW II—which she spent in London. She is also studying insects, small water creatures and dust with the microscope. Issa and Abbey are both making good progress learning to read and study early Dutch history, air resistance and tadpoles. Dani's points of study focus on listening to mum and dad and helping with chores—not easy when you are 4 years old and there is so much playing to do!
Progress towards Departure
Another reason to be thankful are our sponsors. About 52% of our monthly budget was already pledged last March. Now, after three months, we have seen an increase of 14% thus having about 68% of our monthly budget in place. With this, the date of our departure is rapidly coming closer. Thank you very much for your support and trust!
As a family we long to the big step towards Madagascar. The suitcases are ready, we have thought about the things that we need to bring and AIM even booked the guest house in Tana for us. In the meanwhile we keep on learning more and more about the culture on Madagascar. One way of doing this is to watch a series of videos about two Dutch children 'Bo en Melle in Madagaskar.' Together with there parents they first lived for 6 months on Madagascar and returned later for a longer period. It is a Dutch spoken series but if you are bold enough you can watch it on our website:
http://jurgenenkatja.nl/?p=89&lang=nl.
This is it for now. We hope to bring you some more baby news in about two months. Possibly we can also be more specific about our departure by that time. We are still looking for new supporters. We would like to ask you to think it over (if you are not yet sponsoring us). With your support and that of others it becomes possible to reach the un-reached on Madagascar with the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ!
