Dear partners,

At the time of writing, the doors are open, the laundry is hanging outside and we are enjoying lovely summer weather! At moments like this I enjoy the fact that we live in the Netherlands again. The weather in Scotland was always a lot colder in the summer months than in the Netherlands. I enjoy the sun and being outside. We have been busy in the garden lately, so we now have a lawn in the back of the garden. The children can play outside and that is beautiful to see!

The children are doing well. Joshua and Hannah are both doing very well in school and enjoy it. Hannah is back in swimming lessons, because her Scottish swimming diplomas are not valid here. Hopefully she will receive her A diploma around the summer holidays. Joshua is on football, which he enjoys. Norah is also doing well, she is happy, healthy and we enjoy her immensely.

I enjoy working at the Terwille charity. I was able to sign my permanent contract last month, a luxury position in these times! I am grateful for this opportunity. My work consists of 2 parts. I work 8 hours of my time as a therapist in the addiction branch of Terwille. The remaining 16 hours of my contract I can work within Time2Connect, a team that focuses on outreach in sex trafficking. Tough, but a mission for which I feel passion and compassion. The combination is nice! Partly because I can do both from a Christian vision and can therefore pray with my colleagues. A nice addition to our personal mission!

Alko is very busy at the moment. And actually too busy. The healthcare job at Cosis as temporary financial support requires a lot. The work for Afterbeat continues non-stop, so it’s really a double job what he’s working at the moment. We have talked about this and prayed for it. We believe that God always gives enough and in confidence we have decided that Alko will stop at the healthcare job, in order to create more space for the family and for Afterbeat.

We are also still very grateful for our home. It is in poor condition, so there is still a lot of work to be done. But the house potentially has everything we’ve ever dreamed of. That is why we realize all the more that God has given this. We hope to be able to make an appointment with the notary within the next two weeks to get the house registered. Then we can move on. We are dependent on a construction mortgage for the further renovation, so we hope to be able to continue with the renovation once this is complete. Step-by-step!

Thank you for all your prayers for our mission and family. 

Kind regards & God bless,

Miriam Stoel