Nr..49 ended with: “After a few days we all packed into our old Buick and started on our trip West. All the while Marina and I had been and were constantly seeking the Lord as to our future missionary ministry.”

It was so good to have my parents with us; they had just had a very difficult time. I had two younger twin sisters; the one died, age 20 and was buried on my birthday on May 18. A little over a month later my parents came to Canada after having said goodbye to my father’s mother who was seriously ill and died while my parents were in Canada. It was very hard on them, but it helped to be with us. We took them all the way to the Rocky Mountains in Alberta and followed the most beautiful highway in Canada from Banff to Jasper through the awesome mountains, much of the time singing “How great Thou art!” We then drove back to Saskatchewan to be with Marina’s parents. After driving more than 6.000 km, my parents flew back to Holland from Regina, after which we drove to a farm near the border of Alberta.

A friend had a 5.000 acre farm there and had asked me to come and help him harvesting. On Sundays I preached in a church which was without a pastor. I didn’t know at the time that my friend was hoping to have us stay with him. Then on October the 26^th our third little girl was born, Rieneke Ruth Hope. Rieneke (in English Renee, but she spells it Rini) was the name of my sister who died. What a cute little bundle of hope she was. After the birth the doctor told Marina that there was something seriously wrong inside of her and that she needed an operation. She was sent home to get rested up and then to come back for the operation. But due to our moving around through difference provinces, our Ontario hospitalization would not cover the cost. What to do, we did not have the money, but we did have the Lord and unknown to us then, another miracle was in the making……! (Go to Musings)