Letter from the Droogendijks

Dear Family, Church Family and Friends,
We are only here for a little more than a month, but it seems much longer. Arie is studying his 10th lesson out of the 12 for the second level of the Spanish course. I thought to go only one day a week to the mission base, but have been home only a few days. They asked me to organize the patient files in the clinic, which are only now almost completed. On Fridays I have taught high school students how to do macramé. This week we were able to give a new sewing machine to a lady. She has four children and is not able to pay the school fees. The children go to school on the mission base. She is going to make 50 plastic shopping bag holders. That is her “payment” for the sewing machine. When she is finished she can make and sell things and would be able to pay the school fees. That way the mission base is making money. We try to sell the bags and will be able to continue to buy sewing machines and hand them out to either a family or church community.

The mission base is big. It has a clinic. After a patient sees a doctor or a nurse they see the pastor who talks and prays with him/her. They have a dental office. A Spanish school. At the moment about 25 students attend. They keep the classes small. The profit goes to the medical clinic. They have a high school. They also have school for younger kids. They have a bible school. Many of the students are from small villages in the mountains. They speak different languages in the mountains. Some of the students will become pastors in the mountains or other areas. They have a music school. Many young people like to attend the music school. But they are only allowed to go there after they have completed the bible school. All the students stay on the base during the week. I saw the girls dorm. It is one big room with many bunk beds. They give sewing classes three days a week. They have nine good working sewing machines and a couple that need to be repaired. Next year June they want to start with other classes. One of the farming. Only the school still needs to be build and no funds are available yet. They are building a new clinic. The foundation is finished and payed for. The building is stopped because first they need to get the money for the first floor. This is the Mexican way of building. They are getting an orphanage. An organization from The States is behind it and everything will be payed for also in the future. All the permits have been granted.

God Bless,

Arie and Jeanette