From the start when people in the Yagwoia tribe trusted the Lord Jesus for salvation, Robert and Nicole Westerveld were encouraged to see how they left their former lives of darkness behind and started to live in the light of the Lord. A lady who attended the first literacy class when she was a teenager and became a believer as a young woman has been a faithful follower of the Lord since she trusted Him for salvation. Last summer she told Robert and Nicole that for some years her health was not good. During that time, she visited a village in a neighbouring tribe where the people found out about her health problem. They urged her to go and see the local shaman. She did not listen to them. However, one evening the shaman came with some other people from the village to her to do his work. She told the people she did not need this ‘help’ because she was trusting God for help. She told Robert and Nicole “God did help me. Since a while, I am back to normal again with my health.”
Robert and Nicole are always glad to hear from the believers when they are back in the Netherlands. Before Christmas they were able to talk to several believers who live at different locations.
After their return from Papua New Guinea at the end of the summer, Robert read the books that they checked once more and now those books are ready for printing. They will print booklets containing Genesis, Esther, Daniel and Jonah. Robert has also started recording Esther, Daniel and Jonah for the audio Bibles. He also finished the back to English translation of the translated chapters of Exodus. Now he is working on the remaining chapters of Exodus in preparation for their next visit to the tribe.
Robert is also doing a final check of the 68 phase one lessons (teaching from Creation up to and including the death and resurrection of Christ) for the Iqwaye and Gwase dialects so they can have those printed too.
They are thankful that both Elianne and Amos have received permanent work contracts. They also have some good contacts with young adults in a church they attend in Amsterdam. Jorim is halfway through his secondary school education.