A missionary is partnering with Trans World Radio (TWR) to enable the Wayana people in the jungles of Suriname to hear the gospel – 60 years after his parents first witnessed to the region.
Tom Schoen is following in the footsteps of his parents Ivan and Doris, who initially travelled to Suriname with their three children in the early 1960s. The nation is one of the smallest in South America but is very ethnically diverse.
Tom has served as a pastor in the US for 20 years and has continued to support mission work in the region. He is fluent in three Surinamese languages and he leads a radio ministry to its indigenous people.
Surinamese people are spreading out further across the jungles, sometimes even as far as the country’s border with Brazil, meaning some are no longer hearing the gospel. However, Tom’s work in partnership with TWR has helped to ensure that people can hear the gospel in their own thanks to the recent placement of two radio stations in the Surinamese jungles.
The initiative, reported by Evangelical Focus, enables the indigenous people in the jungles to listen to TWR gospel programs on radios which cost about $40 dollars each from even the remotest parts of their territory.
