 Later a benefactor enabled him to pursue his theological studies at the College of Haaren which he entered on 4 October 1837.A chance reading of the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" - a journal of reports from various missions - established his interest in the foreign missions.In 1839, impressed with Donders' zeal and passion, Bishop Jacobus Grooff accepted him for the then Dutch Suriname (now the Republic of Suriname).