...Tidings of Comfort and Joy

This is Karen, sporting her new necklace which was given to her by this lady. We were walking through this settlement by Kamkumung church 'trying' to talk to the people and meet them. Karen also was given a bilum (a large purse) by another lady in the Bumbu settlement. As you can see she is such a beautiful princess!

Hi everyone, we hope that you are having a great Christmas season! I cannot believe it is dec 22 already. We are dreaming of a white Christmas, but its only a dream. However, we are not complaining at all, we are quite enjoying the incredible blessing of being here in PNG. The weather is quite beautiful again today, very hot, and once and awhile we get a nice, cool breeze coming in. I am trying not to burn myself again, as it only takes a few minutes in the sun.
Karen and I wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone, and the LORD's blessings during this Christmas period as we look to wrapping up 2006. To all our friends and family back home, our friends and family around the world, including those in Haiti, are soon to be new home - Merry Christmas!

On Thursday Karen and I, the Wildeboer's, and the Vanderheide's, went and helped out at the VBS at Kamkumung Church. It was much the same program as the other church, just all different children. It was a lot of fun. There were about 40 children who came out and participated.
In the afternoon, Ian and I went to the hospital to visit one of the church members who was recovering from TB. Ian took the opportunity to share a message, not just with him, but the whole hospital ward. Every opportunity you get, you share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ!

Today, we had VBS again, which was a lot of fun. We sang, and coloured with them, and played some games, and the story of the wise men who saw the new star and came and looked for Jesus Christ, the new King. This afternoon we did some shopping, driving around, and now we are preparing to have a dinner at the SIL compound, to see if our dog kennel is still standing.
Since we usually go to a hospital and old age home on Christmas day back home, we decided to do that here as well. So on Sunday afternoon, we are going to the hospital to do some carroling, and Ian is going to present the Christmas story and do a talk for them, so that should be exciting. We hope that will be a blessing to the people, to encourage them, and to tell them of God's love for them. And we also look forward to Christmas day, celebrating with the church - we are having a combined service - the two congregations, and quite a few visitors. A time to worship our Saviour.

Ian is also trying to get me in shape. We are running the track near his house - well, he is running and I am trying to catch up. And we are also doing a lot of swimming. So, hopefully i will be in shape soon.

One of the things I am really enjoying is just talking to Ian and Nadia, and Andrew and Natalie about mission strategies and how to live out the gospel in another culture, especially in a poorer one, with all the implications that go with it. How do we best love our brothers and sisters here and all the people around us? This trip has been so challenging in that regard. Discovering culture, and how the gospel is embodied and contextualized in each culture. There requires a lot of humility in all of the work because there is so much to learn. That's why the confession is always, Unless the LORD builds the house, the labourers build in vain! In the LORD's strength the work must be done, seeking always to Praise and glorify Him!

Well, i have to be off now. I was hoping to download a whole pile of pictures but it takes so long, and half the time it doesn't work. So i will have to try again later.
God's blessings to all of you. May you find in Him your treasure, and may this season of Christmas be one of peace and joy.

Blessed Christmas - Randy and Karen

It was the sixth day of before Christmas and ...

Well, we are having a great week this week so far, filled with many exciting opportunities and blessing from our LORD!
Monday and Tuesday morning we were able to help out at VBS at the Tent City church. It is a nice opportunity having the children's school break at Christmas time because they are all thinking about Christmas, and so it makes sense to have VBS then (at least it does to me). Anyway, there was about 35 children who attended each day, and we had a lot of fun. The Christmas story, singing, prayer, and making a craft filled our time. It's a beautiful thing to see the children so excited about everything. They loved the colouring and cutting out of the characters in the Bible story.
On Monday afternoon, Karen and I worked on our dog kennel. We finished it off, putting on the cage, and the roofing. And voila there was the kennel! It was such a nice project to do, and we are so thankful because it turned out not half bad.
On Tuesday afternoon we ventured out looking for a crocodile pond that Ian and Andrew had heard was near the city. So we went looking for it hoping to see one or two crocs. Well, we found the operation. It wasn't just a pond but a whole crocodile business, the 3rd largest in the world. The manager, after informing us that it was not a tourist spot but a business, gracefully gave us a tour guide and we got a tour of the operation. They have about 30- 40 thousand crocodiles on site, from eggs to full size crocs. It was quite a site to see. That afternoon we also checked out the Swiss Mission, which includes a store with fresh milk, eggs, etc, and also a Christian book store.
Wednesday, this morning we had a nice morning, as it was raining so our plans were pushed back till the afternoon. In the afternoon we had an amazing opportunity to go to a settlement, Bumbu, where Ian and Andrew are planning to do a church plant. We walked through this settlement and met a lot of the people and spent time getting to know some of them. One of the guards from the compound where Ian and Nad live, live in this settlement, and he showed us his house. Underneath his house, as the house is on stilts, he has a pet crocodile which he caught in the river. He has been raising it for 2 years now, and hopes to sell it for some nice cash when it gets bigger. That was pretty neat to see. He doesn't have to worry too much about someone stealing it at least. Karen and I also tried our hand at playing marbles with a lot of the children. We were not that good at it, to say the least. It was a very interesting afternoon, as we also sat down, and discussed a plan for outreach in that area. We rejoice in seeing the excitement in the settlement already about the possibility of having a Reformed church there. Seeing the Good News go out is amazing, and just being able to share God's love with people is such a gift. We are so thankful for the opportunity. Please keep this in your prayers.
Tomorrow and Friday we look forward to doing VBS in Kamkumung, the other church they work at. We are anticipating a lot more children, with the same amazing message of Christ. I think we are also going to walk through the settlement there and let people know of the programs and of the church service on Christmas day. We prayerfully look forward to it.
Well, we are learning lots, having a great time with our friends here, having some great talks, playing some interesting Settlers games, and are enjoying the weather the sun, rain, heat and everything else. And we are growing in our faith and our passion for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are seeing all around us the need to share the love of God with everyone, to preach the Good News, and to delve into the Word of God, sharpen our swords, and spend time with HIM, our All in All!
...I have to run now, but i hope to write more a little later. God bless!

I'm Dreaming of a white Christmas...

Hi everyone. Well, its bin awhile since we have had a chance to catch up with our blog. We had a great time in New Zealand, and now we are in Papua New Guini.
We left New Zealand on Monday morning, and flew to Sydney where we spent the day touring around. We took a ferry through the port to a beach, explored around the Opera house, and rested. On Tuesday morning we flew to Cairns, then to Port Morsby and then to Lae, where Ian and Nadia Wildeboer picked us up from the Airport. This begins our adventure in Lae, Papua New Guini!
Andrew and Natalie Vanderheide live in the same compound as the Wildeboers so we have seen them lots as well. On Tuesday night we just hung out with everyone, caught up, and opened presents.
On Wednesday we had an opportunity to walk through a village near one the Reformed churches with Rev.Andrew. This is an area where they are doing a VBS program next week. So as we walked through we stopped and talked to a lot of people, who helped us learn a little Pidgeon (spelling?). It was a very nice walk which right away introduced us to the way of life in this country.
On Thursday Karen and I began our building project at S.I.L (Summer Institute of Linguistics)(Wycliffe) visitors house. This is a beautiful compound that houses visiting missionaries and workers. They asked us to build them a dog kennel, which would house the visitors' dogs when they came. So, thats what we did on thursday and Friday. We still have about one more days work to finish it off. That has been a fun project. On thusday night we went to a Bible study at Tent City, but the electricity was out, so it was cancelled. Just another of the variables that you have to deal with here.
Saturday was filled with odds and ends - going to the Market, more shopping, cleaning, cooking, swimming, and running, finishing off with a Settlers game in which we let Nadia win. Actually she destroyed us all.
Today we had another beautiful day. We worshipped at the Reformed church in Tent City. Rev. Ian preached on Matt 1:1, how Jesus Christ was the son of David, the son of Abraham, and the Son of God! It was a beautiful worship service. It was nice because the service was in Pidgeon but we could understand a lot, as you could pick out a lot of the words. Anyway, beautiful singing, fellowship, and it was nice to listen to Ian open the Word for us again.
This afternoon a bunch of us guys went to explore an old cave in the mountain behind the compound. We brought with us rope, flashlights, and knife, and our camera, and where ready to explore. The cave was an old japanese hide-out during the war, and most of the locals would never go in. So we decided it would be fun to try. So we went in. The cave went in about 50 metres before it was blocked off with a cave-in. So we couldn't go any further. We tried another entrance and it had the same result. But it was fun none-the-less. After that we climbed that mountain which was quite the work out- i definately need to get in shape.

Well, its kinda weird being in the hot during this Christmas time. We are definately dreaming of snow, and skating, and sipping hot chocolate by the fire place. But instead its really hot and humid. But we are not complaining. We are excited to spend Christmas with the Wildeboers and the Vanderheides. And to the Dejonge's who are doing their gift exchange today, or yesterday, i can't remember what time it is in Canada right now - but save us some food, you can take one gift out of our room, and make sure you write us a poem!

We love you all. Let us know how you are doing, and keep sending those prayer requests!
Have a most blessed Christmas Season!

A few Pics of New Zealand

Castlepoint, which is quite close to Aunt Jayne's place
Sheep, sheep and more sheep
Aunt Jayne and myself walking at castle point.

Exploring South Island

Well, Karen and I were blessed to spend a few days on the South island, exploring just a fraction of the beautiful sights. We flew into Christ Church, and stayed there for a few days, and headed out from there. Here are some highlights

• World South Pole Artic Center. We took a ride in one of those South Pole vehicles through 'South Pole like' terrain. Quite fun. I got to get me one of those vehicles (Do you mind lending me 100 thousand mom?) We also watched the penguins for awhile. Our favourite was Elvis, the blind penguin, who kept walking into rocks, and walls and getting stuck in corners. Poor guy. And we got to experience Canadian weather again, it finally felt like Christmas, as we got to spend time in the snow, and experience a simulated snow storm.
• The Wild-Life Center. THis was a beautiful zoo, but with amazing trails on an amazing property, with a tonne of animals and unique creatures. Karen saw her side of the family (the apes and monkeys) and so that was nice for her (just joking).
• Boat ride/dolophin watch. So we took a tour on a boat and got to swim with the dolphins, although we didn't actually swim, although i think Karen was tempted to throw me over-board a few times. But we did see the dolphins swimming a playing and got an amazing view of the NZ coast line, and the city of Christ Church
• Gondola ride. Took a lift to the top of a mountain. Amazing view all around. Took a nice little hike on top.
• Train Ride and Ferry Ride. We took a train back up to the Northern tip of the South island which was incredible scenery. They had an open section of the train, which you stand in, which didn't have glass or anything, so you could feel the wind, and take some nice photos (or at least attempt). Then we took a ferry across to the North island again, and a train back to Masterton. It was a very beautiful trip.

Anyway, we are back at my Aunt's again, and spent some time with the children yesterday at the school, and today we are doing all our errands and getting ready for our next venture. We get to go to a Youth Group function tonight - a dessert evening with entertainment, so we are looking forward to that. And we are also looking forward to Church tomorrow - worshipping the LORD with our brothers and sisters here. Writing this, I realize that our friends and family back home are a day behind so while we are sitting in church you will probably be playing hockey (and for the Raiders -losing hockey) or doing whatever you do on Saturday afternoon/night. And to my family, as they do their gift exchange, remember to save me a gift, and save some desserts for me (I would like another expansion to Settlers, and a piece of mom's lemon merangue pie)

God's blessings everyone.May His joy and His peace rule your hearts and minds.

Cheers

Cruising with Aunt Jayne!

This weekend we spent an amazing time vacationing with Aunt Jayne. We drove up the West Coast towards Napier then across towards Taupo and then up just a bit more to the Waitomo caves and then back down all the way to little Masterton. The sights we saw were absolutely incredible!! God is so awesome! In Napier we saw a beautiful ocean and then driving from Napier to Taupo Randy and I got to try our hand at a little hole-in-one golf competition where the holes were floating in the ocean and you had to try to get it in. We didn't do so bad for the golf pros that we are... , we both had at least one good shot out of five. Once in Taupo we see tons of mud holes. They were so interesting, just a field of little smoke bombs going off it is what it looks like. They have a boardwalk going through it all and you just hear the mud sizzling, some of them you can actually see it boiling, just incredible. And then in the distance a snow peaked mountain. It looked unreal, like somebody had just pasted it on. After Taupo we went to the Hidden Valley were we saw more amazing sights. We took a ferry across a little lake and then got to experience a Diamond Geyser, a lookout, the Golden Fleece Terrace, Artist's Palette Lookout, more mud pools, Ruatapu Cave, Elephant Rock, Rainbow and Cascasde Terrace, Soda Fountain and The Resort Lookout. I can't even begin to describe the beauty we saw, the colours were amazing! We have some good pictures, they don't do half the justice but it will have to suffice, when we get a chance we will upload some. Our last stop was the Waitomo Caves, they were incredible! Randy and I took a guided tube tour through the caves where we got to walk through the caves, jump down waterfalls, float along in the pitch black and just marvel at all the glowworms and just enjoy the magnificence of the cave, it was unreal! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of it, it's all just in our memory but we do have some good pics of how good we looked in our lovely wetsuits :) It's was a great time with Aunt Jayne, we got to spend lots of time together, see tons of amazing sights, see sheep, sheep, and more sheep, and just enjoy the beauty of New Zealand. It was awesome! What an amazing picture of the beauty of God's creation, just unreal how He created everything and formed it. Praise be to God!

New Zealand...here we come!

Well, we started our adventure to New Zealand on Saturday as we departed Santo Domingo, in the DR. We were a little worried checking in at the airport because they couldn't figure out our tickets and they kept calling more helpers over to figure it out. Because we couldn't understand them, and they just kept checking their computers and asking their supervisors, I thought for sure that they didn't have us booked. But a few minutes later they figured it all out, and voila, we were able to get all our tickets. So we flew out at around 7 am and after a 5 hour flight we landed in New York, and a few hours later we took off and landed in L.A., 5 hours later. After a few hours again we took off for New Zealand. By this time it was Saturday night, and we had a 12 hour flight ahead of us. Thankfully the plane was not full and we could stretch out a little and take up a few more seats. Of all the days to skip in your week, we had to skip Sunday. It was basically non-existent for us. We took off on Saturday, skipped Sunday, and landed on Monday. That was pretty weird for me. Anyway, the view flying into New Zealand was amazing. We landed in Auckland, and then flew to Wellington. This was a beautiful flight too, as we got to fly over the North Island. And that is where we met my Aunt Jayne Penninga, who picked us up from the Airport and brought us to her home in Masterton.
Monday afternoon we slept the whole time trying to catch up on our sleep, and at night we just hung out with my Aunt and caught up with her a little. We met her friend, Dicky, who came over as well.
My Aunt lives at the Christian school where she teaches. The old and beautiful building houses the Reformed Church, the school, and my Aunt. So we got to meet all the students right away, as they all knew we were coming.
On Tuesday morning I got up early and went driving. I was so excited to drive on the other side of the road, but I wanted to practice while the roads were still empty. So I drove around and checked out the area, and practiced my driving.
Later in the day, Karen and I went up town and figured out our money situation, and worked on booking our flights to Indonesia and Papua New Guini. We did a little shopping and when my Aunt Jayne was done teaching for the day, we drove to the East Coast - CastlePoint. We walked along the beach and hiked up to the old lighthouse on the Pininsula. It was quite a beautiful drive and a nice walk. It is so windy on the coast. We found a lot of jelly fish that were washed up on the shore, which were pretty interesting.
Wednesday - In the morning we had the beautiful opportunity to talk to the school about mission work, and about the experiences we had, and the work that we hoped to do. It was a nice opportunity as we were able to challenge them to walk with the LORD and of the importance of telling others about Jesus Christ. They were pretty excited about the work that we get to do in Haiti, as we are as well. It reminded me a lot of Campfire again - challenging and encouraging children in their walk with the LORD!
After that we took my aunt's car and drove North and then to the West Coast. We checked out the city of Palmerston North, and went to the Rugby museum. They didn't have my picture on the wall, of my year of Rugby in highschool, so i think i will mail them one later, so they can add it to their gallary. New Zealand is rugby crazy. I hope they have this sport in Haiti.
We got to visit a lot of beaches on the West Coast, which were interesting, and then we drove down the coast, a beautiful highway right on the ocean.
Wednesday- today, our plan was to take the train into Wellington, through the countryside and spend the day there. However, we missed our train this morning, so instead we are doing things around Masterton today, and then, maybe if the rain stops, we are going hiking at one of the parks nearby. The children are performing their plays this afternoon, so hopefully we can see these as well.
Well, i hope to add pictures soon, but it takes awhile to download, so we will see how many i can get up.
God's blessings to you all. Please comment if you would like, and pass on your prayer requests!

World Wide Christian Schools - Dominican Republic

Well, our time in the Dominican came to a close. We were very blessed to live with the Bartels for the last 3 weeks, and to witness their life and work there. It has shown to us again the importance of Christian education, and how much of a blessing it is. The work that they are involved in is beautiful work - assisting christian schools in providing buildings, repairing, curriculum development, and the like. While we were here, we got to visit 3 schools, and got to see they were progressing over the last number of years and growing. And we also were able to learn about the hardships there is in bringing your family over to another country, and the many blessings of it as well. We were blessed so much with our time with Paul and Leslie and family and learned a lot from them (Leslie alone gave us 7,863 tips on how to surive and thrive in another country). We want to encourage you to pray for them and the work that they are doing. Pray that God would continue to bless their efforts, and make them a blessing for so many others. And in the next little while is going to be their busy season (when is it not), as they are planning for all the work teams to come, and then it is really busy as a lot of work teams are coming (Praise the LORD!), so pray that they can accomplish all the building work that is planned. And if you are able to support them financially in the work that they are doing, this would be a huge blessing as they continue the work! And pray for World Wide C.S. as well, everyone behind the scenes, and the workers in other countries too.
W.W.C.S - God bless you in your ministry and may He continue to lead your organization and open up doors and opportunities for you to serve and support Christians in other countries.

Well, our time came for our departure and so we left on Saturday morning, and began our journey to New Zealand.

Joy

I've been reading through 1 Thessalonians the last couple of mornings and some verses that have really stuck in my head are:
"... your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." vs 3
What a amazing statement of how we are to live our lives. And another verse that I loved while I read it is vs 6 "... you welcomed the message with the JOY given by the Holy Spirit." What a cool word the word JOY, I LOVE it. God has been so good, while reading these verses and praying about different issues the Lord has shown his faithfulness to me by constantly reminding me of these things. First of all our blog name is The JOY of the Lord is our strength, one of the fist texts that popped in my head when we were thinking of a name, and then I bought a prayer journal right before we left and when we arrived in the DR and I opened it up the first page has Nehemiah 8:10 written right on it "The JOY of the Lord is our strength" Then on Wednesday I attended Leslie's Bible study with her, what a blessing that was! But there again talking about having the joy of the Lord in our hearts and how we are not to lose that joy. It's just so awesome when you are learning something how the Lord keeps putting it on your path. Back to the Bible study though, it was such a blessing to be with a group of ladies studying the word, worshipping with them and being encouraged and inspired by them. My HUGE prayer request is that I may find something like it in Haiti. It came at the perfect time as well, I was just starting to really miss "my girls" and our Bible study, I still do miss it but I am glad for the blessing that the Lord gave me.
The rest of the week has been good. Randy and I finished our Creole lessons yesterday (Friday) our plan is to study on our own next week and ask Guido, a man who works at the ministry center who speaks Creole, to give us a hand with it. We've also been busy with just helping around the house, doing some visiting, celebrating Taylor's birthday with her-it's her birthday tomorrow so she had a sleepover last night and we got to go to the 'Fiesta' today, which is the pool. We've also been keeping busy at nights with our Settlers games, I think we've got Paul and Les hooked on the game.
We saw an electrical fire this morning, this neighbour across the roads electrical box blew so his wires were on fire, it was a bit loud, kinda interesting. The fire truck showed up a little late, maybe about 45 minutes or so after the fire went out.
And one other note, just to make my mom proud. We were at Max and Kina VanTil's house the other night for dinner and a team from Acton came over for coffee and we were introducing ourselves and the lady asked what my maiden name was. So I explained to her that I was a deJonge, her name was pronounced the same but spelled different and then she asked what my mother's maiden name was and I said Scholtens and she says Oh, is that the Scholtens who owned the candy business. It's a small, small world!
Thanks for all of your comments on the blog and for the emails, it's so good to hear from home and to long-distancy connected with all of our loved ones.
Prayer requests:
Thankfulness for the Bartels family, for Taylor who is turning 9 tomorrow and for their amazing hospitality and their love for us. And for their ministry, working with the schools and different organizations and for Les' homeschooling.
Thankfulness that my finger has healed.. WOOHOO! I've got no more electrical tape and popsicle sticks on it anymore and I can bend it!! I think I'm going to have a good scar but it will be a good reminder of our time in the DR.
Thankfulness for each and every one of you who loves us and are praying for us. Thank you SO much!
May the Lord fill your heart with joy!

Kodak moments

I am trying to post some pictures over the last few days. Wasn't able to last night, trying again.

Leslie giving Isaiah a new look!

This is what Paul does during his days here. Besides sewing, he loves to knit, take ballet, and reupholster. But don't tell anyone, he is a little shy about it all. This is Karen putting in window shutters. A woman of many talents! (notice the finger)

Putting in more window shutters

THis was last friday, when we got the container to the ministry center. We had to lift up all the electrical wires on the road to the ministry center so that the transport truck could get through. I thought for sure I was going to get zapped,but thankfully nope.

Come Thirsty

"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37,38

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Rev 22: 17

Right now I am working through 'Come thirsty', by Max Lucado. It is encouraging me to drink deeply of Christ everyday and to find in Him refreshment and nourishment for my soul. These are beautiful verses that urge me to come to Christ, as only He can bring me life, and satisfy my thirsty soul. What is so neat about the John 7 text is that this was at the end of the Feast of Tabernacle, where the priests would encircle the alter 7 times while pouring out water, symolizing and remembering the water coming from rock in the desert. It is here that Jesus shouts, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Are you sick of trying to find other things to satisfy your hungery and thirsty soul? I encourage you all to go to Christ this day to have your thirst quenched! What an amazing gift!

Monday: Karen and I began our Creole lessons. We went for about 3 hours. And then after that I sat down with Guido, and continued learning for a while. It is quite enjoyable. We learned how to conjugate verbs in the present, past and future tenses. Wow, it sure brings back French classes.
And the rest of the day we just hung out with the Bartels. Now, that was hard work:)

Tuesday: that's today, just in case anyone is confused. We went with a van full to a town called Sabana Grande de Boya, to a christian school there, and installed window shutters on

the new addition to the school they put up. The town is about 1.5 hours away from the capital, but the roads are

a lot better than 10 years ago, when i was last there, that's for sure. So, today was a good hard days work - very enjoyable, even more so because the air is cooler in that town. Well, that's all for now.

Have a blessed day. Randy

Learning in Serving

Well, finally Karen let me have a go at this blogging thing, so here i go updating the many blessings that we have had for the last 3 days.

Friday - well, the morning we had a wonderful time preparing for class for the girls which is starting on monday. We just helped Les get some things together so she could be ready - so i got to put my grade 4 education into great use. (my parents would be so proud). Anyway, in the
afternoon Paul and I went to the ports to try and get the container released. There was a container full of desks, chairs, tables, and black and white boards, donated from a school in Ontario. Well, after a few hours of waiting and walking from Building A to Building B, back to A, repeat that a few times, and the container was released. The fun really began when the truck driver was dropping the container off at the ministry center. All the electrical wires were too low on the road leading to the center so we had to hold them up with make-shift wire-holder uppers, all the way all the road. And then we unloaded the whole thing. A room full of desks and chairs, etc! I am sure this will be a blessing to many schools.

Saturday- well, we all pitched in a were giving a spring (?) cleaning to Paul and Les's house, and that filled our day.
And at night i schooled them all in Settler's, meaning i destroyed, utterly destroyed. but i won't rub it in.

Sunday - today we had a very nice day as well. We had a beautiful church service. The service was in Spanish, but there was a translater, so that was such a blessing. We learned about Wisdom - heavenly answers to earthly problems. We were challenged, encouraged, sharpened, and were able to spend time just worshipping our Awesome LORD and Saviour! The rest of the day we relaxed and read, and Karen slept, for she was feeling a little sick. Right now she is 'talking' to her parents (why, i guess they are mine too) and feeling a little bit better. Her finger is healing but it will probably take another week before she will be able to move it again.

We have had many blessings and have been enjoying living with the Bartels. They are a little crazy, (just joking) but nothing compared to us, so it works well. We have an exciting week ahead, as we get to language train, move all the desks around to the schools, and who knows what.
Prayer requests:
That my wife feels better, and that her finger heals
For safety
That we can continue serving and be used as much as possible while we are here
That our language training may be a blessing and that we can do well with Creole

And for Nicole Sikkema (nee Aasman) who we just heard was in a serious car accident. Our prayers go out to her and her family.

Well, everyone, hope you are all doing well. Drop us a comment and let us know how you are doing so we can pray for you. May the joy of the LORD be your strength again for this week!
In Him

electrical tape...what a blessing

three days into our time in the dr and i've had my first accident, hence the no caps and that this is going to take me forever to type. i was playing playstation with randy this aft as the kids were getting ready to go to the pool (yes it's a tough life here) and as we were playing somebody needed to get by so i lifted up my controller and put my arms in the air and got my one finger a little sliced by the ceiling fan. we didn't go to get stitches for it, les thinks we need to b/c according to her my guts are coming out. we'll see how it is tomorrow, it is very painful though. i bent it once tonight... not a good idea it was throbbing forever. so now i have a nice little piece of gauze on my finger with electrical tape keeping it on as well as all the way up my finger so i don't bend it. well i've been typing for about ten minutes now :( now i know how my dad feels when he has to send an email, it's a big chore (sorry dad!) randy and i have been busy helping les get ready for school, going swimming, playing with the kids, fixing things-the other day randy "fixed" the handle in the bathroom, he was working on it for three hours and it still doesn't work properly, poor guy! tonight we visited max and kina, good friends of paul and les who i believe work for crwrc. what an encouragement and inspiration they are. they are the type of people that you just walk into the room and you feel the love. it was nice to have a little pizza party and visit with them for a bit. well that's been the extent of it, this has taken forever yo type and my finger is throbbing. thanks for the email and comments we love hearing from you guys. i'm still waiting to hear if my sis arrived safely in haiti... anybody got an info for me?
good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Safe at "home" in the DR

Well we're here, we have arrived safely in the Republica Dominicana, (Our home for the next three weeks) along with Paul and Leslie Bartels and family who landed just an hour before us. The weather here... not too bad, not as hot as it's been before, bearable, which is good. We spent the day helping Paul and Leslie get settled back into their home, cleaning and fixing things etc. As well as playing with the kids and grocery shopping. We are staying right at Paul and Les' which is great, it's an active household and we love each and every one of them, the dog a little less but he's growing on us.
Some prayer requests:
The Bartels family who is settling back into life here
The deBruin family-friends of ours from the missionprep course who along with their three children flew to Bolivia yesterday to work their for three years.
Our Creole, we are hoping to get a tutor in the next couple of days
That we don't get sick!
and thankfulness for a safe flight and a good first day.

Numero uno entro

Well here it goes, our first attempt at a blog entry!
Tonight we had a prayer evening with family and friends. Thanks to all who showed up and encouraged us with their prayers, their hugs and their support. The Lord has placed wonderful people in our lives and we are SO thankful for each and every one of you. Prayer is an amazing gift from the Lord. Continue to pray without ceasing for one another!