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!