"Home Sweet Home"

Well we have arrived safely back into Port-au-Prince. We had a very enjoyable month in Canada, lots of visiting and catching up with family and friends which we really enjoyed. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers we truly appreciate it all. We also realized while we were in Canada that quite a few people do check our blog.... so we are going to try to update a little more often to stay better connected.

Since we've been back it's been busy. We have some guests who flew in the day after us from Abbotsford B.C. As we get to talking we realize that we have some close ties with them. One of them had my mom in their wedding party as a bridesmaid! And the other one went on a mission trip to Mexico with my brother in 2000, what a small world we live in! so we have been introducing these men to Haiti we of course made our first stop at Epi d'or, had to get some good "Haitian" food in them after a long flight from Seattle :) Nothing like a burger and fries! And then Randy took them to Coram deo and introduced them to Karen B and the gang their. Today we started off the day with Karen picking up a 53 year women, who had had a stroke on Sunday, and brought her to the General hospital downtown. It was a crazy drive to the hospital... lots of little marketplaces to go through as well as lots of traffic. After we got back to Coram Deo we met up with Pastor Hopp and his wife and their three children, yup you guessed it we met them at Epi d'or as well. Pastor Hopp and his family just moved here at the end of June and are missionaries from the OPC church. What a blessing to have met their family. Randy and I are really looking forward to getting to know them better, their oldest son already invited me to his birthday party next week and informed me that I could bring Randy along as well and that I didn't even need to bring a present. They are such sweet children.

It's been really good to be back, it's wasn't easy to leave family and friends again but we know that God has work for us here in Haiti. It was such a blessing though to have been able to come home after being away for only three months. God has been been and continues to be so good to us!

7 weeks and counting

I think it has been two weeks since our last post, so i will have to get the old brain working to think back that far....lets see...i think i will do this in bullet form to make sure i don't ramble, like now,

• Well we had some visitors come two weeks ago, and they stayed for a week - two board members: Ed Gringhuis, and Grant Kottelenberg, and they brought with them 2 people, Ed's daughter Gwen, and Grant's brother in law, Joel Groen. So anyway, we had a week of planning, problem solving, and general work around the house.
• Joel did most of the projects around the house including putting a roof on the shower and a storage area, as well as build a lid for the garbage bin, and fix the roof of the outside washroom, as well as fix up some school benches.
• We went up the mountain on Saturday and visited the Haiti Baptist Mission. It has a small zoo, a museum, a park, and simply room to walk in nice cool air.
• On that Sunday, we had a special children's day at our church. They allowed me and Karen to help lead the singing, and also allowed me to tell a Bible story. That was a lot of fun. We had it outside under some trees. It reminded me of camp so much, which was really nice.
• We have been in the works of buying a vehicle. The paper work is in.....we are just waiting patiently for it all to go through. Meanwhile, our Super-Trooper is working quite well - i am getting quite attached to it - its got a lot of character and it will be hard to park once we get our new vehicle (although i am quite sure that my wife and any passengers we have in the car will be quite ecstatic about the new vehicle, because it is a whole different story when you are sitting in the back or even beside me)
• we are still language training. I am almost fluent, ....almost, well, okay maybe not almost, but we are making some headway.
• My wife and I moved out of Coram Deo when the board was here, and moved into the guest house that they were staying in, which is right beside Notre Maison. We basically just needed some more space and time to ourselves. It has been a real blessing living at the guest house. We meet some very intersting people who have come to serve here in Haiti. We also love the quiet time we get at nights - just to process things, and get some down time.
• we have both been quite healthy in our time here. We both had been sick about two days in the last week - our bodies were beginning to shut down, so we have been trying to take it a little slower this past week to make sure we don't get more sick.

So God has been very good to us. He is blessing us immensely and giving us all that we need. He has brought us to our knees so many times, through struggles and hard times, but that is good, because it draws us to Him. We are learning lots, and being challenged lots as well.

Anyway, that is a very quick update on our life here. I will try to find some pictures to include in this because pictures are nice. Also happy birthday to my nephew, Curtis, to my brother Scott, and to my brother-in-law (in kreol -bofre, just in case you wanted to know) Ryan, and to my mom (on Sunday). Happy Birthday! And everyone, have a blessed May! May the Lord be ever near to you and give you His peace, as you trust in Him and live for Him!

a few ramblings....

Once again we have to apologize for not being very consistent with our blog, it's always on our "to-do" list but it usually never gets done ... so since it's Sunday evening and it's only 7 and we still have electricity, which is a pretty amazing thing, I'd thought I'd do a little update.
First I'd better start off with Natalie, we tried to put a prayer request on for her about a week ago but as soon as I was done typing it the internet disconnected and I lost it then the next time I tried to put an update on about it we lost electricity when I was half way through... so once again I lost it... anyway that's not the important part. We would like you to remember in your prayers Andrew and Natalie Vanderheide and their three girls, Kirilee, Shiana and Ashlyn. Andrew and Nat and family are missionaries in PNG and work alongside Ian and Nad, currently they are on the other side of the island finishing up there three month training course. Just as the course was finishing Natalie got quite sick and soon found out that she had malaria, Her temperature was sky high and she had the chills and other symptoms of malaria. This past week she has been up and down but malaria can be really hard on your body. They were supposed to head home on Monday but due to car trouble and Nat being sick as far as we have been updated they are still in Madang. Please pray for strength for the famiy and especially healing for Nat and just a smooth ride home as it is a five hour drive and the roads aren't exactly smooth.
There was also a little boy that Coram Deo helped this past week that we ask you to pray for as well. His name is Angelo and I believe that he is six years old and Karen helped him to get his paperwork and arrange his flights so he could go to Ohio to get a brain tumour operated on. Unfortunatly on his way from Miami to Washington he stopped breathing and the flight had to make an emergence stopover in South Carolina. At the hospital there they put a shunt in to relieve the pressure in the brain and air ambulanced him over to Ohio. He is now with his host family in Ohio and preparing for his surgery tomorrow, the tumor is a big tumour and has caused a little bit of brain damage they believe. The child is an inspiration though, he wasnt' scared at all to leave Haiti, he told his mom that he was going to the states to get his head fixed and then he would be back. The night before he left he offered to pray and recited Psalm 23 off by heart. And when he awoke in Carolina he was a bit upset and told the nursing staff there that if they didn't fly him home he was going to walk home because he wanted to see his mother. Please pray for healing for him and also pray for his mother who is left behind in Haiti.
Things have been going well here, it's hard to believe it's been five weeks already! We caught the sourit (mouse) in our room so that was a happy day, I'm not sure if I can post pictures of dead mice or if the mice rights people will come after me.... but so far so good in our room, I haven't seen any other evidence of our nasty neighbours!
Randy and I went away for the weekend, we had a little getaway to Global Outreach which is about an hour out of Port-au-Prince in the province, the people that work there go to our church, the place is an oasis in the desert, a beautiful piece of property with some beautiful views of Haiti and some lovely quiet time for Randy and I. The room we stayed in even had air conditioning which is a beautiful luxury!
Well I'm starting to get scared that the electricity is going to go off soon so I think I will just quickly blabber off a bit more information, hopefully this all makes sense... our creole learning is coming along slowly, I think we know more than we let on, usually when I am finished trying to explain myself in English I realize that I knew every one of the words in Creole and I should have spoken creole, the problem is english is So much easier and a lot of people here speak it... but Randy and I both realize that we need to work on that. Randy has started doing Bible study with the guys on Sunday night, in English for now, they really enjoy the time and they have a lot of good questions. It's really encouraging to see! We've also heard recently that a misionary from the OPC church is coming to Haiti, they are visiting at the end of April beginning of May so we hope to meet them to, we're pretty excited about that. As well, we get to have a few more Canadians on the property this week, Ed Gringhuis and Grant Kottelenberg and Joel.... can't remember his last name and Ed's daughter Gwen are all coming down on Tuesday and staying for the week, we're excited about that, we've got lots of work lined up for them... wouldn't want them to get bored. And one more interesting tidbit I found out this week that it's rude to whistle in front of Haitians especially if an older Haitian is in the room... hope I haven't offended too many people... I am a part Scholtens and Scholtens just naturally whistle, I have to work on that one.
Well I think that that is enough of my ramblings, I've got butterflies in my stomach i'm so nervous that I am going to lose this due to the electricity! We pray that you are all doing well, we love you all and miss you all and we were singing amazing love this afternoon and a line really struck me "in all I do I honour you", what a confession to make, I pray that the Lord gives all of us the strength to honour him in everything that we do, may his name be glorified and praised in everything that He has planned for us this week!

Haitian friends

The kids on their "way" to Canada! Unfortunately the flight was delayed so they are still here :)

Celebrating Sammy's 18th birthday at Epi d'or as well as Yolgens 7th birthday

From left to right: Reginald, Jackob, Yolgens, Manu, Benson

Will you Marry me? Ysmaille proposing to Chantal

A smidgen of Port-au-Prince










Anybody want to take on KD man aka Benson?

Some pics

Here is me before my wife cut my hair. This was her first time trying to cut hair.....










This is my hair after my wife cut my hair. Besides a few shorter areas, she acually didn't do to bad of a job...just had to wear my hat a few days.













Serving food at the hospital. We go everyday for breakfast and supper and feed the mothers and babies who had the hydrocephalus surgeries.


Here is Sammy and Reginald helping me fix a table

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Here we are trying to fix the printers that the mice made a mess of. This one actually has a mouse caught in it, and we are trying to get it out. Fun! Celo, the dog is standing near-by waiting to get a piece of the action.

Blessed Easter!

Well, so I’m not really so good at keeping this blog thing up to date, sorry about that. But here it goes. We have been here 3 weeks now, the time is flying. So, where did I leave off...
Last Sunday night we went to an engagement party of our dear friend Ysmaille. We had no idea what we were going to. We thought we were being invited over for supper. It turns out it was an engagement ceremony, which is kind of a big thing here. It is an official ceremony, and the person proposes right there and then witnesses sign a form and such. Wow, it was quite the evening. We were way underdressed to say the least for the occasion as Haitians usually dress-up very nice, but on occasions such as this they dress to the hilt. Anyway, it was one of those learning experiences.

On Monday morning as we were going to the hospital we got stuck in a traffic jam. It turns out it was a ‘Walk for Christ’, actually entitled in Haitian, “Haiti for Christ” walk. There were about 10 thousand Christians walking down the main road. Since we weren’t moving anywhere for a long time we joined in. It was quite amazing. They were singing hymns as they walked and also just cheering. That is one thing about these people. They are really vocal about their beliefs and want to stand up for them.

Leading up to Easter there was quite a few Rara bands going around. These bands are mostly Voodoo believers that are celebrating the death of Jesus Christ. As Good Friday approached they were out on the streets in their bands a lot more, as this is their big day. Their temple is right across the road so we hear them quite often going late into the night. The Lord has been gracious many nights and sent rain to literally drown out the meetings. On Friday night when we were at church, a big band came up to the gate, to make as much noise as they could. This for me was a clear definition of spiritual warefare, it doesn’t get much clearer. We paused the service to pray for the people outside the gate as they were literally in the dark – they didn’t realize that Sunday was coming – the Christ conquered death and Satan. These people are so lost, they are in darkness. They need our prayers, and our witness.

We also got the old Isuzu running this past week, which is nice cuz it gives us a little more freedom to get off the property a little. My second time out with it, it first over-heated on the Main road during rush hour, and then when we fixed that problem the gear shift snapped off, leaving me to shift gears with a little piece of steel. So that was kind of exciting. But I love the machine, it does have a lot of character.

On Saturday we went to the beach which is a few hours out of the city with our friend Jenny, and a family that is working with the Christian Reformed Churches. The drive was more exciting than the beach. It was nice to drive through the country and see a little more of Haiti then just the city. I could not believe how desolate the landscape looked. What people have said about the deforestation is true. There are so little trees, and big scars where they once were. We only were on the beach for about an hour, as we spent our time checking out different places. We didn’t go swimming because there was so much junk in the water. The beach was on a resort which was actually quite nice I thought for Haiti.

On Sunday we had a sunrise service at church and a regular service. It was so nice to celebrate the resurrection of our LORD and rejoice in the life we have been given! Just meditating on Christ’s sacrifice and what He accomplished for us, just helps put life into the proper perspective again. We have been given life! Eternal life! And now, for a short time we get to tell others about this great news, and fight everyday to crucify our old nature and long to become more and more like Jesus Christ –to His honour and glory.

Anyway, on Sunday we also got to meet a few more dutch people that are here working, and a few more brothers and sisters contending for the truth. We also got to go to a games night on Sunday night and meet a few more young people who are working here in Port au Prince.
On Monday, we had a birthday party at MacEpi (Haiti’s version of McDonalds) for Sammy, who turned 18, and for Yolgens, who turned 7.

Anyway, that about brings us up to date. We are slowly learning Creole, but are not quite fluent yet, by far. But we will continue working on it, and hopefully soon the people will mistake us for being Haitian.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, and I pray that the joy of the Lord is your strength!
Randy

Just some pictures...

Karen and I at the Ligoneer conference

...well for some reason my computer won't let me post any more pics....so i will have to try later

Love your neighbour...

It says in the bible that you are to love your neighbours but we have one neighbour that I just don't think I will ever come to love... the MICE!!! They are everywhere, the sneaky little things. I see them during the day and I wake up dreaming about them at night. Last week we were going to photocopy some stuff but the photocopier wouldn't work so we opened it up and it Stank!! There was a decomposing mouse inside of it with tons of shreds of paper, it was nicely making a little nest in their before it's life ended. Then Karen asked us to take a look at her photocopier because she thought she had heard a mouse in it that morning. So we took a quick peek but didn't see anything so we turned it on but the scanner was stuck. So we thought, well maybe there is a mouse in it and Randy took it outside and opened it all up and sure enough the mouse had been squished by the rollers, his head and half of his body were on one side and the rest of him was on the other side. It was pretty disgusting! And today we had another little friendly encouter with our little friends. Behind the cupboard where all the school stuff is Sammy noticed that there was a lot of little mouse poop so he moved the cupboard away from the wall and sure enough out scampered the mother mice, all the little tiny babies were nicely sitting in the nest.... ewwww! Cello, the over friendly mutt at Coram Deo loves the mice so he was having a hay day. Once behind the cupboard was a cleaned up... I'm not sure if mama mouse got killed or not, I think she may have gotten away... Sammy wanted to clean out one more bucket of stuff and sure enough two more sourit(mice) This one was quite amusing to watch b/c the dog was trying to get them from the bucket and they were scampering around. They eventually were all killed, one from the dog and the other one got smashed with Sammy's barefoot! So hopefully that is the end of our mice tales for a bit and hopefully they won't keep me up tonight !

Bonswa, un gwo alo d'Haiti!

Well, it’s been awhile since our last update, and a lot has happened since then, so let me try to bring you up to speed on what the LORD is doing in our lives. We really enjoyed our time in Canada in February and a bit of March. I was so excited about the snow, Karen too, a little, but mainly me. I enjoyed every minute in it, and found it so refreshing not to walk around feeling drenched all the time because of sweat and the humidity. It was a nice time with family and friends, a time which went incredibly fast. It was a good month as we also got to use our time to get ready to move to our new home in Haiti.

So on Wednesday, March 4 we packed up our suitcases and flew down to Orlando. We had a connecting flight to catch in Washington, which we missed by a few minutes, so we thought. We were told we had missed the flight, so we had to stand in line to re-book our tickets. We were pretty disappointed because we didn’t want to miss any of the conference that we were booked for. So we stood in line for about 20 minutes and finally got to the front, and then we told the lady about our predicament about not making our connection and she said that the flight was cancelled anyway. Anyway, a whole stream of people come rapidly flowing in from our flight –it was a big one, about 200 people, and so they had to reschedule all of them. It was quite amazing because we were the first ones to rebook and so we were guaranteed on the next flight out, while a lot of people had to wait quite a few hours, or until the next day. We didn’t understand at first why we had missed the flight, and I was a little frustrated, but then when this happened I was reminded of my lack of trust, contentedness, and patience, and more importantly was reminded of God’s Almighty hand in everything, including the small things. So we made it to Orlando that night, and booked into our hotel.

Ligoneer Conference
We were in Orlando to attend the Ligoneer Ministries Conference – Contending for the Truth. The conference was nothing short of amazing! I am still reflecting on all that I learned and experienced. There was an incredible line-up of speakers. Ravi Zachaarius, John Piper, John Macarthur, Albert Mohler, R.C. Sproul, and R.C. Sproul Jr. I don’t know how they pulled that off, having all those 6 guys there at one conference, but that was incredible. Basically they gave lectures on the things we as Christians face in today’s society and how we can contend for the truth, for the gospel, amidst all of it. They covered such topics as Post-Modernity; the task of Apologetics; Faith and Reason, The Bible and Science; The problem of evil; The existence of God; The Authority of Scripture; and the role of the Holy Spirit. What I also found exciting and informative was the question period, where a ton of questions were asked, I wish I had more time to write, cuz I would love to write more about it.
Anyway, I just found it amazing that there were so many Reformed Christians ‘out there’, that I had no idea of. I was wondering why more people in ‘our circles’ didn’t attend this conference, or don’t even know about it. I was just blown away by it. Anyway, I recommend anyone attend this conference, I just hope I can go next year…
On Sunday we attended R.C Sproul’s home church which was a beautiful service, and then we had a picnic with Ed and Wilma Gringhuis who also attended the conference. I got to meet my friend Pastor Jeremy Veldman, who was also at the conference, who I had not seen since my Redeemer years, who ended up staying at our hotel too. So it was a blessing to catch up with him and see how the LORD was working in His life.

To Haiti We Go:
Well, early Monday morning we headed off to the Airport. It took a long time to get through everything as the airport was packed – Monday morning after spring break in Florida. My wife’s dutch cheese attracted a lot of attention from the security guards as it passed through the x-ray machine. They had called a lot of guards over, because they couldn’t figure out what it was, and then they called the head security over, and they slowly opened the package, revealing….the Dutch cheese. And then they put it through the machine one more time just to make sure. And guess what….it was just dutch cheese. I tried to explain that we were Dutch and we couldn’t leave home without our Droppies and Dutch cheese, but I don’t think they quite understood. Other than that it was pretty uneventful, unless you consider our way over weight luggage eventful. We also had quite the turbulence on our flight. Without fail, it seemed every time I stood up to go to the washroom, we hit heavy turbulence. It was the heaviest turbulence I felt in a plane before. The Lord kept us safe and we landed safely in Port-au-Prince on Monday, late afternoon.

In Haiti:
So, its now Saturday night, we have almost been here a week, how the time has flown. I am trying to remember all that we did this week. Well, for one thing, we are still healthy. We are thankful to the LORD for that.
Well we have been spending our time getting oriented to life here at Coram Deo. We are trying to learn the routines, schedules, and daily happenings here. There is a lot happening all around us, we are just trying to take it all in. One thing we are trying to master is recess – playing with the children at recess time. It is a tough part of our job but we are trying really hard. I think my wife even scored a goal in soccer the other day (although I think they let her). The Haitians here are working hard to teach us Kreole, and Karen B is helping us along really well, trying to help us get our heads around the culture and the way things work.
This week they also had the hydrocephalus surgeries. So we had to help prepare for these and deliver meals for all the mothers of the children at the hospital. These happened Thursday – today (Saturday). Tomorrow morning we have to get up real early to prepare breakfast for them, and deliver it by 7am.
We also have been preparing the exams for the students for this, their third, term. We have been typing up all the tests for all the different subjects, for all the different grades. They have to be done by Tuesday, so guess what we will be doing on Monday. The guys in the house have been helping us with this; they love learning to type and being able to work on the computer.
Things are pretty calm here right now in Port-au-Prince. The gangs in City Soleil have started handing in their big guns, and the U.N is making great head-way there. Also, it seems that people are more willing now to tell the U.N and police where gang members and leaders are hiding, as they aren’t as afraid anymore. So we are thankful for this. We pray that peace may reign in this city.
Thinking about peace, my thoughts bring me to the meaning of true peace, found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Right across the road from Coram Deo is a Voodoo temple or meeting place. Our first night here they were ‘worshipping the devil’ the whole night through, banging on their drums and chanting, etc. They went non-stop until 6:30 am. Nothing short of Demonic. It reminded me right away so clearly, “that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12). I was told by Karen B that as Easter approaches they have more and more services to celebrate the death of Jesus. If only they knew their folly, because they are right – Jesus did die – but He conquered Death and Satan. He arose again and triumphed over the grave and over the forces of evil! 1 Cor 15 rings so true; “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.” (1 Cor 15:14, 19-21). We hope and pray that while we are here we can be a light to these people and that God would open up opportunities for us to share the love of Christ with them.
Well, we are really enjoying our time here so far. The people are so warm and welcoming and it has been nice getting to know them all a little more. The weather is not too hot yet, so we are enjoying that as well. And we have been getting a lot of rain as well, which has cooled it down a little too. It has been very tiring though – we have been going to bed by 9 every night because we are exhausted. But it is a good exhausted. God has been very good, and has blessed us immensely.
Well, this has been our short update. To end I will just jot down some prayer requests that we have – for we covet and need your prayers.
Pray that we may learn the language(s) as soon as possible (Kreol et Francais),
For health, and that we may learn the daily routines and schedules, and be able to lead effectively here.
That we would understand the culture and all the implications thereof, and be wise in all our actions and doings, and also loving.
For Coram Deo as an organization – that we would be glorify the LORD in our very being, and that we can be a light
For the hydrocephalus babies who had the operations – that they may be healthy, and also for the babies (mothers) who did not get to be operated on- it is very hard for them.
We send a big hug to all our family and friends back home and around the world. Strength and peace to you all!
Randy and Karen

Home Sweet Home

We are back in Canada! It's so nice to be welcomed home by nice crisp, cold Canadia weather. It's hard to believe our trip is over... we are so thankful to the Lord for the many ways that he blessed us over the last three months. Experiencing many different cultures, meeting fellow Christians all over the world, being reunited with old friends, worshipping in many different languages, and feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit wherever we went. And growing ourselves, being challenged and encouraged in our walk with the Lord. we take many special memories with us and thank each and every person we met along the way for touching our lives. And we thank you for staying updated on our lives, for praying for us, encouraging us and being a support for us. You are truly a blessing from the Lord.
We've already settled into our apartment. We are in the country just outside the hub of the universe so feel free to come on over! We look forward to seeing all of yous over the next month.

"The events of our lives,
When we let God use them,
Become the mysterious preparation
For the work He has prepared for us to do."

Hong Kong

Or should I say McDonalds? Most of our time in Hong Kong was spent at McDonalds! We just missed our hamburger and French fries, which we hadn?t eaten in a while. We spent two full days in Hong Kong, the city of sky-scrapers. We were wondering ? how do you fit 7.5 million people in one small city? Sky scrapers? everywhere. It was pretty amazing. There were people everywhere. The first day we had a tour of a few of main attractions in Hong Kong - we went to a market (which is a must do in every town and city we?ve learned), we visited the boat village and toured around it by boat, a jewelry warehouse as well as a spectacular view of Hong Kong from Mt. Victoria. After that we checked out the trade center which is also Times Square, a big shopping mall and toured it and a bit more of the city.
The second day we spent a lot of time relaxing as we were pretty tired. We did visit another market, the ladies market where they are supposed to have really good deals. In our case though the man bought more than the lady.
Then Tuesday we headed for home?

...our last full day in Timor

Well, hello everyone again. Karen let me have a go at updating this thing again, so lets see what happened that is worth mentioning on our blog.
On Wednesday we drove to a town about 4 hours away. I can't remember what the town is called, - Karen just informed me it is Kaffa (sp?), but we went to visit Ed's brother and his family. On the way we stopped and looked at a few crocodiles and a few caves. We visited with his family for the night and the next morning. They have 6 girls, very nice family. Anyway, that morning we toured around the town and of course, went and visited the local market - a must on any visit. And then we spent the rest of the day driving home.
We also realized that Amy VZ is pretty famous here in Indonesia. Everywhere we go we see pictures of her, and everyone asks if we know Amy. And of course I become famous because i get to say that i went to the same school as her growing up, and lived in the same community (although that would be the only time i would admit that Elora and Fergus are the same community, because we all know that Elora is much superior). Anyway, Amy - you have quite the following here.
I was supposed to do a talk at a church in Kupong last night, when we got back, but it was raining in the city, and when it rains, things shut down. So it was cancelled, which was too bad. Anyway, instead last night we played ping-pong and Risk.
And today is thursday. Our last full day here. Ed had to go into the city to do some work so we tagged along to visit the bank and to get on the internet. When we get back home we have to finish the playground, which will probably take the rest of the day. And tonight we have a big soccer game planned with members of the church versus a bunch of youth from the community. It should be fun.
And tomorrow we fly out for Bali, and then we are off to Hong-Kong on Saturday. And then we should be home on Tuesday night, D.V.
Well, all the best to everyone. May the joy of the LORD be your strength for this day!
Randy (and Karen)

Indonesian Birthday

Since we last updated I've aged!! Another wrinkle and one more gray hair AAAHHH!!! But thankfully I'm still 7 years younger than my husband so I'm just a young'n, always will be? compared to him!

It was neat to celebrate my birthday in Indonesia, it actually was the L O N G E S T birthday ever because apparently you have to celebrate along with the country that you were born in as well as the country that you are now in and since Canada is 13 hours behind us I was celebrating for a LONG time! The day was pretty quite ? spoiled by Randy ? but not much besides that. At night they had a continuation of the challenges that they were having on Friday night against Jonson?s church. The challenges included ping-pong, potato sack races, chess, soccer, baton racing, tug-of-war, and a few other games. After all of the competitions were over we sang for a little bit and then Randy did a devotion for them on Josiah, how he was only 8 years old and yet he served the Lord and continued to do that throughout his reign, it doesn?t matter how young or old you are you can always serve the Lord. After the devotion we taught them how to play hUckle BuckLe-they Loved it! And then one of the boys Pidgen called me up, he wanted to ask me a few questions? he was asking the questions in Indonesian so I had now idea what he was saying and I was trying to answer them?. Without any luck! The people were in stitches laughing over what he was saying, I still don?t know what he all said, anyway I got a bit out of it, he was telling them it was my birthday, I had to show them my expression if I got a surprise and I had to run around with my arms out yelling, then he told me he could do magic and he pulled out a bucket of water and asked me what color it was and told me that he was going to make it black. But in order to that the audience had to cover one eye and I had to cover two, well I?m sure that you can imagine what happened after that?yup he poured that whole bucket of water over my head. Then he gave me a little gift and that?s where I had to put my yelling with my arms spread out into practice. But no worries I got him back. At the very end of the evening they called him up to thank him for all of his work and I stood right behind him and dumped a bucket of water over his head. A little big of revenge is good right?
After the evening at the church we went back to Ed and Femmy?s for a good old birthday supper of rice! But before the rice Manone, Ed?s sister, had baked a beautiful birthday cake for me so they sang Happy Birthday, they have the longest birthday song ever, it has about four or five verses or so and every verse you have to do something different. One verse I had to blow out the candles, another verse I had to cut the cake, and another verse Randy and I had to both bite the cake off of the fork. Then I got a nicely handcrafted crown from Moses and a beautiful scarf from Ed and Femmy.
Sunday? the continuation of my birthday J Church again at 7:30. One of Ed?s students preached, he did a really good job. He preached on John 3:1-5 about how we need to be born again, That it?s a lot of hard work living for the Lord and it?s a constant struggle. After church I got a very pleasant unexpected surprise? a phone call from my parents. I heard all about the cold snowy weather in Ontario and that Toronto was beating Montreal 4-1 in hockey. For the most part the rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading and napping. In the evening we had bible study at the church, they had some really good questions about the sermon and Randy introduced a new word to them that they don?t have in Indonesian ? sanctification, nice guy eh?
Then after Bible study back home for some rice, oh I forgot to mention the nice treat we got at lunch, pizza buns ? it was SOO good! After dinner we played a game of Risk. Missions Risk. I got destroyed but that?s ok, I?ll take one for the team.
Today we began to work on the playground this morning but then it rained, and rained and rained so we came into town to email and buy some toilet paper, all of the essentials eh?
Well thank you for all of the birthday wishes, it?s so good to hear from all of yous at home. And just in case you?re curious we are coming home next Tuesday Feb 6th so hopefully we will see you all in the very near future!
That?s it for the update today tomorrow we head off for a little escapade, can?t remember what the place is called where we are going but it should be fun!

Life in Kupang

It's been over a week here in Kupang and we are still surviving at the Dethan household. And no the earthquake did not hit us. We didn't even here about the quake until we went on the internet and chatted with some of you and the first question was ....Did the quake hit you?? and our response was .... what quake? We are in our own little world here in Kupang.
After checking the blog lst time Ed gave us the inside scoop on where to get a hamburger mmmm :) so off we went, unfortunately they didn't have any burgers left but they did have fried chicken (almost as good as KFC!) and Frech fries so it was a really nice treat for us. We do have to admit though that rice really starts to grow on you, I think when we get back to Canada we are going to be craving rice!
At night we went to Jonson and Mary-Lynn's for Mary-Lynn's 30th birthday, most of the Ed's siblings were there so it was nice to meet them and share in the birthday festivities.
Wednesday I went to Sprouts with Moses and Grace in the morning, it's kind of like pre-school. They have about 25 children and they tell them a bible story and then do an activity with them. They have it three times a week. It's a pretty cool ministry because not all of these kids go to church or are from Christian families so here they get to hear about the Bible. And the teachers are new at teaching but are doing really well, they have already improved in the short time that we have been here. It's been really neat because we had done a session on Wednesday night and had given all different examples of ways that you can tell a story and this morning when I went to Sprouts they were using them, that was really exciting to see. And I could even tell what the story was about even though I couldn't understand a word of Indonesian! But back to the day, Randy worked on the playground for most of it, it's slow going because the wood is so hard and it's so HOT here but slowly but surely it's starting to come together. Then as I mentioned we did another session on teaching children. We had a really good turnout, about 40 youth so that was a lot of fun. Then Thursday we took a little road trip to Soe, which is pronounced Saw-ay. It's a city about three hours drive from where we are and it is MUCH cooler there so it was SO nice to go there for a day. We went with a whole car full of people. Ed's sister Adel and her husband and their 14 year old son Victor as well as Peiga and Mia, two of the girls that work in the office for New Hope as well as our drive Oom Ren and Randy and myself. So the black family wagon was quite full. But we had a great time together. We saw some really gorgeous views on the way and once we got to Soe we picked up some rice for lunch and went to a park to eat it. Once we were done eating we went down to see the waterfall, it was absolutely GORGEOUS!! God's creativity in creation never ceases to amaze us. It was in the middle of a forest and there was lots of little waterfalls and it just kept going and going and going, I wish we had a waterproof camera so we could capture a bit of the beauty of it, but we don't so... We spent most of the afternoon swimming there and then headed off to see some family of Ed's sister's husband. And then we were on our way home again, I actually had goosebumps on the way home, it was such a nice feeling, I can't remember the last time I had them. On the way home we say a beautiful sunset but the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful if you don't include the driving that is. Driving here especially at night is CRAZY. There are so many big trucks and motorbikes on the road and the road is so narrow but thankfully we made it back safe and sound. And we finished off the night with some Uno and some pretty competitive doubles ping-pong games.
So that's a little update on our life here. We are really enjoying ourselves here, the people are wonderful, the hospitality is amazing and the word of God is going out powerfully-it's so amazing to be able to witness that. It's been really neat being a part of the Bible studies here as well. They are always very good at keeping us a part of it and doing their best to translate what's being said.
It's hard to believe it's only been just over a week that we've been here already. It feels just like home!
I guess I should give you a little update on our health... or should I say Randy's health :) his throat seems to be healing, his lips are doing MUCH better, the swelling has gone down and the blisters are much smaller, his foot however we are a little concerned about, it doesn't seem to be healing very well, it almost looks like it's getting infected again... not good. But other than that we are just peachy.
In light of the amazing creation that we have seen:

"May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

May the LORD rejoice in his works-"

Psalm 104:31

Well I was hoping to put up a bunch of pictures but unfortunatly the internet connection is going REALLY slow right now :(

Dethan Family, Ed, Femmy, Moses, Grace, and Micah

Karen and I arrived safely in Kupang, Timor, and Femmy, Moses, Grace, and Micah were there at the airport to welcome us and pick us up. We were happy to finally get here, as you can only handle so much down time. So, Ed and Femmy graciously took us in at their home, which is also the home of New Hope Ministries, the orphanage, in which they have taken in about 10 beautiful children/teens.
After we got settled in and met some of the children we headed up to the church for Kidz Klub. We had fun with the children, as we learned some Indonesian songs and taught some English ones, played musical chairs, and listened to a message. It was a nice way to begin our time here.

Thursday ? after spending time just hanging out with the Dethans, Ed asked us to help train the youth to work with children and teach them about telling Bible stories, because they were planning to have a children?s camp again this summer and they want the youth to lead it. So, we are planning a kind of pre-camp for them, and have a few sessions with the youth in order to try to equip them to be leaders, and show them how they can use their talents in service to the LORD. So we spent the rest of the day preparing for our first session, which was at night. Our first session was a blast, to us anyway, they are probably just scared. It?s interesting, cuz everything takes twice as long, because everything has to be translated. Sometimes I wish I could pick up languages real quick.

Friday- On Friday morning we went to the hospital to drop off some samples from the children so the doctors could do some tests. While we were there we got a tour of the hospital, the different labs, and then visited the different wards and visited with the patients. It was fun, and the language barrier is always cause for more fun - trying to communicate but having a very tough time doing it. But it makes for a lot of laughs. When we got back to the house we started
building a playground for the children. We had some of the guys help us, as we dug the holes and cut the posts for it. By the time that was done, we had to leave for the Christmas program. In Canada we celebrate Christmas for about a month before Christmas day, but after the 25th Christmas celebrations are over. Here in Indonesia, Christmas celebrations last for the month of January as well. So we had a children?s Christmas program on Jan.19. The children were very cute, and it was nice to sing Christmas carols in the Indonesian language, and to celebrate again the Lord coming down and becoming a man to save us all. It?s great to celebrate that! After the program we went out for traditional BBQ?d corn and soup. It was pretty good, I must admit.

Saturday ? Karen and I visited Jonson and Mary-Lynn Dethan, who live just down the road. We spent most of the day with them, as we caught up, played with their children, toured the Reformed school, and saw the church. We also went swimming behind the school in a little creek which was quite refreshing. And they also took us out for lunch. It was a nice day, it was great to see them again, and learn about the ministries they are involved in, and their plans for the future. On Saturday night we attended Youth Group. We discussed the Great Commission, and how the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work. It?s great getting to know the youth and seeing how the Lord is working here. After Youth group we went home, had dinner and played ping-ping with the youth.

Sunday ? For those of us that thought 9:30 was early for church, how about 7:30? Yep, bright and early we rose. Although we didn't understand most of the service, there were a few tunes we recongnized, and it was beautiful to worship the LORD nonetheless. Once again, it was so beautiful to participate in a worship service in another language, in another culture. It just shows to me again how Awesome and big our God is, and how He calls people from all over the world to be His children. The rest of the day was nice. We enjoyed the communion of saints, just hanging out at the Dethan house and chatting with Ed and Femmy. After a nice afternoon snooze we headed back to church for Bible Study, where we discussed the mornings sermon and text and dove further into it. After church, after supper we played with the children UNO. The children were giggling the whole time, it was a lot of fun.

Monday - In the morning we went to the market in the city to do some groceries, and we visited the hospital again. The market is always an interesting place, every country you visit you should go to the market. And in the afternoon we prepared for youth group, our next session with them, which was at night. About half the youth didn't show however, because they thought it was going to be a different night, so it was post-poned until Wednesday. While we were at the church we got to do some singing and we played some games. We played musical chairs, but only 3 rounds, because we had broken 2 chairs already by then. When we got home we played UNO with the children again, who never stopped giggling again.

Tuesday - well today we just booked our ticket back to Bali, for the end of next week, and now we are here in the city doing email and internet. We hope to work on the playground this afternoon and Karen is going to prepare for helping with the Sprouts program as well.

Anyway, we are enjoying our time here in Kupang, and we are learning lots from the Dethans. It is great to see the work that is being done here, it is very exciting. Let me summarize a little of it for you. Ed and Femmy, besides the work with their home congregation, also have the New Hope Orphanage. There is an office at their house which they employ 2 ladies to do the administration for the orphanage and all the details that go along with it, including education and health. They are also hoping to start another orphanage home right in the city, where a lady from the church will live there and take care of the children. Ed is also involved with training evangelists and other preachers, as they now have 4 mission posts. They are also involved in Setting up a training center/theological school in the city, along with Jonson's church. they are also working with the various programs in the church - Youth, childrens, sprouts, and the Bible studies, and setting up a camp, kind of like campfire. Jonson and Mary-Lynn, in addition to the regular church work, have also the Children of Light program, which has to do with the education of children. The Reformed school is across the road from their house and has, i think, about 500 students, and growing. There is the elementary school, junior high, and high school, as well as a trade school, that teaches welding, carpentry, auto mechanics, computers, building, etc. They have dorms on site as well for some of the children. They also are doing a mission post right now in Kupang city.
Anyway, this is just a bit of the work that is happening. Its nice to see some of it, and next week we will get to visit a few mission posts D.V.
Anyway, this blog entry is long enough.
We hope everyone at home is doing well. People have passed on various prayer requests and we will be sure to remember those things in prayer. We have a few prayer requests as well. Could you pray for sustained health for us. I am continuing to battle infection, sore throats, and i burn't my lips pretty bad, and they are all blistered right now. And Karen, well, she is tough, she is doing well. We also pray that we can be a blessing to Ed and Femmy and the children here, and that the opportunities that we have, that we can make the most of them, and really share the love of Christ. And the language barrier can be tough, especially when we are trying to share with them. Anyway, thank-you. It is also Karen's B-day on Saturday -the 27th - just a little heads up for everyone, including myself.
We will include more picture next time, hopefully...
Strength and Peace,
Randy and Karen

Unexpected delay in Bali

While we were on our way to Ed and Femmy's but unfortunately we have been delayed. We flew into Indonesia late on Friday night expecting to fly out the next Saturday morning, so we found a little booking desk at the airport and booked ourselves a night at a hotel for one night but the next morning when we connected with Ed he said the weather was to bad in Kupang to fly in so to stay where we were and he would try to get us on a flight on Monday... it's Monday now and we didn't get on the flight but we got one booked for Wednesday so hopefully then we will be flying over to Kupang and to the Dethan household. But while we have been held up in Bali we are making the most of our time. Indonesia is absolutely Beautiful!!! We went whitewater rafting down a river the other day it was AWESOME, we were in the jungle surrounded by rapids and just able to enjoy the beauty of it all, we also got to experience a traditional Indonesian meal at the end of it, the only killer was the hike to the river and the hike back to the shuttle, we were climbing a pretty big mountain on stairs, but the stairs were very uneven and it was STEEP, but seeing as we are both the picture of health... ha, ha. Today was a pretty exciting day as well. We went parasailing, snorkeling, jetskiing and for a little dive (Yes Ian W. we did a little bit of diving!). It was all pretty fascinating and a little scary. The diving was absolutely incredible, we saw so many beautiful fish. Parasailing was a bit scary but really neat. Jet-skiing, while I'm a chicken, but it was still fun, Randy had a blast at it and snorkeling was once again fantabulous. And the little hotel we are staying at suits our needs just great, it's close to the ocean and we have only had to kill one cockroach so far so life is good! We thankful we are held up in Bali or we sure wouldn't be experiencing what we are, the tourism industry here is not doing well right now so things are CHEAP, just the way we like it :)
So two more days in Bali and we are off to Kupang. Randy's foot is healing quite well so we are truly thankful for that. Thanks so much for all of your emails, it's always so good to hear from home and for your prayers, we truly feel the Lord uplifting us day after day and we are so thankful for the love and support that we receive from you guys!

Finally....updated!

Well, its been a long while since we updated and spoke to y?all, so sorry about that. Its harder to get on line for a period of time away from home. Anyway, we hope you are all doing well, and that you are enjoying God?s blessings and love in 2007. I?ll try to bring you up to speed on how He has been blessing us during our time in PNG and as we rest and prepare for our time in Indonesia.


This is our carolling team, or should i say choir!

Sunday, Dec 24 ? We went to Kamkumang for a worship service, where Pastor Bob gave his last sermon, as he is retiring from his call here, and will begin preaching in another area before retiring. Worshipping the LORD in another language and culture is a beautiful thing. It?s amazing how amazing the Gospel is for all cultures, peoples, and languages! On Sunday afternoon we picked up our fellow carolers at both congregations and headed for the hospital. We went to a bunch of different wards and sang Christmas carols, greeted the people, and Ian shared the Christmas message with them all. It was nice to meet all those people and share in the joy of a Savior!
Monday, Dec 25 - Christmas Day! We had a combined service at Kamkumong church, with Tent City and a lot of other guests and friends. Ian shared from Luke 2, about Good News for people, and the response from the shepherds. Different people shared different songs for the congregation. Us, white people, sang Zeph 3:17. We shared a meal together and sang more worship and Christmas songs. They taught us some songs in Pigon, and we taught them some in English. It was a beautiful time of worship. After bringing them all home we went to one of Ian and Nadia?s friend?s house for supper. We enjoyed the evening there, and then headed home.
Tuesday, Dec 26 ? We went with the Wildeboers and VanderHeides and Pastor Bob?s family to his wife?s family?s village. They had a worship service in the village and had invited Ian to preach. It was an outdoor service, kind of under a tree, including singing, prayer, dancing, and of course, the Word being proclaimed. Afterwards, our 3 families were invited up to tell them a little about ourselves. We got to share about the work we are looking forward to in Haiti. I did not realize it at the time, but the people had a lot of questions for us, so after lunch I spoke to them more about our work being done in Haiti, and life there. They asked a lot of questions and then at the end of it, they prayed for us. That was very nice, a beautiful gift. Back to the worship service?.after we shared with them who we were, at the end of the service they broke into dancing. It was quite the experience to dance along with our brothers and sisters in the jungle/plantation. It took us awhile to dare to dance along with them as our dutch roots held our feet strongly planted to the ground, but soon we warmed up to it all and joined in on the celebration!
Wednesday, Dec 27 ? I sat down and with Ian and Andrew as they planned and prayed for the work in Bumbu settlement. For me it was exciting because I was able to learn about different approaches to the work, and the different stages of development when doing a church plant. I also got to listen in on their plans for the year and what they were going to focus in on for all their work and ministry. I am very excited for them and pray that the LORD will bless their plans, refine them, and continue to open doors for them.
Thursday, Dec 28 ? Well, later in the morning Andrew and I went to the war memorial and I learned a lot about WW2 and the battles that were fought in and around PNG. We also toured the Royal Botanical Gardens which is right next door. It was very beautiful ? parts of it a beautiful jungle. Thursday night was the first fellowship meeting in Bumbu settlement. Pastor Elijah (a pastor Ian is meeting with and working thru Reformed theology) and Joakim, a guard of their compound, who is helping Andrew learn Pigon, they both live in the settlement and so they got the area ready outside of Pastor Elijah?s house ready for a crowd, with lights, and a generator and decorations. There was about 150 people who turned out to hear about the work that Reformed ministries was planning to do in the settlement. Ian shared from 2 Tim 3, about how the Word of God is God?s Word, inspired and filled with amazing riches. He talked about how we need to go back to the Bible, and learn what?s in it, and let it direct us. He then talked about Reformed theology ? Sola Scriptura (use scripture alone as authoritative), Sola Gratia (we are saved by grace alone), Sola Fieda (by faith alone, not by earning salvation), and Sola Christos (all of it by Christ alone, and His work)! It was a beautiful evening, we spent time in worship as well, and Ian and Andrew explained the work they hoped to do in the next coming year in their settlement. And of course, we are starting to get used to it, Karen and I also got to share who we were and of our plans. After the service was over, almost all the people walked us home. They escorted us up to the gate and thanked us for coming. We spent time rejoicing and giving thanks to the LORD for the door He was opening up to us.


Friday, Dec 29 ? What better way to finish off 2006 than to Paint! On Friday we painted the Wildeboer?s house. We started with one wall, decided on a second, then a third, fourth. And then we thought we should continue on and finish the whole main floor, so that?s what we did. So their gloomy, pale blue main floor was transformed into a bright, wear-your-sun-glasses yellow that would cause no one to have a bad day colour.
Saturday, Dec 30 ? So we finished painting in the morning, as we decided to change a few things.
Sunday, Dec 31 ? The last day of the year. We had a combined worship service at Tent City, and a lot of people from Bumbu settlement decided to join us so they waited at our front gate. It was a beautiful worship service and we were challenged and encouraged to let God?s Word and the Holy Spirit lead and guide us in 2007! We had a nice afternoon, able to spend time in devotions, and then got together with the VanderHeides for a Gormetten (sp?) dinner. We closed off the year with some swimming, and then what else, but a Settlers game.
Monday, Jan 1 ? We began our holidays with the Wildeboers. We spent the day driving to Madang, a coastal town (city) about 5 hours away. It was quite the drive, that?s all I got to say. While in Madang we got to do a bunch of different stuff, including reading, site seeing, studying, snorkeling, and visiting different spots.
Wednesday, Jan 2 ? we went to the village where Ian and Nadia lived for 6 weeks when they did their training. They visited their Was-Mamma (I have no idea how to spell that), the lady who took care of them, whose house they stayed at. It was nice to see the area they lived in and to meet all their friends.
Thursday, Jan 3 ? we went to a place just down the coast called Jais Aben. There we did more snorkeling. We actually got dropped off at an island and snorkeled around the reef there. It was incredibly beautiful! It makes me marvel at the hand of the Almighty who fashioned and takes care of all His creation. It was so beautiful. We also got to visit POC (I think it stands for Pacific Orientation Course) or something like that, but it was the place Ian and Nadia did their training, and where Andrew and Natalie are going to do theirs.
Friday, Jan 4 ? After searching for Ian?s orchid farm for awhile we gave up and started the trek home. Again, a very interesting, bumpy drive!
Saturday, Jan 5 ? Karen and I packed up, and we said our good-byes to the Wildeboers and the VanderHeides. Ian and Nadia drove us to the airport, and we took off for Port Moresby. At Port Moresby, the other vanderHeides, Wayne and Cheronne, picked us up and we stayed at their home. It was nice to finally meet them, and get to know them a little as we missed them last time they were in Canada, and as we heard so much about them.
Sunday, Jan 6 ? We got to attend the Reformed church in a settlement right near Port Moresby. Once again, it was a beautiful service, and pastor knew English so he we would repeat a lot of things in English, and our Pigon is getting better so we could understand a lot. It was nice to fellowship with that congregation and to meet them all. What a joy! After lunch Wayne showed me around Port Moresby, and later we all drove and visited Stephen and Dorinda t?Hart and family. We were able to see the theological school that was being built as well. That was a joy to see. What a neat project! There is a main classroom, with a side room for offices. And they are also building student housing and washroom fascilities. In addition the t?Harts home is built on the property and they are waiting to build the vanderHeide?s home. It was a real blessing to see that all, and we pray that God will bless their work and make a blessing for the people and use it for His Kingdom work.
Monday, Jan 7 ? We say good-bye to the vanderHeide family and spend the day flying to Australia- to Brisbane.
The rest of this week we have been resting and recuperating. I went to the hospital on Tuesday as I got an infection in my foot, and my whole foot swelled up. We still aren?t sure what caused it. And the next day I went in again to get it checked out to see if there was any improvement. Anyway, it is going to take a few days for it to heal, so I just thank the LORD for the time we have here in Brisbane before we move off to Indonesia at the end of the week. So we both spent the last few days sleeping and resting, and just thinking about all that we have learned and experienced. I pray that my foot gets better before tomorrow, and for patience till it does get better.

Well, right now it is Thursday night. We pack up again tomorrow morning and head for Timor. We get to Bali tomorrow night, and then the next day, the Lord willing, we will fly to Kupang and meet up with the Dethans. And then the next 3 weeks we will be working with them. We are pretty excited about that.

Anyway, we hope you are all doing well. There are some things that we are missing out on back home, and people are in our prayers and thoughts. We think of Tim and Cara?s wedding ? we wish them the Lord?s blessing and wish we could have been there. We are excited for Streetlight Ministries, that they could have their first church service and that Doug and Slatko could do their profession of faith. We think of Campfire and for all those that have applied for staff positions. May the Lord grant wisdom and insight to the exec as they have to decide on the next staff. We are excited about that a lot! We also think of the teams gone to the DR and Hondouras ? may they be kept safe and may they have a productive and blessed trip. May the LORD use their work their and may they let their light shine and share the love of Christ! We also think of the Kentucky team as it is selected and as they prepare to go down and serve. You will be in our thoughts! We also think of everyone who is continuing on in school, whether they are starting a new semester or not. God?s blessings in your studies. And to our friends in Haiti ? it is good to be updated about what?s happening, and we continue to pray for you. And to all our family and friends ? we miss you all! May this year be dedicated to the LORD, and for His glory, and may His love live in your hearts and mind, and may the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his work, give you peace!

Some pics from PNG

Sorry about taking so long to update, we've been busy lately.... not on strike as some thought! here are a few pictures, Randy is working on a written update of what we have been up to. Presently we are in Brisbane, Australia and tomorrow we fly out for Indonesia.

Enjoy!

Group photo just before we flew off The Christmas Vacation Bible School in Tent City, the children are proudly holding up the activities that they made
Randy dancing in Ruth's village on Boxing day. Thankfully their dancing is just like running around in a circle so we could participate and look like we knew what we were doing!
Randy and Ian getting ready to snorkel off an island in Madang. The snorkeling was AMAZING!!! God's world in the ocean is absolutely incredible

...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!