Cyclone

We just enjoyed a beautiful 25 degree day! Wow, it was amazing, I felt so cool that I enjoyed a cup of warm tea in the morning and in the afternoon I wished I had my slippers and jogging pants with me cuz I was getting goose bumps! Today again the weather is beautiful, the temperature is starting to rise again but their is a beautiful breeze blowing in my face.

The beautiful temperatures were a result of Hurricane Dean passing us by. Thankfully in Port-au-Prince we didn't have much storm activity. The wind was blowing hard through the night and it rained all day Sunday but that was about it. The South of the island got hit a bit harder with some flooding. Through it all we just see the hand of God and his grace. Haiti is so poor and there is no infastructure here so if Dean had hit Haiti it would have been a disaster. Our Haitian friends were telling us that they knew it wouldn't hit Haiti hard because God knew that Haiti couldn't handle it. What awesome faith and trust they have in God!

Some pics... Samuel and Cadeau, Me and Manise, Caroline with Paulo, Jacob and Manu, Randy and I giving "advice" to Marg, Randy picking citwon in our backyard, and a beautiful view of the mountains on the way up to the Baptist Mission. Enjoy!

hello and good-bye

Well once again we've had to say hello and good-bye. Ronn VanAndel, Anita VanRootselaar, Caroline VanGrootheest and Marg Spithoff just spent nine days with us. We had a blast with them! There main purpose here was to lead teacher training seminars for the teachers of Coram Deo, they did a fabulous job with that. Our teachers really enjoyed it and learned a lot from it and strong relationships were formed between Canadian teachers and Haitian teachers. For Randy and I it was a really encouraging

week just to get us thinking about the school year and to see the teachers work throught the material that they were given. We learned a lot about each one of the teachers. The other main task of the teachers was to TRY and beat us in Settlers, I put try in their because unfortunately for them that mission was unsuccessful. I know when they read this that they will have all of their reasonings but just remember that almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades! Besides the seminars and the settlers games we did also find some time for sight-seeing,

souvenir shopping, visiting Dorothy's, playing soccer with the kids, basketball with the guys, and we went up to the Baptist Mission and Fort Jacques to see some amazing views of Port au Prince. While touring around there we met some UN from Jordan, if anybody wants to visit Jordan Anita's got some contact information for you for where you can stay when you are there :) Unfortunatly on Monday morning we had to say our good-byes :( Thank you guys for an amazing week, lots of good laughs and memories and for encouraging us in our walk with the Lord, we love you guys!

Randy and I have changed location... we still don't have our own house but for the next two months we do have a three bedroom, three bathroom home as well as four lovely dogs! So if anybody is getting the itch to come down to Haiti just let us know there is more than enough room for you. We also have three citwon pye bwa in our back yard so my new part time job is making freshly squeezed lemonade, it's so yummy!

A verse that I've heard so many times over and over again hit home for me this morning during my devotion. "Be still and know that I am God" The word that struck me was KNOW and a little exert from Pastor Doug's sermon that I thought was really cool "Know that God is your shepherd who made you. Know that He is your fortress you can run to. Know that He is your strength when you are weak. Know that He is an ever-present help in trouble. Know that He is with you and will never let you go. Know that he will be exalted over nations. Know that He will be exalted over all the earth. Know that God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing He cannot do for you! It's so good for me to be reminded of how awesome My God is!

And now I will answer your question of how did you get Pastor Doug's sermon in Haiti... Ronn brought it with him and he passed it along to Randy and Randy shared it with me. What an excellent sermong on Psalm 46. Thanks Pastor Doug!

Well those are the latest happenings on the island.

May you take the time this day to be still and know That God is God!

pics...

Nou bezwen etudie creole anpil!

Well our visitors are gone, we really enjoyed our time with them. It's crazy how quickly you can become good friends with people. We found that we had a lot of connections with them, we played dutch bingo over and over again, the connections were crazy!!! Before they left though they were able to help Randy with fixing up the weeping tile at Coram Deo, on Sunday we attended Quisqueya with them, the singing that Sunday was really powerful... I don't remember all of the songs but I do remember singing "Worthy is the lamb who was slain" what a beautiful line! Sunday afternoon we went out to a village with Karen the contrast between city and village is unreal. And after we got back Rand and I did our first geocache with our guests. One of the guys is really into it and does it all the time back home and he found out that their was one in Port-au-Prince so we checked it out, it's kind of a neat thing.... maybe Rand and I will have to start planting them everywhere... hee, hee. Monday we spent the day with the Hopps up at their place near Kaliko. We had a really enjoyable day with their family, what a blessing to have been able to spend the day with them. Tuesday morning the visitors packed up their bags and headed back to beautiful British Colombia. Since then I've been spending a lot of time with my bed with some kind of bug which is upsetting my stomach, today was a lot better than yesterday but still not all the way better, hopefully a good nights rest tonight will do the trick. We started our language training this morning. We are going to start doing two hours every morning, we each have our own tutor, boy it's intense! Our brains feel fried after two hours, it's A LOT of thinking. Mwen pa konne si mwen kab fe li! And this aft there was a group at Coram Deo leading a Bible story for the kids, I wasn't their but Randy said the kids enjoyed it. They learned about the Samaritan women at the well and they got to do some coloring.

Well God is and continues to be good to us, life is not always easy but we are continually learning and being reminded to rely on the Lord for our needs, no easy task! I read this poem today that I thought was really neat so I'm going to share it. The things that sound easy usually aren't very easy at all....



TEACH ME TO LOVE

There was a time when in my daily prayer

I asked for all the things I deemed most fair,

And necessary to my life -- success,

Riches, of course, and ease, and happiness;

A host of friends, a home without alloy;

A primrose path of luxury and joy,

Social distinction, and enough of fame

To leave behind a well-remembered name.

Ambition ruled my life. I longed to do

Great things, that all my little world might view

And whisper, "Wonderful!"

Ah, patient God,

How blind we are, until Thy shepard's rod

Of tender chastening gently leads us on

To better things!

Today I have but one

Petition, Lord -- Teach me to love.

indeed, it is my greatest and my only need --

teach me to love, not those who first love me,

But all the world, with that rare purity

Of broad, outreaching thought which bears no trace

Of earthly taint, but holds in its embrace

Humanity, and only seems to see

The good in all, reflected, Lord, from Thee.

And teach me, Father, how to love the most

Those who most stand in need of love -- that host

Of people who are sick and poor and bad,

Whose tired faces show their lives are sad,

Who toil along the road with footsteps slow,

And hearts more heavy than the world can know --

People whom others pass discreetly by,

Or fail to hear the pleading of that cry

For help, amid the tumult of the crowd;

Whose very anguish makes them cold and proud,

Resentful, stubborn, bitter in their grief --

I want to bring them comfort and relief,

To put my hand in theirs, and at their side

Walk softly on, a faithful, fearless guide.

O Saviour, thou the Christ, Truth, ever near,

Help me to feel these sad ones doubly dear

Because they need so much! Help me to seek

And find that which they thought was lost; to speak

Such words of cheer that as we pass along

The wilderness shall blossom into song.

Ah, Love divine, how empty was that prayer

Of other days! That which was once so fair --

Those flimsy baubles which the world calls joys

Are nothing to me now but broken toys,

Outlived, outgrown. I thank Thee that I know

Those much-desired dreams of long ago,

Like butterflies, have had their summer's day

Of brief enchantment and have gone. I pray

For better things

Thou knowest, God above,

My one desire now -- Teach me to love.
By Louise Knight Wheatley

"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

.

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