Boxing Day!

Here we are a week after we return to Canada at it seems like a whirlwind. WOW. In one week we spent time with the children, 3 days in Sarnia, time in Kitchener and today we are going back to Kitchener again to spend time with Jane's family. The following 2 weeks that I am here will be spent visiting churches, schools, supporters and family. Almost every day and evening I am committed and am going to go back to the DR for a rest.

Boxing day is just a little different here in Canada than in the DR, actually the whole season is celebrated differently. Christmas Eve is called Holy Night because it is the eve that Christ was born. Christmas is celebrated as Christ's birthday but most shops and stores are open at reduced hours. Then New Years Eve and New Years Day are celebrated the same as here but considered more reverent than we do. Many still get looped, which is always a problem in every country, but New Year Day is celebrated as the kick off day of the new year which is going to be dedicated to God and so the day is actually spent as a religious celebration. The Christmas gift exchange that we do usually around Christmas, is done on January 6, the "Day of the Kings". This is the day they use to remember the Maggi coming to see Jesus and so its the gift exchange day.

Now, there you have it, I hope your just a little bit enlightened on a different way Christmas is celebrated. However you remember the birth of our Savior, just remember to keep Christ not only in Christmas but also in your heart and life throughout the years!

Jane and I would like to take this opportunity to wish and pray for you all a Blessed Christmas and Christ centered New Year.

I'll be home for Christmas, just you wait and see.....

Jane and I are getting ready and looking forward to spending some time at home with our family and friends. We have never been gone this long from everyone and so this is going to be a wonderful time for us, maybe not for those we visit since I'm the quiet type and don't say much. What we do want to say is a big THANK YOU to everyone who supported us with their prayers, thoughts, cards, email and finances. Without an awesome support team to encourage us along and a loving heavenly Father who knows us and our needs better than we do ourselves, we couldn't do. To those who we will be seeing while we're in Canada, we can't wait; to those who we won't be able to, Thanks again for everything, your always in our hearts and thoughts and we wish you a very Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

Lots Of Love Always from the Dominican Republic,

John and Jane Huizinga

Hurricanne Olga Pictures

Even though Hurricane Olga didn't get the news coverage that some of the other Hurricanes do, it did leave quite a path of destruction and flooding. Some friends of ours who operate a motel in Cabarete, William and Dorthy Oosterman (http://www.casablancacabarete.com/), sent us some pictures of the flooding.

Hurricane Olga

Well , Jane and I experienced our first one site hurricane, Hurricane Olga. While in the past we were generally on the edges, this one pretty well hit us right on. It seems rather strange that Olga didn’t get the publicity that some of the others got but a lot of damage occurred on this side of the island. It started about 10:30 am, Tuesday, December 11 and went on till about 4:00am on Wednesday morning. It was actually quite scary because the few times I looked out the windows on the side not getting the brunt, you could barely see more than a few feet away. All through the night the winds and rain were unbelievably hard and it probably was a good thing it was dark outside because the next morning when we went outside, several trees on our property were either split, uprooted or the branches shredded. It was a real mess. About 20-30 minutes down the road, more trees, full size steel signs and houses were damaged worse than the our area and an entire subdivision was flooded with up to 30 feet of water around some of the homes in lower areas. There were reports of people sitting on their roofs with their pets waiting for rescue. The strength that the Lord displays in nature is humbling. I really should have taken pictures for you, but for Jane and me, the memories will last a long time and probably won’t fade for a while either. Thank You Lord for your protection again!

“Chris was Here”, the true unabridged version from someone who was there!

To mark the end of our first level of Spanish, our class went on a field trip. Not just any kind of field trip but a historical one. We checked out the second settlement of our good, close and personal friend Christopher Columbus. Chris landed on this country in 1493 and when one of his 3 ships got smashed on the rocks, he left about 32 sailors behind and went back to Spain for more supplies. The sailors left behind then headed up the coast a wee bit and settled in what is called La Isabela. They didn’t fare too entirely well and since all of us will eventually look like the guy lying below in the box, not to be confused with the guy standing up, those left behind sailors got there a little sooner than I am sure they wanted. The skeleton is real and his dentist would have been real proud of him, only one missing tooth and the rest look great. Must have been the flossing. When Chris eventually came back, he found what was left of his crew up the coast from where he left them and the rest is history. Unfortunately for many of the peoples living on this island, the new visitors brought new diseases and decimated a large percentage of the native population. Progress does have it casualties and draw backs and as Paul Harvey would say, “ and now you know the rest of the story”. As part of your Spanish homework, please translate the sign I’m holding up.