It’s Christmas time, it’s Christmas time…. and when family members are far away, what better way than to celebrate than with friends in the neighbourhood. Steve & Lisa Klassen along with their children Iliana, Veronica & Luke hosted a party for their friends who live and play in our area and invited us neighbours to attend also.
Language can sometimes create a barrier…but what fun it is to share the birth of Jesus through a dramatic reading in which all the children participated, making paper snowflakes, singing, playing instruments and having fun with bubbles….not to mention eating sweet treats. Just one month into their 3 month sabbatical working with the Samaritan Foundation, the Klassen family is making an impact teaching ESL, working with the youth, and providing medical assistance at local clinics in the area.
Our neighbourhood promises to become even livelier with the return of all the snowbirds in the next few weeks. We look forward to sharing this time together soon, and encouraging each other in the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
May you all experience the peace and joy of our Saviour’s birth this Christmas season and may God bless you always.
In Christ, John & Jane
Language can sometimes create a barrier…but what fun it is to share the birth of Jesus through a dramatic reading in which all the children participated, making paper snowflakes, singing, playing instruments and having fun with bubbles….not to mention eating sweet treats. Just one month into their 3 month sabbatical working with the Samaritan Foundation, the Klassen family is making an impact teaching ESL, working with the youth, and providing medical assistance at local clinics in the area. Our neighbourhood promises to become even livelier with the return of all the snowbirds in the next few weeks. We look forward to sharing this time together soon, and encouraging each other in the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ.May you all experience the peace and joy of our Saviour’s birth this Christmas season and may God bless you always.
In Christ, John & Jane
Then, our daughter in law Julie had an emergency appendectomy in the 5th month of her pregnancy and has experienced some complications as a result of the surgery. She is on complete bed rest at this point and we pray for patience during her time of confinement. Paul has finally completed his education at Redeemer University College and is looking forward to starting his new job in January. In the meantime, he keeps a careful watch on Julie ensuring that she gets the required rest the doctor ordered.
And finally, our 3rd son Calvin announced his engagement to Natalie after 3 years of dating. What a whirlwind of activity in the Huizinga household has been!
Dan, our youngest son is on the home stretch with only 4 more months of school to go to complete his college education in Transportation Engineering. He is currently finishing up his 2nd co-op with the Hamilton Street Railway (public transit) and is enjoying it immensely.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be able to spend some time with each of our children and their spouses, and especially being able to visit with our parents and extended family members during their Christmas celebrations.
2009 has been an active year in ministry with many groups coming to the Dominican Republic to work with the Samaritan Foundation. We are now in the home stretch, with only 4 more days left to work with our final mission team of the year, please pray for strength that we may finish strong. This verse gives us the comfort of knowing that God will sustain us and carry us through. It has been a blessing to work with so many different people using their gifts and talents helping the poor, all to God’s glory.
Even with a delay in completing the roof on the building (due to lack of tin available and then a stop work order regarding the permit), work was allowed to continue only on the inside of the building. 
Trying to stay on schedule (our North American work ethic) and wanting to lay the ceramic tile before the 2nd team arrived, the ensuing rains that fell during this time was probably God’s way of saying slow down…all things will be completed in His time.
At the dedication service, we spent time worshipping together with our Christians brothers and sister, participating in song and prayer. 
After hearing the testimonies of the pastors and what this center means to them, it was worth all the hard work we experienced during the previous 6 weeks. The Christian joy of working together is reflected in the letter below from the Canadian Pastor at Living Hope CRC.
It has been a pleasure for us to assist in this project, working with family and friends of Living Hope CRC, a church that John grew up in as a child and one that we worshipped in for the first 15 years of our married life together.
An exciting opportunity for visiting mission teams is being able to buy food, bag it, and then distribute it to an entire village. 
The key to doing this successfully lies in the planning and distributing of tickets prior to the actual event. Saturday morning Marie, Ellie & Sandra & I with the help of the children, 
Mateo & Luckny, tromped through the entire village visiting each household to distribute the tickets that could be redeemed the next day. The men translated for us and stressed to each person…no ticket…no food, and it worked! 
After attending the worship service on Sunday Dave, Sandra, Dirk, Ellie & Arnie exchanged the tickets for bags of food to each person in the line at the school……
while Mateo & Luckny kept the line moving in an orderly fashion. 
Forty five minutes later….all 200 bags were picked up except one. This was a record for the most prompt and orderly fashion of any distribution ever held in Los Algodones!
Pastor training has been an important part of our mission work….after all, equipping the pastors to preach the Word is first and foremost to spreading the gospel. Almost all of the resources available for pastors are located in the Santo Domingo area (about 4 1/2 hours south) so finishing this training center is like a dream come true for them.
Local tradespersons who claimed to be maestros were employed to assist the team in construction with Edmund, a local Haitian pastor as their interpreter. The difficult part was doing the construction their way, and not with our North American mentality of speed and long hours. 
The building is small in size so no more than the 5 construction workers and 5 volunteers could work at the same time, therefore the women took on another project painting furniture and windows in villa Paraiso instead.
distributing 200 bags of food to the entire village of Emmanuel, attending a Haitian worship service, 
and the highlight of their week was moving a widow and her 4 children from Puerto Plata into her new home in Paraiso.
The language difference was a real barrier, so I guess I will now be learning Spanish!! Ola'
I am Grateful for the experience, Grateful for what I have, Grateful for my family and friends, Grateful for the love of the Lord. “
We would like to say thanks to all our family and friends (especially those who have reached this milestone already) for their birthday greetings and gifts.
Paul & Julie (our son & daughter in law) brought their greetings in person arriving here on that special day and we look forward to spending time together enjoying God’s creation on this beautiful island (after work of course). CONGRATULATIONS, and remember….. after 50 life does gets even better!
while the women painted 5 windows and 2 doors for each of the 25 homes currently under construction. 
Martha and Frieda and two of the local women got their hands dirty painting every day. When the job was finished quicker than expected, they searched for more unpainted windows and doors of homes in the village that the people had already moved in to.
The 2nd week saw a few changes in the schedule….Thanksgiving dinner together Monday night at a local restaurant (Morua Mai), a visit to the public hospital and a juice ministry was held for the 1st time in villa Paraiso. 
But the highlight of the week was the dedication of homes for 25 families on Thursday morning. Have you ever watched the TV reality show called “Extreme Home Makeover”? The team visited some of the families in their humble dwellings that have no electricity or water, many which are very close to the river and prone to flooding, and brought them to the celebration and their new home.
Elio Madonia speaks to the families during the ceremonial opening. The press was invited to attend the grand celebration and their articles were published the next day in the local paper.
Senora Isabel Garcia Vargas and her family were pleased to receive house # 86.
Thank you very much to all the Spruceland employees and team members who have made this project a reality. We thank our heavenly Father for safety on the job site and the continued support of all involved in meeting the needs and changing the lives of the poor.
Spruceland has committed to build 200 homes in Paraiso by the end of 2011. Praise the Lord!
However, we have found that many of the local merchants still have the best prices on their produce and meat. Through Claribelle, the Dominican cook for the lunch program in villa Ascension, we met and now shop regularly at these local merchants whenever possible. 
If you get to the butcher early enough in the morning you can get a slab of beef or pork cut directly from the carcass while you wait, before the flies start buzzing around and settling on the meat. 
I am a skeptic at best buying meat that is hanging unrefrigerated in a hot climate…but after tasting Claribelle’s cooking I was won over. The beef roast sitting 2nd from the left on the counter was our dinner that night. 
Mr. Mackley roasts up to 40 chickens at a time coated with his special seasoning over hot coals in two large barbeques, and they are the best I have ever tasted. I have also discovered that when buying a fresh chicken, that (eeeek), the feet are still attached to the bird. Deep fried chicken feet, better known as Pica Pollo, are a favorite amongst the local people. 
Each day we drive down our street, Papo is selling seasonal fruits such as oranges, grapefruit, mangoes & avocados, and there are always some bananas hanging at his stall for your choice selection.
