Honiara weather;

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/91520.html

Honiara time and weather;

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=273


The DenOudsten's updates have been moved to:

http://www.firstbaptistarmstrong.org/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=53





Solomon Islands Synopsis #5

To ‘flump’: to fall heavily. A great word for us Scrabble and Upwords players. When a heavy door flumps on you, that is not a good thing.

This happened last week to Karen, our literacy coordinator and two days ago she flew to Brisbane for further check ups as she still had headaches and a sore neck/back.

Margreet and I suggested that we move into her little house and free up some needed extra beds.

So it has happened that we moved to the center itself. Our new abode is the size of a single wide mobile. There is cold running water, but not advisable to use for drinking or brushing teeth.

The telecom guys were back today and the internet is actually accessible. For the past weeks people had to come to ‘our’ previous house to do their email.

It has been a little cooler this week: a lot of rain still coming down and it is mostly overcast. We woke up this morning (March 7th) to a blue sky! We spent two hours doing shopping, mostly for the Wycliffe Associates team that has been arriving over these past days. The five of them will start putting up fence posts this coming week.

Tuesday night we took Andy and Julie to the ferry (think an oversized fishing boat, with all the smells and some extra rats). They will be gone to their language area for three weeks. An amazing assortment of items had to go along: lumber, life jackets, canned food, gas bottle, computer and clothing. It all had to be heaved over the railing onto the deck where they were staking out a place to rest. On the other end it will all have to be loaded on a truck, driven across the island and reloaded into a canoe. We have had radio contact in the meantime: they have arrived safely.




Margreet, as seen above, has been busy keyboarding the parables of Jesus in Taihara, one of the local languages. Because Andy’s not around, Margreet will be keeping track of the cash box and other financial duties in the office. (Payroll for the employees she won’t have to do!)




Henk and crew were almost finished with the steps, when they realized there was not enough headroom and the whole contraption had to be moved half a meter.

Progress is being made on The Dorm. Henk installed electrical outlets and the three younger crew members are installing the 4x8 sheets of board starting with the ceilings.

Henk will travel to the Russell Islands tomorrow with Tim Matzke and Aaron Choate. The Choates are hoping to move there soon (with their four children) to restart a translation project. Our little advance team will establish contacts and try to find out what is needed to make the house that they will live in livable again. It has been empty for a few years now as the previous team had to leave for a medical emergency.
If the ferry sticks to its schedule we should be back Wednesday at 4AM.



(My best guestimate from the Google 'scale' is that the Russell Islands - marked with the blue A - are approximately 100 km from Honiara. Margaret)

Henk and Margreet
henkden@sunwave.net



Solomon Islands Synopsis #4

The good thing about the rainy season is that when it does rain the temperature drops to around 24-27C. The drawback is that it can really come down. While you were having a blizzard we got 4cm of the wet stuff in an hour with 19cm the previous day. The soil here is like a big sponge and the roads (at least the ones that don’t have blacktop) can handle it easily.
This week has been a bit on the hectic side.
Henk and crew were able to finish The Loft in time for Bruce and JoAnn’s return on Tuesday. The only thing remaining is the outside stairways. It was all in place, when we realized there was not enough headroom clearance with the verandah itself. Now they are in the process of moving the whole structure over one foot.

The two week long workshop on Hebrews/Psalms finished this week. Nine participants were able to make it to the workshop. The ferry service between the islands works, but is not very reliable. Some of the translators will have a difficult time returning to their villages.
Our three-bedroom apartment is a lot fuller with the arrival of a couple and a single. They are here to do a survey on the transportation needs for the translation teams and how they can best be met. Andy and Julie Pierce, our neighbors, will take 22 hours to get to their translation project. This includes a ferry, a ride on a truck and another ride in a canoe, this if all goes smoothly. Now imagine trying to do this with four young children…
Henk was going to join two others this weekend to have a look see at the work that needs doing before their family can return to the village. Unfortunately this ship will visit five ports and return to Honiara the same day. There is another sailing scheduled for this coming weekend March the eight, which supposedly will give us the time we need.

Margreet has done more file clearing/burning and keyboarding.



Finally we (Henk and crew) were able to start work on the downstairs of another house. It is a ‘diamond in the rough’, but it has three good-sized bedrooms and will be converted into a dormitory for the national translators when they come for workshops etc. Two people have been working all week on smoothing out the concrete floors and installing new outside doors. We would like to start on building a kitchen next week.
This coming week we anticipate the arrival of five volunteers (all of them happen to be Canadians!) who will be helping building a fence; that is if we can get the ‘transfer of property papers’ signed and registered in time. Don’t worry: there is a long list of other, smaller, jobs just in case.


Henk is getting the hang of opening coconuts and scraping out the “meat”.




Just to give you some idea of the prices here: cheese C$16/kg, 10 eggs for $4.50. a litre of milk C$3, a small cucumber C$2, C$1 for a medium sized onion. Diesel is C$1.30/liter. (Our currency here is in Solomon Dollars: S$6.= C$1.-)

Saturday afternoon we visited SWIM (Short term Work In Missions) - an outreach of the Christian Reformed Church of Australia. Their vision is to establish a vocational school for disabled adults. A Canadian couple from Edmonton is there for a 3 month period.

A couple of days ago Henk got an insect (mosquito?) bite which developed into an infection. Right now Henk’s leg is looking a lot better: a friend gave us some double strength antibiotic ointment. Likely due to the high humidity, it takes a lot longer than at home to heal.

Thank you for your love, concern, emails and prayers!

Love,

Henk and Margreet
henkden@sunwave.net




Synopsis #3 090221

What does one do to have some excitement at the beach? One finds a stuck in the mud pick up truck!



After having been to the market and shops to get next week’s groceries we decided to check out ‘the sandy beach’ this Saturday. The above picture kind of emphasizes that the word ‘sandy’ is a bit of an overstatement. We did have a nice relaxing time: the water is around the 28C.

Thankfully it has been a sunny day. Although it is the rainy season the rains were less dramatic than the week before, still it is smart to have an umbrella with you.

Margreet has done more burning of old records and reorganizing old files. Henk and his crew have made steady progress on ‘The Loft’. It should become livable in the next few days, which is a good thing as Bruce and JoAnn hope to return from Brisbane on Tuesday. Margreet will shift her focus than to helping them get settled in.

Yesterday (20th) the downstairs of one duplex was vacated by its owners. Henk will spend the next three weeks or so fixing it up and reconfiguring it to be used as visiting translators housing. This Tuesday will also see the arrival of three Wycliffe colleagues who will be staying with us for some time.

The effects of the unusually heavy rains of three weeks ago are still noticeable at the market. Lettuce for example is still $5 (6 Solomon Island dollars to 1 Canadian), but instead of three small heads one gets only one head of lettuce. A handful of green beans went from $5 to $8.

We are able to buy fresh whole wheat bread (if you are at the bakery at the right time!). There is a choice of yams, lentils, rice, green beans and a wide variety of fruits: papaya, avocado, mango, bananas, lemons, star fruit.

White flour has disappeared off the shelves, so Margreet will have to slow down on her baking.

Unlike African countries taxis drive very slow here (25-30km/h) which can be somewhat frustrating trying to keep your distance: there are quite a few of them as well. It takes us 10 minutes to cover the two-km to the office, where we normally are from 8 till 12 and 1 to 5 from Monday through Friday.

It is good to be here and help meet some of the needs. Thank you for being partners with us in this adventure!! A BIG thank you to those who have written to us via email!

Greetings and blessings,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
henkden@sunwave.net





Pictured received February 18, 2009



I am at work in my little office (sifting through files); it is also the radio room from which translation teams check in once a day.



Henk laying a new floor in one of the bathrooms.



Two of the SIL employees with whom Henk works daily.


Solomon Islands Synopsis#2

Although it is quite nice on the deck off the living room, we are both inside on this beautiful sunny Saturday. The no-see-ums are still out in force at three thirty in the afternoon and quite hungry. Today is Valentine’s Day and this morning we set out to swim at “Stony Beach” which is the closest to town and apparently quite different from the ‘sandy beach’ which is about 6 km beyond town. We arrived there just before noon, meeting up with colleagues.

For our lunch we got a bbq-ed piece of chicken, some rice, a slice of cucumber and two fried bananas at a roadside stand.There was a choice of chicken or tuna fish and it was served on a banana leaf. It was finger licking good, which was a good thing as our fingers were the utensils of choice.

In the morning Margreet and I together with Andy and Julie – our downstairs neighbors-went downtown for our weekly shopping: the Bulk store, Aus Mart and the open fruit and vegetable market. Did you know that Aussies aren’t familiar with mustard and it is very hard to find here?

We mentioned JoAnn last time. She has been airlifted to Brisbane last Monday. A MRI scan has revealed two hair line cracks in her pelvis. Time will have to do the healing. Since Bruce, her husband, has gone with her Henk has been ‘in charge’ of the project. Thankfully Patson, the cabinetmaker returned the next morning. It had taken him this long to be able to get passage on one of the ferries. Can you imagine having to wait two months to get off Vancouver Island after visiting your relatives for Christmas?

Progress has been made on The Loft and we are getting down to the small stuff like window boxes and cabinet doors. Going to the hardware store is normally time consuming especially if one needs lumber. It is amazing how many decisions need to be made in every aspect of the building. Do we use nails or screws; dove tail the drawers or not, what to use for the fronts of them? This morning there were four workers pouring concrete as a foundation for the stairs that lead up to the verandah. This coming week I’ll have to make the decision how to fabricate the stairs themselves.
In this all I am thankful that I can just wear shorts and a T-shirt. As you can tell from the Honiara Weather Info, it is very hot and humid. ( When we lived in and later worked for short periods in Africa I rarely wore shorts because there it is culturally not acceptable as compared to here for men it is the norm.)

Margreet was kept busy for a few days helping JoAnn: typing emails for her, bathing her and cooking dinner for five people (and shopping for that: where is Askews when you need it?). After JoAnn was airlifted Margreet has been going through filing cabinets full of ‘ancient’ history. Memos, letters and annual reports dating back to 1979! Margreet’s Wycliffe background makes it easier for her to determine what is essential to keep and what can be burned. This coming week the financial records need to be thinned out and M. will actually have a barrel to burn it in!

In the evening our bedtime has slowly shifted from 8.30 to 9.30 or even 10 o’clock. Last Wednesday we played a game of Settlers with the neighbors. We did bring Rummikub and Upwords with us and play that regularly.

A translation workshop (Psalms) is starting this weekend; pray that all participants will arrive on time. (mainly by ship, from different islands)

Drop us a line; thank you for your prayers.
Henk and Margreet
henkden@sunwave.net




The following pictures will lead almost to Margreet and Henk's doorstep!














Solomon Islands Synopsis #1
February 5th, 2009

Dear friends,

It has just rained a little bit for the first time today. There seems to be a drying trend developing and people are happy with this. Apparently it has been raining heavily every day for the past two weeks. Although The Islands get a lot of rain this has been abnormal and has caused flooding, loss of lives and destruction of fields and bridges. The bundles of fresh produce for sale on the market have already become smaller.

We had a good trip getting here, compact snow on part of the ‘Coq’ and being in a holding pattern over Honiara for an hour as a rainstorm was making the runway all but invisible. Thankfully we did not have to return to Vanuatu and were able to land by skimming over the waves at maybe 30-50 feet.

We are staying in the upper part of a duplex. We have it for ourselves right now, but that will change in the near future. The translation center is 3 km down the road and we have the use of a van, which we share with our neighbors Julie and Andy. It didn’t take long to get used to driving on the left side of the road.

Henk has been busy already with installing electrical outlets and such, crawling into attics. The person that started building the cabinets for a new addition hasn’t been seen since Christmas and Henk has been hard at work making drawers and sanding down the cabinets. There is a bit of a deadline as a workshop starts next week and the space is needed for that.

Margreet had been asked to do filing and scanning of language material before it all gets too moldy.

This assignment changed drastically as JoAnn, the wife of the Wycliffe Associates Construction coordinator, fell and not only got some nasty bruises, but also strained her back. She has been told by the physiotherapist to stay flat on her back as much as possible for at least a week. She helps her husband and does a lot of the emailing etc. to stay in contact with the WA volunteers. Margreet has again taken up her role as personal assistant typing and photocopying and other needed errands . We, well Margreet mainly of course, will also look after their evening meals.

There is only a handful of people here at SITAG (Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group) and the task is so huge. We again feel privileged to be part of it and thank you for your prayer and financial support.

With love,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten

Sudan Update #9 -- CONCLUSION Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
March 17th, 2008

It has been a while since we left Juba:

March 4th we flew to Uganda where we were able to stay with Otto & April. Henk helped Otto pull cables and patch up the walls of the SIL office. I had no job for those days, but I enjoyed "surviving":

Oh, that first nice warm shower in Entebbe and then a trip to the local pool the day before our departure from Africa.

On the morning of our departure in Juba my crown (in my mouth) broke off while having my final piece of Ugandan toasted bread. It didn't feel very good and it was difficult to talk.

Upon arrival in Entebbe, Otto took me to a dentist who looked at the crown and assumed rightly that it had been leaking - I knew that because one month ago a tiny piece broke off.... My only option was to have it pulled and there it went after some cranking, pushing and pulling. It left a DEEP crater.

Today I went to my own dentist to just make sure everthing was ok. She reassured me that everything looked "beautiful" and was surprised how well and how quickly it had healed...

Our trip to Holland went well though our flight from Entebbe was delayed by 2 hours, which made us arrive in London two hours later and having to find another flight to get us to Amsterdam. We were not interested in spending the night in London as British Airways tried to suggest: no thank you! In Amsterdam we were met by a special close friend, Jan Slot, as well as my brother Wim.

We had a few good days with our relatives (my only sister flew in from Switzerland where she lives) and friends in Holland from March 9-12th. On March 13th we flew back to London and then on to Vancouver. On Friday March 14th we drove up to our home town in the Okanagan: Armstrong. Again I realized that we live in a beautiful area, surrounded by snow capped mountains. Home sweet home!!!

Sunday was our first time back in our home church. What a warm welcome we received. Our friend and Bible translation consultant, Wes, from Juba had sent a note of appreciation to our pastor which he shared in the morning service.

We feel truly blessed to have had this time of service and again are very much aware that we serve the only God who answers prayers!!!

Henk went back to work today - I am back to being a house wife and a few other "hats" I am wearing relating to our church, the Farmers' Market and the Chamber of Commerce.

I won't quiz you on the contents of the previous Updates but am glad that it was a way to communicate what we experienced in a country torn by 30 years of war that is proud of their own languages and desires to see as many as possible have God's Word, the Bible, in their own language, the language they understand best.

This will be our last Update and will be posted again on the website of firstbaptistarmstrong.org

Have a wonderful Easter!

God bless,
Henk & Margreet DenOudsten

Hi everyone!! Well, we are almost at the end of our trip. We spent a few days in Chiang Mai Thailand (shopping!!) and now back in Bangkok(to finish shopping). We fly out to Korea in about 12 hours (it is 10am here, March 5th.)(7:00 pm, March 04 in Armstrong) and have a long overlay. Then off to Seattle, then Spokane and we then drive back home. It really flew by. Bye for now. TTYL

Trish & Andy

Sudan Update #8 (eight) Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
February 29, 2008


A few journal entries to start with:

"Walking to the market I am always "followed" by little kids that shout "mornin'", "mornin'" -- whether it is early in the morning, or late in the afternoon. "Kawaji" is the other word that follows me along the way, meaning "white person". Even when I respond with "mornin'" -- that does not stop the little kids. I don't really know what they expect me to say, but it is only after I am far enough away that they stop yelling."

"The generator is still acting up and tends to overheat. Henk did a lot to get more air circulation into the small brick building that houses it. Lifting part of the roof, installing a few small fans and placing bigger fans around the generator. Until the service technician arrives, we are at least managing to keep the computers in the offices going as well as our fridges and recharging the batteries for the server/internet access."


"The final saga in the generator maintenance story: Otto, the technician arrived back in town. Together we disconnected and removed the radiator. One side is coated with a mixture of diesel and dust. Down in the industrial area we find one of his buddies, who has a pressure washer. I am always amazed about the ingenuity that is being used to get the job done. Two welders were setting up their equipment, twisting some thinnish wires to the bare transformers! We stayed a respectable distance from them! Using detergent, gasoline and the pressure hose we end up with a clean radiator. We pick up 4 litres of fluid (at $7.50/ltr) and reinstall the unit. It runs great and the temperature stays cool!

Finally all is well with the source of our electricity!

In between all this two of our translation consultants were trying to arrange a flight back from upcountry. Email, cell phone and satellite phone combined finally got everybody (in five different locations) 'on the same page', but unfortunately for them no flight is available for the next four or five days."

Never a dull day around here. So often things happen that many times don't have a quick easy solution as described in the above final resolution with the generator.

Last week - just after Henk had left to take 3 people to the airport, Tariisio (one of the workers) came and said that Baigi had cut his finger - he made the movement of having cut the finger almost off! I tried to delegate this to Henry (a Sudanese translation consultant) but he didn't look too enthused.... So I pulled myself together, looked at the BIG (more than 2 inches) cut in the finger and dove into the First Aid bucket.

At that point I thought: everyone on the Center should at least pretend there is an emergency and familiarize themselves with the contents!!!. I knew that I was looking for gauze and for bandaids to keep the gauze in place as well as Polysporin. Of course I didn't give myself enough time to search for something like Polysporin in the bucket, but got ours from home.

I told B. to keep it as dry as possible and have me look at it in the morning. Since the next days were Saturday and Sunday I would only see him again on the Monday! I knew that all that could be done was pray and trust God! I am happy to report that when I looked at his finger on Monday morning, there was only a very fine line left where the cut had been. It had healed beautifully. God is good and answers prayers!

Going to the airport is a bit of an outing: one never knows what will happen, how long of a wait one has etc. This week we have gone almost daily. Sometimes to drop off people, other times to pick them up. It has been a pleasure to also do this service for Rob, working for MCC. He uses our guest house a lot, until next week when he moves into our apartment.

Rob took some people to Rumbek (an one hour flight). He wasn't quite sure when there would be a flight available coming back and of course nobody else knows either! I went off on Sunday to be told after a 1-1/2 hour wait that most likely it could be Monday around 9. That morning at 10 the indication was maybe 2pm. Rob called that he expected to arrive at 1:30 p.m. It was close to 3 p.m. when he disembarked from a different flight, without his 2 guests, who were still stuck at the other end. Tuesday morning I took Rob and his now 3 guests back to the airport at 8 a.m.

Later in the morning Margreet and I return as we wait for two men from Nairobi to arrive. We actually miss them, but find them sometime later outside the terminal! They are here for a day to assess the plumbing work to be done by a small goup of volunteers who will come for ten days in April.

Two weeks ago, Tanya from Canada and Jackie from the U.K. who normally run the SIL center besides doing their literacy work, left for an SIL Africa literacy worshop in Nairobi. Just before Tanya left, she wrote this little blog that I was allowed to copy.

"Tonight we took our neighbors out for dinner. They've been living here since the beginning of January, and they have made our lives SO much sweeter here on the compound. They're a great combination of ethnicities: Dutch-Canadian.

They have also been doing so many of the things around here that have needed doing for a LONG time. Fixing everything and anything, cleaning everything and anything, and just basically being all around nice people!

Margreet is also wonderful to have around because she's willing to go on little adventures with me all the time. Any time I need to go on any errands, she just jumps in the truck with me - and even opens and closes the gate for me so I don't have to get in and out of the truck :) Now that's mighty neighborly.

Unfortunately, they're only here for a short time :( I'm already starting to miss them, since they'll already be gone by the time we come back from Nairobi. So we took them out for dinner tonight, just to spend some time with them. It was a minor adventure finding the restaurant, but I'm glad we persevered because we had a great meal in the end!" (chicken and fried potatoes)

This is probably the last Update from Juba. We are leaving on Tuesday to fly to Entebbe and be there for 4 days to do some work and have a few hours in a local swimming pool so we can "bleach" ourselves :) -- we are dirty!!

We are not quite sure yet who will be here to hand over several of our duties: the cash box, the generator, the keys, etc... Because this is what happened last night at 10 p.m.... just a few minutes before Henk was to turn off the generator:

At 10 p.m. the program coordinator of Missionary Aviation Fellowship stopped by to say that our 2 Bible translation consultants can't fly back today but only, maybe, Monday. They need money to live during those extra days. Could we send some money and the pilot can then do an "air drop" --notifying and then dropping a bag without landing thus saving a lot of fuel! After all that was dealt with it was hard to fall asleep! But again grateful that we were here and were able to help out. While Margreet was counting out the money Henk helped Mengisha to fill up barels with water as their compound's water supply had been cut off.

Late this morning we received communication that the translation consultants have gone on a truck and will be coming by road, taking two days and having to spend the night "somewhere"......

Our previous updates and a few pictures are posted on the weblog of
www.firstbaptistarmstrong.org -- thank you Margaret!!

We look forward to hearing from YOU -- anything happened in your life lately??? Please write to us at
henkden@sunwave.net

We will be back in Vancouver on March 13th and drive home to Armstrong on March 14th but I am sure we'll have another chance to write to you.

Thank you friends and family for your care, your support in prayer and finances -- please know that without your help in these practical ways, we couldn't be here!

God bless you all,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
SIL - Juba, Southern Sudan

Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:30:24 -0800

Hi there.

We had a real adventure today. We went up to the terraced rice fields, but getting there was an adventure all in itself. We hired a jeepney.

It started out with a warm sunny day. The road was rough, but okay. We went up a long road, up the mountain, surrounded in Jungle. A few shanty's along the way. There were some stops, like a lean to, where you could buy souvenirs and refreshments. Then the rain started.

It was a shower, so very fine, but so fast it was like the air was liquid. The roads became a muddy horse trail with rocks and water filled ruts. It became challenging when there was a vehicle coming the other way! The trail down to the rice terraces was difficult indeed. The path had huge rocks, slippery mud, some paved sections, some parts were sooooo steep.

We got to the fields and they were quite spectacular. We continued for a while and the path became about 8 to 10 inches of concrete which was the wall of the rice fields and a shear drop on either side. That was the point I said it was time to turn back. It took a couple of hours to get there.

There were some little huts along the way with bathrooms and one place with food. That is where we stopped on the way back. They had real fresh rice, in fact, they had a pile of it in the back that they had to thresh first. Needless to say, we are a little pooped. I think we did ourselves quite proud though, having survived it.

The rain has not stopped. There is water and mud everywhere. We hope it will stop for tomorrow so we can have more adventures (without the walking!). Will let you know.

Trish & Andy

Hi there! We spent our first night in Manila. It kind of reminds me of a cross between Mexico and Sri Lanka. The streets are absolutely crowded from early morning especially with the vehicles called Jeepneys. They are much longer than a jeep, and you nearly hit your head if you sit up too straight. There are two benches running along each side. They are like ants here!!! Many are elaborately painted. There must be many artists in Manila. Some have tigers or birds or flames, whatever...

We got away early, took a bus yesterday morning first to Baguio. Actually Baguio was a pleasant surprise. It is relatively clean, nice parks and gardens and so forth. Not too good at directions there, however. We asked about 10 people for a location and got 10 answers, none of which were correct. We found our hotel called the Burnham Hotel. We met other fellow travelers, two from England, two from Ottawa Canada. Then we left early this am, first to Bontoc.

The roads were okay, until the pavement ran out. Then, oh my goodness. The road is being repaired in about 50 places, mostly gravel, some places the road is washed away from the mountain water. We climbed endlessly, rice terraces and towns all along the way. I saw a fellow cooking a chicken outside with a blow torch, I saw a huge pigs head (about the size of a cow's) hanging off a meat hook, children running along the cliffs, little ones even. The bus went as far as it would go so we had to rent a Jeepney in Bontoc to go to Banaue.

We thought the road was bad before, I have never been so shook up as this. We bounced, my head hit the ceiling! We stopped for a couple of young fellows who also wanted to bring a load of cut logs for carving, so Andy & I sat with the load of wood while the two young fellows hung on the outside. What a trip!

The scenery is beautiful. Lush green forests broken with the terraced rice fields, and little villages sprinkled among the hilltops and valleys. The houses are cut into the side of the mountains on stilts and one wonders when the rain is going to wash them away. They perch up there like birds.

We finally arrived in Banaue. It is a grungy poor town but not without character. Our hotel is perched high and you can see a river down in the valley surrounded with rice fields and houses perched higgley piggley where ever they decided to plant it. We go on a long tour tomorrow to the famed rice fields some 2,000 years old and there is supposed to be tribes there in their native dress. It will be a bit of a hike so we better get our rest. Take care and bye for now.

Trish & Andy

The highway was good and so was the bus. We were really glad. The scenery is very jungle-like and was quite flat. Most of the houses are made of wood or corrugated steel, including the roofs. They are all in varying degrees of rust, some are striped when a piece had been replaced. A whole town will have a grey look, of either concrete or metal. There is the odd house of concrete brightly painted and it stands out like a neon sign.

Sudan Update #7 Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
February 20, 2008

Another Monday came and went: we had our meeting at 10 a.m. where we talked about our activities and we prayed. The biggest concern of all the Sudanese men was the urgent need for "someone" to come and help them with their computer problems. Many of these men use the computer to enter data but have no idea how to fix problems. Some lost chapters because they couldn't find them any more, some had a computer freeze up.... They said:
"We need to pray and ask God very urgently, that we NEED a computer helper/teacher desperately!!! Is there anyone "out there" that could come and give us the knowledge about computers that we need??"

One thing to be careful about is not to lose the 'prime' on the hand pump that we use to fill the generator from one of the barrels of diesel. Fortunately one of the drums was empty enough to hoist it up onto wooden blocks and syphon off some diesel into a plastic container. All in all messy and time consuming.

The door handles on the new locks we installed are not of the best quality. One already broke off. However, in a corner of the workshop I found a box with pieces of old locks and hardware. Some of the older handles have a better construction and the same sizing, I think they will last longer. In another dusty box there were parts to fix two shower heads.

It is easy to lose track of the days. Margreet found out about that when some guests showed up 'unexpectedly'.

For Margreet is was Tuesday, for everybody else it was Wednesday...

There are a lot of comings and goings in the guest house which is available to anyone looking for lodging. Last night it was an Anglican bishop with his entourage of 4 people. This morning after he vacated the rooms, the beds were made for a relief agency arriving with 3 people. It feels like running a motel, which it almost is

The mature rodent population around the house has been diminished by one.

After feeding our local rat (about 15 cm long not including the tail) for a week on peanut butter, carrots and the occasional nut, it succumbed to the combined effect of the trap, rat glue and a panga. No more rustling noises during the night!

Before we go to bed we each take one frozen, water filled, plastic coke bottle and lay it on our pillow. As it is still 30 degrees Celcius when we go to bed at ten it gives a nice cool pillow to rest on! It even cools down the air one breathes.

On our compound there are ten containers. One of them contains tons of books, mainly New Testaments in Avokaya and Mundu, but also primers, teachers' aids and alphabet charts in some ten languages. After an hour we figured we had it narrowed down to one. I volunteered to start moving boxes and boxes of books. It took six hours and a few litres of water to sort it all out. At 49C inside the container it was certainly a hot job!

Saturday night somebody suggested we go out for burgers! Apparently this Eritrean restaurant along the Nile has great burgers and chips. We ended up going with nine people (one white and one black South African, 3 Canadians, one Brit, two Americans and one Sudanese) in a Toyota Hilux pick up truck. Four people in the open back, holding on for dear life.

It turned out there were not enough burgers left for all of us, so Margreet and I had samosas instead.

We met up with three people working with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. Marjan Companjen (MAF) had just arrived that day. Our names didn't ring a bell, but then Margreet asked her if she remembered Margreet Vogelaar (M's maiden name)...she sure did and Margreet told her: "that's me!". Marjan's dad and Margreet worked together with "Open Doors with Brother Andrew" in the early seventies and once in a while Margreet would babysit for the family!

Margreet and I (and/or Justin) feed the generator regularly and another trip to the gas station to get diesel was needed. Filling two barrels takes a while, but there were no long line ups this time.

The last couple of days the generator has been acting up by just stopping after about an hour. Last night this happened twice; thankfully we were able to get hold of the technician. We went out and picked him up. We had to drive through the market area. At nine it is pitch dark, but with a lot of traffic. Pedestrians, motorbikes and matatus (with or without lights). All in all quite unnerving.

Because of poor installation the exhaust pipe has broken. Inside the building the diesel fumes were apparently strong enough to coat the air filter. Replacing it with a used one did the trick. This morning I cut a piece af aluminum from some roofing material and was able to patch it up temporarily, finding a clamp on a very old non-functioning generator on the site, and re-using that.

Hope you enjoyed reading the "nuts & bolts" of our lives in Southern Sudan. We always love to hear from you too!!!!!!
henkden@sunwave.net

Thank you for being part of what we are doing here in order for more language groups to hear the Word of God in their mother tongue!! Thank you for your prayers!

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten

Hi there!

We finally made it to Manila. The city is even bigger than Bangkok!!! It is old and grungy except for the tourist areas, which are nicer. We weren't able to book ahead as the people here don't answer phones, have no websites and don't respond to faxes.

We are now in a place called Malate Pensionnes. Nice place, but we won't know if we have a room for another hour. There are many other hotels around here so we aren't worried.

It is a little cooler here and an hour later than Bangkok. We hope to arrange a ride to Banaue tomorrow. Wish us luck, you need it around here. Nothing is simple or easy!! (if we do???). TTYL
Trish & Andy

Margreet in the kitchen with Mary, the cook.







Henk and other men digging a trench for cable to be put underground.

The red flowers are bougainvilla.They come in white, purple and pink.
The branches have thorns on them so it is an excellent border to prevent
animals or people coming in where they should not.

Sudan Update #6 February 11th, 2008

Every Sunday night we have a "Juba International Fellowship" evening held at our compound. Expatriates (about 25) representing at least 10 different relief organizations gather for a time of prayer and Bible Study. Our theme over the past week and weeks to come is "Lent".

In North America we don't give much thought to that "season", however, those who are from the U.K. are very much aware of it. (Lent is the 40 days prior to Easter meant to prepare us for that celebration.) The idea is to "give up" certain things that we enjoy. It is quite a challenge for us personally to think of something to "give up" while living in Juba since there is already so much that we do not have here.

Even a good shower with warm running (soft) water would be a nice luxury ........

Kathy is a British young lady who is staying at the SIL compound. She works for the Ministry of Economic Development under an agreement with her U.K. university. Her little apartment needed fixing up, but how do you re-attach the handle for the toilet where the tank itself is broken? You find an old worn out grinding wheel and form fit the end of an aluminum blade of an old fan. The flexible hose broke off: cut off the treaded part of an useless tap to use as an adaptor.

She was able to put our rat trap to good use. Apparently this particular rat got so frustrated with not being able to get into the containers of food that it pushed them out of the cupboard!

Through a friend of hers she was able to shop at the U.N. 'super'market. She brought us some ice cream and coffee! Another friend brought us a small piece of cheese from Uganda.

Word was received that Lynne's mother had a major heart attack, so Lynne revised her plans and is now on her way to Australia. Eileen was able to get the paper that she needed to apply for a work visa in that country and hopes to leave mid March.

Last Saturday we helped her with a 'garage' sale.

Although they have been here for over 30 years (their main accomplishment being able to translate the New Testament in the Avokaya language and developing literacy materials for Avokaya) there wasn't a whole lot to sell, mainly some personal belongings and lots and lots of books! (One item caught my eye: a hole punch which had on one side "Avokya" written on it, and on the other side "Margreet": it used to be hers in the Nairobi office in the '90's when we lived and worked there in the SIL office . The household items are being bought by SIL for future personnel. The personal belongings were not that many either due to the fact that these two ladies over the time span of their 30 years have had to evacuate at least 4 times and leave behind a lot of their belongings.

Pretty well everything has to be imported by road from Uganda, Kenya or through Khartoum. Unfortunately hardly anything is grown here. Lack of vision or encouragement to do so?? Even eggs are shipped on the back of pick up trucks! Many items are just not available.

We resurfaced part of the guest house kitchen countertops with arborite. This is not available in town. Because of the poor quality that breaks so easily, it was flown in by MAF from Nairobi as a special favor. It had been sitting here for at least a year.

Fritz and I fixed the horns on two vehicles. On the Toyota they were both rusted, on the Nissan both were in good order. The problem there was some rodent chewing the wires. Now each have a working horn: a necessity on the roads here: people, motor bikes, cars and goats!!

Friday afternoon loud shouts were heard: the power is on, the power is on!!! For the first time in four weeks we didn't have to start up the generator! For one thing it saves a lot of diesel and now the back up batteries can be fully charged, the laundry for the guesthouse can be done as well as personal laundry and we can have our bedroom fan on during night when many times it only "cools down" to 26 C. It also keeps out the noise of loud radios in the neighborhood that can easily carry on until 5 o'clock in the morning.

Over at the MAF compound Henk rewired batteries from a 24 Volt system to a 12 Volt system, so an inverter could be installed. This week Henk is going back there to hook it all up.

We would love to hear from you by way of e-mail. Even a short line would be nice:
henkden@sunwave.net

God bless - thank you for "standing with us",

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten

Sea Gypsies:

We have been to Thailand so many times, and only now did we find out about the Sea Gypsies. There are only a few thousand left in Asia and many of them still live in the ancient ways. They have their own language and are darker skinned with a red hue to their curly hair. They also have their own language which has never been written. For most of the year they live on their shanty boats and are true Kings of the Sea. In the rainy season, the live in remote areas of Thailand, Malaysia and surrounding countries, buried in the jungle that surrounds the sea. We went to see such a village.

The beach in front of our jungle bungalows if very long, but it does have an end. As we walk along the beach, we head to where the sand diminishes and a forest begins. Along the way, we pass an elderly Thai lady, no larger than a child, dressed in a grey and white Thai skirt and a loose shirt. She is squatting down near the shore, digging into the sand for tiny clam shells. They are collected in a cloth bowl and she happily shows us her tiny morsels. Her teeth and lips are bright red from chewing betal, a red leaf that was originally used to stave off hunger, but has become a popular 'chew'.

We continue are walk as our white sands becomes grey. A strange looking Mangrove forest now surrounds us, its roots about 3 feet above the water like a hundred long fingers reaching into the darkened clay giving stance to the leafless trees . They are like headless giants with knarled, misshapen arms reaching skyward.

The tide is out as we walk though shallow streams, over sand bars, heading toward the path, a break in the jungle that will lead us to the Sea Gypsy village. As we splash our way, there are finger sized black sea life that scurries away from our footsteps as they hide in the sparce seaweed that waves back and forth with the water's motion. We are about 100 feet from the path which looks like a red clay ribbon cutting into the jungle. Now the soil has become black. Our feet begin to sink in, the black oozes between our sandaled feet and progress becomes very difficult. Our sandals can no longer be lifted out of this cool, slimy mud so we must carry them, leaving very deep footsteps behind us. Finally, we reach the path and get out of this terrible black sludge.

The village is quiet, very quiet. Curiously, there is a large concrete floor with a roof and a cross made of glass brick built into it. We had heard rumors that someone tried to set up a Baptist Church here, but there is no sign of activity. There are about 20 bamboo huts in two rows raised on concrete stilts, walls of braided bamboo with metal roofs. They look old, weather-worn, the shutters hang by a single thread. There is silence. It looks abandoned. I see no one, but can feel many eyes upon us.

The bungalow ahead of us has two rooms, one enclosed, the other with only three walls, the open end facing us. There is movement. We can see an elderly lady crouched down pouring a liquid out of a cocoanut shell. This is the first time she has moved since we arrived and had been previously unnoticed. We hear a dog barking and a chopping sound which we follow. A young girl crouched down, chopping food with primitive tools. She is very dark skinned, with long black wavy hair pulled back with a strip of cloth. She is dressed in a raggy blue/grey dress that wraps around her. She is hesitant, shy, but responds with a slight smile as we introduce ourselves. She does not know our language. We try to ask about the church, but she cannot understand us. Another young girl appears out of nowhere to assist. We make a cross symbol in the sand, but they just don't understand. We wave and continue on our way.

As we go a little deeper into the jungle, we come across another part of the village. These houses are more modern, like boxes on stilts, complete with siding and glass windows. A group of young sea gypsies are heard from one of these 'boxes'. There are five men crouched together in a circle on the ground playing a card game with Thai baht as a young mother with her infant watches them. They too are very dark skinned with curly hair, with the typical asian small flat nose and high cheek bones. They are also very small people, the men usually less than five and a half feet and the women no more than five feet tall, and all are very slender in build. They are friendly, but cannot speak any English or Thai for that matter.

We show them a sign of the cross, wanting to know if the church is still used, but all they do is point to the sea saying 'boat'. It appears they think we are asking about getting a boat passage, but we don't know for sure. We smile and wave goodbye. We must leave the village before the tide comes in and the fast flowing water blocks our return passage.

As we leave the little village. we see the ultimate contrast between the primitive and the modern. There are two large banks of solar panels, thin wires strung between each bungalow hung over nails, and we notice each little hut and bungalow has a tv antennae. No two are alike, each are broken, bent or have missing antennai. Power has come to this little village and with it television. That appears to be their only real connection with the rest of the world.

I felt I was a real intruder into their little world. They want to be left alone, to live as they have for countless centuries, living off of the sea. Our world has slowly crept into their world, but it has been slow and they have not welcomed any real contact outside their village. They cannot speak Thai, but have only their own dialect which has never been written. This alone has proven to bring about their isolation. But their numbers have depleted as the younger generations choose to leave their village hidaway. I also felt privileged to have seen and met them as few have been witness to their existence from our own culture.

Hi there: Just a quick note.

We have had some wonderful weather. We have had rain in the nights though, a big downpour although it did not last very long. In no time at all, the stars are out again.

We went snorkelling today. The water was unusually clear which made it so much better. We are able to see a variety of tropical fish. Most of them are small but there is always a few that surprise us.

I saw my first mantoray (or stingrays???). It was about the size of a dinner plate and skimming along the bottom. There is a nest of them not far from where we were snorkelling. Perhaps a breeding area.

I found many jelly fish today as well, they were also small, about the size of a baseball and completely clear, only just visible. I am not fond the them very much. They don't move out of your way and you can feel their slimy bodies bumping into you.

Then, near shore an entire school of fish swam by right in front of me. They were in countless numbers, all silver with bright yellow underfins. I hardly moved so they didn't take any notice of me.

I saw what appear to be a snake, half buried in the sand. It recoiled as I swam past, so I moved rather quickly.

Of course there are many other tropical fish, some are bright orange with bold black stripes, some jet black with orange fins, some white with green stripes and so forth. It is great when the water is clear like that.

The service for internet has deteriorated on this island from last year. The service is poor and extremely slow.

The beach is a lovely as ever. There is a 100 meter area of clear white sand and then the rocky area starts. That is where the good snorkelling is and where you can find the fish. The water is a lovely light green to blue and can be very warm in the afternoons.

The nights are quite lovely too. The dining areas are all lit up with colorful lanterns, soft music is playing, Thai ladies greet you as your hostess and the food is wonderful.

All is well. Haven't made any firm plans as yet. Have to leave Thailand near the end of the month as our 30 day visa will be used up. Will keep in touch.

Trish & Andy

Sudan Update #5 -- Henk & Margreet DenOudsten



January 31st, 2008
Yesterday we went to the airport to pick up two people arriving from Khartoum. Fritz was supposed to get there at 9. Vinton, who was scheduled to arrive at 10, actually arrived on time. He mentioned that Fritz got on his flight and left somewhat on time.... ten minutes later his plane showed up. No idea how or why his flight took 1-1/2hrs longer. Being an internal flight it is all very informal and straight forward: within 10 minutes we have the luggage and are on our way. They have come to help re rout power- and internet cables.

After another airport run this morning to get two translators returning from Entebbe, Uganda, we get down to the business of
digging trenches and pulling cables. We have a water hose running. The water softens up the soil nicely. Without this aid the ground is as hard as a rock. The nasty bit is to redirect the fiber optic cable. No kinks allowed and the four wires with their connectors are very fragile. We concoct a sleeve to protect them and it works well pushing it through conduit. Margreet has been busy again cleaning rooms, making beds and rigging up mosquito nets. The five guest rooms are in great demand. She instructs Mary, our Sudanese cook, what kind of lunch she should prepare. (Rice and lentils, or lentils and rice
Mary is wonderfully resourceful and the warm lunch is something to look forward to.

After having set our 2 rat traps for the past 2 weeks and seeing them empty of the delicacies we put on them in the evening, we have come to the conclusion that it is a salamander that is the culprit. We put some flour on the counter and could tell there will little "paw" prints! On Friday Margreet stepped into the bathroom only to be encountered by a quite large specimen........

Today it is Sunday the 3rd of February. A lot was accomplished on Saturday on the cable front. Another trip to the airport, which is 15 minutes away to do another pick up.

Coming home, I finally discovered our "house guest" (the salamander)in the bathroom. It escaped the big bowl that I tried to throw over it and it ran into our bedroom underneath the bed. The easiest and quickest solution would be to borrow our neighbour's cat Zane. After Zane was quickly woken up from his cat nap, and brought into the bedroom he made short work of catching the critter. Will this be the end of night time crawlers?

Did you know that.....
3 years ago there were only about 14 cars here, compared to the 65,000 today?
Did you know that .......
the population went from 56,000 five years ago to over a million now due to relocation of national government organizations and the employees that go with these.
Did you know that.....
especially at night you realize how dusty the roads are: it's like driving through thick fog.
Did you know that......
when you buy "blue paint" in the local hardware store, there is only one kind of blue???
Did you know that....
many of you are making it possible for us to make a difference in the lives of many people around us, one task at the time?

Thank you again for your partnership and your prayers,
but for the grace of God,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
henkden@sunwave.net


(Added a few hours later)

Hi all,


For those of you who REALLY read our newsletters thoroughly, there is a mistake in one of the last "did you know"'s....

Of course NGO stands for non-government organizations

-- which are organizations from outside the country such as for example Christian organizations or relief organizations.

Bye,

DenOudstens

Hi folks! We finally arrived at our Payam Island. Good to be back here.

The trip here wasn't great though. We had to take those awful overnight buses. The seats are so close together that I couldn't even cross my ankles. We were wakened at 3am in the morning because we had to change buses, (they forgot to tell us that). That bus took us across town to the REAL bus stop. we waited for another bus and wer told we would have to wait a couple of hours. They made some call and decided to take us to another bus stop where we were to catch a minivan. It finally showed up at 6am. We had to take a truck taxi to the pier to catch the 2 1/2 hour boat ride to the island. We usually take the train and enjoy it but it was all full.

The island is great. Not nearly as crowded as we had come to expect.

We are now in the village to buy a few things. The weather is very sunny and warm, about 35 celsius. We have met people from Sweden, Germany, Los Angeles and Northern B.C., to name a few. We have had troubles finding good internet connections from the island so I will have to keep it short this time. We hope to find better internet places on the island

Bye for now.

Trish & Andy

Sudan Update #4 News from the DenOudsten's in Juba - Sudan January 25th,
2008

Monday morning: at 10 a.m. we have a prayer meeting with the Sudanese translators who are working here.

They themselves are all healthy but prayer is asked for family and relatives in Uganda and Sudan: typhoid and malaria are still very real and serious problems in the daily lives of people living here.

Henk spent some "quality time" under Wes' truck. Yesterday during lunch there was this high pitched sound, which Henk thought was a pressure cooker but turned out to be a tire deflating. The Toyota Hilux has this ingenious system to mount the spare tire. It took us a good hour to loosen up the chain in order to lower the spare.

A lot of time was spent filling in the holes in the bathroom walls. Henk would like to be able to start painting the three of them by the end of the week.

We normally have a hot meal at lunch time. This meal is prepared by a Sudanese lady, Mary. The menu varies daily between lentils, beans, rice or some potatoes. We have a chance to share this meal together with the other SIL workers as well as those who stay in the guesthouse. The last few days there have been nine of us. Two translation consultants, two literacy consultants, three people from MCC and us two.

Tim of MCC had just talked to a Sudanese couple, who had been refugees in Khartoum,the capital of the north. At long last they had enough money to buy themselves tickets to take them "home" to Juba. The means of transportation? A barge that goes along the Nile south towards Juba. It took them 18 days to get here. Three days before their arrival their child was born! Can you imagine what that would be like on a barge full of people and going through a delivery?! We asked Tim if they had called the child Moses :) -- however, it was a girl. Tim didn't know the given name.

Our supper is usually some bread, jam and peanut butter. It is very nice to have a choice of different (white only) breads: square ones baked by Ugandans, rolled up ones by Eritreans or long skinny ones by Sudanese bakers.

Margreet has not done any baking since we only have a stove top. In the guest house is an oven but with the unreliability of butane gas bottles we decided that we could go without baking Pancakes have been our alternative when bread gets a bit boring...

There are three Sudanese workers on the compound: two have been here since the mid eighties. The third one is Justin who is actually a schoolteacher but because he doesn't get paid for being a teacher he has been working as a grounds keeper at the center.

Henk gave him the job to put glass louvers back in the aluminum fixtures along the window frame. It would be nice to have them in place as the glass blocks a lot of the red dust that coats everything. It took us by surprise, however, when a few hours later, Justin, along with Baigi, told Henk that it would not be a good idea to have glass louvers installed since it would be too hot.
It seems a toss up between heat and dust ......

Yesterday we sorted through desks and chairs that had been brought up from Arua (Uganda) after the SIL office there was closed. Thankfully most are still reasonably solid. The termites can be a real problem eating the legs from under the tables and chairs.

After fixing a drawer, several locks, hanging a mosquito net and curtains it is time for a cup of coffee...

The painting on the bathrooms has started - in the meantime Margreet is taking down curtains for washing and cleaning the walls of its reddish hue. The curtains for the guest house were sewn and hung in May 2007 - it seemed a good time to wash them all!!!

Our Internet server has been like a yoyo -- very inconsistent. So many things we take for granted and when they are not there it is disappointing - when it is up, we can't type fast enough

This Update has been written in Word Pad, at least we can save it and not lose it like a few e-mails that were written and were lost half way when the connection stopped.

Thank you for your interest! Thank you to those who sent us a personal e-mail - greatly appreciated. Our local newspaper in Armstrong has been kind enough to copy some of the contents of our Updates. Thank you Jack!

We continue to count on your prayers - can't do without!!
May God bless you all,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
henkden@sunwave.net

Dear friends and family,


A day in the life of .....

First only a few drops hit the tin roof, but within minutes you would have to shout to be heard over the downpour drumming its rythm overhead. Thankfully for us it is only six in the morning, so we can enjoy the sound effects from our bed. The temperature has dropped at least five degrees and actually will stay down the rest of the day.
After our breakfast of oatmeal/peanuts/raisins in milk with a banana, life can begin.
Margreet is sorting out the linen closet for the guesthouse and Henk will be doing errands with Wes.
Wes is an American translation consultant who has been graciously running around town buying needed supplies etc.
We are off to the airport to start with. We need to fill in two forms and make photocopies for the two latest arrivals to Juba, in order that they can be relieved of
U$65 a person to officially register
their arrival in Juba.
>From there we bounce our way to downtown to buy paint. Before we can do
>so
we are
waylaid by an overzealous police officer who has noticed the Ugandan licenseplate on our vehicle. He can let us go on our way for $45 but we decline his kind offer and make our way to the police station.(this because Wes' drivers license was taken there). Yes, Wes should have an International Drivers license and no his Ugandan and Californian ones don't do the trick. But yes he has till Feb.12 to apply for a south sudanese one. An hour later we can continue and it hasn't cost us a cent yet!

"Victor's" is a hole-in-the-wall hardware store, but carries about as much as Home Hardware. We are able to get paint, brushes (no, we want the non-Chinese ones) paint thinner, flashlights for the two night guards, some type of dry powder that if mixed can be uses to fix holes in the walls. On the way back we stop at the open air market for all things wood and haggle about the price of bamboo matting that we need to use as material to repair the fence.
Back at the compound we are just in time to still have some lunch and Margreet and I spend the afternoon cleaning an apartment for a new arrival. Did we already tell you how dusty it is here??

While Margreet is doing some laundry for the guesthouse, I am replacing a fan switch and cutting some pieces of wood to repair a rather awesome looking hole in the kitchen sink cabinet.

Margreet and Jackie have gone for a walk and I have been able to finish another book. After supper it is my turn to check the generator for oil and fuel and start it up for the evening.
We trust that the situation in Kenya will calm down enough to let fuel find its way again into Uganda and from there into Southern Sudan. We have enough diesel left for another two weeks or so. (HD)

Today is another day: I (MD) went to the market to get some eggs and bananas. While I was waiting, I felt this cold wet animal snout(??) against the back of my leg. I did suppress a scream, but immediately turned around to see what it was:
my eyes met the most beautiful black eyes of a little toddler girl who was just testing what white skin would feel like.
Henk left this morning with Rob. Word had spread that some fuel had come down from Khartoum, North Sudan. Quickly 8 jerry cans were found, steel ones at least 20 years old, and with those in the pick up truck and standing in line, diesel was bought. Henk and I got all the jerry cans emptied into a barrel so there is some more fuel to run the generator for at least two MORE weeks.
Since there were still 2 emtpy barrels sitting there, Henk went back this afternoon to have those filled up as well. Guaranteed the clothes he is wearing, are somewhat diesel "perfumed....".

Due to this enormous crisis in Kenya the Galatians workshop that was scheduled for the next two weeks had to be cancelled.
The consultant for that workshop didn't want to leave his family behind in Kenya for security reasons. The workshop has been postponed to April.
In the meantime there is still translation checking going on for about 5 language groups. 2nd Timothy was finished yesterday, and today will be the start of checking the gospel of John . Over lunch talking to Lynne who is the consultant, one point of discussion for the Sudanese was: how to translate "the crown of righteousness"??? A chief's hat with special feathers? Or a reward? I believe reward has been used, lacking anything else that compares with that.
Can you understand what an enormous challenge Bible translation is??

We are doing good and keeping healthy. It is slowly getting hotter - and with the humidity it feels quite warm, especially at night when we can't use the fan since the generator gets turned off at 10 p.m.
Tonight we will invite our neighbor's cat over for an overnight. The second night in a row, a banana was eaten off our kitchen counter. Hopefully the rat will be caught and there will be one less!! If you are ever curious what the weather is like, you can check it at the CNN website, weather: Juba, Sudan.

Thank you so much for your part in helping us making a difference, one day at the time. People here have many times expressed, how grateful they are to have our help.

Thank you for your prayers!!
If you want to e-mail us, please do so at henkden@sunwave.net we would love to hear from you!!!

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten
(

Greetings from Juba, Sudan.
It is a hot one today: the generator is roaring which gives us
electricity. It also provides me with a fan, and an opportunity
to write to you without melting!!

We are just about at the end of our first week in Juba. Henk has been able to help out the Missionary Aviation Fellowship who used to have their office (a container) on the Wycliffe site but just a while ago got a place across town. The radio communication tower and everything that goes with that had to be moved. Henk was just the right person at just the right time to do that. The coordinator, John, kept saying:
"It is amazing: you are a God sent!" Henk got all the equipment of the
roof in no time, and in another day it was up on the MAF roof. When Henk came home yesterday, he said that he drank at least 6 litres of water - and no "output", just dehydration.


I have received my "marching orders" for the guesthouse. With two Sudanese ladies, who know VERY little English, we have been cleaning some of the rooms this morning. Thick, thick dust and dirt scrubbed away. I assume it will only take 3 days, to have most of it back, but hey, for now it looks good

Several Sudanese guests are arriving next week who will be working with translation consultants. My task is to look after the practical
side of things that sheets, towels and mosquito nets are in place and it is all clean - or as clean as possible.
Actually, some guests arrived today (Saturday).
A while back a fellow from Uganda had installed tiles in the bathrooms.
Being in a hurry he didn't remove the oil based paint , but tiled right over it. The long and the short of it being that Henk will have
to remove all of them. Even this afternoon we tackled one complete
bathroom as the tiles are so loose that they come off and are sharp enough to injure someone.

Henk and I are both doing well. I have been cooking up a storm in the
beans and lentils department. Many of you know exactly what I mean because you had a taste of that during our African lunch. Someone lent me a pressure cooker so the beans don't take forever to cook! After our arrival, Lynne took me to the market for some shopping which was very helpful. After seeing the raw meat out in the open market in the hot hot sun, I decided that Henk and I could be vegetarian during our time here.

As you may know (??), Kenya is in a crisis situation which has an effect on all East African countries. The imported goods from Kenya
have dramatically increased in price. The borders between the countries have been closed. Fuel is running very low. We can still run
our generator for a few hours during the day because Lynne got some extra barrels when there was still fuel. A very uncertain situation.
Much of the food is imported from Uganda. Of course now the food gets in little by little.

On a different note: Henk's sister emailed from Holland that his mom
passed away peacefully in her sleep. We are thankful for that and excited for her to be with her Lord and Savior. We will not return for the funeral, but hope to see the siblings in March on our way home.

Thank you for your prayers -- we count on them!!!

Yours in Christ,

Henk & Margreet DenOudsten