Our sweet and hardworking house girl!

This is Ibu Jenarti and her family. Her husband works as a street vendor. They are answered prayer to us. Bu Jenarti always works hard and truthful. We hope and pray that she will grow in the Lord.

our dear Ibu Lilis!

Gertjan always say to me, Ibu Lilis is so joyful and yes she is. You could see in her that shining joy everytime you see her inspite of her work as a rubbish collector. May the Lord bless her and her family abundantly!

Kami mencintai keluarga-keluarga ini!

How we are thankful for these people here in Salatiga. They are our friends!

Christmas fellowship!!

Glad to have a get-together evening dinner and fellowship of all MAF- staff in Indonesia. We acknowledge the effort of the Kirkwoods for organizing it! Thanks guys.

Presenting....

MAF ladies in language school- Salatiga 2010

Indeed we give thanks to these ladies who used by our awesome Saviour, thanks be to Him!!

Marielle learns to write!

I started to teach Marielle just 2 months ago to write her name. Just recently I asked her to write her full first names. And she did it!!

Thanksgiving Day!

Here are MAF ladies serving food to their kids after the beautiful singing of thanks lead by Klazina Pap and her daughter Sarah Ann playing the piano and clarinet.

Ketep Pass!

Gertjan went to have a ride one Wednesday morning just to see this place , Ketep pass. He didn't realise that that very moment Mt. Merapi just erupted. Pheew, praised God he is safe! We wanted to lend some help to few of the evacuation centers by helping distributing clothes and food to the victims.

Indonesian favorite spice!

Cabe, red chillis, heel pettig!

the crops!

Can you imagine how the farmers are feeling seeing these?

Mt. Merapi eruption

The river, unimaginable. Can you see that person there?

"bersepeda bersama-sama"

Yes, it is bahasa Indonesia friends!

Johan with his Indonesian friends were bicycling this afternoon for about an hour on a small shared road of motorbikes and cars. I couldn't keep my eyes on him folks, I was scared at first but praised God they were safe.

This picture is taken when I asked them to have a break. I gave them banana cake and yakult. Of course the Indonesian kids are shy but since I looked-like an Indonesian they trusted me.

They were so happy!!! Marielle is just sneaking in just for a photo.

Johan, in CNN news I mean..!

Johan the reporter in CNN I mean INN. Indonesian News!

Johan was the anchorman in his 2nd grade class. Johan is studying at an Internationl School here in Salatiga. At this day, the parents were invited to witness their small talked show in the class. It was cool!

Class participation!

Pak Gertjan of course from the Netherlands and Pak Andreas from Switzerland had to act and demonstrate the topic of the day! This was way back from Unit 2 class.

Andreas will soon move to Papua to serve with Heli-Mission!

"Idul Fitri" / Lebaran

Idul Fitri is the time where the Indonesians celebrate after a month of fasting. This event will take a week of celebration with food and fireworks. People are to visit each house and get something to eat neighbors to neighbors.

So at this time, we were invited from one of our neighbors and eat with them. It was a special experience for us.

Here is Ibu Patria, her husband and Rithno their daughter ( Nina is not on the photo their eldest).

"poffertjes"

In Nederland, ik was opzoek naar poffertjes pan maar het is veel te zwaar! Hmmm..

Gertjan en ik was een keer op de motorfiets gaan rijden.... ja.. een poffertjes pan... eindelijk .... gevonden... in Indonesie!!

We zijn direct om poffertjes te bakken. Het was lekker!!!

evening bath!

At this time our bathroom was on repair so J & M decided to have an evening bath in a round tub! Oh, they love it because it is an adventure for them!

Ulang Tahun!

This means "birthday" in Bahasa Indonesia! Johan and Marielle were invited in this party and the celebrant's mother asked if they could use our backyard for it! They prayed in their own way of praying of course and importantly this is the first day of Ramadan as well!

The grandma of the celebrant boy is our landlady.

A dinner!

Then we have Reina Folkerts with us for dinner. I made some kind of western meal this evening since we always ate Indonesian food nowadays, so spicy!

Wij hebben een gezellige tijd gehad!

Human Resource MAF-NL visits!

On July 9-12 our human resource personnel visited us here in Indonesia!

We were so blessed to have Reina with us visiting MAF workers in this field.

It also happened that one family, "the Rietveld's" special mentioned Marieke celebrated her birthday. We made it as a special day for both families.

Reminder!!!

This blog is just a short information and few details of our experiences. It is not an in depth information of our journey of serving Him. We can share our very personal experiences, ministry and work when you get our newsletter and other extra news.

To some readers, if you would like to get our newsletter you can give it to us your email address and we can send you our quarterly updates!

Thanks.

look what we found???

Where ever you are in the world? Coca cola or this symbol stands!!

Marielle is so happy to sit on his lap. We were satisfied to see McDonald's man and tasted their food! For such a long time we havent eaten burger from Mcdo. Though we have to travel for less than 2 hours, doesnt matter! Just for so now and awhile.

On our way to Semarang, Java!

we thought it is fun to have this taken!!! Lekkere kontjes!

"us" on a motorbike!

Our transport to and fro. No space for Johan to sit down but he is happy to just stand and enjoy the ride. Thanks to the Clarks who share their blessings to us.

our house and school!

Just a glimpse of our house and school here.

wedding!

The day we had to leave for Singapore, we had to attend Glenda's brother's wedding!

Actually, we became an instant wedding planner and we had only one week. Wow, that was a job!

But we bless His name because it was a success wedding.

a day of homeschooling!

Johan had started to write in cursive writing in the Netherlands. So i let him practise it again while Marielle loves to be in school. Today, i let Marielle worked on coloring and shapes. She did it well.

beauty of Jakarta city, Indonesia!

Here you will see the day and nightlights of Jakarta city. If you can noticed on one picture, it is a graveyard. Can you see which one is a Christian grave and which one is a muslim?

Check it out and we'll wait for your comment.

Jakarta, Indonesia!

Landing in Indonesia was a pleasant surprised for us. Wow, it is a big city!
We had a chance to stay in one of the high rises. We stayed in 33rd floor and one day we wanted to dip in a swimming pool, we were in the elevator going down but it got stucked at 32rd flr, we thought there was an earthquake! we dont know how to react in this situation. We know that recently there was an earthquake happenings in Jakarta. peeewh, fortunately the elevator opens and we went out shaking a bit!

Anyway, we were safe and no earthquake. Until now we didnt know what exactly happened at that day!

ride at the end of a jeepney!

Gertjan wanting to really try to do "kapyut" in visayan language. This means have a ride in a jeepney but at the end of it( please see in the internet what it is) not so good in explaining it.

Like for the Filipinos, we only do this when there is no more available seats to sit on! For Gertjan, it was fun.

DVBC- "daily bible vacation church"

I, Glenda was invited by my church to speak to the children who attended DVBC this summer 2010! The said children bible class was held in a room where it is very hot and sweaty, nevertheless, the kids are loving to learn the bible and about Jesus!

chocolate hills and sailing!

Here is our trip to chocolate hills and dolphin watching.

holidays, witnessing and Indonesia!

We are very blessed to receive a gift from an Aunty for a getaway to have rest and recreation. We headed out to the island of Panglao, Bohol. The island has its white, beautiful clean beaches and fantastic for snorkling and diving.
Bohol is very known for the smallest monkey in the world called the tarsiers!

Bohol also known for its chocolate hills. We thought wow thats going to be yummy however the place has many group of round hills stand closeby with each other. They are very beautiful!

One early ( as in 6 am) morning, we paid someone who would sail a boat that would bring us to watch dolphins.Thats was spectacular scene.

While here in the resort, we acquainted a German family where the husband is atheist, the wife clamied to be a believer mixed with new age kind of beliefs and two beautiful kids older then our children. Last night we were able to share to them about God. We hope that a seed was planted to their hearts.

So soon, we are going to fly to Indonesia via Singapore. We are not quite ready yet but we have to be there otherwise our entry will be rejected. Please intercede with us as we have only 10 days more to go before we leave and say goodbyes to our family and friends here. blessings, Glenda

Marielle en Nanay!

Nanay is Glenda's mother. As you can see in the photo that she is washing the clothes outside with Marielle in the background happily having her shower. She loves to use this plastic cup, a pale and a round basin. Different culture guys, you cannot do it when its winter time, brrrrr! But Marielle is loving it!

Glenda turns 30++++++!

On April 6, 2010 Glenda turns 30 plus years! She invited her long, old close friends and family on her birthday. Almost all of the invited guests were pastors, missionaries or involved in Bible ministry. Ahh what a blessing! The Bacarro's family were singing songs for her which made the party memorable.

Today, Glenda received lots of beautiful cards from friends and family in the Netherlands. Thanks to all of you!

Medical issues!

Dear friends,

This time in the Philippines is quite a challenge. I have a side effect from my hypethyroidism medicine. Please do pray for healing and that i can have a right medicine for it that will not hinder us from going to Indonesia. Pray also for Marielle, she is at the moment sick and has high fever for five days now. Pray for strength on Gertjan as he struggles with us too.
We need intercessors at this time of need. Pray that Johan will have friends that he can play with.

bougainville flowers in Cebu!

This flower is all over the place in this country. Lots of variety.

A type of sweet banana here that is cooked deep-fried and caramelized sugar. Hmmmm, very yummy!

Philippines 2010!

We finally arrived in the second last leg of our flight.
Glenda for three years did not see her family. We thank you for all the prayers you made.
Here is our rented apartment in Cebu. It is a two-storey furnished apartment.

Pray for our safety and enjoying time in the Phils. It is very hot here and the kids and Gertjan experienced already a heat rash.

However, we were happy to be here seeing family of Glenda and church friends.