Nanganga nursery school building site

The site for a new nursery school at Nanganga village. they have made over 16,000 bricks and the total they need is 20,000.

the site for where their new nursery school will be built. They currently dont have one yet, they have been using the house of the chief.

All the bricks that have been made so far.

I have posted these up for all of you who check my blog, they girls and I made a promise to this village that we will help them in getting the rest of the supplies for building the nursery school. the cement is needed and they dont have the money for it. If you would like to contribute a sum to the fund please give me a call or send it to me thru mail. We greatly appreciate all the support you have given us so far with the trip and encouraging words and prayers. We ask you please keep praying for us, but especially for those in Malawi who dont have much. I know the economy hasnt helped any of us, but even $5 will go a long way once it is exchanged into Kwacha.

Thank you for prayerfully considering this opportunity for a village to have a building so they can have school every day and not only on the days when it doesnt rain.

Their printing press-

This is where they made all the lettering to put together to make sentances and so on....

This is what it looked like after they made all the individual letters and symbols, they would keep everything they used or melt it down again to make something new again.

makeing the book coverings

The outside of the printing press. Sorry I dont know more info about it. they were pretty proud of it.

Bible Club-

playing games, we would divide into 2 to 3 groups, one would do games, another the Bible story, and if there was a third it would be homework.

her name was precious, I think that speaks for itself.

They loved the camera, wouldnt let you take a picture of one person but they all had to be in it together.

Listening to the Bible story

the one session we had for homework in Kalamba.

the Market-

paying for food at the market.

The Market! we bought most of our fruit from this market in Nkhoma, along with sobo, eggs, sugar, butter, clothing, potatoes...etc. the rest we bought in Lilongwe when we were able to catch a ride there about once a month.

painting the office-

starting the project of painting the Orphan care project's office.

The office, they could fit in two desks and a table, a cabinet and a huge monstrous book shelf in this little room. they now have a filing cabinet instead of the book shelf.

Machitidwe septala, one of the coordinators and our translator in the villages. We learned alot from him and Notice Chada, and Myamiko, the other two translators and coordinators.

Caroline and Katie painting the office

the guest house- a day after our arrival

some of the garden at the guest house. there was one man incharge of it. he was really good at it.

the kitchen of the guest house, not very big for having different groups stay there for a couple weeks at a time. we had a cupboard for us 5 girls. they filled those empty bottles with boiled water and then they put them in the freezer. so we had good drinking water.

the guest house we stayed in. Very nice place, the lady who cleans it and takes care of it made amazing home made bread. Of course we took advantage of that, we did pay her for it.

the "front yard" of the guest house where we stayed a week before moving.

Katie in the room Caroline, Katie and I shared for the first week before we moved into a house whose family was on vacation to South Africa.

the mosquito nets we used every night. We got used to them after about a week.

I posted a picture at the bottom of this page of a girl that lived close to the house where we were staying at. Every morning and evening when we would pass by, she and her brother would stand outside fo their house and wave at us yelling "hello!" It was really cute and so we thought they deserved alittle attention as well so every time we saw them we would pick them up and twirl around acouple times before heading off to our work or the market. It was very exciting to expect their smiling faces everytime we walked past, the little girl started running up to me everytime she saw me knowing I would pick her up and spin around.

Home again

Hello all, I am back home after three wonderful months of Malawi air!

God has richly blessed me.

I hope to be having presentations on the trip very soon with the other two girls from GR I traveled with.

Will post the dates here for all to see.

Caroline headed home safely as well.

thanks for all your prayers,
Lenelle

Coming Home Friday August 22

Friday August 22, Lenelle hopes to return hom to Grand Rapids Mi. She will be on the North West flight 531 from Detroit at 6:17 PM. Everyone who would like to come and welcome her home is welcome to join us at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport.

The Moerdyk family

Last Blog from Malawi

Hello All!

We have been very busy with the Orphan Bible Clubs in Kalamba, Livuazi, and Msumphi. Just to refresh your memory, we have been going to each village twice a week. Kalamba has been doing great so we only go once a week on Mondays. Livuazi hasn’t been doing the club on their own yet. We meet with them every Wednesday and Friday and there were three meetings we weren’t able to attend because of no transportation and the leaders in that village didn’t show up because we weren’t there. So the village didn’t do anything. They were informed that they should start but there hasn’t been any interest shown from the leaders. Please pray it will continue and the leaders show interest in teaching the kids.
Msumphi has been doing really good except we picked to have the club on Tuesday and Thursday and the leaders haven’t been able to attend on Thursday because of another important meeting their village has every Thursday. We hope to change it to Tuesdays and Fridays. We plan on starting a dimba/garden which is located very close to the school buildings. Also, we plan on building a playground which is also located right next to the school buildings. We hope to be able to start going one day a week instead of two to Msumphi since they have been doing a good job teaching the kids the bible stories and coming up with games to play with the kids.
We also have been teaching at the secondary school- CDSS- in Nkhoma. Computer class is very interesting because every student is willing to learn but since they haven’t learned how to curve their fingers on the keyboard, we have been getting them to practice continuously.
I have just started teaching Biology class for Form 4. It is all about the human body so I feel right at home. The schools are separated by primary and secondary schools. Primary school is like our elementary and it has standards 1-8. The secondary school is like our high school and they have Forms 1-4. Many of the students in Form 4 (especially male) are over 20 years old, so it definitely has been interesting having to teach students my age.
The school didn’t have a problem allowing us to teach because a lot of their teachers started teaching right out of Form 4 with no college education. Plus, they all basically consider us all more educated then they are because we come from America.
Next week, we plan on leaving Nkhoma and travel to the south to the "game Park" which we call the safari. WE will be staying a couple nights around there as well so it will definitely be interesting.
Amy and Monica (the two girls from Canada who were here before us) are leaving on July 22. We all have been wondering where all the time has gone! I feel like I have been here for 3 months already but also like I should have 3 more months to go.
We have definitely learned many chichewa words, but there are still quite a bit we haven’t even heard of. The translators like to tease us by saying words in chichewa and then watching us take 10 minutes just to figure out they were saying something simple like "let us go" or "we have arrived".

This past Sunday, we listened to a sermon CD from Dr. Murray on Psalm 25:17. It was good to be reminded about how we are to have deep/ distressing/ distinguishing/ and desirable concern for our evil doings. We also witnessed the harvest time church gathering. Everyone has brought their "first fruits" which were given to the church for when they have large gatherings and they use that food to feed everyone. It was very humbling for me to witness everyone literally giving their "10%" to the church when so many don’t have enough to feed their own families.

Psalm 27 has really made an impression on me. Especially verse 8-10 and 13 &14. Where it talks about how even when our father and mother forsake us, the Lord will still take care of us. Also how God tells us to seek His face and to wait for the Lord to fulfill his plan in our lives. There are so many kids here who are orphans. But they all still seem to trust in God and wait for his plan in their lives. What experiences they have in their lives or how much they have doesn’t change their desire to be willing to help others out. The cook for the house we are staying in took us to his home. He explained how he is taking care of 9 orphans form his sister and brother who have passed away. Plus he has his wife and three daughters to take care of, but he still smiles and you never hear a complaint out of him.

Well that is all for now. Hope all is well in the America!
God Bless!

In Christ,
Lenelle

Hello all

this is lenelle, yes we do have internet right now but you never know what will happen to it.
we have been busy with starting two new Bible clubs in Chawuwa and in Nanganga. we have decided to change our layout for the new centers becuase it hasnt been working out with trying to get the leaders and gardians to be there every day. we decided to do all the games and activities ourselves and encourage the leaders and gardians to show up every meeting. Before, we were thinking about showing them how we were planning on it all running and then they follow suit. but it hasnt worked out so we are now thinking that if we tell all the Bible stories and show them all the games we can think up of, then when we leave they will be able to pass on the stories and games to their friends and family. I think it works out better this way seeing as it would be thier decision to start an official Bible club instead of us telling them they have to start one, and they will have all the stories and games already so it will be easier for them to start it on their own. We have basically changed it in two of the old centers as well- Livuadzi and Msumphi. Plus with transportation not always available we have decided this was the best way to make an impact on thier lives.

I hope everyone is doing well! I cant believe there is only two more weeks before we head back home. there is so much that needs to be done and not enought time to get it all done.

Katie, Ruth Ann, and Caroline were planning on donating thier blood here at the hospital. starting friday morning, we plan on leaving Nkhoma and visiting up north at Selema, and True Friends. True Friends is an orphan care project where they have started a Bible Club there and we were told to go see it. We also plan on stopping at the lake on our way back from True Friends. We plan on arriving back in Nkhoma on monday afternoon.

We also have health assesments planned for the different centers that we have started bible clubs at. We plan on getting all the health info for the coordinators so they can record it in their files. We also plan on getting all the names of the orphans to see update the coordinators' information of them all.

well this is all for now, I have run out of words to say.

I hope all are well, and I hope to see most of you all in two weeks.

God Bless,
Lenelle

Psalm 27

Hello All!

We have been very busy with the Orphan Bible Clubs in Kalamba, Livuazi, and Msumphi. Just to refresh your memory, we have been going to each village twice a week. Kalamba has been doing great so we only go once a week on Mondays. Livuazi hasn’t been doing the club on their own yet. We meet with them every Wednesday and Friday and there were three meetings we weren’t able to attend because of no transportation and the leaders in that village didn’t show up because we weren’t there. So the village didn’t do anything. They were informed that they should start but there hasn’t been any interest shown from the leaders. Please pray it will continue and the leaders show interest in teaching the kids.
Msumphi has been doing really good except we picked to have the club on Tuesday and Thursday and the leaders haven’t been able to attend on Thursday because of another important meeting their village has every Thursday. We hope to change it to Tuesdays and Fridays. We plan on starting a dimba/garden which is located very close to the school buildings. Also, we plan on building a playground which is also located right next to the school buildings. We hope to be able to start going one day a week instead of two to Msumphi since they have been doing a good job teaching the kids the bible stories and coming up with games to play with the kids.
We also have been teaching at the secondary school- CDSS- in Nkhoma. Computer class is very interesting because every student is willing to learn but since they haven’t learned how to curve their fingers on the keyboard, we have been getting them to practice continuously.
I have just started teaching Biology class for Form 4. It is all about the human body so I feel right at home. The schools are separated by primary and secondary schools. Primary school is like our elementary and it has standards 1-8. The secondary school is like our high school and they have Forms 1-4. Many of the students in Form 4 (especially male) are over 20 years old, so it definitely has been interesting having to teach students my age.
The school didn’t have a problem allowing us to teach because a lot of their teachers started teaching right out of Form 4 with no college education. Plus, they all basically consider us all more educated then they are because we come from America.
Next week, we plan on leaving Nkhoma and travel to the south to the "game Park" which we call the safari. WE will be staying a couple nights around there as well so it will definitely be interesting.
Amy and Monica (the two girls from Canada who were here before us) are leaving on July 22. We all have been wondering where all the time has gone! I feel like I have been here for 3 months already but also like I should have 3 more months to go.
We have definitely learned many chichewa words, but there are still quite a bit we haven’t even heard of. The translators like to tease us by saying words in chichewa and then watching us take 10 minutes just to figure out they were saying something simple like "let us go" or "we have arrived".

This past Sunday, we listened to a sermon CD from Dr. Murray on Psalm 25:17. It was good to be reminded about how we are to have deep/ distressing/ distinguishing/ and desirable concern for our evil doings. We also witnessed the harvest time church gathering. Everyone has brought their "first fruits" which were given to the church for when they have large gatherings and they use that food to feed everyone. It was very humbling for me to witness everyone literally giving their "10%" to the church when so many don’t have enough to feed their own families.

Psalm 27 has really made an impression on me. Especially vs 8-10 and 13 &14 where it talks about how even when our father and mother forsake us, the Lord will still take care of us. Also how God tells us to seek His face. To wait for the Lord to fulfill his plan in our lives. there are so many kids here who are orphans. But they all still seem to trust in God and wait for his plan in their lives. What they experienced in their lives, or how much they have doesn’t change their desire to be willing to help others out. The cook for the house we are staying in took us to his home. he explained how he is taking care of 9 orphans form his sister and brother who have passed away. Plus he has his wife and three daughters to take care of, but he still smiles and you never hear a complaint out of him.

Well that is all for now. Hope all is well in the America!
God Bless!

In Christ,
Lenelle

Malawi

Hello again!
We have been busy every day with going to nursery school and the orphan care Bible club in two villages. We started another Bible club in a center called Msumphi. I have claimed it as my own.
This past sunday, we witnessed baptism and confession of faith. We were informed last week there were over 100 people ready to do confession of faith, which is really good!

I havent been able to get on my blog very much, but e-mail is alittle better to get on to. So either I or my dad will be posting my blogs. I am not going to try posting pictures yet but will try in the future.

Hope all are haveing a wonderful summer!
I am haveing a wonderful time here.
In Christ,
Lenelle

Psalm 27

New!s from Malawi

Hello from Malawi, we are all well after the first two weeks or so. Internet is very iffy as we weren’t able to get on it till Tuesday, June 10. We moved from the guest house where we started out in. we are now in a house that belongs to a family from South Africa, they are in South Africa now till a couple days after we leave and then they come back home. As the lady says, we are an answer to prayer because she was looking for someone to stay at her house to care for the dogs and cat while they were gone.
We have been busy every day especially this past week. Every morning except Tuesdays, two of us go teach at a nursery school in one of the villages. While 2 are teaching nursery school, on Mondays and Fridays- three of us go to the Nkhoma Synod/ the general secretary and we have bought new files to replace all the old ones. so we are rearranging them to be more neater/cleaner. On Tuesdays, we all head to the main high school in Nkhoma and teach basic computer skills while a couple of us teach other classes.
Wednesday and Thursday, while 2 are teaching nursery school, three of us are at the high school again teaching computer skills.
In the afternoon, we have started a Orphan Bible Club in two villages which go on 2x a week. we have planned to start 3 more in other villages. Our goal is to have them involved as much as possible so they can continue when we leave. we will slowly be pulling out. So far, we have one of the villages doing all the Bible stories and activities.

Well, that is all for now. I hope to post again next week on our progress, but cant make any promises since our internet isn’t always letting me on the sites I need.

God Bless!
Zikomo (thank you/goodbye in Chichewa)
Lenelle (and the rest of the girls)

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Psalm 9:10

Lenelle was in contact with her family inGrand Rapids, Michigan today. Rick Postma made a conference call to us and the next thing we knew we were talking to Lenelle in Malawi. She is truly enjoying her time there and wants everyone to know that she hopes to be on her blog next week. They are adjusting to the temps of 70 at 6AM 80 at Noon and 70 again at 6 PM. Sounds tough right?

She thanks you for your prayers and so do we.

Lenelle's parents (who were happy to hear her voice and to know that she is doing well.)

Volendam

Hello all, last night we visited volendam. There we walked around and saw the old houses there by the dock. it was very interesting. I was told there is a line of buyers because everyone who comes from there wants to live there. They dont want to leave their home town.
Well, we are heading out to buy some last minute items before we leave tomarrow. I probably wont be writing before we leave.
will post something when we arrive in Johannesburg.

God Bless!

Zoetermeer

Hello, I am back in Zoetermeer today till we leave on wednesday. Sunday was very good, we had a sermon on Acts 5 (I think) with Ananias and Sapphira and their decietfulness to the church. in the evening, the sermon was on matt 25, there was a baptism for a little child.

Well, I am not sure what is happening today. Have a wonderful monday, I will post something hopefully tonight or tomarrow.

God Bless!

May 24

Hello from Doetinchem. Last night was interesting as I witnessed part of a dutch wedding. This afternoon, we stayed at home and enjoyed the warm weather and the sun. We all have tan lines now. this evening after dinner, we went bowling.

Well that is all for now, sorry it is so short, I am tired and running out of words to say.

Have a blessed sunday, I will post more on monday.

God Bless!

May 23- Doetinchem

Hello all, I have moved from Emmeloord to Doetinchem. I will stay here till monday and then I will head back to Zoetermeer before taking off on wednesday for Malawi.

Last night was the get-together for the mission kids from Nigeria. It was very nice seeing them after being seperated for about 18 years. Of course I dont know dutch, but we were all able to share a few laughs from the past.

Today, I am planning on attending a real dutch wedding, so we will see how that goes.

Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the summer so far. The weather here has been about 70 degrees F.

I hope to be back on tomarrow evening, Lord willing.

God Bless!

Amsterdam

Hello, a quick note here. I spent the whole day in amsterdam site seeing. Very much like Grand Rapids, but bigger, and not as big as New York. We had a tour by boat of different places. we were going to see the Anne Frank's house but there was too long of a line and we had to be somewhere else an hour later, so we didnt go.

I am back in Emmeloord, and getting ready to leave from here tomarrow (thursday) to go to another place (cant remember the name). We have a Mission Kids night tomarrow for all the kids from Nigeria. Alot are planning on being there so it will be a good time.

hope all are having a wonderful summer, the weather here today was about 70 degrees F. Very nice compared to the rest of the week so far.

Have a blessed week!

Zoetermeer

We went to the zoo today, very nice, it is about as big as Battle Creek's Binder Park Zoo.
I am back in Emmeloord now.
wednesday, we plan on touring Amsterdam. Hope all is haveing a wonderful summer.

God Bless!

Zoetermeer

Hello, I am in Zoetermeer for the day, yesterday was sunday and even though the sermons were in dutch, I had someone write it down in english and they were very good. in the morning was confession of faith for 18 people, the text was in Revelation 22: 13 - 21. main verse I think was 18? The evening service was out of Acts 8:1-15 (or so), the text was from verse 3 and 4. talking about saul making havock of the church.

We have a few things planned for today, so I will write later!

God Bless!

hello again, we had a busy day (sort of) we went to the VerBruggen Factory- both places (the business of who I am staying with). in the afternoon we went to a greenhouse where we saw all kinds of plants from different countries and also a butterfly garden. very interestind, had many different but beautiful butterflies.
That is all for now, have a wonderful sunday!
God Bless,
Lenelle

Emmeloord

hello from Emmeloord, it is still raining and we are going to go tour Emmeloord soon, so this is a quick note before we leave. I am doing quite well over here (sorry if everything sounds like the dutch way of speaking).
will write something when we get back!
God Bless!

the castle/palace

I dont have any pictures, but the visit to the castle was amazing, very beautiful! The gardens were also very beautiful and well kept (of course:)) We walked about two hours in the gardens which were around the palace. Many people were there visiting. The Kooijmans have been very kind and hospitable to me, I have enjoyed my stay at their house very much. Tomarrow, I go to Rugter VerBruggen's house for a week.

Have a wonderful weekend, I might be back on tomarrow night (which is afternoon for you americans!)

God Bless,
Lenelle

I have arrived safely! my flight took about a half hour from GR to Detroit and about 7 hours from Detroit to Amsterdam. we spent the day wednesday going to Caroline's house and visiting and also meeting the Kooijman family.
Today, we plan on visiting the Castle of their Queen. I will try to post something later.

5 more days!

The Netherlands

I leave for the Netherlands on May 13, which is a tuesday. my flight leaves sometime after 7pm. I am supposed to arrive in the netherlands on May 14 at 11:30 am. I will let everyone know when I arrive when i get internet connection in the netherlands

Welcome to my blog. Hope you find what you need here.
Pictures will be posted as soon as I get to the Netherlands

Lenelle