Dedication Day - Today we had the opportunity to return to the villages and dedicate the homes for the families we have built relationships with. There were several opportunities to share the Gospel with the families - most were Christians and one man in one family was not. Our interpreter, Josh, had a long serious discussion with this man. He needs to realize that he needs to accept Christ and that his good works do not get him into heaven or he will be eternally separated from his family. We need to continue to pray for this man and ask that you do as well.
We were proud to see Claire Jafri dedicate a home that her grandparents sponsored to the sweetest family. The mom had shared with us that they had been praying for this house as they had to choose to either pay for a surgery for their son or have a home of their own. Claire boldly asked if they had Jesus in their hearts and they do. She then prayed for their house to be filled with love, laughter, kindness, and smiles and continue to ask God for blessings on their family. There weren't too many dry eyes during this dedication.
Rachael also dedicated a home sponsored by the Grassmid twins. Again, the question was asked of them if they have accepted Christ in their hearts and they had. God's blessings and faithfulness was evident today as well as all week. It definitely makes parents proud to see their kids step out in their faith and boldly share it with complete strangers.
Tonight we will have our evening wrap up and hug line. This is always a very emotional time of reflection for all of us. We will be flying home tomorrow and ask for safe travels. Thank you for all of your prayers and support this week.
Randy, Michelle and Rachael Bosse and Claire Jafri
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Tuesday
Good evening everyone! My name is Alexis Jeltema, I am from First Cutlerville CRC! This is my first year on the Mission trip! It has been such an amazing experience so far! I knew coming here that I would leave changed, but I didnt realize how much I'd really change. On to our day today! We started out our morning here with a moderate volcano warning! We definitely don't have to deal with that in Michigan! We also had to deal with a demonstration, which is like a protest. So that made our typical drive of about 45 minutes. But with the protest it took at least an hour and a half or longer. We had 3 teams today that put the fronts of the houses on, and my group went to pour cement at our last house! My group went to the duplex house today to help put the cement in! This family will always have a special place in my heart. This family has 8 kids in their family! We got to the house and they kids ran up to the doors with open arms waiting for our group to arrive. I was able to make a connection with 3 of their kids, Gabby (age10), Henry (age 7) and lastly Jakcelin (age5). These kids have stolen my heart. The guys in my group worked real hard, and I was entertaining the kids! However we needed water so we could mix the cement, and this family doesn't have a direct access to water. They have to walk a good 5-10 minutes to get to water. Which made it hard to mix our cement, so we had to get an IBC tote (250 gallon tank) and run into the nearby village to fill with water. While the guys worked I took out my Polaroid camera and the girls wanted to each have a picture with my name on it to remember me! They have stolen my heart! This family was so grateful for the house! We had finished and packed up all of our equipment said our goodbyes and walked out the door. When the dad came running out and told us to come back, the women of the family made us dinner again! They made us dinner yesterday, and again today! We had fresh pasta with tomatoes, beans, fresh lemonade, and best of all right off the fire tortillas(they call them pollo here). It was amazing! They most amazing part of the day is that I was the translator for my group. And I failed Spanish class in High school. I was able to fully communicate with this family in Spanish! After we finished eating we headed to the Refugee center. Which is from the volcano last June. They have over 400 families in that camp. We were told about stories of families that lost almost all of their family. I was old about a story of a pastor who lost his wife and 7 out of his 8 children in the volcano. Along with their personal possession, and their house. And they don't have a lot to begin with. That story immediately made me think of a modern day Job. He lost everything, but is still putting his full trust in the Lord. How incredible is that?! While at the camp we joined up with our whole team, to put on VBS for the kids, and help pour cement for one of the churches in the camp. The refugees at the camp had started the cement at 6am this morning, and had gotten half way when we arrived. And we were able to help finish the cement in about 2 hours. The rest of our group put on the VBS. The story was about Paul and Silas, and their time spent in jail. The young adults in the group acted out the story for the children. The whole point of the story was about salvation through time in trouble. Which is a huge part of their community today. Over all i'd say it was a pretty successful day! I can say I have been truly blessed by this small country! Thank you for continued prayers and support. We all can defiantly feel them! Thank you!
Alexis
Alexis
Monday, January 21, 2019
Monday
Hola! (That's Spanish for hello).
Before we talk about today, we're going to talk about our worship service last night. We were blessed to hear the testimony of a reformed gang member named Shorty. He had two other former gang members with him, who also shared their testimony. Their stories of how Jesus never stopped pursuing them resonated with all of us but on an entirely different level. Emotions ran high as laid our hands on them and prayed. We look forward to sharing the stories when we return.
Today started with breakfast (burritos) and some well done devotions from Randy Bosse. We then split up into three groups. Two of them went to mix the concrete floors. The other group went to the market to get housewarming gifts for the families. The concrete process was absolutely grueling and everybody did a wonderful job! 10 houses have floors in them as of this writing. The market was absolutely chaotic, but a good experience nonetheless.
Late in the afternoon all the groups met up at a church in the village to hand out food. We were ale to fill grocery bags to the brim with a month's worth of food and staples. The depth of gratitude was astounding. Love is truly the universal language.
We returned to the mission house and ate with the families that some of members sponsor. Lazero and Glendy as well as many others joined us.
That's all for now,
Thanks for all your prayers!
Matt and Meredith Bol
Before we talk about today, we're going to talk about our worship service last night. We were blessed to hear the testimony of a reformed gang member named Shorty. He had two other former gang members with him, who also shared their testimony. Their stories of how Jesus never stopped pursuing them resonated with all of us but on an entirely different level. Emotions ran high as laid our hands on them and prayed. We look forward to sharing the stories when we return.
Today started with breakfast (burritos) and some well done devotions from Randy Bosse. We then split up into three groups. Two of them went to mix the concrete floors. The other group went to the market to get housewarming gifts for the families. The concrete process was absolutely grueling and everybody did a wonderful job! 10 houses have floors in them as of this writing. The market was absolutely chaotic, but a good experience nonetheless.
Late in the afternoon all the groups met up at a church in the village to hand out food. We were ale to fill grocery bags to the brim with a month's worth of food and staples. The depth of gratitude was astounding. Love is truly the universal language.
We returned to the mission house and ate with the families that some of members sponsor. Lazero and Glendy as well as many others joined us.
That's all for now,
Thanks for all your prayers!
Matt and Meredith Bol
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Sunday Funday January 20
Good evening fellow blog readers!
Today we began our morning with a lovely breakfast from our awesome cooks! After which, we split into 2 groups and headed to Antigua for the day. Half of the group started with some shopping in the market, while the other half went on an ATV tour through the city of Antigua and the out skirts. After we bounced our way out of the cobblestone roads, we made our way up a very dusty and steep mountain. Once we reached the top, we stopped at a little restaurant with some incredible views. Pictures won't ever do it justice. From there we headed back down and literally bounced our way back through the city to the other end where we climbed another mountain. There we got to see the giant cross that over looks the city. Then our tour guides took us around for some more exquisite site seeing. According to Matt Bol, the tour was much better on 2 wheels. (the only one who took a dirt bike.)
After the ATV tour we met the rest of the team at Monoloco for some delicious lunch. We were able to spend some time with the whole group and share our fun adventures. Once we were finished with lunch, the other half of the team went out for their ATV tour while we had some time for shopping in the market.
We are now writing this as we wait for the other half of the team to return. Tonight we will have some dinner and then a time of worship. We have a guest speaker tonight named "Shorty." Many of you may recognize him from the Reparando movie that was made about the gangs going on in Guatemala City. We are very excited to meet him and hear his story. (We will report back tomorrow on that.)
That's all for today, thanks for reading :)
Emily Byker and Stacy Westhouse
Today we began our morning with a lovely breakfast from our awesome cooks! After which, we split into 2 groups and headed to Antigua for the day. Half of the group started with some shopping in the market, while the other half went on an ATV tour through the city of Antigua and the out skirts. After we bounced our way out of the cobblestone roads, we made our way up a very dusty and steep mountain. Once we reached the top, we stopped at a little restaurant with some incredible views. Pictures won't ever do it justice. From there we headed back down and literally bounced our way back through the city to the other end where we climbed another mountain. There we got to see the giant cross that over looks the city. Then our tour guides took us around for some more exquisite site seeing. According to Matt Bol, the tour was much better on 2 wheels. (the only one who took a dirt bike.)
After the ATV tour we met the rest of the team at Monoloco for some delicious lunch. We were able to spend some time with the whole group and share our fun adventures. Once we were finished with lunch, the other half of the team went out for their ATV tour while we had some time for shopping in the market.
We are now writing this as we wait for the other half of the team to return. Tonight we will have some dinner and then a time of worship. We have a guest speaker tonight named "Shorty." Many of you may recognize him from the Reparando movie that was made about the gangs going on in Guatemala City. We are very excited to meet him and hear his story. (We will report back tomorrow on that.)
That's all for today, thanks for reading :)
Emily Byker and Stacy Westhouse
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Saturday
Saturday
We began our day with a time of worship singing the song "Your Name" this song is so fitting for our time here in Guatemala. We are relying on God to be our strong and mighty tower as we spread the love of Jesus to the people.
Our first stop as an entire group was going to the town dump. There are people who live in the dump. These people are rummaging through the garbage to find anything that maybe of value to sell at the markets. We brought sandwiches for them to eat. The environment was just heartbreaking to see.
Today our family went to the orphanage called Love the Child (Amor Del Nino in Spanish). The children aged from 4 months to 6 years old. There are 23 children currently living there. The children are so well cared for and truly loved. The orphanage is beautiful and very clean. The outdoor space for them to play in is so amazing. It was truly a day filled with little children, sunshine and some really cute puppies.
The home building continued to go well today. The crews were able to get a few more houses framed. We now have 10 of our 12 houses built and covered. We hope to be able to get the 2 remaining houses done on Monday morning and then start the concrete floors in all 12.
Please pray for our teams continued health, strength, and stamina. Also, please pray that we are able to find a person to lead the pouring of the concrete floors for the 12 homes.
Ben, April, Jerad and Jenna Berkenpas
We began our day with a time of worship singing the song "Your Name" this song is so fitting for our time here in Guatemala. We are relying on God to be our strong and mighty tower as we spread the love of Jesus to the people.
Our first stop as an entire group was going to the town dump. There are people who live in the dump. These people are rummaging through the garbage to find anything that maybe of value to sell at the markets. We brought sandwiches for them to eat. The environment was just heartbreaking to see.
Today our family went to the orphanage called Love the Child (Amor Del Nino in Spanish). The children aged from 4 months to 6 years old. There are 23 children currently living there. The children are so well cared for and truly loved. The orphanage is beautiful and very clean. The outdoor space for them to play in is so amazing. It was truly a day filled with little children, sunshine and some really cute puppies.
The home building continued to go well today. The crews were able to get a few more houses framed. We now have 10 of our 12 houses built and covered. We hope to be able to get the 2 remaining houses done on Monday morning and then start the concrete floors in all 12.
Please pray for our teams continued health, strength, and stamina. Also, please pray that we are able to find a person to lead the pouring of the concrete floors for the 12 homes.
Ben, April, Jerad and Jenna Berkenpas
Friday, January 18, 2019
Friday
Today (Shawn VanderWoude's birthday!) was our first day in the village, and it was beautiful! The weather was wonderfully comfortable (sunny with a slight breeze), the people were welcoming, and the view was gorgeous. We are working in the village of Alotenango which we had worked in back in 2011-2013. The work sites are very spread out this year, so we were able to see quite a bit of the village. We all started our day at 3 different work sites, but after lunch some of us stayed and continued to build houses, and some of us went to a refugee camp. The camp houses over 400 people displaced when the volcano destroyed several villages. At the camp we lead a VBS for the children. The local Pastor said that it was great to see these kids smile, laughing, and just having a good time after seeing so much heartache.
-Susan, Justine, and Regan Wiegers
-Susan, Justine, and Regan Wiegers
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Thursday
Today was travel day for the team, everything went perfectly without a hitch. We arrived safely at the mission house at around 3:30. We had a short team meeting and headed down to Pollo's for dinner. The cooks just arrived back to the house with all of our food for the week and everyone is getting settled in and heading to bed early as they're all pretty exhausted from a long day of travel.
Thank you all for your prayers for our travel. We covet them as so many things could possibly go wrong but we see Gods hand in all of it and arrived safely and on time.
Emily Westhouse
Thank you all for your prayers for our travel. We covet them as so many things could possibly go wrong but we see Gods hand in all of it and arrived safely and on time.
Emily Westhouse
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