Team Member Pages
- Kevin Berens
- Adam Bredeweg
- Sarah Brower
- Madison Buursma
- Alyssa Carrasco
- Kristina DeVries
- Kyle Door
- Amber Goodyke
- Riley Gortsema
- Julie Gortsema
- Esther Han
- Jennifer Holsem
- Angie Johnson
- Chad Jurgens
- Alan Jurgens
- Sarah Koetsier
- Lynn McInnis
- Morgan Noordyke
- Jason Opperwall
- Dixon Pettijohn
- Ashtyn Postema
- Jordyn Roberts
- Katelyn Roskamp
- Olivia Stegeman
- Courtney Tolar
- Kevin Van Wyhe
- Josh Van Wyhe
- Rebecca Vander Vennen
- Dale Vander Vennen
- Graham Vanderheide
- Lauren VanDyken
- Jenna Veldboom
- Carlie Wolffis
- Sat Pics
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Team Tools
Kevin – We are so excited for you to be going on such an awesome trip to Guatemala. We will be praying for you and your team constantly! May this trip be a great experience for you and may God show his grace upon all of you and you are doing His work.
Love, Mom and Dad
Hi Kevin,
? Love, Mrs. B
We are so excited that all of you are able to go and share Christ’s love. We will be praying for you and the entire group this week! Keep Madi in line for us, will you
Kevin,
Have a fantastic time!! I wish I was there! It is going to be a lifechanging experience and know that you are being covered in prayer daily. Have fun in your group with Josh. Good luck on keeping Al in line!
Kevin,
You will be in our prayers this week as you work with the people of Guatemala – be ready for God to use you in many ways this week to help get His message spread! We know that you will be blessed in the many things God has planned for you this week!
Can’t wait to hear all about the trip!
Mrs. Postema
Here’s hoping you have a great week and a safe trip. May the work you do be able to help someone greatly. Keep up the good work. Love Uncle Gary and aunt Anita
Just heard you made it there safely. Anxious to hear how things are going and about your adventures. Keep us informed!!
Love you!!
Mom
Hi Kevin!
I will be praying for you this week! Have an awesome time! I cant wait to read the updates! Glad you all arrived safely and work hard tomorrow! =)
Leah
Alright so we arrived after hours and hours of flying but customs wasn’t to bad and got through that preety smoothly and we got our stuff then we took a fun ride down here. Then we did some other boring stuff like organizing the stuff from the bags we brought down and chilled out for a while then had some dinner but that was basically my day but tomarrow we start working and I’m excited about that but I really need some sleep since I only got 3hours last night so Im hoping for a good sleep tonight but anyways I’ll try to keep u all posted but it’s hard typing on my iPod touch so I’ll try my best to keep posting as much as possible and hope to see u all soon
Thanks for the post Kev!!!!
So, so glad to hear that the trip went well and going through customs went smoothly – we were thinking and praying about the trip all day. We’ll pray for a good night of sleep and hope the bed bugs don’t bite! Have a great day tomorrow!
Love ya lots!
Mom (Dad, Jack, Rudy and Westin are all sleeping and guess who still isn’t home – Kelly!)
Is the RICE NICE Kevin?
Kevin praying that you have an awesome day today! You have a fun small group that is going to get a lot achieved, both with the building of the home and of the relationships with the family. Thanks for the update!
Work hard and pray harder,
Kristy
Hi Kevin, Hope you have a great day, we are praying for you and all the team ! the Pettijohns
Hey Kevin,
Hope you had a good night’s sleep! I will be praying that God uses you in a mighty way today!
Love,
Mrs. Groen
Kevin – I am praying every day for you and God’s work you are doing in Guatemala. I’m just jealous that I’m not there, but then you wouldn’t want grandma ‘hanging’ around. Blessings to you and the team for a good week.
Hi Kevin,
Just wanted to let you know we are thinking of you as we are sitting in Chicago and wishing you were here with us! But we know you are having a more enjoyable and more fulfilling time in Guatemala! Hope things are going well!!! We are curious to know who is on your team! Keep us updated and we are thinking and praying for you constantly!!!!
Love you!
Kevin, hope you had a good building day. We are stilling praaying for the rain to stop. Our thoughts and prayers are with you throughout the week. Enjoy each new experience.
Mrs. Stegeman
Olivias mom
hey so today we had our first workday and we built our house and that didnt take very long tommaro we are stuck-o ing. It went very well except for it downpouring halfway through but it took very little time and we got done early. other than that nothing much happened here we got back and had some food then sat around for a while. But tommaro we work some more on the houses again and hopefull it wont rain because its hard to put on the stuff whne its raining. But i have to go and get some sleep for the work ahead
p.s. spencer do not listen to gram…..
Kevin, I am glad to hear that it is going so well!! I have been praying for you all! Work hard and love on some kids too! Sounds like you have a great building group! Be safe!
Jason
Happy Thursday Kevin – It’s so nice to hear about what you’re doing. Hope the rain has stopped so you can continue your building. I keep praying that God will bless you and all the team members and look forward to hearing all about your trip.
Love,
Grandma
Kev! The rice is nice here… how is it there? Keep up the good work
So today we finished the houses and we got them covered them with stuck-o which didnt work so well for me cause i wanst very good at it. After we were done with that we played around with the kids and i gave them piggy-back rides and we raced each other. We then played some more games and played with the kids for a while. When we were doing the other people like al and kevin were putting up the roughs and the patio’s on which took a looong time. I had a lot of fun with the kids and played lots of games and got to know some of them. But i still have alot of stuck-o on my self and whenever i try to take it off i pull my arm hairs out and its very painful. The weather was thankfully very nice today it was sunny all day out and never rained once which was very nice.
Spencer- the rice was at first kind of stale but its getting better
also keep comenting i want to know what is going on over there in Michigan
Kevin:
So…, Kevin, all is well in Michigan. How nice that you don’t have to be on crutches like Kelly did during her time in Guatemala! Hope your house dedication is amazing and that you will realize what a huge gift you have given your family there. May your cup of joy overflow! You have been on lots of mission trips, but know that God will use this one in a special way to change eternity for people there and to change your life as well. It sounds like you are enjoying your team and your work together.
Love the pictures–great smile! Get some sleep! Enjoy the rice! Game 7 score in 2nd quarter: Boston 23 LAL 19, just in case you wanted to know.)
The Dooleys
Because of the rain…
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you…Since you are precious in My sight…and I love you….”
Isaiah 43:2-4 NASB
Hi Kevin,
Lakers won in case you wanted to know!!! Can’t tell you much of what’s going on in Michigan, but its great in Chicago! It sounds like you are having an awesome time and making memories that will last a lifetime! Hope you’re eating all the food, not the time to be fussy about what you eat. I think you will all need a good soaking when you get home to get all the stucco off of you! Enjoy passing out the candy and getting to know the kids. May you continue to do God’s work and we’ll keep praying for you and the whole team.
Love you!
Mom (and Dad & Kelly)
Kevin,
We are praying for your health, safety and spiritual protection while you are in Guatemala. I enjoyed the photos of you finishing up the homes yesterday. May you feel His presence in the days that are ahead. ~Mrs. H
Kevin, Great pics of you….looks like you are having such a good time….keep working hard, we are praying for you. Take good care of Dixon. The Pettijohns
Hi Kevin!
Hope your day went well today. We are now home after experiencing some mighty bad weather coming home from Chicago. Trees were down all over the place, the winds were 80 mph, and the power lines were down in front of Redamak’s so didn’t make it there for dinner – we’ll have to go with you when you get home!! It was nuts! Hope the weather there is cooperating for you. How’s the food for you? Hope you’re not just eating candy (dulce)! So anxious to hear how things went today, so I’m sure we’ll post again. Dad hasn’t really had the chance to check the website, so hopefully tonight he’ll get caught up on everything. Keep up the awesome work you are doing and if you happen to find a little brother or sister down there, we’d love to have you sneak them back!
Love you and miss you lots!
Mom
Hi Kevin – It’s so great to read all the messages people have been sending and also those you have sent back. Sounds like you are having a great time in building homes and also playing with those Guatemalan kids – I’m sure God is continuing to bless all your work and the relationships you’ve developed while there. Looking forward to having you ‘stucco’ my next house!
Love you lots
Grandma
Hey sexy boy! Love that picture of you…its our favorite! I bet all the little guatemalan girls are hitting on you..just remember us at home. Westy, Jack and rood miss your buns. Please come home soon!! xoxo
christina and kelly
so yesterday we started off the work day painting our houses so we decided to paint our with like mountains, a tree, and some flowers along with a bible passage. But we had to paint a seperate home was made out of concrete instead of drywall so when we painted two walls were damp because they were brand new and the concrete was still wet on the inside so two of the walls ended up not turning out so well but the other two ended up turing really cool. After painting we dedicated the homes and ours was first so during that we gave the families gifts that we brought in our suitcase and then a pastor spoke to them in spanish and i really couldnt understand them very well. So we dedicated five more houses and after the sixth house we had a pinata for the kids and i and a few other people threw more candy after the pinata was broken then kevin and al threw toys and other things to them. After that was all done we said by to the kids and left back to the base
Hi Kevin
So great to read your blog and to see the pictures. We hope you are keeping Lauren in line and that you will keep an eye on her!We are praying for you every day and pray that God’s spirit will fill you with his love knowing that you will in turn give and show that love to others. Praying for you to let your light shine for Jesus!
Blessing to you Kevin,
Bill and Lisa
Great job down there doing God’s work in both building and witnessing. How is the food? Learn a lot from Al and I will give you some projects up at the cottage. Have a great day today (we will be praying for you).
Love Dad
I have both Sea Doo”s in to Jeff so they should be fixed when you get back
Hi Kevin,
Sounds like you are having an amazing experience in Guatemala. I hope your travels went well today and you are connecting with many people in the villages there and are able and excited to share the love of Christ with them. What a blessing for both you and them! We are praying for you in many way.
Mrs. G.
Hi Kevin, Thanks for the messages that you have shared with us. Gives us a little taste of what you are seeing and doing. I will continue to pray for you this week as you visit the villages and share the gospel. Sue Vanderheide
Hi Kevin,
We are at the cottage and have to say that it’s pretty weird without you here. Hope you’ll be ready to do some work here when you get back. It probably won’t be as fulfilling aas what you are doing though! We hope that you are staying healthy and not having any bug problems! Anxious to hear more of what’s been going on today!
Love you,
Mom
So yesterday we went to the first village and it took us forever to get there. I think it ended up being a three hour drive when kev said it was only going to be less than an hour and a half but once we got there we set up the med clinic and while they were handing out the medicine we played with the kids. Then we showed the jesus film to then after that there was a sermon. After everything was over we headed back in the vans and after about a half an hour we saw a drunk person in the middle of the road and he was beating on the windows so we gunned it out of there and headed back to the base. But today we are goin to the coast and we will see what’s going to happen there.
-I thank all of you for commenting on the blog cause I like reading all of them so keep it up.
Sunday morning – sounds like you and the team are doing some powerful work through God’s blessings. What a great experience for you. Keep up the good work – stay healthy (hope you didn’t get car sick) – have fun and enjoy.
Love,
Grandma
Hey there Kev Kev,
Missing you today as we are at the cottage, seems so weird to not have the quad running along the beach! Hope you don’t forget that it’s Father’s Day. Praying that you have a good day at the coast and that you (or anyone else) don’t get sick. Anxiously awaiting your next post!!!
Love ya,
Mom
Great news that you are back safe and sound…..thanks for being there and for the opportunity that we had to be part of the journey with you. Have a restful day today. love from the Pettijohns
Hi Kevin,
Glad to hear you all made it back from the village – always seems like there is a story about the trips there and back! It’s amazing that there is always a solution that involves everyone. Not sure if today is the day you go to the city or not, but have a great time. Can’t believe you will be on your way home tomorrow! Looking back now,it does not seem like you were gone that long (especially with what you all have accomplished). I think the dogs are wondering where you are. When I ask them “where’s Kevin?”, they look to the beach – either you’re on the sea-doos or on the quad. Anxious to have you and Trev here!!!
Love you and miss you!
Mom
so yesterday we went to another village which was near the coast. they said it would take us about three hours but when we got close the road to the village was so bad that we barly even got there because the was so bumpy and not in very good shape. It took us a total of five hours to get there. But when we got there it went much better. When we left we had to go up a massive hill that we went down coming there which was a problem because the road was slightly muddy and we got our vans stuck. It took us about an hour to fill the rally bad parts with rocks and to get the chains on the tires. The van that I was riding in was only two wheel drive so that had to be towed by another van. But after getting the van out from the ditch we had no problems getting back. We ended up getting back around two so I didnt get that much sleep last night.
Kev
I Hope you had a great time at the village yesterday (it sounds like a great experiance). Get some sleep tonight as it will be a very long day tomorrow. Travel safe and looking forward to youe stories when you get home.
Dad
Kevin! Is the Rice Nice?
leavin at 7:30 tomorrow
so were headin back today and i still dont have all of my stuff packed and i dont know how i can even fit all my stuff into my bag because of my one huge dirty laundry bag that i crammed all my clothes in but i am ready to go back and to take a normal shower for once. Yesterday we went to the village which was a lot of fun. Me and dix walked around for a while then we realized we were lost in a huge maze of food shops and didnt know where we were. We eventually got out though but after that i went around with dix and i got a Guatemala soccer jersey, a machete, and a knife. After the shops we went back to the village where we first built the houses and we saw the kids there and gave them the last of our candy. Then we got to pack after we came back and went to sleep. So today i am accually ready to leave but i am going to miss it but hopefully i can come back soon cause i had a lot of fun here.