Thursday July 29, 2010

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Missions at East Saugatuck

East Saugatuck Church seeks to make a difference for Christ right here where we are.  However that is not all we do.  We also seek to make a difference in other areas of the and around the world. 

East Saugatuck helps to sponsor individuals and groups for short term mission work.  Recently, several groups and individuals have served around the world:

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Bob Boerkoel

• Bob Boerkoel spent a few weeks working in Comayagua, with Youth Unlimited Encounters.  Bob’s team focused on sharing the hope and story of Jesus in Spanish to over 700 children with several Vacation Bible Schools held in surrounding churches and orphanages. 

Growing through his experience, Bob had this to say: “God freshly revealed the rich blessings I have as I realized I brought more things with me on this trip than many entire families own in .  During this trip, God showed me His power as He worked through me to be able to reach and teach the story of Jesus across all worldly barriers from language to culture.  All too often, I want to focus on the earthly barriers when God knows no barriers!”

  Would you like to hear more about Bob's trip?  Read an article that Bob has written about his experience in Honduras.

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Jim Boerkoel

• Jim Boerkoel went to with Dream for Africa on a Beat the Drum trip.  Jim’s group worked in schools to promote AIDS awareness and encourage students to commit to abstinence.

Jim had this to say about his experience: “I definitely learned the power of prayer and the reality of spiritual warfare. I also learned the power of scripture. I committed to reading through the Bible front to back. The word is too powerful not to constantly be reading it. I also learned that no matter where in the world you are, people have the same dreams and need love.”

           For more on Jim’s trip, you can visit this website.

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Rachel Brink

• Rachel Brink spent 3 months working in , East Africa with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.  Rachel spent her time promoting and marketing a highly nutritious, drought tolerant crop called Grain Amaranth.

Rachel was very grateful for the experience of going on the trip.  She had this to say about it:  “I was struck again by how privileged Americans are in comparison with the rest of the world.  We take for granted how safe we are and how little corruption there is in our government.  This trip opened my eyes to many things and I learned to rely on God more every day.  I would recommend missions work to anyone!”

You can read more information from Rachel and see pictures from her trip by visiting her website that she kept up to date while she was in Kenya.

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Other Missionaries

• A group from East Saugatuck Church spent a week in Marengo, Indiana with Christian Reformed Disaster Relief Services.  The group made repairs following the 2004 tornadoes.  They did a variety of projects.

• Members of the Thrive youth group spent a week in Gap Mills, West Virginia working at Psalm 23 Camp.  They worked at many different work sites and also at the camp. They spent the week doing a wide variety of jobs including painting, trim work, pouring cement, tarring a roof, application of steel on a roof, new siding, landscaping, preparing ground for new cement, sanding cabinet doors, and demolition. They had no on-site assistance from the camp, so they learned things as they worked. They had a wonderful week and left feeling very thankful for the things that we have. The group said, “it was a awesome week and we were able to get so much done!”

East Saugatuck also supports three missionary families:

• Larry and Ruth Spalink serve with Christian Reformed World Missions
  

• Brenda VanderSchuur serves with Christian Reformed World Missions
  

• Gary and Pam VanVeen serve with Christian Reformed World Missions