The Spring Break Team left Saturday, March 15th for Queretaro, Mexico. They arrived safely and will spend the week in outreach and construction working with TIME mission.

Safely in Queretaro

We've made it to Queretaro, Mexico safely.  There were no problems with the flight other than having to wait through our four-hour layover.  We got into Queretaro around 7:00 and went through customs quite fine with two people being checked, but no problems.

Today we were able to join a local church where the missionaries here go.  Everyone was practicing how to say their name with "mi nombre es..." and "soy..." as we knew we would be standing up to introduce ourselves.  I think the service got to be a little long for those not understanding, but I can tell you that it was a good service and I do think everyone enjoyed being a part of it.

Afterwards, the youth group came over to the missionaries' house where we're staying for some pizza before heading to a town outside of Queretaro called Salamanca.  There our team showed puppets with music and the youth group showed a compelling skit.  Afterwards we played with the little kids there.  It was a blessed time, and everyone enjoyed themselves, especially on the ride there and back conversing with the youth group with our best (and successful) effort.

Tomorrow we will be working with construction for much of the day.  Please continue to pray that we have the energy and the ability to work with a joyful heart in serving our Lord.

QUERETARO, MEXICO TEAM

March 15 through 22, 2008
A team of 8 will be traveling to Queretaro, Mexico, to work with TIME Ministries.
Team Members:
Maribeth Dykstra, Dylan Kent, Macee Block, Abbie Weber, Madison Lee, Ellen Lee
Team Leaders:
Karen Elgersma, Dan Weber

They will be working alongside the Cristo Salvo church to complete their sanctuary as well as reaching out to the Otomi - an indigenous people group living in the hills outside Quertaro.
Please keep them in your prayers.

snapfish link to view our pics

These may be updated as our team has access and time to upload their pics, but in the meantime, here is an idea of what our week was like:

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=160529979/a=18410310_18410310/t_=18410310

Home, sweet home...

Monday was a good work day to finish up some of the benches and the garbage "house", as well as hit the beach in the afternoon. We had some more "turista" casualties though, and believe we should be investing in the maker of immodium...
The banquet was really neat - wonderful Dominican food, a chance to thank the excellent cooks, and live entertainment with Anjolie and Frank singing songs for us in Spanish. Afterwards was a time of sharing, where we were encouraged and challenged to bring what we'd done in the DR back home and continue walking with our God, as the holy and annointed people that we are. It was a good chance for many to articulate what we saw God do this week, in us and/or through us.

Our team prayer requests for this trip were good weather (that we'd be able to spend an extended time in Cercadillo this year) It rained the first day we had planned to go there, but we rearranged the schedule and were able to go another day and spend about 4 hours there. We prayed for grace with the language. I think most of us picked up some of the lingo, and were encouraged at being able to communicate, verbally or non-verbally, with the people. We prayed for bonding and unity with the other team. They were a youth pastor and 3 guys from Johnston E Free church, and Adam and Dave (the pastor) are good friends, so it was neat that they were able to spend time together. I think our team really appreciated Dave,Ian, and Brad's musical abilities, and as they participated in worship times, we enjoyed what they added to the experiences. The guys all did cement work, and it was a real bonding experience, so, praise God for more answered prayer. We prayed for good health and energy, and overall, it was good. None of were down and out for the count... many of us had "bathroom moments," but seemed to recover pretty quickly or were able to "suck it up" and continue. Yesterday, traveling was the longest day ( my opinion) and the energy was the lowest, but even at 9:30 p.m. when we finally learned that all 7 of us still in Atlanta would be able to get on the plane, we had energy to cheer and praise God! Adam had taken a different flight - through Cincinnati to DM because he had to work today, and ended up getting stuck there overnight with weather conditions. He text messaged this morning and was feeling sick and it didn't look like he'd be able to get home until at least noon today. Please pray for him: his health and an understanding boss at work. Thanks!
We prayed that we would be able to support and encourage the team leaders, and believe that we did that, for at least some of them. They are a mixed bunch, with a wide variety of interests, abilities, and gifts. Please continue to pray for Matt, Jared, Steph, Carolyn, Bre, and Ashley, as well as Bill, Ina and Noe, who are their leaders. We prayed for ministry opportunities, and as you read in an earlier blog, we were given unexpected chances to hang out with the locals and help grow the kingdom.

Thank you for being part of our team. It was encouraging to know that we had faithful family and friends home praying for us. We believe that it was TIME well spent. We look forward to continuing to learn from the 9 days we spent on the trip, and see where and how God directs us in the future.

Cercadillo and the Sabbath

Yesterday, Saturday,we worked in the morning and had the opportunity to go visit and help a poor small community called Cercadillo in the afternoon. We played with the niños and niñas (boys and girls) and helped carry water from the well to peoples' homes. We had the chance to sing a song in Spanish and teach them the song (I've got the joy,joy, joy...) Kate shared her testimony and did a great job using words the kids could understand.


Today we got to sleep in and then there was church with the Domincans at 9:00. Afterwards, we got to hear one of the missionaries, Ina York, share about how God has given her a vision for helping Cercadillo. It's a pretty incredible dream and it's happening! Praise God for her heart and the people who are willing to use their resources (time, money, talents) to help.

This afternoon, we went to a church plant not too far from here and invited people to come by walking around the neighborhood and handing out tracts. One lady who is helping with the church showed us the area where there are a lot of drugs and alcohol problems; for 7 years she has had a street ministry with the kids there. We were again able to sing and Kate shared her testimony along with Melissa. Again, both were very good about using language that was clear and easily understood.

What a blessing this team is! We get along well, and can't believe the time has gone so fast. Tomorrow is our last day, and we will work in the morning, go to the beach and/or the colonial city , and then there is a special banquet for us at night. Please pray for our health as there are a few of us who are becoming acquainted with immodium... if you know what we mean... thank you! (thus far, it seems to be doing the trick...)

Tim and Hunter are co-authors with me tonight of our blog ... peace and blessings from the team.

ministry opportunity at the beach...

So, another good morning working yesterday, and then we went to a new beach... where we soon met lots of children playing in the waves, some with clothes on, and some... without! The oldest was 9, and she was in charge - the youngest was 2! We all took turns playing with them - and Tim especially was great and patient with throwing them again and again, and got on his knees so they could climb on his back and jump off... we went for a bit of relaxation, and yet God provided us a way for us to interact with some Dominicans that was fun for all.

Last night, we had a neat time of praise and worship on the roof.

Today, we are continuing our work with the benches and some cement work. As we keep working, we are figuring out a system and the benches come together more quickly. We started to varnish them today too, with a 2nd coat for Monday and then we'll be able to present at least some of them to the church.

We have such an awesome team - I cannot say enough what a blessing it is to have the team we do - our personalities are complimentary, and we laugh a lot together, while we are also able to talk about "deep"stuff...

Gracias por orar (Thank you for praying!) It has been a problem to get pics on here, so when we return, we'll post a link where we'll post pics for you to enjoy: in the meantime, know that the people here are BEAUTIFUL and we are all content to be here! Thank you again for being part of our time here.

It's all good...

We make plans, and then are reminded that God is ultimately the schedule maker! I'd misunderstood our plans for Wednesday anyway, but we couldn't go to Cercadillo in the afternoon because it RAINED and RAINED and RAINED (and the roads become unusable), so plan B was to go to the market and a Dominican type Walmart and then to bed early. We had a good time of worship and fun with the team before catching those zzzz's tho'.

Yesterday we got up at 4:30 to start a 2 hour drive to Santiago, where we took down a chapel and rebuilt it about 100 yards away from it's original location (land problems, so it needed to be done...) Long, hot day... did I mention hot? But, praise God, we had no rain, and there was plenty of water, and a nice breeze to refresh us periodically. The people from the church there served us awesome fruit for a snack, and a great lunch, and it was a privilege to pray with them inside the chapel when we were done. God has been blessing their efforts in this community, to the point that they've outgrown the chapel they are in, and a group later this summer will help them with an addition.

Today, it is work in the morning, and the beach in the afternoon. I'm not sure about the evening activities. Tomorrow is work in the morning, and, God willing, we'll go to Cercadillo where we should be able to help deliver water and then play with the kids, and maybe have a type of service with them.

We are healthy with a few bug bites among us, and some scrapes, but nothing major. We've really been enjoying working and hanging with each other, and it is a huge praise for the team unity that we have.

Thank you for praying, and being part of our team!

Safe and sound and already hard at work...Domincan Republic Team

We had an easy travel day yesterday, and arrived early enough to see the views as we drove to the TIME compound... neat experience for all of us...

Today we were up and at 'em at 6:00 a.m. and the guys mostly did cement work - mixing and pouring a floor by hand, while the rest of the team worked on building the parts for benches we will continue to work on tomorrow. We use templates and POWER TOOLS... saws, drills, a router... and some of us are definitely gifted in that area!

This afternoon, we went to an underground cavern called Tres Ojos and then tonight, went to a church about 40 minutes away and helped out with ministry there. We brought balloons and some of us (again, some are gifted in their abilities!) made various creations for the kids. They sing, pray, and have a lesson, and then we interacted with them a little. There is another team here from DM (Johnston E Free) and 3 of them played music at the beginning too ...

Tomorrow is more construction, and beach time in the afternoon, while in the early evening, we'll go to Cercadillo, the village where God has been working tremendously to bring people to Him... we're excited about going.

Thursday will be a long day - we are not BUILDING a new chapel, but we are MOVING one from one location to another about 30 meters away (because of a land dispute)... so we are taking it down and putting it back up in the same day... please be praying for us especially this day as we wake up at 4:00 and who knows when we'll be done!!! Thanks!

I'm going to try to upload to Snapfish instead of here and will publish a link if I can download some pics...

Peace to all - Sue for the team

Wednesday morning in Malaga

We are leaving today for priego de cordoba for the conference
We had good connectins here - arrived at AVANT in time for Sunday dinner with the group here. We have really enjoyed our time in Malaga. We worked Monday here at the center (painted, sewed, gardened) Yesterday we had a beautiful sunny day to go to the castles and shop - spent the day in central Malaga. We have lots of lovely pictures (Sarah's camera file is full already!)
Last night Boaz and Ruth (some missionaries here who have been friends of Holcomb's for years) had us all over for dinner. It was wonderful
Today we will drive to the camp, so this is probably the one and only chance we will have to write.
Thank you for your prayers. We are all healthy . Sleep has been a bit of a problem for some of us - the 7 hour time change is difficult to adjust to.
We are ready to head off on the next leg of the trip.
(You should have seen us stuff all 12 bags - our six and six extras for the mission teams we brought - AND 6 carryons in our van to come here. It was truly an amazing feat. And Sarah has become the master at navigating the crazy streets of Malaga with the stick shift
Keep praying - we are trusting God for great things this week end

Wednesday morning in Malaga

We are leaving today for priego de cordoba for the conference
We had good connectins here - arrived at AVANT in time for Sunday dinner with the group here. We have really enjoyed our time in Malaga. We worked Monday here at the center (painted, sewed, gardened) Yesterday we had a beautiful sunny day to go to the castles and shop - spent the day in central Malaga. We have lots of lovely pictures (Sarah's camera file is full already!)
Last night Boaz and Ruth (some missionaries here who have been friends of Holcomb's for years) had us all over for dinner. It was wonderful
Today we will drive to the camp, so this is probably the one and only chance we will have to write.
Thank you for your prayers. We are all healthy . Sleep has been a bit of a problem for some of us - the 7 hour time change is difficult to adjust to.
We are ready to head off on the next leg of the trip.
(You should have seen us stuff all 12 bags - our six and six extras for the mission teams we brought - AND 6 carryons in our van to come here. It was truly an amazing feat. And Sarah has become the master at navigating the crazy streets of Malaga with the stick shift
Keep praying - we are trusting God for great things this week end

SPAIN TEAM

April 21 - 30, 2007 The Spain Team will be leaving for Malaga Saturday, April 21. We will spend several days at the AVANT Guest House there. They have a few projects for us to complete - some painting and yard work for them.
Wednesday, April 18 we head to Priego de Cordoba to help with the Youth Worship Conference called Contra Corriente. Sunday, April 29, we head back to Malaga and fly home Sunday.

Team Members: Sue Holcomb, Karen Elgersma, Jane Krogmann,
Lisa Majors, Cindi Turner, and Sarah Webster

Prayer Requests: Safety while we travel (esp. driving the rental van - manual, of course!)
Attendance - This is a new area for the conference. It has always been
in the north part of Spain. Pray that many will come.
Impact - That hearts will be touched and lives changed.
We are praying that some of the young people who come looking
for a party Friday and Saturday,, may hear the music and come
to our event and find Jesus! (see note below)


We just had an email from the group we are working with. They write:
New prayer item: we just found out (every day is a new thing, we are finding the south culture to be such a different place!) we found out yesterday by chance that the town organizes and sponsers the ¨botellon¨ for young people. Botellon is getting your beer bottles, your coke mixed with wine, and kegs and doing what ever you do with that. So this is a SPONSERED event provided by the pueblo that they just put in affect 6 days ago, announcing to the town and surrounding area that the very park where we are camping at will be the official place for this gala event!!!!!!!
So won´t that be a lovely scene?? Now for an evangelist this is great!!!! For organizers of an event where we already have pastors who are suspicious of anything outside their four walls, this is not so great!!!! Personally I´m not so worried about the teenagers, I´m worried about the 20 year olds who think they can, just because they can. (europe is another culture with this subject)
We´ve talked with the police and they said last week, the first weekend for this to be available (friday and saturday), that it was a ¨flop¨ only 40 kids were there. 40 is better than 400 I suppose!!
We remind ourselves that it is God´s kingdom, not Contra Corriente´s. It doesn´t look good for Contra Corriente, but God is bigger, knew about this before we did or the pueblo decided...so we gotta trust Him. But wouldn´t it be great if it flopped, these kids would come to our thing and get saved!!

New Directions RIPPLE team

Saturday, Februay 17th, we had a great team working at the New Directions Emergency Shelter for women and children. They organized the donation rooms and cleaned on the main level.
They were one hard working group!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - RIPPLE

Join us for RIPPLE -
volunteer opportunites the 3rd Saturday of every month 9:00 - 12:00

Need a ride - call Sue at 556-6742 or Sonya at 440-0595


coming up.....

APRIL - no RIPPLE scheduled

May 19 - Camp Sunnyside/EASTER SEALS, 401 NE 66th Ave, Des Moines
Exit 135 off I80 - helping with Respite Week End

Call the HIM office to sign up at 251-3776

2007 MISSION TRIP OPPORTUNTIES

Women's Team headed for SPAIN - April 21 - 30, 2007
We will be working with Jeff and Carolyn Anderson and the La Industria group on a 3 day Conferene in southern Spain called Contra Corriente. Three days of contemporary Christian music for youth - they expect about 1,000 to come and camp for the conference. We will be helping up with set-up, tear down, concessions and --anything we can do to help!

TIME Mission in the Dominican Republic June 11-19, 2007
Evangelism and Work Projects -

Call the HIM office for a brochure 251-3776

Home Again

The team just called the HIM office (4 p.m.) They are in New York and will be heading home on the 6:00 flight arriving in DSM around 8:20 p.m. Sounds like they had a wonderful time serving in the DR!!

Chapel day! Boo-yeah!

Yesterday was a 2:45 a.m. wake up to drive to near the Haitian border and put up a chapel. It was a HOT day, but we got 'er done, with no major injuries - just some bruises, scrapes, and blisters! The church there was so appreciative and fed us a typical Dominican meal afterwards. While it was good, I don't think any of us are anticipating chicken feet in our meals back home! =) The balloon makers were a big hit yesterday, as were the small toys we brought to give (gliders and mini beach balls). Kids swarmed for the balloons, and it was fun to see the teacher side in Heather and Jess come out (no cutting, stand in line...) We got back about 9:00 last night, so it was the longest day many of us have had in quite awhile! Our Dominican friends didn't forget Abbey's birthday, and made a cake - on her head - w/ water, flour, and egg (she should feel quite the native as that is a typical way for them to celebrate!) Thanks again for your prayers - the team that was put together has been one of the best I've worked with - we are all pretty laid-back,flexible, and did I mention low-maintenance? See you state-side Thursday night, God willing. Blessings!

The adventure continues...

Enjoying a coke break.

One panel down, lots to go... Flexibility... that's the key, right? We didn't end up going back to Cercadillo b/c of rain, but had time to relax and practice our drama again... It rained BUCKETS! yet when we went to another part of the city to go to a Dominican type Walmart, it was dry there... today was church w/ the nationals, Sunday school with our two teams, and then we went to some caves this afternoon. Tonight we went to a park and did our drama. It went well, and there was a big crowd. We pray that the msge was clear and that people would seek as a result of the ministry tonight. Back to building the rest of the chapel tomorrow, and to Cercadillo, God willing, to do some cement work, play, and do the drama there as well. The other team has puppets that are very entertaining for the kids. Tuesday we will go to a place near the Haitian border to put up the chapel - up at 2:00 a.m. for the drive (about 4 hours) then construction and back that night... Pray for safe travels and all to go well as we build. Thank you again (muchas gracias) for your prayers! Good night...

The D.R. rocks!

We have had two great days of work, getting ready to put up a chapel on Tuesday in a village about 3.5 hours away, near the Haitian border... we build all the panels (sides,roof,etc) here and then construct it on site. We had a good time at the beach on Thursday afternoon, and yesterday got to go to a small village called Cercadillo to play with the kids there. Great intro, as we are going back today and bringing games and a message - we'll get to do our drama, and the other team has puppets. It has rained frequently here, which makes the humidity high, but the temperatures and breeze make it very pleasant. The Dominicans are SO friendly and fun - we are having a good time getting to know them and working with them. Praise God for the health and safety He has provided, and please keep praying for that, as well as giving us the heart and desire to serve and love the people with whom we are sharing. Thank you!

We've arrived!

We are here! It was a long day, but we FINALLY arrived at 11:30 p.m., greeted by the smiling TIME staff at the airport. Today we are working on a portable chapel in the morning, and in the afternoon going to a market and a beach. ( I know, rough way to start, huh?) We have lots of different types of activities planned for us, with the ever present reminder to be flexible. Thank you all for your prayers! We will keep you posted as we continue this Dominican journey. Praise God with us that He is in control, that the delays yesterday were an interesting way for us to begin our “stretching” plan, and that we are making this investment in eternity.