Hey Bro!! Hope things are going great! Uncle John, Auntie Cristi, Sophie and Ethan wanted you to know that we love you SO MUCH and while we miss you, we are having lots of fun together! Sophie scored 3 baskets in her game tonight, and was SO fun to watch. Ethan and Ty have played about 6 giggly games of Chutes and Ladders, and Ty and Sadie are just loving having them here…its been great, we miss you! remember to take pictures so we can see and hear all the great memories youve made…… We love and miss you!
Hey sis, things are great. We love you too so much! Excited to get back and see you. Lots of stories to share. So bummed to miss Sophia’s game and her baskets, but glad she did well. Good job Sophia! Thanks for taking care of our “babies!” See you in a few days! Love you!
Ethan: I miss you and love you so much! We are praying for you! We are having fun and I’m doing good!
Sophie: Hows it going? Miss you! Hope you are having fun! We read the page and I wish I was there building the houses with you! We are having a really fun time at friends and Auntie Cristi’s house! Love you and sleep good!
Ethan: I miss you so much! Love you bud! I’m so glad you’re doing good and having fun. I can’t wait to see you in a few days. Everything is going well out here and God is doing amazing things through us and to us. You would love to see the mountains and active volcanoes our here, but we’ll take pictures for you.
Sophia: It’s going very good. I miss you and love you so much! You would love building the houses with us. When we were done building the houses we painted and colored their walls with verses and pictures. Some of the family members cried tears of joy when we were done. Glad you are having fun with friends and family.
Love you both so much and can’t wait to see you soon. DADDY
Glad to hear that you guys got there the next day and were able to experience San Ramon. I can’t wait to hear more about your experience, especially on dedication day. Such an exhausting day. Thank you too for the prayers for us back home. The family has felt them. Treasure this moment with your family in the good that you are doing for God’s kingdom today,
Sophie: Going to bed soon, we had basketball practice today and went ice skating tonight. Cant wait until you come back, miss you and love you soooo much, xoxo. Cant wait to hear your stories and what you’ve been doing.
Ethan: I cant wait until you come back and ill be so excited. We had fun ice skating and I cant wait to play Settlers of Catan with you and we cant wait to do school with you.
Cristi: Hello to you and everyone! Hope you are having a great time…so excited to hear the stories. We took cute pics and videos of ice skating tonight and am excited to show you guys. Sophie is a very good skater and we were racing around the rink together, and Ethan was doing good too! They did their school work this morning and we are going to work on a little more tomorrow…thanks for the message! We read it at the breakfast table together this morning 🙂 Hugs and Kisses to all!!
We love you and miss you tons. A few of us have been waking up every morning to the sunrise (which is around 5:30-6:00 central time). Watching it come up over the valleys, mountains and volcanoes is so amazing to see. The pictures don’t do it justice. We had a wonderful time at a village yesterday playing with kids, giving families medicine, presenting the gospel, and experiencing the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of the men and women into tears and coming to Christ. We handed out bible to everyone who would take them and passed out food at the end of the night. One of our three vans didn’t start, which made us a little nervous b/c it was around 9pm, pitch dark, and we’ll in the middle of nowhere – a village in the mountains. They had been working on it for some time while we were packing up the vans, but couldn’t get it. So we circled the van (about 30 people), layed our hands on and prayed. The van started on the first try. Pretty cool. It took well over 2 hours to drive back and the roads are so bumpy, rocky, and curving around mountains that we could only drive about 10-15 mph max the whole trip. The trip was only about 20-30 miles. We got back and crashed into bed tired. Last night and this morning was very cold for this area. We were sleeping at our base and the temps were in the 40’s. I have a tshirt, my warm fleece, and a hooded sweatshirt on – still cold. But once the sun comes up, it warms up quickly.
Today is a little more relaxed in the morning, and then out to another village to repeat what we did yesterday. Tomorrow is a tourism/shopping day and hope to pick some things up for you guys.
Excited to be back home with you. Maggie says hi as she is leaning on my shoulder watching me type! 🙂
Sophie: Hi! I bet you are having really fun handing out medicine and helping other people. Does anybody else have those bug bites? Are you going to go to church tomorrow? After church tomorrow, we are going to go skiing/snowboarding maybe. We won our basketball game today, made 6 shots and we won 24-12. We played outside and built a big snowman and a big sledding hill in the backyard. We ate dinner and then had ice cream. We stopped at the store too and got Captain Crunch for breakfast. Miss you and cant wait until you come back! Love you xoxo
Ethan: I hope you are having fun in Guatemala, but I hope you dont get sick in Guatemala. Im having fun at Auntie Cristi and Uncle John’s and I miss you and I love you!
Cristi: Hi guys! We love hearing your blogs! We read them tonight during dinner. Today was a fun day of hanging out and playing in the snow a couple times. Finished homework with Ethan and picked up Soph after her game, stopped at store and back home for more snow. It was a sunny beautiful day of 37 degrees, minus volcanoes. We are all excited to see the volcano pics as well as the kids and families you are meeting there. Your stories make us smile and laugh. 🙂 Tomorrow, we head to church and hope to hit the slopes together for some more fun. We love you and miss you…praying for you all the time. Give Mags and Audra big hugs for us too, we are missing them also! xoxo
Dad and I just read your blog. Very exciting to hear all that’s happening. Great experience for your family. We just heard on the news about active volcanoes ithere. Praying for your safe return. Sounds like Ethan and Sophie having a great time. Cristi and John keep us updated with pictures and videos. Sophie had a good game. Give Jen, Audra and Maggie a hug and kiss from us.
We love you,
Dad and Mom
We were in a village when the volcano went off, but the wind blew the ashes in the other direction. The day before we would have been covered in the other village we were in. When we were in the market today there was still a lot of ash in the air and many of the plants, benches, and things were covered. We left a little early, because the wind shifted again. The whole area is still in a haze. We saw a picture of the blast from someone in the market, and we’re kinda bummed we couldn’t have see it, even though we were 10 miles away. This whole area is so beautiful. They say even more in the summer months (rainy season). Having group worship/devotions in about an hour, then bed, and the airport in the morning. Should arrive back in Detroit around midnight and then back to Hudsonville. We’ll get home around 3-4am Tuesday morning if everything goes as planned.
We are so excited to see you guys! Had a great night and just got home and into bed, excited to swap pics and stories, love you and praying for safe travels, thanks for all the great blogs! Read them today on the car ride, Audra and Maggie’s too, so fun! Xoxo
Team Hudsonville/Maurice 2015 
Hey Bro!! Hope things are going great! Uncle John, Auntie Cristi, Sophie and Ethan wanted you to know that we love you SO MUCH and while we miss you, we are having lots of fun together! Sophie scored 3 baskets in her game tonight, and was SO fun to watch. Ethan and Ty have played about 6 giggly games of Chutes and Ladders, and Ty and Sadie are just loving having them here…its been great, we miss you! remember to take pictures so we can see and hear all the great memories youve made…… We love and miss you!
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Hey sis, things are great. We love you too so much! Excited to get back and see you. Lots of stories to share. So bummed to miss Sophia’s game and her baskets, but glad she did well. Good job Sophia! Thanks for taking care of our “babies!” See you in a few days! Love you!
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Ethan: I miss you and love you so much! We are praying for you! We are having fun and I’m doing good!
Sophie: Hows it going? Miss you! Hope you are having fun! We read the page and I wish I was there building the houses with you! We are having a really fun time at friends and Auntie Cristi’s house! Love you and sleep good!
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Ethan: I miss you so much! Love you bud! I’m so glad you’re doing good and having fun. I can’t wait to see you in a few days. Everything is going well out here and God is doing amazing things through us and to us. You would love to see the mountains and active volcanoes our here, but we’ll take pictures for you.
Sophia: It’s going very good. I miss you and love you so much! You would love building the houses with us. When we were done building the houses we painted and colored their walls with verses and pictures. Some of the family members cried tears of joy when we were done. Glad you are having fun with friends and family.
Love you both so much and can’t wait to see you soon. DADDY
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Glad to hear that you guys got there the next day and were able to experience San Ramon. I can’t wait to hear more about your experience, especially on dedication day. Such an exhausting day. Thank you too for the prayers for us back home. The family has felt them. Treasure this moment with your family in the good that you are doing for God’s kingdom today,
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Thanks Jeff! Will continue praying for you guys. It’s great to see God at work. Hot and tiring days, but have been very rewarding. See you soon.
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Sophie: Going to bed soon, we had basketball practice today and went ice skating tonight. Cant wait until you come back, miss you and love you soooo much, xoxo. Cant wait to hear your stories and what you’ve been doing.
Ethan: I cant wait until you come back and ill be so excited. We had fun ice skating and I cant wait to play Settlers of Catan with you and we cant wait to do school with you.
Cristi: Hello to you and everyone! Hope you are having a great time…so excited to hear the stories. We took cute pics and videos of ice skating tonight and am excited to show you guys. Sophie is a very good skater and we were racing around the rink together, and Ethan was doing good too! They did their school work this morning and we are going to work on a little more tomorrow…thanks for the message! We read it at the breakfast table together this morning 🙂 Hugs and Kisses to all!!
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Hello kids (and John & Cristi)!
We love you and miss you tons. A few of us have been waking up every morning to the sunrise (which is around 5:30-6:00 central time). Watching it come up over the valleys, mountains and volcanoes is so amazing to see. The pictures don’t do it justice. We had a wonderful time at a village yesterday playing with kids, giving families medicine, presenting the gospel, and experiencing the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of the men and women into tears and coming to Christ. We handed out bible to everyone who would take them and passed out food at the end of the night. One of our three vans didn’t start, which made us a little nervous b/c it was around 9pm, pitch dark, and we’ll in the middle of nowhere – a village in the mountains. They had been working on it for some time while we were packing up the vans, but couldn’t get it. So we circled the van (about 30 people), layed our hands on and prayed. The van started on the first try. Pretty cool. It took well over 2 hours to drive back and the roads are so bumpy, rocky, and curving around mountains that we could only drive about 10-15 mph max the whole trip. The trip was only about 20-30 miles. We got back and crashed into bed tired. Last night and this morning was very cold for this area. We were sleeping at our base and the temps were in the 40’s. I have a tshirt, my warm fleece, and a hooded sweatshirt on – still cold. But once the sun comes up, it warms up quickly.
Today is a little more relaxed in the morning, and then out to another village to repeat what we did yesterday. Tomorrow is a tourism/shopping day and hope to pick some things up for you guys.
Excited to be back home with you. Maggie says hi as she is leaning on my shoulder watching me type! 🙂
Love you so much!
Daddy
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Cristi,
Can you send our blog link to Jen’s parents at cpags70@gmail.com
Thanks!
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Done! Thanks for messages, we will write you again tonight, we are loving hearing about your trip! 🙂
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Sophie: Hi! I bet you are having really fun handing out medicine and helping other people. Does anybody else have those bug bites? Are you going to go to church tomorrow? After church tomorrow, we are going to go skiing/snowboarding maybe. We won our basketball game today, made 6 shots and we won 24-12. We played outside and built a big snowman and a big sledding hill in the backyard. We ate dinner and then had ice cream. We stopped at the store too and got Captain Crunch for breakfast. Miss you and cant wait until you come back! Love you xoxo
Ethan: I hope you are having fun in Guatemala, but I hope you dont get sick in Guatemala. Im having fun at Auntie Cristi and Uncle John’s and I miss you and I love you!
Cristi: Hi guys! We love hearing your blogs! We read them tonight during dinner. Today was a fun day of hanging out and playing in the snow a couple times. Finished homework with Ethan and picked up Soph after her game, stopped at store and back home for more snow. It was a sunny beautiful day of 37 degrees, minus volcanoes. We are all excited to see the volcano pics as well as the kids and families you are meeting there. Your stories make us smile and laugh. 🙂 Tomorrow, we head to church and hope to hit the slopes together for some more fun. We love you and miss you…praying for you all the time. Give Mags and Audra big hugs for us too, we are missing them also! xoxo
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Dad and I just read your blog. Very exciting to hear all that’s happening. Great experience for your family. We just heard on the news about active volcanoes ithere. Praying for your safe return. Sounds like Ethan and Sophie having a great time. Cristi and John keep us updated with pictures and videos. Sophie had a good game. Give Jen, Audra and Maggie a hug and kiss from us.
We love you,
Dad and Mom
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We were in a village when the volcano went off, but the wind blew the ashes in the other direction. The day before we would have been covered in the other village we were in. When we were in the market today there was still a lot of ash in the air and many of the plants, benches, and things were covered. We left a little early, because the wind shifted again. The whole area is still in a haze. We saw a picture of the blast from someone in the market, and we’re kinda bummed we couldn’t have see it, even though we were 10 miles away. This whole area is so beautiful. They say even more in the summer months (rainy season). Having group worship/devotions in about an hour, then bed, and the airport in the morning. Should arrive back in Detroit around midnight and then back to Hudsonville. We’ll get home around 3-4am Tuesday morning if everything goes as planned.
Love you all!
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We are so excited to see you guys! Had a great night and just got home and into bed, excited to swap pics and stories, love you and praying for safe travels, thanks for all the great blogs! Read them today on the car ride, Audra and Maggie’s too, so fun! Xoxo
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